How Could the Villainous Young Master Be a Saintess?

“Actually, if you want to say there’s something, there is.” Aesphyra paused, then shifted the direction of the conversation.

“Mm? What is it?” Vinny looked at her, puzzled.

“Classmate Vinny, you look pretty free.” Aesphyra gave him an unreadable smile.

“Of course I’m free. Today’s a rest day, isn’t it? I’m not allowed to be free?” Vinny rolled his eyes at her.

For some reason, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off about Aesphyra’s tone and expression. On instinct, it felt... weird.

“Then, Classmate Vinny, let’s play a little game.”

“? You’re in quite the mood, huh. What game?” Vinny didn’t get it.

“The rules are simple. It’s called ‘Guess the Joker.’” As she spoke, Aesphyra took a deck of magic-engraved cards out of her pocket and spread them flat over the table.

“Oh? How do you play?” Vinny perked up. Maybe it was just his personal tastes, but anything card-related always caught his interest.

“It’s very simple. Among these cards, there’s one joker. Guess which one it is, and you win.” Aesphyra propped her chin on one hand and laughed softly.

“Ohhh? Looks like you came prepared. Any hints?” Seeing Aesphyra still hovering her hand over the cards, Vinny asked.

“None at all. Classmate Vinny, you’ll have to judge for yourself.” Aesphyra smiled sweetly.

“Judge for myself? How the hell am I supposed to guess that? It’s not like I’ve got x-ray vision.” Vinny pursed his lips and went straight for a card in the corner at the edge.

“Then I’ll pick this one.” He flipped it over and found a farmer illustrated on it—not the joker.

“Wrong guess, Classmate Vinny.” Aesphyra shook her head lightly.

“Tch, out of this many cards you’re making me pick the joker, and you’re not giving me even a single hint? How hard do you want this to be??” Vinny pressed his lips together again and picked another card. “This one. I’m betting this one’s the joker.”

He flipped it. It was a coachman—not the joker either.

“Tch, figures it wouldn’t be that easy.” Vinny arched a brow and flipped another magic-engraved card. The image stitched on it still wasn’t the joker—it was a fisherman holding a rod.

He tossed the fisherman card back toward the pile and kept drawing, while Aesphyra watched from the side, smiling without a word.

“Ah, this one’s not it either?” Vinny grimaced at the three new cards he’d drawn. Not a single joker among them. “Did you actually put a joker in here? Why can’t I draw it at all??”

“Can’t be helped. Maybe this is just fate,” Aesphyra said with a small laugh.

“Fate, my ass. Fate what?? I really don’t buy that!” With that, Vinny kept drawing.

Strangely enough, no matter how he drew, he just couldn’t get that joker.

“Tch!” Staring at the remaining cards, Vinny simply flipped them all over at once. Finally—he did turn up the joker.

“Look, that counts as my win, right?” Vinny showed off the joker in front of Aesphyra, smug. “Don’t start counting how many cards I flipped or how many times I tried. Just answer me this: did I find it or not?”

Aesphyra gave a small, polite round of applause. “That really is just like you, Classmate Vinny.”

“Heh-heh.”

But before Vinny could say anything else, Aesphyra went on.

“That ‘never letting a single one go until you reach your goal’ attitude really is just like you~” Her face was full of teasing mockery.

“? ‘Never letting a single one go until I reach my goal’? What are you even talking about?” Vinny froze for a second, his uncertain gaze landing on Aesphyra, whose eyes were full of deep meaning.

“Exactly what it sounds like.”

“No, seriously, what’s up with you, you white-furred nutball? If you’ve got something to say, say it. You’re acting really weird today, you know that??” Vinny frowned.

“Ah? Classmate Vinny doesn’t know? Or do I really need to... remind you about something like this?” Aesphyra tilted her head.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Vinny understood less and less.

“Aiya~ Classmate Vinny really is forgetful. Looks like I do need to remind you a little.”

As she spoke, Aesphyra gathered up all the cards scattered on the table—except for the joker—then stood up.

“All of these, all these cards that aren’t the joker, are just like before... when Classmate Vinny snapped them up and tossed them all straight into the trash.” Aesphyra narrated as she moved, voice vivid.

