How Could the Villainous Young Master Be a Saintess?

A few days later, Vinny arrived at Carillian Academy. After dragging his luggage down from the unicorn carriage, he stretched.

The weather was pretty nice today, but maybe because his mood was so poor, everything still seemed faintly gloomy to him, as if a haze were hanging over the sky.

Earlier, the specialized personnel from Carillian Academy had already come to see him. They told him they would speak with Milian’s family themselves, that side would be handled by them, and he was not to do anything extra.

Looking at the familiar campus in front of him, Vinny felt a deep sense of nostalgia. More than once, the danger of this whole situation had made him feel like he might never make it back to school.

But although he had returned, some people had been left there forever, unable to come back.

Carrying his luggage, Vinny passed through the familiar streets and stopped in front of his dorm door.

How long had it been since he had returned to this place he could actually call “home”? By the calendar, it had not been that long, just a few weeks, nearly a month at most, but to him it felt like another lifetime. Stay away long enough, and you start longing for a place like home with a kind of ache.

Vinny stood there for a while.

Because his case this time had been unusual, and because the mission that should have been his had also been completed perfectly, while he himself had come back injured, he did not even need to write a practical-assessment report. The grading instructor would simply give him full marks directly.

He wondered whether Shicodale was back yet.

The thought came to him all of a sudden.

But honestly, a month was not exactly short. Vinny had already seen quite a few first-year students back on campus, walking together with their friends, chatting idly about what they had done for this practical assessment, how difficult it had been, and what kind of things they had run into.

Of course, the one thing nobody could skip was bragging.

For these first-year students, if the very first practical assessment of their first semester had been a beginner’s tutorial, then this one had been their first true individual trial after entering Carillian Academy. The difficulty had taken a clear leap upward. It was impossible not to feel nervous. After all, practical assessments always came with at least some risk of injury.

And now, they had returned safe and sound. They had seen their own growth. They had realized that maybe these trials were not some impossible ordeal after all, that they could already barely stand on their own. Released from that pressure and having successfully made it through, there was no way they would not feel elated.

In a situation like this, of course they were going to praise themselves proudly—talking up how urgent the circumstances had been, how they had kept their heads under pressure and relied on their own solid abilities to resolve the crisis perfectly, and how nobody else could have done it in their place.

From the look of it, he alone seemed to be the unlucky one this time. Everybody else’s practical assessment appeared to have gone smoothly.

Just as Vinny was about to step forward and knock, to see whether Shicodale had returned yet, he heard footsteps behind him.

“Vinny??”

When Vinny turned around to look, the person behind him noticed him too and called out.

That soft, familiar voice was unmistakable. Vinny recognized it instantly.

“Dale?”

Vinny looked at the silver-haired elf behind him, a vegetable basket hanging from his hand.

The two of them stared at each other and froze where they stood.

[Virtue +80.]

[Current Virtue: 7279.]

“Vinny, welcome home.” After a long pause, Shicodale stepped forward, pressing his lips together.

“You’re back already?” Vinny paused, then asked.

“Mm.” Shicodale fell silent for a moment before slowly nodding. In that gentle voice of his, he said softly, “Vinny, welcome home.”

“Mm.” Vinny looked at Shicodale and nodded.

“Thank goodness you came back.”

“...”

Vinny did not answer that. He only raised his head and looked quietly at Shicodale’s expression.

The practical assessment had only lasted a month. Quite a few first-years and upperclassmen still had not returned yet. The upperclassmen were dealing with genuinely high-difficulty assignments, after all. Coming back at this point was still normal enough, and nobody should have had time to tell Shicodale what had happened to him.

But there was clearly something else in those words.

Did Dale notice?

“Vinny, you’ve worked hard.” Shicodale gazed at Vinny’s face. One of the hands holding the basket loosened, as if he wanted to reach out and touch him, but after hesitating again and again, he still did not dare.

“Let’s go home.” It looked as though Shicodale had a great deal he wanted to say, but in the end, all of it turned into just that one sentence.

