How Could the Villainous Young Master Be a Saintess?

After saying one apology, Margaret left, while the Church students behind her cast Vinny a look filled with infinite meaning.

It was as if they were protecting Margaret, warning him not to approach Margaret, not to harbor any improper thoughts toward Margaret. It was also as if they were telling him that all of them knew he was a shoddy counterfeit Facilis, and that if he dared bear ill intentions toward the true Saintess, they would make a fake like him pay the price.

Vinny watched Margaret and those Church students leave the booth without saying a word.

And after seeing those people leave the booth in front of Vinny, the two hiding in the shadows finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The two hiding in the shadows were none other than Fennia and Amisha.

The two of them had only happened to pass by. Each was holding an ice cream, and when they saw Vinny setting up a booth to advertise new-member recruitment, they had been just about to go over and greet him when they saw Margaret and a group of Church students walk up.

“Huh? Aren’t those Mongel and the others? Looks like they enrolled smoothly. Strange, why are all of them gathered together today? Wait, who are they following?” Fennia recognized those Church students the moment she noticed them.

After all, they were all part of the Church of the Dawn’s new generation and came from Church noble families, so they knew one another.

However, compared to people like Mongel, Fennia’s and Amisha’s families were not quite so central. They were not that familiar with those people either, only acquaintances who nodded to each other.

When she and Amisha realized something was unusual, their gazes also landed on that dazzling cherry-pink. In an instant, a familiar sense of déjà vu flashed through their minds, along with one figure.

Vanessa.

After all, the two of them had both seen the true Dawn Saintess, and very quickly, they were shocked by that familiar style.

“That pink-haired girl, she—could she be?” Fennia’s eyes widened. She nearly let the ice cream in her hand fall to the ground without even reacting. “No way, right?”

“Fake.” Amisha’s reaction was not as dramatic as Fennia’s. After staring at Margaret for a few moments, her gaze settled. “The gap is far too great to make up.”

Naturally, that gap referred to the gap between her and Vanessa.

“Right? I also think that pink-haired girl’s style is close to Her Eminence Vanessa’s, but...” Even Fennia could tell after looking a few more times.

But to use an inappropriate analogy, this feeling was like some counterfeit trying desperately to get closer to the genuine article. When people could tell that it was trying to resemble the genuine article, how could they not see that it was fake?

Before seeing the genuine article, Fennia might really have been deceived. But anyone who had seen the real thing would know just how different the impression the two gave was. It could only be called throwing an egg against a rock.

It was like an egg painted with a layer of stone-colored pigment trying to disguise itself as a rock and insist on colliding with a real stone. The result was that the egg would be smashed to pieces while the stone remained perfectly intact.

Amisha went without saying. [Immaculate Eyes] allowed her to distinguish things clearly. Fennia could only get a rough sense of it, but Amisha could say exactly where this high-grade imitation “Dawn Saintess” had been left tens of thousands of miles behind by the real thing.

“And the Facilis Family is a single-heir line. There cannot possibly be a second Dawn Saintess,” Amisha said seriously.

“That’s right. She must be a fake Saintess. Damn it! That old bastard, the Pope of the Dawn, really isn’t afraid of heavenly punishment, is he? He even dares find someone to impersonate a descendant of the Goddess. Isn’t he afraid the Goddess will punish him?” Fennia gnashed her teeth. “The Church of the Dawn today really is beyond saving!”

Amisha said nothing. She only silently watched the scene and tightened her grip around the staff in her hand.

“They are heading toward Her Eminence the Saintess.”

“Huh? What?” Fennia’s heart tightened, and she was about to rush out, only for Amisha to grab her hand.

“Little Amisha?” Fennia looked back and stared at Amisha in confusion, her eyes asking why she had done that.

“Little Fennia, wait a little longer. This is still inside Carillian Academy. They won’t dare do anything. More importantly, have you forgotten what Lady Luna instructed us?” At this moment, Amisha was clearly far calmer than Fennia.

“Instructed us?” At Amisha’s reminder, Fennia immediately remembered.

Although the Pope of the Dawn did not dare openly stretch his hand into Carillian Academy, Luna had also told them to act carefully within the academy. After all, there were quite a few Church eyes here. Especially under ordinary circumstances, they should avoid going to Vinny or interacting with him as much as possible.

