How Could the Villainous Young Master Be a Saintess?

Still, now that he thought about it, was it already Candlelight Festival?

Time really flew.

Vinny genuinely had not known. He had never cared about these holidays, because holidays had never had anything to do with him. They were not important, either.

“And if I remember right, this festival is basically a holiday where a bunch of faithful gather around candlelight at night and pray together, isn’t it?” Vinny did not understand. He did not pay attention to holidays, and he was even less interested in religious holidays. He only had a rough idea of what these holidays were supposed to involve because he had grown up immersed in human culture. “Does that count as some special kind of holiday?”

Weren’t religious holidays like that everywhere?

“Do you really not know, or are you pretending not to know?” The restaurant owner looked at Vinny strangely, as though he were looking at some rare animal. “Even an old man like me knows. This festival may be a religious holiday, but long ago, it became a holiday reserved for young couples.”

“And you actually still think it’s purely a religious holiday. That idea of yours, tch, tch. It’s even older than this old man’s.” The restaurant owner roasted him mercilessly. “Praying at night is right, sure. But it’s already gone from faithful praying together to two people praying together.”

“Huh? Seriously??” Vinny was stunned. He had never heard of anything like that. “Sir, don’t lie to me.”

“Would I make money lying to you? It’s true. I’m starting to wonder whether you’re pretending. You’re a young man, and you actually don’t know these things?” The restaurant owner looked Vinny up and down.

“I’m so sorry I’m a young man who doesn’t know these things,” Vinny said, speechless. “I’ve never had a girlfriend, so I had no way to know. I’m really sorry about that.”

“Then there’s no problem. Don’t you have one now?”

“Where do I have one? I already said this is...” Vinny suddenly choked on his words as something occurred to him.

Now that he thought about it, choosing today to give a gift did seem... not especially appropriate??

But he had not known about this beforehand??

Cold sweat broke out all over Vinny.

No wonder Mirexia’s behavior today had seemed a little strange. So it had not been his imagination?

And she had even prepared a gift for him in advance.

No way, right?

She couldn’t have known what holiday today was, could she??

Then wouldn’t that be... awkward?? She wouldn’t misunderstand, would she??

Wait, that did not seem right. If Mirexia really knew what day it was and had prepared a gift, then did that not mean—

Ah, no, no. How could that be possible?

Vinny thought again. He understood Mirexia’s personality better than anyone. She was a painfully proper person. So proper that it was almost abnormal. How could she have the mind to understand these things??

All right, she was not always that proper. There were times when she was not so proper.

Vinny thought of the times he had turned into Vanessa and worked together with Mirexia.

Ahem.

But none of that mattered. What mattered was that Mirexia was, in the vast majority of situations, a very proper person. She also spent most of her time working and studying. She should not have any channels through which to understand the special ways these holidays were celebrated in the eyes of young people. Even if she did understand, she would probably sneer at such morally improper behavior, right?

That should be the case, right??

So knowing what kind of holiday today was, and deliberately preparing a gift and everything—that was completely impossible, right??

It should only be a coincidence. How could Mirexia be that kind of person? And most importantly, Mirexia should not feel that way about him, should she??

After all, that thing had happened between them before, right?

Vinny lowered his head and stared at the blue gift box in his hands, its color extremely close to his own hair. He fell silent, then carried the box wordlessly back to the dorm.

Come to think of it, what had Mirexia given him?

After returning to his room, Vinny carefully untied the ribbon and opened the gift box, afraid of bumping it against anything. He set the lid to the side.

Once he opened it, he found an egg-shaped gemstone lying on the soft cushion inside the box. It was a tender, glossy cherry-white.

“What’s this?”

Vinny picked up the gemstone and examined it carefully in his hand, afraid even his fingernails might scratch its surface.

The lustrous cherry-pink gemstone was like a maiden’s soft hand. It was so smooth and flawless that one could suspect it had been polished by human hands, yet the purely natural traces on it proved that it was most likely a naturally formed gemstone.

A naturally formed gemstone could actually be as regular as though it had been artificially polished. That alone proved this gem had to be extremely valuable.

This was bad.

Vinny panicked a little now. The skin lotion he had given her was high-end, but there was no way its price could compare to a luxury item like a natural gemstone, right??

