How Could the Villainous Young Master Be a Saintess?

Obviously, after witnessing the miracle just now, the Imperial Royal Knights present all refused to believe Vanessa’s claim that she was not a Saintess.

“If even you cannot be considered a Saintess, then who in this world could bear that title?” the Imperial Knight Captain asked in return.

Hearing that, Vanessa opened her mouth as if to speak, then fell silent for a moment before explaining again. “I really am not.”

The Imperial Royal Knights clearly did not believe her, but they did not continue pressing either. Since this Lady Saintess, for some reason, did not wish to reveal her identity, they chose not to get hung up on the issue.

“Thank you, Vinny.”

After a long silence, all the thousands of words in Isatia’s heart were condensed into that one, very deep “thank you.”

“In the future, if you run into any trouble, just come to me.”

Hearing that, Vanessa let out a long sigh. “There’s no need, Isatia.”

If you all could just cause me a little less trouble, I’d already be plenty grateful.

Of course, she did not say that last sentence out loud. Right now, she was exhausted in both body and mind, mentally worn to the point of collapse, her eyelids about to droop shut.

Vanessa rubbed her head, bent her knees, and squatted down in front of the judgment dais with a thoroughly tired expression, leaning against it.

It had just been too grueling, too draining. She had fought while already anemic, unleashed [All-Gods Consecration Flame], then had to get back up in a state of complete exhaustion and hold a concert. Now she was totally spent; she did not even want to string a full sentence together.

“So, since that’s the case, there actually is one thing I’d like to ask Your Highness the Princess to help with.” Vanessa murmured softly, her tone saturated with fatigue.

“What is it?” Isatia asked.

“You mentioned it yourself before,” Vanessa said. “You should know that this particular identity of mine cannot be known by anyone, right?”

“Is it the Church of the Dawn and the Pope who are making things difficult for you?” Isatia’s dark brows knit slightly.

“Whether they make things difficult or not is another matter. I simply don’t want to have any dealings with them to begin with.” Vanessa shook her head with effort, cold sweat sliding down from her forehead. “You understand what I mean, Isatia.”

“I understand. I’ll keep this secret for you,” Isatia nodded. “But besides that, if there’s anything else I can help with, just say the word.”

“Thank you.”

Vanessa was not really afraid that Isatia would tell anyone else about this. After dealing with her, she felt the other woman’s character was not the sort that would do such a thing.

The fated heroines generally all had pretty good character. Even Jiu Lixue, who belonged to an enemy faction, had her own bottom line and would absolutely never lay a hand on civilians.

What was more, at this point she more or less had Isatia’s lifeline in her hands. From now on, Isatia would have to come find her every so often to “change the dressing.”

That being the case, it was even less likely that the other woman would reveal her identity to anyone, especially not to the Church of the Dawn.

“Honestly, haven’t we just been going in circles this whole time?”

Vanessa suddenly seemed to think of something and chuckled lightly. “Even when [Perennial Imperial Diadem] replicated the Marsmo royal palace, it could only slow the corrosion of your Sea of Mind. It could not cure it. If you had told me about your situation earlier, Isatia, we wouldn’t have had to run such a big circle, don’t you think?”

“Though saying it now is a bit of an after-the-fact complaint.”

After saying that, Vanessa leaned lightly against the dais and closed her eyes.

“Going in circles, hm?”

Thinking back on what Vanessa had said to her before, and the argument she’d had with Vinny when he was still in his male form, Isatia’s lips inexplicably hooked into a faint curve—one even she herself did not notice.

“Right... that’s it.”

Vanessa seemed to remember something and forced her spirit back up. Even though there was no concept of time inside the Divine Authority Secret Realm, they had always been inside Isatia’s [Perennial Imperial Diadem], so a great deal of time should have already passed—probably a whole day.

Vanessa wanted to try and see whether she could turn back into Vinny now, so she looked over at Isatia.

Isatia understood at once and glanced at the Imperial Royal Knights under her command. “Everyone, you’ve worked hard.”

The Imperial Knight Captain was an old fox who had lived many years; with one look he immediately caught the implication behind Isatia’s words.

“The enemy has been completely wiped out inside the [Perennial Imperial Diadem]. Withdraw.”

With that, the Imperial Knight Captain called for the other Imperial Royal Knights to leave the Cathedral of the Dawn one after another.

