How Could the Villainous Young Master Be a Saintess?

Why was it that when she tried to summon [Perennial Imperial Diadem], closing her eyes instead made a road appear before her, leading straight to the Cathedral of the Dawn inside her [Perennial Imperial Diadem]??

And hadn’t the ancestors said that summoning [Perennial Imperial Diadem] in a place that had not been constructed would bring backlash? So why hadn’t she been hit by any backlash at all??

Glancing down at Vanessa in her arms, Isatia suddenly had a feeling of understanding.

That Cathedral of the Dawn had been gradually constructed by the Lanteville ancestors based on their understanding of the Church of the Dawn. Even so, all they had managed to build was a single complete cathedral with a courtyard.

Could it be that Vanessa was a key? A key that opened the way to the Cathedral of the Dawn??

Isatia could not say for sure. All she knew was that in this moment of despair, closing her eyes and seeing that familiar constructed cathedral appear filled her with an abnormal sense of peace, as if this were a road leading back home.

She wrapped one arm around Vanessa’s back and the other under her knees, and without the slightest hesitation walked forward with her, paying no attention to where Kantesius had gone.

This road toward the Cathedral of the Dawn was not exactly near, but not exactly far either. It was just that with nothing on either side to serve as a reference, Isatia felt as if she could not tell whether she was moving at all, and could only judge from the way the distance between her and the cathedral seemed to be shrinking.

Yet the cathedral only seemed close because there were no other buildings around it. In truth, it was still some distance away.

Isatia had no idea how long she walked. It felt as if her world had narrowed to just herself, Vanessa, and that Cathedral of the Dawn whose distance she still could not quite gauge.

The Marsmo Royal Palace was gone. Kantesius was nowhere to be seen either.

If not for the girl in her arms, and the refreshing scent of White Camellia and lavender coming from her body, Isatia would have felt as though she alone remained in this world, and that this place was nothing more than an illusory world born from her Sea of Mind being drained dry, while her real body had already fallen into an eternal sleep.

This road was not straight. There were many bends. Isatia had the sense that, along the way, she was circling around many buildings.

With no one to disturb her and no distractions in her mind, she lifted her gaze again—and the gate into the cathedral courtyard was now right before her, standing open wide.

Isatia remembered that the Cathedral of the Dawn’s function inside [Perennial Imperial Diadem] was healing injuries. She could use it herself as well. But because the building had been constructed only from successive family heads’ “understanding” of the Church of the Dawn, its healing effect was not particularly strong. Moreover, the imperial knights appearing here all marched out from the royal city, and once they burned out their strength and disappeared, they would simply walk back out from here again, without needing any healing.

Because of that, the Cathedral of the Dawn inside [Perennial Imperial Diadem] was not very useful. Mainly, it slightly increased the hub clock tower’s resistance to corrosion.

Isatia rarely came here—one could almost say she had practically never come. Now, as she stepped up to the courtyard gate, the path into the courtyard stood open to her.

She did not hesitate for even a moment and entered. In the center of the cathedral courtyard, a statue of the Dawn Goddess towered over them. Holding in her arms the cherry-haired girl who looked astonishingly similar to the Dawn Goddess with her hands clasped in prayer for all living beings, Isatia lifted her eyes to the goddess statue.

At the same time, a glow descended from the direction of the statue, spilling onto them both. Bathed in that warm, gentle radiance, they each felt their bodies grow lighter, as if their injuries and exhaustion had both eased quite a bit.

“Mmh.”

Vanessa forced open her heavy eyelids. The first thing she saw was the cold beauty with black hair and violet eyes holding her.

For some reason, she felt that the chill that had been gripping her limbs earlier was gone, replaced by a cozy warmth—like a traveler who had wandered far from home for years finally returning to a long-lost homeland.

Only when she shifted her gaze did she notice the statue of the goddess standing not far away. It seemed to be watching her with kind eyes, casting a gentle gaze upon her.

“You’re awake? How do you feel?” Seeing that Vanessa seemed better, Isatia asked. As for where exactly they were now, she herself did not have a precise answer.

She could say this was the Cathedral of the Dawn inside her [Perennial Imperial Diadem], but somehow it also did not feel quite like it. If it was not, though, then where else could it be??

“Where is this?” Vanessa asked in confusion. She had no idea what had happened after she fainted and lost consciousness.

