How Could the Villainous Young Master Be a Saintess?

Night. The rain was still falling, pattering softly.

The atmosphere was unexpectedly quiet.

Beneath the umbrella, Vinny, still in the blue-haired girl’s appearance, let his hands hang at his sides in helpless uncertainty. A closer look would reveal that his movements were extremely stiff, as though he had absolutely no idea where he ought to put his hands. Whether he let them hang naturally or clasped them together, everything felt painfully deliberate.

Then what was he supposed to do? Help Aesphyra hold the umbrella handle? Would that not be even more like making trouble out of nothing?

Strictly speaking, umbrellas were usually held by the taller person. Aesphyra was the one holding it, and that had been fine earlier, but now, for some reason, the top of the umbrella kept bumping against his head. It had happened several times already. If this were any other day, Vinny would have suspected that this little nuthead was deliberately taking revenge on him.

But right now, that was clearly not what Vinny was focused on.

He could not exactly clasp both hands together, could he? Hold his own hand? Would that not make the unnecessary action even more obvious, showing that he was tense and uneasy and had no idea what he was supposed to do?

Vinny felt strange no matter what he did.

Wait.

Vinny suddenly realized one severe problem.

Was the act of holding someone around the waist even appropriate?

At what point had he started tacitly allowing something like this without finding it strange at all?

The more carefully he thought about it, the more incredible Vinny himself found it. It was like boiling a frog in warm water. Under Aesphyra’s gradual sequence of actions, step by step, he had unknowingly become desensitized to this kind of thing.

“Gulp.”

Perhaps because the sound of the rain had gradually weakened, Vinny slowly stopped hearing it very clearly. The surroundings became unusually quiet. He could even hear each swallow he made, and each one sounded especially loud.

For a moment, he was even afraid Aesphyra beside him could hear it too, and would know that he was actually extremely nervous.

Also, he felt itchy.

His collarbone was itchy. It was itchier than before. The breath brushing against his collarbone seemed to have grown hotter and heavier.

What was going on? Was this his imagination?

On a rainy night, everything was chilly. Vinny was also wearing very little, and with his [Exceptional] affinity with the ice element, his body temperature was on the low side. Yet despite all that, he clearly felt hot. Very hot. From head to toe, especially his cheeks, as if a ball of fire were burning on each side of his face.

And it seemed he was not the only one feeling hot.

Because they were pressed together, even through the fabric, Vinny could clearly feel that he was not the only one radiating heat. The soft, fragrant rose scent in his arms was also filled with warmth. In fact, a great deal of that heat was being passed to him by her.

Was this person in the same situation as him right now?

No. No way. This person could get nervous too?

Vinny had a hard time believing it. In his eyes, he had already formed a fixed impression of Aesphyra: this flawless young lady was always so effortlessly confident. He could barely imagine her losing calm because of emotional issues, let alone getting nervous.

But Aesphyra’s affinity with the fire element was absurdly high to begin with, so it should not be strange for her body temperature to run a little high, right?

[Virtue +120.]

[Current Virtue: 1159.]

Ribbit??

Looking at the size of the Virtue increase, Vinny was shocked again.

Had Aesphyra learned Mirexia’s passive skill??

With fragrant wind in his arms, Vinny’s mind had also become extremely chaotic from the fluctuations in his emotions. He did not have the spare capacity to think about more problems.

It was just that—

Vinny felt his breathing had become heavier and deeper, as if breathing had switched from automatic transmission to manual transmission. He could not tell whether he was getting more and more nervous, or whether the spot around his collarbone was getting itchier and itchier.

At this exact moment, one extremely outrageous thing flashed through Vinny’s mind.

If Aesphyra suddenly, without warning, kissed him right now, what was he supposed to do?

Break free, play wooden statue, or respond??

Vinny glanced at Aesphyra in panic. Due to the height difference and the angle, he could not see Aesphyra’s expression or complexion at this moment, but she was probably still the same as before.

For a moment, he felt guilty. It was as if he was the only one who had become this strange. If Aesphyra knew what he was thinking right now, how would she look at him??

But the probability of something like that happening did not seem to be zero either. If it really did happen, what was he supposed to do?

And would this not be progressing too quickly?

Just as Vinny was twisting himself into knots, Aesphyra stopped walking.

“Vinnia.”