Wasn’t this awkward now?

Did that not make the gift he gave seem far too casual??

One glance at this glossy pink gemstone was enough to know that it was not cheap. Even someone like Vinny, who did not understand jewelry much at all, could tell the price would not be low. He had heard of blue gemstones and green gemstones, blue agate and green agate, but he had never heard of a pink gemstone before??

Without even thinking about it, he could tell this kind of gemstone had to be at the very top even among high-end gemstones. It was extremely rare. It might not even be something money could buy.

This had to be the kind of supreme treasure that great nobles, who treated gems as a luxury hobby, could only obtain at exchange gatherings by paying some kind of bargaining chip.

Mirexia had actually given him something like this??

Vinny felt troubled. Mirexia definitely would not care whether the value of the gift he gave her matched the gift she gave him, but he himself still could not get past that hurdle.

And Mirexia’s gift for him really had been chosen with great care. It was even very possibly a gift she had prepared for a long time. He did not know whether there was some special intent behind it, but the gift box Mirexia had used was blue, a shade very close to his hair color, while the gemstone inside was pink, the same color as Vanessa’s hair.

It had symbolism and deeper meaning. One could say it was a precious gift that combined thoughtfulness and value.

By comparison, his gift had neither much symbolism nor great value. It seemed like something he had come up with on a whim, and it made him feel painfully inferior.

Soon, several weeks passed. Carillian Academy was about to begin classes, and the deserted academy became lively again.

The students who had left school returned to the academy one after another. At this time of year, another round of new students also entered the academy.

In the blink of an eye, Vinny was no longer a first-year. With his excellent final grades, he smoothly advanced to second year. Not only that, but none of his groups had lost anyone, including his class, the armor class, and the card-player-soul club. Especially the card-player-soul club. At first, Vinny had thought a few familiar faces would be missing. After all, the card players’ grades were generally poor. Even if they had not reached the point of being advised to withdraw, he had estimated that they would probably be held back. What he had not expected was that the entire card-player-soul club had pulled through this difficulty together.

“Praise it! This is the power of friendship! Final exams? Don’t you dare underestimate the bonds between us!”

Vacation was over, and Ferdi and the other card players had all returned to campus. At the card players’ welcome-back party, Ferdi took the lead in voicing his deeply moving thoughts.

As for why everyone had gathered together, Ferdi’s thinking was that everyone had not seen one another for an entire vacation, and now that they had reunited, on top of all of them surviving the difficult trial of final exams, it was double happiness at the door. Was that not something extremely worth celebrating??

“Although, with that said, what does this have to do with friendship and bonds?” Vinny roasted from the side, his forehead practically covered in black lines.

“Of course it has something to do with it! Brother Vinny, as the vice president, do you not even understand this? It was precisely because we activated the support card, ‘The Bonds of Card Players,’ during the final exams and fused the mental force and will of all us card players together that everyone received protection and survived the crisis. This is the result of all our hard work!” Ferdi said passionately.

He was probably the most excited one here. After all, even though he was the card-player-soul club’s public face and leading big brother, his grades were among the lowest in the club. The fact that he had not been held back and had smoothly advanced to second year made him unbelievably happy. He had probably slept with a smile on his face throughout the entire vacation and had finally enjoyed a holiday where his family did not nag him.

“Fine. If you say so, then sure.” Vinny curled his lip.

In any case, judging by these guys’ complexions, they had enjoyed their vacation to the fullest. Especially Ferdi. He had come back a full circle fatter. When Vinny first saw him, he had wondered whether the guy had stuffed a swimming ring under his clothes.

As for him?

Please. Did he still need to say how his vacation had gone?

Ever since enrolling in Carillian Academy, he had not had more than a few days of peace.

Originally, he had risked his life to enroll for the sake of peaceful days. In the end, after enrolling, he had gone directly against his own hopes instead.

“All right, everyone! In the new semester, we need to pull ourselves together too. To revive the glory of the card-player-soul club, our generation cannot shirk its duty!” Ferdi raised his hand high and made a hot-blooded declaration, as though the protagonist team in an anime was about to unleash a finishing move.

Had that kind of thing ever really existed? Hadn’t their card-player-soul club always been a niche club? Did something like glory really exist??

