Vol 5. Chapter 57: Facilis and Facilis?
“What exactly are you talking about?”
Rina felt as though her brain had frozen with a little loading symbol spinning above it.
The Facilis Family had always passed down through a single direct line. There had never been a case of multiple children. Nor was that unique to the Facilis Family; many Saint Sage families were the same.
The Creator was fair. The more powerful and long-lived a creature was, the harder it became for it to reproduce.
“Besides, meeting an unfamiliar man of unknown identity in the middle of the night would be terrible for your reputation.”
Rina shook off the questions that only became more confusing the longer she thought about them and held firm.
“Who would see us? There are no outsiders here, and no one with a loose tongue, right?” Kaleni did not seem concerned. “Besides, rumors stop with the wise.”
“Even so, as commander of the Radiant Cross Knights, I must put Your Eminence’s safety above all else. Everything must be considered with your safety as the highest priority.”
“All right, all right. Rina, would you be happy if this were not a private tryst?”
“Forgive my bluntness, but please mind your wording.” Rina’s expression remained unchanged, but an enormous vein had practically popped up on her forehead. “You are the Dawn Saintess. It is highly inappropriate for you to use a word like ‘tryst’ to describe yourself.”
“But that is how I see it.” Kaleni was entirely unfazed. “Meeting someone alone in the middle of the night is not much different from a tryst, is it?”
“That blue-haired acquaintance of yours is rather lacking in manners as well. Does he not understand the importance of avoiding suspicion?” Rina’s tone carried no small amount of displeasure.
“Then he cannot come see me in the daytime, can he? Even more people would see us.” Kaleni laughed. “You cannot blame him for this. I invited him to come tonight. If I told him not to come now, wouldn’t I be standing him up?”
“You invited him? When did that happen?”
Rina was baffled. She had been by Kaleni’s side every moment, yet she knew nothing about any of this.
“All right, Rina. If you are truly worried, stay at my side and come with me when we see him. Would that do?” Kaleni said.
“Must it be this way? Do you have to see him tonight?”
“Yes.” Kaleni headed toward the door. “Do not worry, Rina. He is not an outsider.”
“All right, as you wish, Your Eminence.”
With Kaleni putting it that way, Rina could only let out a long sigh.
******
“Captain.”
When their captain returned, several Radiant Cross Knights saluted him.
“You are that blue-haired old acquaintance, aren’t you?” The captain looked toward Vinny, who was waiting by the gate.
“Yes.” Vinny straightened away from the gatepost.
“Come with me.”
The captain beckoned to Vinny, then led him into the church beneath the puzzled stares of the other Radiant Cross Knights.
“What is going on? Who exactly is that blue-haired young man? Her Eminence really knows him?”
“You lot.”
Just as the knights began discussing it, their captain—who had already left—returned and swept his gaze over them. “Watch your mouths. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
The knights understood. Their captain was telling them not to discuss the matter and not to let anyone know that anything had happened tonight. They promptly shut their mouths and returned to their posts.
Vinny followed behind the captain. The Radiant Cross Knight was quiet, apparently responsible only for leading the way. Nothing else concerned him, and he showed no curiosity about Vinny’s identity.
After passing through the church and arriving at the sanctuary behind it, Vinny saw a tall, upright figure walking toward them.
“Commander.”
The captain saluted the newcomer.
“You are the blue-haired old acquaintance, Vinny?”
The black-haired knight studied the blue-haired young man before her.
Vinny looked up and recognized her as the black-haired female knight who had stood before the platinum carriage earlier.
Rina’s calm, unreadable eyes met Vinny’s gaze.
He did not flinch beneath her scrutiny. His eyes held no visible ripple of emotion. He merely gave her the same brief appraisal she gave him.
Young as he was, he carried himself like someone who had seen far more of the world than his age suggested.
Rina also noticed the Carillian Academy crest on his chest.
A student of Carillian Academy?