“Ah—ah?”

Seeing that, Vinny was instantly startled, and his heartbeat abruptly sped up.

What? Why had she suddenly stopped? It could not be that it was really about to happen, right??

Vinny’s eyes darted left and right in panic. His heart was restless. The rainy night carried a chill, yet he felt a dry heat.

If she really did that, what exactly was he supposed to do??

“Wh-what is it?” Vinny tried his best to keep his voice calm.

“Vinnia, we’re here.”

“Huh??”

Hearing that, Vinny fell silent for a moment before he processed what Aesphyra had said.

“We’re... here?”

Vinny blankly repeated the two words, as if his brain had shut down and he had not yet figured out what they meant.

“Does Vinnia not want to go home?” Aesphyra asked.

“Gah.”

Only then did Vinny come back to himself. He stiffly turned his head toward the roadside, and sure enough, saw the familiar building and the familiar door of his home. The lights were on, as if waiting for someone to return.

For some reason even he did not understand, he felt somewhat unwilling to see that they had already arrived home.

“Did Vinnia forget that I was walking you home?”

“Gulp.”

Vinny’s cheeks overheated with a whoosh. His whole body was like a steam girl, steam constantly rising from his head, and nine of his ten toes were curling into the ground.

“Th-then I’ll go first. Thanks for today. Goodbye?”

So it really had all been him overthinking everything the whole way??

Ahhh, this was too embarrassing. Hopefully Aesphyra had not noticed!

Vinny turned his face aside and quickly walked out from under the umbrella. After only a few steps, he started running, rushing all the way to the door without looking back.

Too embarrassing, too embarrassing! If Aesphyra had seen through his mental activity and realized he had all those other thoughts, how humiliating would that be?

He had to get inside already. Otherwise, Aesphyra might really notice something strange.

However, what Vinny did not expect was that Aesphyra was not looking at him at all. After he went home, she stood where she was without moving.

No one knew how long passed before Aesphyra let out a long breath. She lifted her index finger and tapped her own cheek. When she looked again toward the front of Vinny’s dorm, no one was there anymore.

So fast. When had he gone inside?

She had not even noticed the sound of the door opening or closing.

After a moment of thought, Aesphyra withdrew her gaze, held up the umbrella, and turned to leave.

Neither of them noticed that the rain had actually stopped long ago.

“Vinny, you’re back? It was raining so hard earlier. You didn’t get—”

Shicodale, who had come to welcome Vinny home, abruptly fell silent after seeing Vinny’s outfit and appearance.

Vinny had returned home wearing a beautiful outfit Shicodale did not recognize at all. Obviously, Vinny had never worn this set in front of him before.

Not only that, the strangest part was Vinny’s expression right now. He looked dazed and absentminded, with a bit of embarrassed flush on his face. His cheeks were red, and Shicodale had absolutely no idea what he had been doing earlier.

“Vinny, are you really all right?”

For some reason, Shicodale felt his chest grow heavy, as if a lump of lead were hanging there. It was very uncomfortable, an indescribable kind of pain.

But as for what exactly caused it, even he was not very clear.

Vinny had probably gone to train with Aesphyra earlier, right?

Aesphyra had come to ask him about Vinny’s whereabouts before.

The good news was, Vinny really had gone to train.

But.

It had been with Aesphyra.

As he recalled this period of time, the interactions between Aesphyra and Vinny had grown more and more frequent, and they were increasingly filled with some indescribable feeling that nevertheless made his heart feel blocked up.

Even a little fool like Shicodale, whose understanding of romance was a completely blank sheet of paper, could sense that something about the relationship between those two was not quite right.

Th-this was nothing, right?

Shicodale comforted himself inwardly, trying to convince himself.

Aesphyra and Vinny had always had a good relationship. The two of them were good friends, just like he and Milian had been in the past. If they spent more time together, was that not very normal?

But, sure enough, he still wanted to spend more time with Vinny, right?

He was somewhat envious of Aesphyra. She could be trusted by Vinny so much, relied on by Vinny so much.

No. It was not only envy. There was also a slight negative feeling, a tormenting sensation that scorched his heart.

Although he had never experienced this emotion before, he still knew what it was called.

Jealousy.

He really was a sinister person. How could he harbor jealousy toward Aesphyra?