After all, both of them were students with Church backgrounds. If they appeared too familiar with Vinny, it would certainly arouse suspicion.

Especially something like choosing to fall out with other Church colleagues rather than fail to back Vinny up. Although the Church of the Dawn had not openly stated its attitude toward Vinny right now, everyone could see it, and everyone knew what attitude the Pope held toward Vinny.

At a time like this, anyone who dared stand publicly on Vinny’s side would certainly arouse the Pope’s suspicion.

If the two of them were isolated or targeted afterward, that would still be a minor matter. But if they aroused the Pope’s suspicion and let him guess that Vinny’s bloodline had already awakened, and that he was also secretly contacting the Church’s internal resistance forces in an attempt to overthrow him, the problem would be huge.

“Then, do we just...?”

“They’re leaving,” Amisha said in relief. She had been watching those people’s movements the entire time.

“Huh?” Fennia looked over and discovered that, exactly as Amisha had said, Margaret had brought Mongel and the others away from Vinny’s booth and swept off.

“They left?”

“It looks that way.” Amisha put away her staff. “They probably didn’t come to trouble Her Eminence the Saintess.”

“There is no need to trouble Her Eminence the Saintess either. After all, in the understanding of Student Mongel and the others, perhaps that pink-haired girl just now is the Saintess, while Her Eminence the Saintess has already been confirmed by them as a ‘fake.’”

“On the contrary, they may even be worried that Her Eminence the Saintess, as the ‘fake,’ will threaten that current ‘Saintess’ for the sake of her own interests,” Amisha analyzed.

“Huh? Isn’t that absurd?” Fennia could not help saying.

“The truth will come to light sooner or later. Paper cannot wrap up fire, Little Fennia.” Amisha stared at Vinny in front of the booth with a burning gaze.

Fennia said nothing.

“Let’s go, Little Fennia. We should ask Lady Luna. Though Lady Luna probably doesn’t know about this either. Otherwise, she definitely would have gotten the news and notified us long ago.” As Amisha spoke, she disappeared around the corner together with Fennia.

On the other side, Vinny watched the direction where the Church students had vanished for a long while. Just as he was about to pick up the stool and leave, someone suddenly called out to him again.

“Junior Vinny, I finally found you. So you were here?”

Vinny looked in the direction of the voice and discovered that it was a panting student who looked somewhat familiar.

He was a second-year upperclassman from the Student Council. No, he should be a third-year now. Vinny knew him, but only knew him.

“Senior? Is there something you need from me?” Judging from the other person’s state, he should have run over the entire way, searching everywhere for him. It looked like something urgent had happened.

“Huff, huff. N-No, I’m not the one looking for you. Her Excellency the President is looking for you. She said it was urgent and told you to come over.” The upperclassman fanned himself with one hand, as if he had been exhausted badly.

“Mirexia?” Vinny frowned. “I understand. I’ll head over right away. Thank you for informing me, Senior.”

After saying that, Vinny quickly walked in the direction of the Student Council.

“No problem. Speaking of which, what urgent matter does Her Excellency the President need you for?” The upperclassman leaned against the advertising board for a long while. After finally catching his breath, he stood up and asked Vinny, only to find that Vinny’s figure had already vanished.

“Uh. He left that fast? Wait for me?” The upperclassman froze.

On the other side, Vinny strode quickly toward the Student Council. He vaguely guessed what Mirexia wanted to say to him.

“Oh? If it isn’t Junior Vinny. How rare, busy man. Didn’t you say you had club matters to handle this week, so you couldn’t come work this weekend? What? Finished that quickly?” In the Student Council hall, Senior saw Vinny hurrying into the Student Council and teased him in amusement.

“Senior, President Mirexia is looking for me about an urgent matter,” Vinny said.

“Oh? Now that you mention it, I saw Reed run out just now. Was he going to notify you?” Senior asked in confusion.

“Mm, yes. I won’t say more. I’ll go see the president first.” As he spoke, Vinny went up to the third floor and arrived before the Student Council President’s office.

Vinny raised his hand and knocked on the door.