“Mm.” Vinny nodded, and something in his chest warmed.

Yeah. Whatever it was, they could talk after they got home.

Shicodale walked ahead, took out the key, and opened the door. As he brushed past Vinny, Vinny caught that familiar fresh scent, like fragrant grass and tender new shoots. It was Shicodale’s natural scent, one that belonged to him alone.

Once the door opened and they stepped into the entryway, that clean scent filled the whole room.

Breathing it in, Vinny realized that the restless agitation that had been churning inside him all this time suddenly settled down, as if something had reached out and braced him from underneath.

Watching Shicodale set down the vegetable basket by the entryway, take off his leather shoes, and slip his white-socked feet into a pair of slippers, Vinny fell silent.

Shicodale’s scent was just like Shicodale himself—fresh and pure, with the untouched cleanliness of a blank sheet of paper. Compared to the more overtly alluring kind, it was too light, too understated, so much so that its presence could easily be overlooked. Even Vinny had never noticed that, before he knew it, he had long since grown used to that scent lingering all around him, filling every corner of his private living space.

Now, after being apart for a while, smelling that fresh [N O V E L I G H T] fragrance again, he remembered that ever since he had enrolled, it had been there with him all along. They had almost never been separated.

That was right. Companionship went both ways. He had stayed beside Shicodale for a year, and Shicodale had stayed beside him for a year too. Without even realizing it, he had also grown used to Shicodale’s company and thoughtfulness.

A calm, uneventful daily life had accumulated little by little, until it had become a towering tree. Before either of them noticed, both had gotten used to the other’s existence.

The heaviness in Vinny’s heart eased a little, like the pressure trapped inside him had finally found an outlet.

“You just got back from buying groceries?” Vinny changed shoes and stepped inside, looking around the neatly arranged room. One glance was enough to tell that Shicodale had kept everything in order.

Even after coming home, he had not been idle. Day after day, he had kept cleaning the place.

“Mm-hm.” Shicodale nodded. “Vinny, are you hungry?”

“Yeah. I’m hungry.” For some reason, hearing Shicodale ask him whether he was hungry made Vinny see a scene from his past life—being kept after school by a teacher for not doing his homework, going home in the dark, and hearing his mother ask him the same question. He answered almost instinctively.

“Dale, are we out of ingredients at home?” Vinny looked at the food in the vegetable basket and asked.

“No. There’s still some at home. I don’t eat much, so it’s enough for one person. But I thought that if you came back, it definitely wouldn’t be enough. If I had to go buy more then, you’d end up starving while you waited. So I went to the market every day, just in case you came back that day.” Shicodale tied on an apron and smiled. “See? It came in handy today.”

“Vinny, you just got home. Go rest in the living room for a bit. I cleaned your room every day too. If you’re tired, go take a nap.”

“Mm. Got it, Dale.” Vinny watched Shicodale start moving around in the kitchen, then went and sat on the sofa.

Sitting there on the couch, watching Shicodale cook with his high ponytail tied up, smelling the scent of the food drifting out, everything felt just like usual.

This plain, familiar daily life wrapped around him with the warmest kind of care, soaking straight into his heart.

The taut nerves in Vinny’s body loosened all at once.

I’m home.

Breathing in the fresh scent in the air, he started to feel drowsy.

“Vinny, the food’s ready. Come eat.”

He had no idea how much time had passed before Shicodale’s voice roused him again.

“Ah, okay.” Vinny rose lazily from the sofa, rubbed his eyes, and sat down at the dining table.

The two of them sat together and started eating.

“This flower is...?” Vinny looked at the unfamiliar purple flower in the vase on the table and asked.

“This flower is called a Branny flower. It grows where I’m from. Its main effect is to calm the nerves.” Shicodale explained, “I was thinking before that if you came back, you’d definitely be very, very tired and badly in need of rest, so while I was out shopping, I bought it along the way.”

“Thanks, Dale. That was thoughtful of you.” Vinny picked up his utensils and took a sip of the corn chowder Shicodale had made.

