How Could the Villainous Young Master Be a Saintess?

[Virtue +60.]

[Current Virtue: 9279.]

“Are you really all right??” Shicodale could tell that Vinny’s trip had definitely not gone smoothly in many ways, but Vinny did not seem to intend to tell her, so she could not really keep pressing.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine, Dale. Milian is fine too. I successfully delivered her Soul-Heart back to the Golden Elves,” Vinny comforted her.

Because if he explained this matter to Shicodale, he would have to mention why the Church was targeting him so intensely, and that would inevitably expose some information about his identity.

At present, it was still too early to let Shicodale know those things.

Shicodale was very sensible as well. Though she was very curious, if Vinny did not say anything, she would not ask. She knew that if Vinny did not say it, it must be for her own good. It definitely would not benefit her to know, and that was why he was not telling her. If Vinny wanted to say it, he would not talk around it.

That said, Shicodale still felt somewhat puzzled and lost inside. That could not be avoided.

“Vinny.”

“Mm? What is it?”

“This is for you.” As she spoke, Shicodale held out a gift box to Vinny with both hands.

The gift box was packaged in a very special way. The ribbon was actually made from grass cord, and the bow tied on it was adorned with a fragrant white flower with a yellow pistil.

“What is this?” Vinny did not understand why Shicodale was suddenly giving him a gift like this.

“Did you buy it?” Vinny accepted the gift box, gently pulled open the grass cord, lifted the lid, and looked inside. He discovered several white jade cakes quietly lying within, carrying a floral fragrance. They also looked a little like candy balls.

“What are these?”

“I made them. They are a specialty from my hometown, a dessert called flower candy,” Shicodale said softly. “I had never learned cooking before. I made them from my own memory.”

She had occasionally gone to the back kitchen to watch the chefs make this kind of dessert and had memorized many steps. It was just that she had known nothing about cooking before, so she had had no way to make it herself. Now, she had a certain understanding of cooking. Remembering the techniques of her family’s chefs back then, the ingredients they put in and the order they used them in, she had made a flower candy by hand, using her own flower magic as assistance, and carefully packed it into this gift box. When the box was opened, floral fragrance spread everywhere, refreshing the heart.

Through this one flower candy, it was as if one could see that field of flowers far away in Mistmoon Forest.

“Dale, why did you suddenly think of making something like this for me?” Vinny asked curiously.

“I... wanted your mood to improve a little,” Shicodale said hesitantly.

“My mood, improve a little? I’m not in a bad mood?” Vinny asked in confusion.

“But Vinny, you have been under a lot of mental pressure lately, haven’t you?” Shicodale asked in return.

“Mental pressure? Me? There’s no such thing, is there? Dale, that’s just your imagination, right?”

“There clearly is,” Shicodale said in a small voice. “You were not like this before, Vinny. Not like this, with worry written between your brows all day, never easing no matter what.”

Hearing that, Vinny wanted to speak, then stopped. He subconsciously touched his own face.

Had he been under a lot of mental pressure lately? Had his face been tense this whole time?

Perhaps he had.

But to be honest, he had not really noticed. At some point, his attention had shifted entirely onto those complicated matters, to the point that these things had become unimportant little details. He had not noticed them at all.

But though he had not noticed, the people around him had.

“I was thinking that you are very busy, Vinny, but you should still relax once in a while. Keeping your nerves tense all the time is very exhausting,” Shicodale said carefully.

“Ah, damn it.” After mulling it over for a moment, Vinny rubbed his own face. “Yeah. If this keeps going, I feel like I’ll have a few extra wrinkles on my face. Damn it all.”

Vinny accepted Shicodale’s candy and tossed one into his mouth. “So this is the specialty candy from Shicodale’s hometown?”

[Haha, this is a continuity slip, isn’t it? Looks like the author has been a little burned out lately.]

“Yes, yes. But I only restored that flavor as much as I could. It still isn’t as delicious as what professional Moon Elf chefs make.” Shicodale watched Vinny somewhat nervously. “How is it, Vinny? How does it taste? Is it good?”

“It’s very good. Honestly, this trip to the Golden Elf forest almost made my face turn green from eating. Your cooking has saved me.” That was not a lie. Shicodale really was the ceiling of elven cooking.

“Really? As long as you like it, Vinny. Then is your mood a little better now?”