“All right. In the new semester, we must welcome new challenges, set new goals, and complete new trials!” Ferdi said in high spirits. “As the saying goes, the waves behind push the waves ahead, and the waves ahead die on the beach. A club without inheritance and continuation is destined to have no future.”

“So, Brother Vinny, do you understand what I mean?” Ferdi looked at Vinny.

“You mean our club needs to recruit new members too?” Vinny raised an eyebrow.

“Exactly. Although we’re only second-years, this kind of thing is better handled by old seniors and veterans like us, who created the first generation of the card-player-soul club. That is, absorbing fresh blood, taking in more like-minded companions, and expanding the club!” Ferdi said with great ambition.

“Very good.” Vinny clapped expressionlessly. When the card players below heard it, they also burst into a round of heckling.

“Come to think of it, we’re all second-year upperclassmen now. From today on, we’re old seniors too. From now on, can I hear the new club members call me Senior?”

“Wow! Great! I want to hear cute junior girls call me Senior!”

“Keep dreaming. Where would girls come from in this club? Aren’t we all boys?”

“Tch, what do you care? Can’t you let me fantasize? Why say it out loud? Does it make you look smart??”

Seeing that the card players were still messing around like this, Vinny felt relieved and started laughing along.

“All right, Brother Vinny. I’ll leave the new-member recruitment work to you.” Ferdi put on a solemn expression.

“Huh? Me?” Vinny pointed at himself.

“Yes, exactly. I thought it over. For new-member recruitment, we need someone in the card-player-soul club who is very capable, has a good image, and has a certain status. Someone like that is the most suitable. Brother Vinny, your card-playing skill is second only to mine, and you’re also the vice president. This task belongs to none other than you.” Ferdi patted Vinny on the shoulder.

“Haha. I’m not going.” Vinny folded his arms, looking like a dead pig unafraid of boiling water.

“? You really won’t go?”

“I’m not going. I still have Student Council work. I’m a second-year now, so I’m very busy. You guys handle this yourselves.” Vinny thought this whole thing sounded troublesome and had no desire to get involved.

“That really is a shame. After all, I was thinking that this kind of thing works miraculously only when it’s done by someone with a good image, so that’s why I called on you, Brother Vinny. Your card-playing is good, and you’re handsome too. If you went, you’d definitely attract plenty of cute junior girls just starting to awaken to love.” Ferdi said regretfully, “Since you don’t want to go, I’ll call someone else.”

“Hold it. Who said I wasn’t going??”

The moment Vinny heard Ferdi say that, he was instantly awake. He stood up, swept a hand through his hair, and put on a self-intoxicated expression. “That’s right. It is indeed like that. If a handsome guy like me doesn’t go, that would simply be wasting resources.”

“No way around it. I’ll work hard, suffer a little fatigue, and reluctantly make the trip.”

“Exactly, exactly. Brother Vinny, you finally understand what I mean. Look, there’ll definitely be a lot of people at the club recruitment event. Most of the people who go will be new students who just entered the academy and don’t have clubs yet. That gives you an extremely wide range of contact. There’ll definitely be lots of pretty, cute junior girls among them.”

“Ahh! Brother Ferdi, you’re too crafty! Why are you only giving Brother Vinny this kind of opportunity? Brother Vinny already has Lady Isatia. If anyone’s going, it should be us single people!”

“Right, right! I want to go too! I also want to interact with cute junior girls!”

At a time like this, nobody talked about card-player friendship or bonds anymore. If there was a chance to escape being single, then they would cling to it. Who wanted to be friends with fellow single dogs?

Everyone stopped pretending. All of them wanted to steal a head start.

“Get lost, all of you. Don’t you see what kind of image you have? If you went, it’d be a miracle if you didn’t scare the junior girls away!” Ferdi said irritably. “For this kind of thing, there’s nobody but Brother Vinny. Brother Vinny, go! Remember to hook plenty of people back in!”

“All right, all right. I know. You understand this Young Master’s ability better than anyone.” Vinny snorted with a look that said, Just look how anxious you all are.

The card-player gathering ended. On his way back to the dorm, Vinny recalled what he still remembered about the events that had happened at Carillian Academy during the second-year timeline in the original game plot.