That only made her more curious about Vinny’s identity.
“Come. Her Eminence is waiting for you in the reception room.”
Rina gave the captain a look, dismissing him to attend to his own duties.
After saluting, the captain departed. Rina led Vinny into the sanctuary.
Vinny looked around after entering. Its layout was not especially complicated: a three-story villa stood in the middle, with several stables and side rooms beside it.
A sanctuary was the Saintess’s residence at a local church while she traveled abroad. It was normally closed to the public.
Rina led Vinny into the hall on the first floor. A white carpet edged in gold thread covered the marble floor, and an extravagantly ornate crystal chandelier hung overhead, lavish enough to resemble a birthday cake.
“Go ahead.” Rina spoke without expression. “Her Eminence is waiting inside. You do not need to change your shoes here.”
“Thank you.”
Vinny nodded and entered the hall. After turning the corner, he immediately noticed the dazzling, luxurious bloom of cherry-pink beneath the bright lights.
“Here already?”
Kaleni was sitting on a velvet sofa, drinking tea. When she saw the blue-haired young man arrive, she set down her teacup and waved him over.
“Sit. Don’t be a stranger~”
...
The more Rina looked, the stranger it seemed.
She had definitely never seen this man before, and she did not think Kaleni had either. Yet Her Eminence was treating him with such warmth and familiarity that it was simply bizarre.
Could some member of the demon race or a Demon Pillar cultist have used some kind of perception-distorting spell on Her Eminence?
“Thank you, Your Eminence. Then I’ll sit wherever.”
Vinny sat down on the sofa across from Kaleni.
“Hm?”
Kaleni tilted her head.
“Is something wrong?” Vinny asked.
“Nothing is wrong. It is just... do you have to sit so far away?” Kaleni stirred her tea with a spoon and smiled. “Come sit closer. Let me get a good look at you~”
“Your Eminence.”
Rina truly could not endure it any longer.
Kaleni’s usual mischief was one thing. It never involved matters of principle.
But now, she had invited an unfamiliar man to meet her in the dead of night, and after meeting him, she was asking him to come closer and sit beside her.
Rina was beginning to suspect that Kaleni had been afflicted with some kind of curse that muddled the mind.
“Oh, what does it matter?” Kaleni said. “Rina, I told you not to be so wary. He really is not an outsider.”
“No, that would be rather inconvenient,” Vinny said hesitantly.
Seeing Kaleni’s behavior in private—so utterly different from the holy, proper image she displayed in public—gave Vinny a vague impression.
This Saintess was probably a troublesome girl too, just like the other troublesome girls in the Facilis Family. Her public face was one thing; her true personality in private was another.
The people around her must have worried themselves sick over her more than once.
“What is inconvenient? Is it inconvenient for you, or do you think it would be inconvenient for me?~”
Kaleni would not let it go. A shrewd yet ladylike smile characteristic of the Facilis Family rested on her lips.
Vinny pressed his lips together.
[Radiant-Cross Holy Shield] had always said that Margaret lacked the authentic Facilis feel. Looking at Kaleni now, it seemed it really did know what it was talking about.
A true Facilis gave an entirely different impression.
Vinny had met several of his ancestors already. If he had to describe exactly what that feeling was, he could not have put it into words. Yet when speaking and interacting with them, the difference was unmistakable.
“Let’s leave it as it is,” Vinny said after considering it.
“Ah, all right. If that is what little Vinny wants.”
“L-Little Vinny?”
Vinny’s mouth twitched. For some reason, meeting a Saintess in this world had earned him yet another nickname.
“Is that not allowed? Can’t I call you that? You are younger than I am, right?” Kaleni grinned. “Then there is nothing wrong with calling you little Vinny, is there?”
What is not wrong with it? Who calls someone that the first time they meet them?
Vinny looked from Kaleni to Rina, whose troubled expression was beginning to crack.
Working under this Saintess looked exhausting.
