At home, Wendy had just finished her physical examination for the day.
Coming out of the laboratory, she saw Rita and Theresa.
"You are... Miss Rita?!" Wendy asked in surprise.
"I didn't expect Miss Wendy to recognize me. Hello, Miss Wendy." Saying this, Rita extended a hand to Wendy.
After shaking Rita's hand, Wendy said with an adoring tone, "Of course. Miss Rita and Durandal are the captain and vice-captain of the Immortal Blades, and they are both S-Rank Valkyries. They are very famous."
"Given Miss Wendy's current recovery speed, she should also be promoted to S-Rank Valkyrie very soon. At that time, she will become even more famous than me," Rita said with a smile.
"I am still very far from being an S-Rank Valkyrie. Miss Rita, please don't praise me," Wendy said, a little embarrassed.
"Miss Wendy is underestimating herself a bit," Rita said, ruffling Wendy's hair.
"Miss Wendy, can you now control the gem of desire within your body?" Sitting in the living room, Rita looked at the exoskeleton on Wendy's leg and asked.
"No, no, I can only control a part of it. If I controlled all of it, I would go crazy," Wendy said with a wry smile.
"Miss Rita, how did you know about my situation?"
"When I was at the Oceania Branch before, I was on the Hyperion, it's just that you fainted later," Rita said, pouring two cups of tea with the tea set on the table.
Wendy hastily took the cup Rita handed her.
"Miss Wendy, can I see your lower leg? To see the impact of the gem of desire on you."
"Mm-hmm, you can." Saying this, Wendy removed the exoskeleton.
Her lower leg, with green patterns entwined by chains, was revealed.
Rita took out an instrument for measuring Honkai Energy reactions and tested the reaction on Wendy's lower leg.
The data measured was not very high.
"By the way, Miss Wendy, Lord Bishop asked me to convey a message: he is very sorry for letting Miss Wendy waste two years." After the test, Rita put the instrument away and said to Wendy.
"Lord Bishop knows too?" Wendy said, pressing her lips together.
"Yes, Lord Bishop was not aware of Miss Wendy's situation. Everything was a decision made by the Oceania Branch itself," Rita said, picking up her tea and taking a sip.
"So when Miss Wendy's situation was reported back to headquarters, Lord Bishop was very angry because the actions of the Oceania Branch delayed a very promising Valkyrie." Saying this, Rita took out a piece of paper.
"This paper lists the compensations Lord Bishop can offer. Miss Wendy can choose one." After speaking, Rita placed the paper in front of Wendy.
"Hmph, so, you were just going to see Wendy anyway, weren't you?" Theresa said, holding a glass of bitter melon juice, sitting directly opposite Rita, and speaking fiercely.
"Of course, after all, Lord Bishop cares very much about his Valkyries," Rita nodded directly.
"Rita, you're really like my grandfather, you always leave a lot unsaid." Saying this, Theresa directly picked up the list intended for Wendy.
After reading it, Theresa handed the paper directly to Wendy, saying, "There's no need to choose from the items on this list, Wendy will take them all."
After Wendy read it, she said, "Theresa Sensei, isn't this too much?"
"Wendy, the matter with the Oceania Branch was partly my grandfather's fault. What's wrong with him compensating you more?" Saying this, Theresa looked at Rita again.
"Besides, I don't believe my grandfather wouldn't know about the little tricks of the branches under him."
"Whether Lord Bishop knows or not, I'm not very clear," Rita narrowed her eyes, only smiling at Theresa's gaze.
Wendy looked at the two S-Rank Valkyries who had inexplicably become tense, and timidly said, "Um, Theresa Sensei, Miss Rita, Lord Bishop probably wouldn't care about an ordinary Valkyrie like me, right?"
"Wendy, don't forget, you were once a candidate for the fourth S-Rank Valkyrie," Theresa said directly.
"If things had gone normally, you would have become an S-Rank Valkyrie even before Rita," Theresa said, pointing at Rita.
"Yes, according to Miss Wendy's situation back then, she would have become an S-Rank Valkyrie before Rita." Rita only nodded at this statement.
"Is that so...?" Wendy said, lowering her head.
"Yes, Miss Wendy just hasn't trained for two years because of the gem of desire. As long as she undergoes recovery training, she will quickly become an S-Rank Valkyrie." Saying this, Rita looked at Wendy's lower leg again.
"According to the situation back then, Miss Wendy should have been able to refuse the Oceania Branch's experiment. Why did the gem ultimately remain on Miss Wendy's lower leg?"
"Because they said that if the gem was stored elsewhere, there would be a strong Honkai Energy reaction. Inside my lower leg, these reactions would be greatly reduced," Wendy said, touching the patterns on her lower leg.
"So, I agreed to that proposal at the time." Wendy looked up at Rita.
"Sister Rita, let me call you that. Actually, when I heard you were promoted to S-Rank Valkyrie, I was very jealous."
"Because the fourth S-Rank Valkyrie should have been me. At that time, I had to endure the influence of the gem of desire on me every day."
"Every day, it was as if someone was telling me, 'Look, you're just a waste now, a waste who can only sit in a wheelchair.'"
Theresa and Rita listened quietly to Wendy's self-narration.
From these words, one could feel how desperate and helpless Wendy was at that time.
"Every day, the duty of a Valkyrie kept me going. Every day, the noisy voices in my ears told me to seek revenge." Wendy exhaled a long breath as she spoke here.
"If not for the people in the branch who were kind to me, I might have given up long ago."
"And then later, the branch fell, the Honkai erupted, and then I met Sister Bronya and the others."
"Indeed, I am still quite lucky," Wendy said with a smile.
"Miss Wendy is a very excellent Valkyrie," Rita said, looking at this strong girl. There was nothing else she could say.
"Strong? Me? I probably don't count as strong, after all, in the end, didn't I still succumb to the temptation?" Wendy shook her head at this statement.
In her opinion, Sister Bronya was truly strong.
Especially after hearing the experiences Bronya had told her.
Perhaps, it was because of Bronya that she was able to find herself again.
Thinking of this, Wendy's lips curved slightly.
She hoped Sister Bronya could find her real sister soon.
For this period, she would take her place for a while.
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