“Come in.” The person inside seemed to have been waiting for him already. As soon as she heard him knock, she answered.

Vinny pushed the door open and found that Mirexia was not sitting in the long president’s chair where she usually sat. Instead, she was standing by the window with her back to him.

“Mirexia, you were looking for me about something urgent?” Vinny asked.

“Vinny.” Mirexia turned around and looked at Vinny, hesitating as if she were organizing her words and did not know how to begin.

“There is a student file on my desk,” Mirexia said.

“May I look at it?” Vinny asked.

“You are also a member of the Student Council, and you are a second-year student now, not a first-year new student. Of course you are qualified to view it.” Mirexia nodded.

Hearing that, Vinny had no more doubts and picked up the student file.

“This file ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) was delivered to me this morning. It has already been reviewed.” Mirexia took a deep breath. “After I saw it, I immediately had someone notify you.”

“Mm-hmm.” Vinny looked at the line written in the name field of the student file—“Margaret Facilis”—and nodded. “I also thought you were probably looking for me because of this.”

“You already know?” Mirexia was a little surprised.

“To be precise, I’ve already met her in person,” Vinny said as he looked through the file.

“You’ve met her in person? Was she the one who came looking for you?” Mirexia’s brows furrowed slightly. Clearly, she thought this might have been that girl named Margaret going to trouble Vinny.

“More or less.”

“What did she say?”

“Only some unimportant things. And judging from her expression, she seems not to know who I am,” Vinny said. “She was surrounded by a group of first-year students, all with Church backgrounds. They enrolled with her, followed beside her, and looked like flower guardians.”

“What did they come to you for?”

“It was probably just unintentional,” Vinny answered. “I can’t really say.”

“She didn’t recognize you?”

“Mm. She probably didn’t. But the other Church students around her did recognize me. Those looks didn’t seem acted.” Vinny thought for a moment. “And if it really was an act, I honestly can’t figure out why they would deliberately perform that scene. To intimidate me? I don’t think that’s very likely. Any normal person with a careful mind wouldn’t use that kind of method.”

“Then for now, it can only be explained as a chance encounter.”

“A chance encounter? Between you and this person named Margaret?” Mirexia fell silent for a moment.

As Vinny’s childhood friend, she understood his family background more clearly than anyone. She knew perfectly well that the Facilis Family only had Vinny now. Vinny was the sole sprout of the Facilis line in this generation. There could not possibly be any other brothers or sisters.

And the Facilis Family had always been a single-heir line. How could there be a branch family?

If neither was the case, then there was only one possibility.

“This Margaret Facilis’s identity was fabricated by the Church,” Mirexia said, her expression grave.

She felt that she had still overestimated the current Church of the Dawn’s bottom line.

Impersonating a descendant of the Goddess could no longer be described as a simple collapse of faith.

“However, the information fabricated by the Church of the Dawn really is watertight. It is detailed down to her birthplace and where she grew up, including the time she entered the Church registry.” Vinny carefully examined the student file. “I imagine they have probably prepared an impeccable full résumé and set of records for this ‘Dawn Saintess.’ No part of it can be used as a point of attack. Every part can be verified and confirmed as real.”

“They may have spent quite a bit of time and effort preparing this in secret,” Vinny said.

“Mm. They should have been preparing this for a long time.” Mirexia also agreed with Vinny’s view. “Now, it seems the Church of the Dawn intends to strike first and make the first move.”

“They arranged this carefully manufactured ‘Dawn Saintess’ into Carillian Academy. Their goal may not only be to damage your reputation. More than that, in the future, they intend to let her take over the host’s place, expand this ‘Dawn Saintess’s’ influence, and make more nobles know and accept that she is the real Dawn Saintess.”

“Vinny, do you have any plans now?” Mirexia was very worried this matter would affect Vinny’s mentality and mood.

“If that really is what they’re thinking, then they’re in for some terrible luck.” After glancing over the student file, Vinny set it down, and the corner of his mouth hooked upward. “You don’t need to worry about me. Honestly, impersonating a descendant of Facilis—this stunt they pulled is big enough, but it isn’t ruthless enough.”

How many ruthless stunts had he, Vinny, seen along the way?

This time, to be honest, the Church’s stunt really was not ruthless enough for him.