How Could the Villainous Young Master Be a Saintess?

Isatia stared at the world outside the cathedral doors, a strange light flickering in her beautiful eyes.

Having entered the Cathedral of the Dawn through Vanessa, Isatia now understood why, along the way, the only thing visible had been the cathedral itself, with nothing but darkness beyond.

Most likely, her [Perennial Imperial Diadem] had already collapsed and shattered along with the hub clock tower.

Everything had fallen back into silence, so naturally there had been nothing left to see.

Because of that, Isatia had already been able to anticipate what would happen next—

After her Sea of Mind crumbled, she would become a living dead person, doomed to exist forever in the darkness that followed [Perennial Imperial Diadem]’s collapse, enduring endless solitude.

What she had not expected was that when the cathedral doors were thrown open, what appeared before her eyes was not that same pitch-black void where you could not see your hand in front of your face, but a completely intact city-state—

And the Imperial Royal Knights who should all have vanished along with the hub clock tower.

They had all awakened once more.

But why??

Isatia did not understand what had happened in the meantime and abruptly turned to Vanessa.

“It’s not because of me, Isatia-classmate,” Vanessa said with a light laugh, shaking her head. “Do you remember those Marsmo people who thanked us earlier?”

“You mean?”

“That’s right. Those Marsmo people who died a thousand years ago and finally escaped the tyrant’s hands to gain true freedom used the soul power they had left behind on [Grandlord of Enslaved Souls] to rebuild this place.”

Vanessa explained it calmly.

“This is how they thanked you.”

“So now, Isatia—do you still think those ‘little people’ in your eyes can’t decide the big picture or stir up any waves?”

“...”

Isatia said nothing.

[Virtue +50]

[Current Virtue: 3774]

“Even so,” the Imperial Knight Captain said, looking toward the hub clock tower.

They had all noticed that the blue-haired youth from before was gone, replaced by this dreamlike, unbelievably beautiful cherry-haired girl.

They had no idea what had happened, nor did they intend to ask.

Still, the knights present were all worldly men—heroes of their eras who had served at the side of successive Heads of House Lanteville, absolutely loyal and extraordinarily capable.

Most of them had seen the Saintess of the Dawn in person.

Even if they could not be sure, given where these two had appeared—in the cathedral—more than a few of the Imperial Knights had their suspicions.

But suspicions were just suspicions.

This was not something they should dwell on, so no one asked.

They were long past ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) the age of being curious children.

Still... their own princess, Her Highness, seemed to have quite a good relationship with this girl who appeared to be a descendant of the House of Facilis??

Among the heroic spirits of the Imperial Knights, there were a few who understood how the Lanteville family’s predicament could be resolved.

Even though they could not yet be certain of Vanessa’s true identity, whether she was really a descendant of Facilis or not, the expressions they turned on her were already becoming somewhat subtle—and then, faintly regretful.

What a pity. Both of them were girls.

“Even like this, all we’ve done is return things to how they were before the collapse,” the Imperial Knight Captain said, his gaze fixed on the old clock tower covered in cracks.

“We haven’t repaired the hub clock tower.”

Of course, to bring the dead back to life at all was already a considerable miracle.

Perhaps it was also because Isatia’s [Perennial Imperial Diadem] had collapsed inside the Marsmo Secret Realm, and the souls of the Marsmo people carried a power of the same origin that they had been able to restore [Perennial Imperial Diadem].

But they could not carry out a true reversal and repair.

That would be the domain of Divine Authority.

“In other words, the clock tower will collapse sooner or later.”

The Knight Captain’s words made the hearts of all the knights present sink.

They had survived the disaster—yet had not wholly survived it.

The clock tower was the root.

If the fundamental problem could not be resolved, then in the end, it would still collapse; [Perennial Imperial Diadem] would ultimately still be destroyed.

“Your Highness Princess.”

The Imperial Knight Captain looked toward Isatia.

Among all the Heads of House Lanteville he had ever served, this young girl was a truly special one.

With his eye for people, honed over countless lives, he could tell that if she were allowed to grow smoothly, she would, without question, become a sovereign in her own right—

Even climb to a peerless height, accomplishing what no other Head of House Lanteville had ever achieved, reaching realms that none of the previous Lanteville heads had ever attained.

