How Could the Villainous Young Master Be a Saintess?

“Oh, you’re awake? I was betting you’d be out for a few more days—maybe not wake up at all.”

The moment the door creaked open, Aesphyra heard that grating, mock-filled voice she knew far too well.

The good news: it wasn’t some bandit or robber walking in—if it had been, she’d be completely helpless right now and who knew what could happen.

The bad news: it was Vinny.

That blue-haired guy who, while decent-looking on the surface, somehow radiated a punchable aura because of his personality.

[Virtue +50]

[Current Virtue: 1,054]

“Hey, seriously, lucky you woke up. If you’d really just kept sleeping, died, or ended up a vegetable or something, I’d have had to deal with collecting your corpse, and I wouldn’t know how to explain that to the Academy.”

Vinny shook his head. He had Frostfang slung over his shoulder, and a few rabbits hanging from the shaft—looked like he’d just hunted them.

“......”

“What, not talking? Did you get knocked stupid?”

Vinny frowned, stepped up to her bedside, and waved a hand in front of her face. When she didn’t so much as twitch, his expression turned genuinely startled.

“Whoa—don’t tell me you really turned into a vegetable?!”

“Oh, man, this is bad. What am I supposed to do? Even if you heal, you’ll be drooling all over the place.”

“How long has it been?” Aesphyra suddenly asked.

“Huh? Oh, so you can still talk? I thought you’d lost even that and from now on could only communicate through drooling—ahahahaha!”

Vinny laughed, but when she didn’t join in—just kept watching him with that not-quite-smiling, skin-deep grin that somehow felt... predatory—his chuckle dwindled into a few awkward, dry noises.

Yeah, maybe stop laughing, if he valued his life. Otherwise, once she could move, he’d be the one not waking up.

“Ahem. It’s been three days. You’ve been out cold for three whole days. I honestly thought that fox beat you into a pig.”

He scratched his head.

“Where is this?”

“No idea. After we landed, we ended up in some unknown forest. You were in bad shape, so I carried you around looking for somewhere to rest. Found this cabin, called out three times—no answer—so I figured it was abandoned and set up here.”

“You carried me the whole time?”

“Yeah. What, you gonna be fussy about that too? You think I wanted to carry you? Heavy as a piglet.”

Vinny pouted.

That was a lie. Aesphyra was actually light—though her hardware in certain areas was lacking, her small frame was soft and easy to carry.

And besides, at the time he’d been Wen Nisha—Wen Nisha could’ve carried five, ten Aesphyra’s without trouble.

Just in case she later recognized his scent, he’d sprayed their points of contact with his usual cheap perfume to cover it.

“My condition was... bad?” Aesphyra seemed to latch onto the key point.

“Yeah, you were showing obvious signs of dying. I was already ready to collect your corpse,” Vinny teased.

“So... how did you bring me back?”

She paused, as if thinking something over, before asking again.

“How would I have the ability for that?” Vinny spread his hands, then nodded toward the empty potion bottle on the table. “Your own life-saving elixir. You still had half left—I gave it to you.”

This was the answer he’d prepared well before she woke. Reasonable, airtight, nothing to arouse suspicion.

“Oh?”

Her eyes flicked to the empty bottle on the lone table in the cabin. For some reason, Vinny felt like all the light drained from them in that moment, replaced by a black-hole gaze that devoured every glint.

“But if I remember right... I already gave that bottle to you.”

“Uh—uhhh...”

Vinny’s brain finally caught up to the severity of that problem. Under that smiling-yet-smileless gaze, his back broke into a cold sweat.

Crap!

Wait—don’t say it!

Back then, it had been too urgent to think about this, but looking at it now, if you traced it through, didn’t that mean the two of them had...??

Oh hell.

He... had actually...??

He was so dead. The moment she could move would be the moment he went to meet his ancestors.

“Well, from a purely theoretical, multi-angle perspective... in the strictest definition, it’s not exactly what you’re thinking—”

“Yes, or no.”

Aesphyra cut him off, smiling sweetly.

“That’s... hard to say... really hard to say...”

“Yes, or no.”

“If I tell the truth... you promise not to hit me?” Vinny asked weakly.

“Yes, or no.”

Same tone, same expression, same inflection on all three repetitions—unnervingly so.

“......”

Zero room to negotiate.

“Uh... theoretically... from a matter-based point of view... under the incredibly urgent circumstances and irresistible forces at the time... it seems... probably... maybe... yes?”

He fidgeted, eyes darting.

“......”

She kept that elegant smile.

[Virtue +500]

[Current Virtue: 1,554]

That smile looked good under any circumstance—except right now, paired with that massive Virtue spike, it felt downright ominous.

“B-but! You can’t blame me! The situation was that urgent—I had no other choice, right??” Vinny hurried to explain. “It’s not like I could just watch you die!”

“Oh?~ Is Vinny-classmate thinking I’d blame you for it?”

Aesphyra’s smile was like honey—if the honey weren’t laced with poison.

“You... wouldn’t?”

He stood there stiffly like a scolded schoolboy, eyes full of disbelief.

“What are you saying? Of course not.”

Wouldn’t? Really wouldn’t??

Judging by that Virtue gain, she was planning to kill him, wasn’t she?

Vinny now seriously suspected that the moment she recovered her mobility, she’d grab her Holy Sword and lop his head off.

For most girls this would be unacceptable; for an iron-willed green-eyed Aesphyra? Forget sharing a bottle—she’d put on disposable gloves just to take something from a man.

Three days ago, she’d broken more “purity” rules than in both her lives combined. Before this, she’d never even had a single hair brushed by a man.

She hadn’t even settled accounts for that yet, and now this.

He could imagine she probably felt sick enough to want to vomit up everything she’d eaten in the last three days, yet was forcing herself to act calm.