Shicodale’s cooking still tasted just as familiar as ever. It was not the kind of flavor that could be called extraordinary, but it gave him a deep sense of steadiness. The warmth slid down his throat into his chest, and even his heart felt warmer with it.

“Vinny, how does it taste?” Shicodale asked.

“Mm. It’s really good. Dale, your cooking’s gotten better again.”

“Really?”

“Mm-hm.”

“Vinny.”

“What is it?” Seeing that Shicodale had been staring at him for a long time without touching his utensils, Vinny spoke first. “Why aren’t you eating?”

“I’m not hungry.” Shicodale shook his head and looked at Vinny, pressing his lips together. “Vinny, thank goodness you came back.”

“Why are you saying that? Dale, this was just a grade-level trial.”

“You ran into trouble on this trip, didn’t you?”

“...”

Vinny stayed silent for a moment before answering.

“No.”

“You’re lying.” There was a faint, adorable flush on Shicodale’s cheeks, but his tone was full of certainty.

“How do you know?” Vinny did not understand. The people who knew about this matter definitely had not told Shicodale. More than that, the secret under Gaflei Fort could not be made public. Otherwise it would certainly draw the attention of some very bad people.

“Actually, after I came back and realized you still hadn’t returned, I already had a vague feeling that something had happened to you.” Shicodale lowered his head slightly.

“I completed my mission and came back. With your abilities, Vinny, you should have been back long before me. Then I saw our classmates returning one after another, and you still weren’t back. That only made me more certain.”

“Ferdi and the others kept telling me not to worry. They said maybe your assessment site was a little far away, and traveling took too much time. But I just couldn’t calm down. It was like there was a voice inside me repeating over and over that something had happened to you.” Shicodale continued.

“One day, I even dreamed that you were calling for help from some lightless place.”

“...”

“Thank goodness you came back safely.” Under the lamplight, there seemed to be a faint shimmer in Shicodale’s eyes. “If you can, would it be possible to tell me what happened?”

“It’s nothing, Dale.” Vinny opened his mouth, but in the end, he still chose not to say anything.

As an elf, Shicodale’s emotions were just too sensitive.

Sensitive, and fragile.

Vinny felt that if he told Shicodale what had happened to Milian, he would definitely be heartbroken.

After all, no matter what, Milian was his childhood friend, and Shicodale was exactly the kind of person who was so kind and sensitive that something like this would hit him hard.

This had happened because of Vinny.

Naturally, he would take responsibility for it himself to the very end.

“You’re lying.” Normally, once he realized Vinny did not want to tell him something, Shicodale might have chosen silence. But not this time.

[Virtue +60.]

[Current Virtue: 7339.]

“Vinny, when we came home just now, your expression was wrong. I could feel an unusually intense kind of negative emotion on you.”

“If really nothing had happened, then the Vinny I know would never be like this. You would never be this quiet.”

“You must have gone through something awful, but you still refuse to tell me.”

“Vinny... am I not even allowed to be someone you can confide in?” Shicodale steadied his emotions, but in the end, he still asked.

Vinny said nothing.

“...Sorry! I’m sorry, Vinny. I was being too willful. You only just got home, and you went through something so terrible, but I still selfishly asked you to confide in me. Your mood is already awful right now, and I still acted so immaturely. Please forgive me!” Seeing Vinny stay silent for so long, Shicodale thought Vinny was angry at him and immediately panicked, apologizing in a rush.

Vinny looked up at Shicodale.

With Shicodale’s personality, even if the other person was the one in the wrong, the moment things turned awkward, he would always be the first to apologize.

As long as the other person mattered to him, he could keep yielding without limit, even if it meant wronging himself.

That kind of temperament made it very easy for people to bully him.

“You don’t need to apologize, Dale. You didn’t do anything wrong.” Vinny let out a long sigh. “It’s true that during this practical assessment, I ran into some things I never could’ve expected, and because of that, some very bad things happened.”

“But look, didn’t I come back safe and sound? You don’t have to worry about me. I’m fine.”