“It seems to be the Cathedral of the Dawn inside my [Perennial Imperial Diadem],” Isatia answered calmly.

“[Perennial Imperial Diadem]? But didn’t that—”

“Collapse, yes. So I’m not sure either.”

Only now did Vanessa notice the way they were positioned at the moment. She quickly looked aside, suddenly feeling more than a little uncomfortable.

How to put it... She had been the one to hold Isatia like this earlier, but that was her holding someone else. Being held like this by another girl was a whole different story, wasn’t it??

“Earlier, I tried to open [Perennial Imperial Diadem], and then ended up here,” Isatia explained, clearly not noticing Vanessa’s subtle reaction.

“Your [Perennial Imperial Diadem] has a Cathedral of the Dawn in it?” Vanessa murmured thoughtfully.

“Yes. But compared to the other buildings, it’s not very conspicuous, so you probably didn’t notice it before,” Isatia added, still explaining. “It’s a building constructed from ‘understanding,’ so it’s not like the others.”

“Then why would we end up at the cathedral of all places?” Vanessa pondered.

“I think it might have something to do with you.” Isatia’s gaze settled on Vanessa. “You’re a key.”

“A key?”

Vanessa glanced around at the inside of the cathedral courtyard, then finally let her eyes rest on the cathedral doors.

“In that case, it looks like we don’t have many options left.”

“Come on, let’s go have a look.” As she spoke, Vanessa glanced somewhat awkwardly at the ground. “Um, Isatia, I think I’ve recovered quite a bit.”

“Mhm.” Isatia indicated that she had heard, then continued to hold Vanessa as she walked toward the cathedral doors, with no sign of putting her down.

“Isatia? Um, I feel like I’ve recovered my ability to move now, you know?” Seeing that the other girl still hadn’t gotten her point at all, Vanessa could not help speaking up again.

“Mhm, I know.” Isatia’s expression said, “Message received,” but she still did not seem to understand the implied meaning behind Vanessa’s words.

That couldn’t be right, could it? Isatia wasn’t this dense, was she??

She couldn’t read a girl’s subtle hints?

“Cough... Isatia, what I mean is—”

“Didn’t you already drop the ‘classmate’ before and just call me Isatia? Why are you putting a suffix back on now?” Isatia cut in before Vanessa could finish.

“...Fine. Isatia, I think I’ve already recovered enough to move on my own. I can walk by myself now. Thank you for carrying me earlier...”

“You think you’ve recovered?” Isatia shot her a glance, those violet eyes filled with an unquestionable decisiveness and force. “Now is not the time to be willful.”

Vanessa was struck speechless.

With those words out of Isatia’s mouth, wouldn’t speaking up again just make it seem like her priorities were completely off?

But... it was just putting her down to let her walk. That would not slow them down at all.

“...That’s not what I meant. I wasn’t being willful,” Vanessa muttered softly, turning her gaze aside, her voice light. As she flicked her head, several strands of pink hair brushed past the tip of Isatia’s nose.

Hm? That was not right.

Vanessa instinctively felt that the way she had just acted sounded suspiciously like a sulky little girlfriend??

‘[Virtue +50].’

‘[Current Virtue: 3454].’

Huh??

Vanessa was a bit puzzled. For a moment she even thought maybe the Virtue system had malfunctioned and was registering the wrong target. She was the one who’d had an emotional fluctuation—how could that earn Virtue??

Of course, she knew it was Isatia’s emotions that had stirred. But why?

Before she could keep thinking it through, Isatia had already reached the cathedral doors and pushed them open. The light streaming out washed over them both.

Their vision went white, everything vanishing from sight. When they opened their eyes again, they found themselves already standing on the raised platform inside the cathedral, in the priest’s place. On the table before them sat a small solid metal hammer.

So they had entered the inside of the cathedral?

Vanessa realized that at the moment they stepped into the cathedral, some mysterious force seemed to have drawn both her and Isatia in, separating them and placing her at Isatia’s side.

She felt that the inside of this cathedral was far larger than it appeared from outside. The light refracted through the stained-glass windows on both sides fell across the white stone floor in mottled colors.

On either side of the spacious cathedral were rows upon rows of pews for believers to use in their prayers. Down the center ran a broad aisle laid with red carpet, stretching all the way up to the priest’s exclusive platform.