With jade-smooth fingers, she pinched the cards that stood for all sorts of hardworking common folk, like a backstage puppeteer directing marionettes in a one-person play. Under her guidance, the cards “walked” in little steps—then, with a “whooo,” she burned the entire stack to ash.

“You—what the hell is wrong with you today?!” Watching the cards crumble into ashes and scatter across the floor, Vinny felt like he’d had enough. “If you’re sick, don’t come dump it on me!”

“Ah-leh? Classmate Vinny, what are you so upset about?” Aesphyra wasn’t angry at all. If anything, she looked even more entertained. “All I did was make a little indirect jab. Did it maybe remind you of something you’d rather leave buried?”

“Aesphyra, did you seriously take the wrong meds? You’re being completely neurotic. What are you even saying??” Vinny’s brows furrowed deeper and deeper.

“Classmate Vinny, you’re just the same as ever.”

“What exactly are you trying to say?”

“You tell me. Looking at this pile of ash burnt away by red lotus fire—nothing came to mind?” Aesphyra leaned closer to Vinny and spoke softly.

“What would I think of? What are you trying to say??”

“A great fire. People screaming. A sword veined and spiked with blood.” Aesphyra continued calmly. “Classmate Vinny, when you put those keywords together... what comes to mind?”

“What could possibly come to mind?? Aesphyra, you really aren’t right today. If you’re not gonna talk like a normal person, then get out.”

“Aiya, I really am impressed you can still pretend like nothing ever happened. I guess you do, in fact, have the potential to become a demon.” Ignoring Vinny’s reaction, Aesphyra walked toward him with a smiling squint.

The expression on her face was the same as always, and yet to Vinny she suddenly felt like a complete stranger.

“A... demon??”

“What else? Were you hoping I’d pick some nicer adjective for you?” Aesphyra sneered. “Just calling you a ‘bad seed’ is already high praise for what you are.”

“So, I don’t understand a word you’re saying. Aesphyra, if you don’t like me, then there’s no need to waste your time on me.” Vinny’s hands curled into fists.

“Waste time? Classmate Vinny, you really can dream. You don’t honestly think that after committing a sin that massive, you’re not going to receive any punishment and can just keep walking free, do you??” The warmth faded from Aesphyra’s smile bit by bit, turning into a genuine cold sneer.

“Have you prepared to pay for your crimes, you worthless demon?” At some point she’d lifted her holy sword in hand, and her tone grew colder by the second.

“For the sins you’ve never repaid... it’s time to pay the price.” As soon as she finished, red-lotus flame burst into life at her fingertips. In an instant, the temperature in the room spiked, a crushing sense of pressure slamming down on him.

“Aesphyra??” Vinny stared at her, his expression twisted with complexity and disbelief. “What... are you going to do?”

“Pff-pff. Why do you look so surprised? Did you think I’d show mercy to you?” Aesphyra mocked him. “Daydreaming, are we? Between me and a demon like you, there has never been any room for sentiment.”

“It was like that before. It’s like that now. It always has been.”

“The only reason I waited until today to finish you off was because I wanted to see your face—this face—when I killed you. That dumbfounded look of disbelief. That’s right. Exactly the face you’re making right now.”

With that, a sea of explosive flame swallowed Vinny whole before he could even react.

The next time Vinny opened his eyes and came to, he found himself once again waking up in his own bed, pushing his body upright.

Seriously? Again??

Everything that had just happened was a dream too??

He stared at the familiar furnishings of his room, shock and doubt churning inside him.

What the hell... was going on?

Had he really just had a dream within a dream??

But everything that had just happened still clung to the inside of his skull, refusing to fade, as if it had all really happened.

Vinny rubbed his head. His skull throbbed, heavy and muffled, like a fog was blocking off some crucial part of his awareness.

“Classmate Dale, Classmate Dale?” Vinny put on his clothes again and tried calling out.

After the last two times, he was already on high alert—and both times, Shicodale hadn’t been anywhere in the dorm.

What was wrong with him? Why did he keep having nightmares?

Or... had he fallen into some kind of loop??

