How Could the Villainous Young Master Be a Saintess?

[Virtue +80.]

[Current Virtue: 8869.]

“Miss Vera... how should I put this?” Vinny wore the kind of twisted expression of someone who badly wanted to roast her, yet did not even know where to start. “I feel like you understand Facilis better than I do.”

How to describe it?

It was like distance had created beauty—like being so far removed from something had slapped an enormous filter over it until it no longer felt real at all. Just pure personal fantasy.

Vinny did not even know whether he should tell her that the Facilis family had once produced one who had wanted nothing more than to sing, start a band, and become an idol, with absolutely no interest in being the Saintess. If that version of history had not run into a reliable Pope at the time—someone who talked sense into her and told her that becoming the Saintess would earn her a bigger audience and a better fanbase—then history might really have gained an idol singer from the Facilis family. God knew how the history books would have recorded that glorious chapter.

“Though it is unfortunate to say so, Lord Vinny, I have seen none of the will or resolve that Facilis ought to embody in you,” Vera said calmly.

“You are not truly a descendant of Facilis. All this time, you have been using that identity to muddy the waters. To put it bluntly, Lord Vinny, what you are doing is little different from fraud. If you continue cooperating with those people for the sake of things that were never yours to begin with, then in the end you will not only lose those things, you will repay the cost several times over.”

“Stop doing this sort of opportunistic fishing in troubled waters. Be careful, or instead of muddying the water, you may end up sinking yourself into the swamp.”

“Muddying the water?” Hearing Vera put it that way, Vinny felt like he had just caught hold of a thread. “Miss Vera, what exactly do you mean by that?”

“Lord Vinny, I know your goal is not as simple as impersonating a descendant of the Saintess, driving out the genuine article with a counterfeit, and eventually taking the Saintess’s place. You and the people behind you both know that would be impossible. Because you are not the real Facilis. You are not even a girl.” Vera lifted her eyes, crossed her legs, and watched Vinny in silence over her tea tray, invisible pressure radiating from her.

“Even the force behind you knows that making a man into the Saintess would be absurd. The public would never accept something like that.”

“What you want is only to muddy the waters so thoroughly that no one can tell truth from falsehood anymore. One descendant of the Saintess here, another there—until no one can tell which is real and which is fake.”

“And as long as even one person in a thousand begins to doubt the truth, your plan has succeeded.” Vera’s voice was gentle. “Let me guess. The reason you keep meeting with that imperial princess of Tyrel every few days is not because the two of you are especially close. It is because you report to her. You update her on the progress of your mission. Isn’t that right?”

“That’s not it,” Vinny answered immediately.

“Then explain this, my lord. Why do you have the chance to come into contact with the future empress of Tyrel? Is it because she happens to favor a fallen noble of ordinary birth with no magical aptitude to speak of? And what about the princess of the Camella Kingdom?”

“My lord, is your charm truly so overwhelming that it attracts so many members of human royal families—and not just members, but future rulers of nations? Or is that genuinely what you believe? Do you really think your charm ought to be that overwhelming?” There was a trace of mockery in Vera’s tone.

That question left Vinny at a genuine loss.

By ordinary standards, nothing she said was actually wrong. If a normal person answered, Yes, I really do think I’m just that charming, everyone would take him for a complete idiot.

It was maddening in a way that made rebuttal difficult. It felt like he had not done anything wrong, but the moment he tried to say it out loud, even he found it hard to believe.

“Though this may sound narcissistic... what if I said the reality doesn’t match your version exactly, but it’s not that far off either?”

“It seems I cannot persuade you, Lord Vinny.” Vera let out a long sigh. “Originally, I thought you were merely someone who had gone astray and was trying desperately to protect himself. That you did not truly wish to impersonate a descendant of the goddess, but had simply been forced into it.”

“But now it seems your cooperation with them is not entirely the result of being cornered. You have your own intentions mixed into it as well.” Vera shook her head regretfully. “Lord Vinny, every word I have spoken to you since you entered the Sanctum of the Sacred Tree has been the truth. And in return, I cannot get even a single truthful word from you?”