Probably lying low to avoid alerting him—waiting to pounce with red eyes the moment she could move.

“Cough...”

Just then, Aesphyra hacked up a few flecks of blood.

“Hey, calm down, you need to calm down! Getting angry is punishing yourself over someone else’s mistake. You were badly injured—still haven’t fully recovered—don’t get worked up, it’ll slow your healing.”

Vinny leaned forward, thinking quickly. “How about this—I come over and let you slap me a few times, get it out of your system, huh? Just a few, though, no more!”

Given her current state, any “hit” from her would be more like a playful swat—better to let her vent now than wait until she was fully healed.

Ah, truly the Idea King of Camella.

He leaned in.

“I can’t lift my hand.”

Aesphyra lay on the crude wooden bed.

“Can’t lift it? Want me to help?” he asked.

She didn’t answer—so he took that as yes. He carefully took her wrist, but first placed a silk scarf in his palm to avoid direct skin contact.

Aesphyra watched these little precautions in silence.

“Vinny-classmate.”

“Yeah? What is it?” he asked.

“Gloves.”

“...You’re gonna wear gloves just to slap someone? Really?” he muttered. “What’s the point now, when I literally had my—”

He cut himself off when he caught her smiling eyes.

“Uh... to put the gloves on you, I’ll have to touch your hand, right?” he tried.

Earlier, while she’d been unconscious, he’d stripped off her bloodied disposable gloves without thinking twice.

“......”

“Alright, alright, don’t look at me like that, I’ll have nightmares. I’ll be careful, okay?”

He fished a glove out of her pocket and slipped it onto her hand with painstaking care, like he was working on fine craftsmanship.

For some reason, watching him be so serious over her little quirks made Aesphyra think this blue-haired guy could be... handsome.

Sometimes.

She thought back to him stepping in front of Jiu Lixue’s magic for her.

Good thing Jiu Lixue’s [Ice Magic: Ice Greatsword] was ice-element—his Ice Skin Technique made ice much harder to penetrate.

Otherwise, the outcome might’ve been very different.

[Virtue +100]

[Current Virtue: 1,654]

“When you jumped in to block that fox lady’s magic, what were you thinking?” she asked suddenly.

“Huh? What do you mean? Didn’t I say before? This young master doesn’t like owing favors—so I blocked it. Why?”

“But if I’d died, the creditor for that favor would be gone.”

“Tch. What do you take this young master for? I may be the Infamous Villain of the Camella Capital, but I wouldn’t stoop to that—it’d be beneath my style and dignity, got it?”

“Dignity? Pfft~”

“Hey, what’s that laugh supposed to mean? Are you saying I don’t have dignity?”

“Didn’t you ever think you might die doing that?”

“Die? Hah. That’s nothing. Not even close to the toughest spot I’ve been in. I’ve grown up eating scorn and spit for breakfast. You think that scares me?”

Vinny scoffed, laying it on thick. “I don’t know your circumstances, but you’ve got food, clothes, and a family richer than nations behind you. That’s a lot better than me.”

“Not that it’s funny, but... I lost my parents young. No relatives. No one to rely on. Everything depended on me. Some days I didn’t know where my next meal would come from, always worrying about money, getting mocked by everyone from nobles to beggars. That kind of life... you’ll probably never understand.”

He said it flatly.

Aesphyra’s gaze shifted slightly.

[Virtue +100]

[Current Virtue: 1,754]

“Alright, glove’s on. Now, just so you know...”

He lifted her hand with the scarf and...

...nothing happened.

“What? Weren’t you gonna let me slap you?”

“...Does it have to be the face?”

“Huh? You said slap—where else would I hit?”

“...Fine.”

He lightly tapped his own cheek.

[Virtue +20]

[Current Virtue: 1,774]

“Use more force, Vinny-classmate~”

“......”

He slapped himself again.

[Virtue +30]

[Current Virtue: 1,804]

Wait—how was she gaining Virtue while hitting him? Was she a hidden sadist?

“Not enough~ Harder~”

“Hey, you’re not gonna stop until you see a red handprint, are you? That’s too much.”

“Don’t bother. Take the glove off. Your face is too oily—the grip’s bad.”

“Tch! Complaining while hitting someone? Yeah, I haven’t had time to wash properly, so maybe a bit oily—but whose fault is that? And you can feel it through the glove?”

Still, he complied, peeling it off carefully and tossing it away.

“Vinny-classmate, you’re filthy. Covered in blood.”

“Oh, you’re not much better,” he shot back.

“I want to bathe. And change into clean clothes.”

“Yeah, where am I supposed to get clean clothes? We didn’t bring any luggage—it’s all back in Lake Village. Be glad your life isn’t back there too.”

“The blood on you—it’s yours, right?”

“Mostly. I think,” he said.

Some of it was from carrying her.

“How are your injuries?”

“Huh?”

He suspected this was something she’d been circling around to ask.

Could it be that earlier, when she stopped hitting him, saying his face was oily, it was because she thought he was still hurt but had taken care of her anyway?

...Yeah, about that.

He’d healed completely the moment he transformed into Wen Nisha.

“It’s fine. I won’t die.”

No need to explain—too complicated. How could he justify full recovery without healing items or potions?

“Anyway, I’m in better shape than you. Don’t worry about me.”

He sat down beside her.

[Virtue +50]

[Current Virtue: 1,854]

Huh? Another Virtue gain?

Was this little white-haired nut thinking he was faking strength for her sake?

She was too suspicious—never took anyone’s words at face value, unlike that little fool Sico’dell, who’d believe anything he said.

But... he was telling the truth.

Oh well. He couldn’t risk revealing anything—so he’d just keep pretending his wounds hadn’t fully healed.