Still, he’d already done the dream-within-a-dream thing. It wasn’t like he was about to hit dream-within-a-dream-within-a-dream... right??

He opened the door. Same familiar living room. Same familiar layout. Only this time, the difference was, there was finally someone working in the kitchen.

That gave Vinny a rare sense of familiarity.

So the earlier ones really had been dreams. Now, he’d come back to reality.

Vinny looked toward Shicodale in the kitchen, and Shicodale, noticing him, jumped in fright.

“C-Classmate Vinny? Y-you’re awake?” Shicodale looked like a startled little rabbit, staring timidly at him.

“Yeah, I’m awake.” For some reason, Vinny instinctively felt that something was off in the way Shicodale was looking at him. The fear in his eyes was much stronger than usual. “Classmate Dale, what’s with you today? Do I have something horrifying stuck to my face?”

“N-no, nothing like that!” Shicodale shook his head fast, then lifted the tray off the stove. “C-Classmate Vinny, I made you lunch. Hurry up and eat.”

He carried the tray out to the dining table and set it down, then stood to the side, watching Vinny in nervous silence.

“? Classmate Dale, what is up with you today? You’re acting really weird.” Vinny hesitated.

The Shicodale in front of him was definitely the same personality-wise, but something felt off.

The way he was interacting with Vinny felt like he was still extremely on guard, like they were right back to that very first period after they’d moved in together.

Vinny found it very strange. And that heavy haze still hung over his head, blocking his awareness.

He glanced at Shicodale, who was standing there with his head down, too scared to look at him. Vinny took a bite of the food—only for a strange, indescribable taste to flood his tongue at once.

No. This wasn’t right.

He knew this taste too well.

Wasn’t this exactly what Shicodale’s cooking tasted like when he’d just started learning how to cook??

But it had been so long. Shicodale had been learning housework for ages now. His cooking had long outgrown those early attempts. There was absolutely no way Shicodale would cook something that tasted like this now.

Vinny spat the food out at once. Just as he was about to do something, a sharp pain lanced through his chest.

He jerked his head down—only to see, in stunned disbelief, timid, distance-keeping Shicodale lunging in, ramming a dagger straight into his chest.

“Tch, what a hassle. Guess I’ll just handle this dirty work myself.” Shicodale gave a cold snort. “Trash and lackeys of evil gods like you should just hurry up and die. Every extra second you breathe is polluting the environment and the air.”

“??” Vinny’s eyes went wide. He felt his strength draining out of his body. With a soft thud, he collapsed, sprawled on the cold floor.

Without even a single word of protest, Vinny lay there and went down.

When he next regained consciousness, he still found himself in his dorm, lying there. But now, his mind was even foggier.

He repeated the same motions as before—putting on clothes, walking out of his room, clutching his head as he tried to figure out what was happening—but a powerful cognitive block kept interfering with his thoughts.

He—what was he, exactly...?

There was no sign of Shicodale in the room. And just then, the front door was kicked open with overwhelming force. A squad of guards burst in, surrounding Vinny and leveling their weapons at him, every one of them on high alert.

“You guys...?” Vinny barely managed to lift his head.

From behind the line of guards, someone slowly stepped forward.

A twin-tailed blonde girl, cold and haughty, gave off an aura that pushed others a thousand miles away. That feeling was especially strong where Vinny was concerned.

When her gaze fell on battered, miserable Vinny, the disappointment in her eyes was completely undisguised. “Vinny.”

“You really have disappointed me.”

“As your childhood friend, I honestly never thought you’d sink to something this disgraceful.”

“You will stand trial. Otherwise, there’s no way to give an answer to the families of the victims.” Tossing out that line, Mirexia turned away, her eyes like ice. She wouldn’t even spare Vinny a single extra glance as she left.

After that, Vinny was dragged off to the execution grounds by the guards.

Then Vinny woke up yet again.

Good news: this time, he wasn’t in his dorm bed.

Bad news: in front of him was a campus choked with blood and fire—and standing before him was a cold beauty with black hair and violet eyes, a few golden spears floating behind her back.

“Isatia?” Vinny tried to move and couldn’t. He realized he was kneeling on the ground, covered in wounds.