But it could only be called heaven’s jealousy of genius.

In her generation, it had just so happened that this kind of thing occurred.

If she had only been given more time, perhaps she really might have found a way to resolve the hidden danger of [Perennial Imperial Diadem].

Ill-starred, ill-timed.

That was the thought in the hearts of all the knights now, accompanied only by helpless sighs.

A thousand years of vigil, and in the end, this was where it all led.

“In that case, maybe I could give it a try,” a gentle, sun-warm voice suddenly rang out, blooming like healing sound in each withered knight’s heart just as the atmosphere was turning heavy.

All the Imperial Knights turned their eyes to Vanessa.

Though their gazes brimmed with joy, there was also doubt in some of them; others were the same, but after a brief moment of doubt, a look of understanding spread through their eyes.

If this girl truly was a descendant of that family, then being able to do such a thing... would not be strange at all.

“You... you have a way?”

Isatia turned back, looking at Vanessa in surprise.

No one knew better than she did how troublesome and difficult to handle the side effects of the Lanteville family’s [Saint’s Favor] were.

This was clearly not something that could be healed by ordinary means.

If not nourished by another [Saint’s Favor], the scars of [Perennial Imperial Diadem] were irreversible.

That was the price her family paid.

It was something tied to the laws themselves.

How could it possibly change??

“Maybe,” Vanessa said.

After thinking for a moment, she stepped up the stairs and walked onto the high platform, every gaze and all hopes following her.

For a time, the only sound left in the Cathedral of the Dawn was the click of Vanessa’s high-heeled boots against the floor.

“Can I begin?”

Standing on the high platform at the cathedral’s tribunal, Vanessa asked Isatia.

Isatia still had no idea what Vanessa was going to do, but she nodded all the same.

Below, the Imperial Knight Captain calmly watched Vanessa, then gave her a formal knight’s bow.

After that, the other knights followed suit, bowing to Vanessa alongside their captain.

For a moment, the sound of armor scraping in unison filled the cathedral.

They did not say anything, but what they wished to express was already perfectly clear.

Everything... we entrust to you.

—

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—

Vanessa took a deep breath.

If it had been earlier, she would have had no way at all.

Isatia was just lucky enough to have caught the right timing.

You really could say she was a fated heroine: whenever she was in a precarious life-and-death crisis, she would always encounter the destined benefactor who would pull her back from the brink.

Hmm. Wait. Something about that felt off.

Vanessa noticed the blind spot.

Why did it feel like every time one of these heroines hit a dead end, the one who stepped in to help them was her?

When Shicodale was being bullied by tribesmen at enrollment, the one who helped was her.

When Mirexia fell victim to the [Bronze Blood] conspiracy, the one who helped was also her.

When Aesphyra was being hammered into the ground by Jiu Lixue, the one who intervened was still her.

And now, when Isatia’s [Saint’s Favor] was on the verge of collapse, the one stepping up to help was, yet again, her.

And somehow, every time, it just so happened that she had obtained the exact ability that could help the other party.

This time, she owed it to her ancestor Elusa, who had taught her the formulas for many lost potions.

On top of that, she had helped fill in the missing part of the bloodline after the House of Facilis became a dead bloodline—namely, the last [Saint’s Favor] of the House of Facilis.

Yes, the House of Facilis really did have a lot of Saint’s Favors.

With this one, there were already three.

The third Saint’s Favor of the House of Facilis was called [Eternal-Day Holy Hymn].

As for its effect, it was quite random.

That’s right—truly and literally random.

But any target could serve as its recipient.

Vanessa was no architect.

The buildings inside [Perennial Imperial Diadem] were inanimate objects, and not ordinary buildings, either.

There was no way to repair them with holy light or healing spells; that was pure mismatch of specialization.

But [Eternal-Day Holy Hymn] was different.

It could treat anything at all as its release target and bestow a [Miracle] effect upon it.

That [Miracle] effect was completely random.

And of course, no power came without a price.

[Eternal-Day Holy Hymn] was no exception.

Its cooldown was extremely long—perhaps only usable once a month.

In addition, [Eternal-Day Holy Hymn] had a side effect.

Compared to a [Saint’s Favor] like [Perennial Imperial Diadem], however, that side effect was relatively minor: for a period of time, her Spirit Soul would be sealed, and she would not be able to use magic.