“Oh, right, little Vinny. Take a look for me. What do you think of my work outfit? Does the color suit me?”
Kaleni showed off the Saintess gown she was wearing.
“Honestly, everything else is fine, but the skirt is too long. I wanted to shorten it, but Rina said the ancestral rules cannot be violated. To be honest, I do not like this outfit at all. It is far too traditional.”
“Your Eminence!”
Rina swallowed with difficulty, looking as though she were about to boil over from her own Saintess’s antics.
Why was she telling an outsider such things?
“Uh... it looks good,” Vinny said. “I think it suits you.”
“You think it looks good? That is such a perfunctory answer, little Vinny.” Kaleni complained. “Easy for you to say. You have definitely never worn one. Otherwise, you would know how uncomfortable this work outfit is. Why can’t I wear clothes I like when I travel? I do not even get a chance to show everyone my fashion sense.”
“Forgive me for interrupting, Your Eminence, but please stop referring to Saintess vestments as ‘work outfits.’ Aside from the Dawn Saintess, no one else is qualified to wear them,” Rina said wearily.
“Who says little Vinny is not qualified?”
A bright, captivating smile appeared on Kaleni’s lips.
“Little Vinny, sorry you had to see that. My subordinate talks a little too much, but she is only looking out for me.”
“Actually, I am curious too. Why do my bloodline and [Saint’s Envoy] resonate with you? Whatever you came to seek from me, could you first explain it and satisfy my curiosity?~”
“Who exactly are you? Are you a Facilis? If so, why do you not have any of a Facilis’s distinguishing features?”
Vinny looked at Kaleni, then at Rina.
He had already thought this through before coming. To earn their trust and secure Kaleni’s help, he would have to tell the truth.
“And what is your real name?” Kaleni watched him closely. “Is Vinny truly your name?”
Rina’s expression changed as she heard this.
Her Eminence’s bloodline and [Saint’s Envoy] resonated with this blue-haired man?
Vinny watched Kaleni in silence for a moment.
“Then I will be honest, Your Eminence. I came to seek your help.”
“My help?” Kaleni raised a brow. “Then who exactly are you?”
Vinny said no more. He silently pressed his palms together.
Under their utterly astonished gazes, his body was enveloped in cherry-pink holy light.
“Your Eminence!”
Rina’s first instinct was to shield Kaleni. Yet the motion of drawing her sword stalled halfway through, and she stared blankly at the cherry-pink radiance.
Because she could feel it: a holy aura completely identical to her own Saintess’s.
Holy light? How could that be?
Kaleni watched the light in silence.
When the remaining radiance faded, a cherry-pink-haired girl sat on the sofa, slowly opening heart-shaped eyes identical to Kaleni’s own.
“Y-Your Eminence?!”
Rina stared from Kaleni at her side to the cherry-pink-haired girl opposite her, her mind completely shutting down.
What was going on? Two Saintesses?!
“Wow!”
After a brief silence, Kaleni’s heart-shaped eyes turned into cross-shaped stars. She sprang to her feet, ran to Vanessa, and began poking at her cheeks, touching her hair, and fussing over her clothes.
“I knew it! Little Vinny, you are a Facilis too! And your outfit is so gorgeous! It matches perfectly, and it even comes with a one-click outfit change? Is that magic? Teach me that spell! I want instant costume changes too!”
“Your Eminence, please do not do that.”
Vanessa’s cheeks were being poked from side to side, yet she still maintained a professional smile, her tone helpless.
It was not as though Kaleni lacked those same features herself. Why was she so curious about them?
With that lively personality, Vanessa felt Kaleni would surely get along well with Selena.
“What do you mean, ‘Your Eminence’?”
Kaleni pouted in displeasure.
“Call me big sister!”
Vanessa’s expression became even harder to maintain.
What was that supposed to mean?
“Little Vinny, you are younger than me, right? There is no need to say it—you must be younger than me! Since we are family, what is wrong with calling me big sister?”