“Everything I’ve said since I came in has been the truth too. I’ve told you all this truth, and in return I still can’t get even a shred of trust from you, Miss Vera.” Vinny raised a brow. He still could not tell what Vera actually wanted, nor whether all this was merely a test.

If this was a test—if the point was to make him prove his bloodline—then wouldn’t he be completely screwed??

“So in the end, is trusting a human really just that difficult for you?”

“Besides, everything you’ve said is just your own speculation. You don’t have a shred of evidence, do you? And why would my backer be some human nation anyway? If they really were funding me to impersonate a descendant of the Saintess, what exactly would they gain from it?” Vinny’s frown deepened.

“In truth, the human nations have wanted to get rid of the Saintess for a very long time, haven’t they?” Vera replied placidly, utterly unmoved by his question.

“Huh??” That one completely threw Vinny off.

Was that a thing?

Vinny honestly had no idea.

“As long as a Dawn Saintess exists—someone who stands on equal footing with an imperial ruler, perhaps even above one—what benefit does that bring human nations? Especially after the fall of the Tyrelis Empire, when the Tyrel Empire was born from its ruins. Its prestige has never been enough to suppress the Dawn Saintess.”

“In such a situation, ulterior motives are only natural. The kingdom is no different.”

“And based on that alone, you concluded that both the kingdom and the empire want to eliminate the Dawn Saintess?”

“Of course not. I would never make such a judgment without conclusive evidence.”

“Conclusive evidence?” Vinny’s face turned strange. “Can I ask what this conclusive evidence is supposed to be?”

He was honestly curious what sort of evidence could instantly hammer down the claim that the empire and the kingdom wanted the Saintess gone badly enough to send someone like him out to muddy the waters.

“It seems they did not tell you the whole truth. But even so, you ought to understand rather a lot by now, shouldn’t you? Or did you never think carefully about it after returning?” Vera said meaningfully. “If you had thought it through, you would have realized that to them, you are nothing more than a dispensable piece on the chessboard.”

“What?”

“If I am not mistaken, you have already visited that ‘magnificent’ blasphemous place, haven’t you?”

“? You mean the underground institute of the Tyrelis Empire?” Vinny looked startled. “How do you know about that?”

“The thing produced in that underground institute was [Divine Authority]. Lord Vinny, there is no need to pretend ignorance. I learned of these matters long ago, even though they have all been trying very hard to conceal them.”

“I suspected from the beginning that Carillian Academy would never allow news of the ancient empire’s underground institute to spread this time. And indeed, they acted exactly as I expected.”

“They really have been using you as a weapon. In all things, one ought to think farther and think deeper. Why did you never stop to consider what kind of [Divine Authority] that ancient empire’s underground institute was trying to produce?”

“What kind?” That made even Vinny curious. He truly did not know which [Divine Authority] the institute had been trying to extract, or from which god it belonged.

“Perhaps at this point alone you still cannot guess. But what if I ask you this—why did the descendants of the Saintess suddenly fall into decline?”

“....” Vinny fell silent all at once. “You mean the [Divine Authority] extracted by the ancient empire belonged to the Dawn Goddess?”

“That’s right.” Vera’s tone was utterly certain. “Though we still do not know which [Divine Authority] of the Dawn Goddess it was, we can be sure it was crucial to her. So crucial that once it was taken, the descendants of Facilis collapsed with it, gradually falling into decline.”

“And then the Tyrel Empire inherited most of the Tyrelis Empire’s legacy and continued the same strategy from that age—to completely eliminate the Church of the Dawn and the Dawn Saintess. After all, as long as the Church remains, its influence will always loom above them. Even the Tyrelis Emperor himself could only stand on equal footing with the Saintess. So what chance would they have?”

“If they wanted to sit securely on the imperial throne, then sooner or later they had to move against the Saintess and the Church.”

“Why are you so certain?” Vinny asked again.