Vanessa looked over at Isatia and found that the other girl was also glancing all around, observing the interior of the cathedral. She, too, seemed to be here for the first time.

“Ha! I finally found the two of you.”

Just as they were both wondering what had happened, the cathedral doors were shoved open. A tall, familiar figure swaggered in, and when he saw the two of them on the platform, he grinned.

“I was just wondering where you’d run off to. As if you could escape my Divine Authority field? Now I see—you pulled some kind of trick, didn’t you?”

Kantesius stepped across this architectural style he did not recognize at all, his gaze sweeping over all the furnishings inside the cathedral. He could not help letting out a mocking laugh.

“This is the architecture of your country?? It looks like a big cake, and the interior style is bizarre.” The now one-armed Kantesius laughed. “If I were still alive, I’d definitely conquer this place myself, then raze it and bring every brick back to build temples.”

“Hm? Pink-haired girl, you’re awake? But even if you are, I doubt you can still throw out that terrifying little flame from before,” Kantesius said. After noticing that Vanessa had woken, he hesitated for a moment, then firmly settled on his conclusion.

He was Kantesius. If nothing else, his intuition about crisis and life and death was razor sharp. He understood their current situation all too well. If they had even the slightest chance of victory, there was no way they would be cowering back here. Their micro-expressions earlier had already proven his judgment.

“So? Are you going to walk down here yourselves, or do you want me to come up there and smash this place to bits first?” Kantesius drawled.

Vanessa and Isatia exchanged a glance and both remained silent.

This should be the Cathedral of the Dawn inside Isatia’s [Perennial Imperial Diadem]. As for why they could still enter this cathedral even though [Perennial Imperial Diadem] had collapsed—

Isatia had thought of one possibility.

That Vanessa truly was a key—a key that could open the cathedral doors leading into her [Perennial Imperial Diadem].

Under normal circumstances, her [Perennial Imperial Diadem] could only be deployed in areas that had already been constructed. But if she was holding Vanessa, she could ignore the terrain entirely and step straight into the Cathedral of the Dawn within [Perennial Imperial Diadem].

Vanessa had thought of this possibility as well. She glanced thoughtfully back at the statue of the Dawn Goddess, then turned to face the doors and Kantesius’ direction.

At that moment, Kantesius had already begun mocking these foreign buildings he did not understand at all.

“Heh! Just like other foreign nations, you lot like building your structures above ground too.” Kantesius kicked over a pew, then shot the two women on the platform a contemptuous look and snorted. “Since the two pretty little things won’t come down, this king will just have to go up there and drag you down himself.”

With that, Kantesius charged toward Vanessa and Isatia on the platform.

Seeing this, Isatia was just about to grab Vanessa’s hand to pull her away when she noticed Vanessa shaking her head slightly, as if she had sensed something.

Isatia had said she had tried to open [Perennial Imperial Diadem] and that the [Perennial Imperial Diadem], which ought to have had no response, had reacted—and then the road to the cathedral had appeared.

“Isatia, maybe this isn’t a coincidence.”

“You’re right. Maybe I really am a ‘key’?”

“?”

“Isatia, did you know that in the era of the Old Tyrelis Empire, the Cathedral of the Dawn had another function?” Sensing Isatia’s puzzled expression, Vanessa smiled and ignored the enormous figure charging toward them.

“You mean...” Isatia’s gaze moved, drawn to the solid metal hammer lying on the table, with crosses engraved on both sides.

It was a hammer of judgment.

“That’s right. In the Old Tyrelis Empire era, the Cathedral of the Dawn was not only a place where believers prayed, but also a place where sinners were judged.” Vanessa stepped up to the table at the front of the platform.

“And the mark that distinguished a cathedral as being in a special period of law enforcement was whether there was a hammer of judgment placed on the priest’s reading table.”

“I don’t think we ended up here by accident.” With that, Vanessa lifted the metal judgment hammer from the table and brought it down hard upon it.

THUD, THUD!

With a resounding boom, Kantesius, who had been charging toward the platform, was suddenly swatted back as if by some strange, vast power swiping away a fly, and crashed down onto the cathedral’s red carpet, tumbling over several times.

“And what is this supposed to be?? A final struggle? It’s useless, I—”

Plop.

Just as he pushed himself up and managed to take two steps forward, Kantesius suddenly toppled to the ground again—and could not get back up.