Seeing this, Vanessa let out a breath of relief. In front of the judgment dais, she tilted her head back slightly. Accompanied by a rippling, cherry-white radiance fading away, the cherry-haired girl vanished, replaced by that familiar blue-haired young man.

Even though she had already witnessed it once before, Isatia still found it very hard to believe.

That “degenerate young master” who had been despised and scorned by everyone was only a disguise. The truth was the story of a Facilis descendant who had borne slander and humiliation in silence.

Vinny’s breathing was faint. With a trembling hand, he took out that cheap bottle of cologne from his breast and sprayed himself a few times to cover up the scent that originally belonged to Vanessa.

This cheap, low-grade unisex cologne had practically become part of his standard kit. To prevent unexpected situations, he had to bring it with him everywhere he went.

“Isatia, do you want to spray some too?”

Vinny put the cologne away and looked at Isatia.

“Why would I spray cologne?”

“To help cover the scent. You interacted with me before, so you’ve still got my scent from when I was in female form clinging to you,” Vinny explained.

“Would someone really notice that level of lingering scent?”

It was not that Isatia did not pay attention to detail; she just felt this whole thing was a bit too far-fetched.

“They would. Some people’s noses are sharper than a dog’s. Once she catches the scent, she’ll track it right back to me.” Vinny chose not to name names here.

If she found out Vanessa had appeared inside the Secret Realm, that would pretty much confirm everything.

“All right, I understand.”

Isatia nodded, then took out a delicate, violet mini-spray bottle she carried on her person and calmly spritzed herself a few times.

“Now that the King of Marsmo, who was revived in the Secret Realm by Divine Authority fragments, is completely dead, the Divine Authority Secret Realm should collapse along with him, right?” Vinny speculated.

“It depends, but it will probably collapse,” Isatia answered.

“In that case, are we going to stay inside your [Perennial Imperial Diadem], or dissolve it and try to go back?” Vinny asked again.

For the moment, they still could not be sure what the outside world was like—whether the Marsmo Secret Realm had already collapsed. If it had, would dissolving [Perennial Imperial Diadem] directly send them into dangerous spatial turbulence?

“We still can’t be sure right now.”

Isatia did not have a definite answer either. She could not confirm whether it was safe outside yet.

“Come to think of it, is the Marsmo Secret Realm just going to collapse like this? This Secret Realm forged from two fragments of Divine Authority and in the end it leaves nothing behind, and we also walk away with nothing.” Vinny leaned back against the table.

Well, it was not like they had gotten nothing. Under his hymn, it seemed Isatia had reforged the Marsmo royal palace inside [Perennial Imperial Diadem]. Having an additional core building from an ancient civilization would go a long way toward slowing the corrosion. That was not exactly a zero harvest.

“Nothing at all, hm?”

Isatia repeated the phrase, paused for a moment, then looked at Vinny. “Have you forgotten what you told me earlier?”

“Earlier? Ah, Your Highness, I’ve told you so many things earlier that I don’t even know which sentence you mean.” Vinny scratched his head.

“You said that even the little people, who in my eyes had no right to bear responsibility, also had their own historic mission.” Isatia supplied the answer for him.

“Ah, right, I did say that.”

“I now find that a very interesting way to put it. Didn’t you just prove it to me?” Isatia asked.

“Haha, fair enough, that is how it turned out.” Vinny laughed. “Isatia, why don’t you try dissolving [Perennial Imperial Diadem]?”

“I think even if we dissolve [Perennial Imperial Diadem] right now, it won’t be a problem. There’s someone who’ll be there to catch us if we fall.”

Vinny’s confidence came from one simple reason: the person holding the net for them was Aesphyra.

When they went into the deeply buried Secret Realm, Aesphyra knew about it. She also knew what the Marsmo Secret Realm actually was. She would go tell the Academy, have the professionals there analyze it and figure out how to handle it and how to rescue the two of them.

Since that was the case, they did not need to worry too much.

Vinny himself might not even have realized that, by now, he trusted Aesphyra very deeply. As long as Aesphyra was there, he would feel incredibly at ease.

Vinny, however, did not think much of it. Even if he noticed it, he would just chalk it up to the sense of safety a fated main heroine gave him, nothing more.