“Lord Vinny, for your own sake, I hope you truly know nothing of these matters. If that is the case, then I can still regard you as a victim as well.”

“Did someone tell you all this?” Vinny increasingly felt there was something fishy here.

“No. No one told me.” Vera shook her head. “These conclusions come from the memories I possess and from my own investigation.”

“My original body, Selivlin, spent more than a century investigating this chain of events. But for certain reasons, she is now asleep. I carried on the investigation with her incomplete memories, and after verifying matters through many different sources, this was the conclusion I reached.”

“And I have already obtained the key piece of evidence.” Vera looked straight at Vinny. “The key evidence that proves you are a fake.”

“The key evidence that I’m a fake? Let’s hear it, then.” Vinny hesitated.

“You may never have considered the possibility that a true descendant of Facilis still exists in this world.”

“And I have seen that true descendant of Facilis with my own eyes,” Vera said, each word distinct.

“...What?” Vinny’s eyes widened. He had imagined several possible forms this so-called evidence might take, but this was not one of them.

What the hell was this supposed to be?

Was it real?

Did that mean that somewhere in this world, there was another descendant of Facilis besides him??

That made no sense. The Facilis line had always passed down directly, with a birth rate so low it had been one child per generation with eerie consistency. How could there possibly be another Facilis? Even a collateral branch should not exist, should it??

“Surprised?” Vera’s gaze sharpened. “Does this differ greatly from the information you were given? Did they tell you that you would never be exposed—that at worst, most people would only suspect you, because the Facilis family had already gone extinct, and there was no longer any way to distinguish truth from falsehood?”

“No, I—” Vinny choked on the words. Even he could not figure out where in the world another Dawn Saintess had suddenly come from. And to Vera, that reaction looked exactly like guilt and speechlessness.

“My lord, have you nothing to say?”

“Miss Vera, have you verified her authenticity? And where did you meet this so-called true descendant of Facilis? How did she convince you that she was one?” Vinny stared at Vera and pressed the question.

“A fake cannot deceive me.” Vera’s voice sank. “That little Saintess revealed her holy flame. My memory does not lie. An outer flame white as cherry blossom, with an inner flame shining in seven-colored crystal radiance—that was the true [All-Gods Consecration Flame].”

“Neither the traits of her hair nor the traits of her face could ever have been imitated.”

“She is the true Dawn Saintess.” Vera looked at Vinny and enunciated every word.

“Wait. You said you’ve met the Saintess.” At last, Vinny realized where the problem really was. “Where did you meet her? Don’t tell me it was in the Church of the Dawn?”

“I’m sorry, Lord Vinny, but that question I cannot answer.”

“You really did meet her there, didn’t you?” Vinny frowned. “So a lot of your information came from the Church, then?”

“Perhaps some of it did. But far more came from my own investigations.”

“And you’re that certain they wouldn’t mislead you on some of it?”

“Mislead?” a strange voice interrupted just then, carrying upward along with the sound of a cane striking the floor. “You overestimate us far too much, Young Master Vinny.”

“??” Vinny looked up toward the staircase.

There, at the landing leading from the third floor down to the second, stood a figure in red robes.

He wore a luxurious crimson clerical robe embroidered with gold thread, goatskin boots stitched with elaborate patterns, and around his neck hung a lustrous amulet of the goddess. In one hand he held a deepwood staff topped with a mana crystal.

“A cardinal...?” Vinny murmured.

Within the Church of the Dawn, excluding the Saintess, the Pope held the highest office. Below him came the commander of the Radiant Cross Knights and the Platinum Grand Archbishop. Those two offices stood on equal footing, yet at times even the Pope himself had to yield to their arrangements, because both stood closer to the Saintess.

The Pope, the commander of the Radiant Cross Knights, and the Platinum Grand Archbishop formed the central axis of power within the Church of the Dawn.

And below those three, the one with the greatest authority was a cardinal.

Below the cardinals came the branch bishops, and beneath them the clergy of every rank and station.