No matter what, all Vanessa could do now was treat a dead horse like a live one and try.

She took a long breath, pressed her hands together in prayer, and lowered her eyes slightly.

In the next moment, her hands spread outward, and like a noble white swan, she lifted her head and let her voice bloom.

The pure, immaculate cherry-haired girl used her oriole-like voice to weave a gently flowing, beautiful song, like the swan’s elegy and the echo of the heavens all at once.

It was filled with lament and sorrow for countless living beings and praise for every warrior who stood in defense of justice.

All the Imperial Knights present, Isatia included, fell into a long silence, lost within it.

It felt as if a sacred angel had descended and washed the heart and soul of each one of them.

This was no mere song.

It was saturated with an untouchable divinity and sanctity.

As the hymn reached its final movement, the girl’s nightingale-like voice suddenly soared.

With the motion of her body, a pair of pure, flawless angel wings unfurled from her back, and countless soft white feathers drifted through the air like dandelion fluffs.

Only then did Isatia snap out of her daze, a feeling stirring within her as she looked toward the cathedral doors.

She saw the shattered stones of the Marsmo royal palace, which had collapsed earlier, responding to the angel girl’s song and miraculously flowing together, fusing into blocks of brick and tile.

They joined with the other ruined sections, and from that union new parts were born—sections she had never once explored.

This was nothing short of a miracle.

Isatia looked elsewhere and found that the ancient clusters of buildings, their surfaces cracked, had not had their fissures reversed—

But a layer of pure white, like angel wings, had formed upon them, covering the cracks evenly like crystal-clear flakes of snow.

When she looked to the core of [Perennial Imperial Diadem], the most important hub clock tower, she saw the same thing.

Its cracks were covered and steeped in that spotless, translucent angelic white.

At the same time, Isatia felt a change in her Sea of Mind.

Perhaps because she had been in a state of mental exhaustion for so long, she had already forgotten what it felt like when her mental condition was still good.

Not only that, but the gaps and wounds on the bodies of the Imperial Knights listening to the holy hymn were rapidly being repaired.

The armor they wore was reinforced, gaining a layer of strengthening that made it seem indestructible.

It was like a spring rain awakening all sleeping things, and in an instant, the world brimmed with vibrant life.

Finally, amid a soaring, majestic crescendo of praise, the holy hymn came to its close.

The angel girl on the high platform folded her wings in, pressed her hands together once more, and prayed devoutly, as if everything had returned to calm.

“What is... that?”

The Imperial Knights, who had noticed the [Miracle] that had taken place upon their bodies, were all stunned.

Beyond that, they also saw the changes within [Perennial Imperial Diadem].

“Huff...”

When the hymn ended, Vanessa let out a long breath, feeling as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

At the same time, she felt that all the mana in her body had been completely scooped out.

Her power seemed blocked by something; no matter what she did, she could not draw it out.

Sure enough, the people of Carillian really did clash with her fate.

One had exhausted her refined blood, which had yet to fully recover even now; another had now stripped her of all her strength.

You really could not compete with fated heroines over destiny; if you crossed paths with them, you would always be forced into becoming the destined benefactor in their lives, making sacrifices for them.

“Isatia, that’s the blessing of the holy hymn. It can temporarily take the clock tower’s place in bearing the corrosion level,” Vanessa explained.

Then she paused.

“However, it can’t last forever. It needs to be ‘re-medicated’ at regular intervals.”

“As long as it keeps being renewed, then... theoretically, we can keep things going and ensure your life is not in danger.”

At those words, Isatia’s expression shifted slightly.

[Virtue +150]

[Current Virtue: 3924]

After all, who wouldn’t experience a tremendous emotional shift when hope of continuing to live appeared in the midst of despair?

The girl before her was like an angel placed at her side by fate, bringing her hope and new life.

“Thank you, Lady Saintess of Facilis,” the Imperial Knight Captain said, giving Vanessa a solemn bow of gratitude.

“Thank you for saving the Tyrel Empire and saving the House of Lanteville.”

“Mr. Knight Captain, I’m not a Saintess,” Vanessa said, a bit embarrassed.

“You are not a Saintess?”

The Imperial Knight Captain fell silent.

It was obvious that none of the Imperial Knights present believed that for a second.