“Mm, much better. Thank you, Dale.” As he spoke, because she was kneeling on the sofa and leaning close to him, Vinny subconsciously reached out and rubbed Shicodale’s head.

Mm. Fluffy. Her hair texture was very good, like silk.

Shicodale was a little stunned by Vinny’s sudden action and failed to react for a moment.

“Ah.” Realizing that he seemed to have done something out of line, Vinny pulled back his hand as if he had been electrocuted. He instantly went speechless, not quite knowing how to face Shicodale.

“Cough. Sorry, Dale. I, uh, didn’t mean—”

“It’s... it’s nothing.” Shicodale lowered her head, her face bright red. “Your hand is very gentle, Vinny. Very warm.”

“Ah??” Vinny froze. He had not expected such words to actually come out of Shicodale’s little rabbit-like mouth.

“Ah, aah, aah! I, I didn’t, um, I... I didn’t mean anything else!” Realizing what she had said, Shicodale’s little head was like a boiling kettle, practically about to start steaming.

“I-in any case! It’s good that your mind has relaxed a little, Vinny!” Shicodale stiffly hopped off the sofa, then quickly pattered barefoot up to the second floor, leaving Vinny alone on the sofa.

Mm. It seemed the floral fragrance of Shicodale’s hair still remained on his hand.

Vinny rolled over and changed positions, lying sideways on the sofa.

Had he been under a lot of mental pressure lately?

It seemed so. Before stepping into the house, everything he had been thinking about was related to the Church. Every last matter was so exhausting.

Originally, he had thought that after entering the Academy, he would live a comfortable life. In the end, through one coincidence after another, his simple passerby life had grown more and more complicated.

It was a very strange feeling. When he was under great mental pressure, he could not feel it himself, because all his attention had been stolen away by the things creating that pressure. Instead, the people around him were the ones who could notice.

After eating the candy Shicodale made, Vinny’s mood improved quite a bit. He did not know the reason. Perhaps the sugar made his brain feel happy.

Now that things had come to this, he should sleep first.

Vinny’s brows eased, and he closed his eyes.

The dream was still chaotic and unclear. In a strange, cracked world full of bizarre lights and colors, Vinny felt as if he had dreamed of something very frightening. But when he woke, he forgot everything again.

His eyelids were hot. Before his eyes was a blazing red, very glaring. He tiredly forced his eyelids open and used a hand to shield himself from the sunlight shining on his face. Only then did he realize he was sleeping on the sofa.

Yesterday evening, he had been too tired and fallen asleep on the sofa. With that one sleep, he had slept straight through until noon the next day.

Where was Shicodale?

Vinny rubbed his eyes and realized that he could not find Shicodale anywhere in the room.

Normally, she should have woken him.

Vinny walked to the entryway and found that Shicodale’s shoes were gone.

She had probably gone out. Seeing that he was too tired, she had not woken him.

Vinny looked toward the dining table. The food and hot soup on it were already half-cold.

It seemed that was indeed the case.

After spending some time in the elf lands, everything tasted like rare delicacies once he returned. Vinny ate this meal with great enjoyment.

After eating, he suddenly remembered what he had said to Mirexia before leaving.

Was she still at Carillian Academy, or had she gone back to Camella Royal Capital?

Vinny was not sure, so he decided to go to the Student Council and take a look.

Just as he finished eating, put away the dishes, and was about to put on his shoes and go out, there came a knock from outside the door. It was three very polite, extremely rhythmic knocks.

“May I ask who it is?” Vinny felt a sense of familiarity, but still asked.

“Vinny, it’s me.” After a brief silence outside the door, that cold, moonlike voice sounded, carrying a trace of worldly detachment.

“Mirexia??” Vinny opened the door and looked at the girl outside. Her flowing golden twin-tails were tied up, and she stood slim and graceful like a naturally beautiful flower on a high peak, with ice-blue eyes.

[Virtue +80.]

[Current Virtue: 9359.]

“I was just about to go find you. Why did you come here?” Vinny asked.

“Mm. I came to see whether you had returned. It seems I came at just the right time.” Mirexia lifted her eyes.

“You didn’t return to Camella Royal Capital?” Vinny was surprised. “Come in and talk.”

“Wear this pair.” Vinny handed Mirexia a pair of slippers, although Shicodale had wiped the floor inside, so it was very clean, and there was no real need to wear shoes.