Maybe it was also because he felt too safe when he was at Aesphyra’s side that whenever he was with her, his brain tended to run at its lowest capacity. After all, he did not have to solve anything himself—he just had to wait for the fated main heroine to do the work.

“You mean, Classmate Aesphyra?” Isatia raised a brow and asked.

“Yeah, it can only be her, right?” Vinny replied carelessly. “What about it?”

“Nothing. I just feel that you and Classmate Aesphyra have a very good relationship, and you trust her very much,” Isatia said quietly.

“Classmate Isatia, food can be eaten carelessly but words can’t be said carelessly. Who has a good relationship with her, huh?!”

That line made Vinny react as if he’d been shocked, hurriedly denying it—even though the person in question was nowhere near the scene.

“That girl—tsk, forget it, don’t bring her up. Total pain in the neck. But she is reliable. As long as she’s there, we’re safe enough. We can just leave it to her.”

Of course Isatia could see what Vinny’s true attitude was. She thought for a moment. “Classmate Vinny, you said before that you used your own blood to save another person besides me who also carries Carillian blood, right?”

“Ah, uh...”

Asked that question so directly, Vinny froze.

Admitting it was awkward, not admitting it was also awkward.

“Is it inconvenient to say who it is?”

Seeing Vinny’s reaction, Isatia had no intention of forcing the issue.

With Isatia’s level of intelligence, it was hard not to notice something, but since Vinny did not want to say, she would not push him.

“Well, Isatia, I just think prying into other people’s privacy is not a very good thing, so...”

“I understand. If you don’t want to say it, I won’t ask about it again.”

Isatia looked down at Vinny from on high. Those purple eyes of hers were, as always, filled with the dignity of an imperial princess. With a kind of domineering yet profoundly reassuring aura, she spoke slowly. “I will not force you to do anything you don’t want to do.”

“Uh... th-thank you.”

That line made Vinny feel a bit strange. He did not know what was going through his own head, but why did he have such a strong feeling that he was a delicate little girlfriend in some overbearing-CEO romance?

No, no, no. That had to be an illusion.

Then—

Just as Vinny had that thought, he suddenly felt his field of vision sway and rise, and then he saw Isatia’s cold beauty right up close in front of him, together with the noble, orchid-like fragrance that washed over him.

“Eh—aaah?!”

The moment he realized that he, a grown man, had actually been picked up in Isatia’s arms like this, Vinny’s eyes flew wide, and a powerful surge of shame rushed up at once.

Maybe it was the hormones talking, but when he was Vanessa, being held like this had also been a bit embarrassing, yet still tolerable. Once he was back to being Vinny, though, getting held like this by a girl in reverse made him feel extremely bashful.

“Isatia, what are you doing?!” Vinny could not help asking.

“Didn’t you say you wanted me to dissolve [Perennial Imperial Diadem]? I’m not sure whether it’s safe outside right now. If we’re in unstable space, I can protect you immediately and ensure your safety.”

Isatia spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “After all, your condition is very poor right now.”

“Ah, so that’s it, but... you don’t have to pick me up. Just holding onto me is fine.”

Before Vinny could finish, Isatia’s cool, beautiful eyes met his, and the powerful aura within them instantly crushed him into silence.

Vinny opened his mouth, then chose to close it again.

“This isn’t the same as earlier. This is a necessary precaution. Don’t be willful. Do as you’re told.”

Isatia’s tone brooked no argument at all; she was clearly not going to allow Vinny to refuse her.

Uh... what.

Vinny was stunned.

Wait a second—between the two of them, who exactly was supposed to be the guy and who was supposed to be the girl??

And his height was at least a little taller than Isatia’s, wasn’t it??

This was bad. Why was this intense sense of being doted on by an overbearing CEO just getting stronger and stronger??

Fine, it all had to be his imagination. Given the circumstances, it really was right to be cautious. Combined with Isatia’s naturally forceful personality, it was not that unreasonable for her to act like this.

“For safety’s sake, I don’t mind if you tuck your head into my arms,” Isatia added.

...Huh??

Vinny pressed his lips together.

If he tucked in any further, he was going to bump into those two huge headlights, wasn’t he?? Could he really tuck his head in there??

Then Isatia lowered her lashes, and Vinny knew she was about to dissolve [Perennial Imperial Diadem].