“Mm.” Mirexia smoothly stood on one foot, removed her student loafers, arranged them neatly, then placed her perfectly arched feet, clad in white knee-high socks, into the slippers Vinny handed her.

As childhood friends, there was naturally no need for polite ceremony between the two of them.

“I thought you had returned to Camella Royal Capital. I was just about to go see whether you were at the Student Council.” Vinny poured Mirexia a cup of tea.

“I did not go back.” Before sitting, Mirexia used the back hem of her skirt to cushion the sofa, then placed both hands flat on her legs and sat on the sofa in an extremely proper posture.

To be honest, if Vinny kept that kind of rigid posture for too long, he felt he would definitely get tired and end up sitting crookedly.

But this was Mirexia. Vinny also knew her temperament very well and knew she was exactly that kind of person, just as she understood him.

“Is Student Council work very busy lately, so you didn’t go back?” Vinny asked.

After all, with Mirexia’s personality, only that kind of situation seemed capable of making her stay away from the royal capital during the holiday.

“Mm.” Mirexia hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

She could not very well say that she had not gone back because she had been waiting for him, could she?

For Mirexia, saying something like that was still too difficult. Since Vinny had asked that way, she simply followed along and accepted it.

“And.”

“Mm?” Vinny poured himself a cup of tea. Hearing that Mirexia still had more to say, he was a little surprised. “And what?”

“And also... to wait for you.” Mirexia shifted her gaze away and spoke softly. By the end, the tail of her voice was pitifully small.

But Vinny still heard it. He heard it very clearly.

“To wait for me?”

“Mm. I wanted to be with you.” Mirexia got halfway through saying it, then added, “To go back together.”

“Oh, so that’s it.” Vinny nodded. “But I probably can’t go back this holiday. I’ll have to spend it here.”

“Or rather, I may have to spend every holiday at Carillian Academy from now on,” Vinny said.

“What happened?” Mirexia naturally sensed the deeper meaning in Vinny’s words and knew something had happened. Her expression changed slightly. “Did something happen again this time?”

“Mirexia, I think the matter of my bloodline might not stay hidden much longer.” Vinny hid nothing from Mirexia. The person he trusted most was none other than this childhood friend before him.

“So something really did happen this time?” Mirexia’s expression turned grave.

“Yes.” Vinny sighed and told Mirexia the entire cause, course, and result of the matter.

“This was actually the Church’s idea?” After listening, Mirexia tightened her grip around the teacup and took a sip of tea. “It seems I still underestimated the Church of the Dawn’s intelligence network.”

“Yes. At this rate, my secret won’t stay hidden for much longer. I guess the Pope will soon know the secret of my bloodline. No, I think he may have guessed it long ago,” Vinny said thoughtfully. “Carillian Academy has a transcendent status. It is a remnant land of the Ancient Empire, and that mysterious principal is holding the fort here. Even the Pope has to be wary and weigh the consequences. So I think that for a very long time to come, the Academy will be the safest place for me.”

“Vinny, tell me the truth. Are you doing this because you do not want to drag Camella Kingdom down?” Mirexia saw through it in one sentence.

“...I won’t deny that I have that thought.”

“Do you still remember the words I once said to you?” Mirexia asked, her gaze intense.

“Those words? You mean?”

“I will always stand at your side and support you unconditionally.” Mirexia enunciated every word. “Those words were not only spoken from feeling. They were also based on deeper consideration from the standpoint of righteousness and the kingdom’s people.”

Vinny said nothing.

Mirexia was the only heir to Camella Kingdom and the future queen of Camella.

He knew that personal support and using a nation’s support were two different concepts.

Whether in the original work or in this life, Mirexia was a queen who performed her duties with full responsibility. The sense of responsibility and morality in her heart was extremely heavy. Therefore, if the decision she made was only personal, then she only had to consider her own feelings.

But if she set out from the national level, from her identity as Camella’s heir, then she had to consider the entire Camella Kingdom, and consider matters from the standpoint of the nation and the kingdom’s people. After all, the decision she made at this moment concerned countless Camella citizens.

And now, the meaning of what she had just said was infinitely close to, “If he goes to war with the current Church of the Dawn, Camella Kingdom will stand fully on his side, help him fight the Church, perhaps even send troops to strike the Church and help him reclaim the Saintess’s position.”

“I believe that humanity, no matter the era, does not need a Church of the Dawn that colludes with Demon Pillar believers.”