Aesphyra was clearly such a good, warmhearted person. Last time, when Vinny had been in a bad mood, Aesphyra had been the one to help comfort and guide him.

Meanwhile, as Shicodale was locked in an inner war between heaven and man, Vinny had finally recovered somewhat.

He patted his own cheeks and breathed out a turbid breath, as though trying to exhale the stuffiness that had built up in his chest earlier.

“Vinny, did you go train earlier?”

When Vinny turned back, he immediately met Shicodale’s beautiful eyes, slightly glistening beneath the lamplight. A pitiful, heart-tugging feeling rose unbidden.

A sense of guilt emerged in Vinny’s heart.

Why did this scene feel like he had gone out fooling around, come home half-drunk, and found the house lights still on, with his coarse-cloth wife wearing an apron and working at home? Then, when she saw him return, her eyes shimmered with tears, and although she clearly knew everything in her heart, she still opened her mouth and asked where he had gone.

“I-I went to train. Didn’t I tell you that earlier?” Vinny said somewhat guiltily.

But he was not lying. He really had gone to train.

“With Aesphyra?”

“Y-yeah. You know, Aesphyra has good grades and strong abilities. Training with her is definitely very helpful for me,” Vinny forced himself to explain.

This sentence was also true. Since entering the door, which of his sentences had not been true?

“Then why is your face so red, Vinny?”

Shicodale did not let the matter pass after a few perfunctory lines the way he usually did. Instead, he continued asking, his gaze filled with complicated emotions.

“This? Hey, Dale, today’s training was a little intense. It was too vigorous, so I sweated a little and got hot. That’s why it’s red.” Vinny even deliberately fanned himself as though he were very hot.

“Is that so?”

Hearing that, Shicodale silently nodded.

He said he was red from training.

Then that was what it was. Vinny had no reason to lie to him.

[Virtue +100.]

[Current Virtue: 1259.]

“Thank you for working hard, Vinny. Then, Vinny, rest early. I’ve already cleaned everything. Take a bath and hurry to sleep.”

“Good night, Vinny.”

“Mm. Good night, Dale.”

Watching Shicodale go upstairs, Vinny let out a breath of relief. He was somewhat afraid to look toward Shicodale’s room.

Too many things had happened today. He should not think too much.

He should just hurry up and sleep. Hurry up and rest.

Vinny felt that his mind was also a mess. His head was full of images of Aesphyra. He felt that if he went to sleep now, he would definitely spend the whole night unable to rest. Tonight, he feared that the moment he closed his eyes, he would hallucinate that cool fragrance of briar and rose.

In a daze, Vinny went to take a cold shower and more or less calmed down.

Lying in bed, he took a deep breath. Although his body was already very tired, his brain was still extremely active, causing him to be unable to fall asleep for a while.

After tossing and turning for a long time, Vinny suddenly bolted upright.

“Wait. Something seems a little off??”

“Was there any need to use an umbrella? With her realm and magical level, couldn’t she have casually cast a water shield, and we would have gotten back just fine? There was no need at all to squeeze under that little umbrella, right??”

Only at this moment did Vinny wake as if from a dream and realize something was wrong.

Time passed quickly. Several days went by.

During these days, Vinny would go find Aesphyra every evening for training. The training over the past few days was much more normal. Aesphyra was truly teaching him useful things as well. A great deal of experience that Vinny, a wild style, would have had to stumble and crawl for a very long time before understanding, Aesphyra directly taught him through words and demonstration.

Vinny could not help sighing with feeling. No matter the field, having a master teach you was immeasurably better than relying on yourself to feel things out.

In the blink of an eye, the days drew closer one by one.

Soon, the day when the double-moon celestial phenomenon could be seen arrived.

One afternoon after class, Vinny, who had finished his elective course, was walking along the road after school when his gaze unintentionally swept across the street. Strangely, he saw a crooked, swaying figure.

With only a glance from the corner of his eye, anyone who did not know better might think some family’s zombie had broken loose.

Vinny looked over in curiosity and discovered that the figure was very familiar.

“Margaret??”

Vinny frowned, then confirmed again and again that the figure was Margaret.

At this moment, the other party had her back to him, her head lowered, and was swaying back and forth like a chick pecking rice. She looked extremely strange.

If Vinny had to describe it, she looked like an office worker from his previous life who had squeezed onto a bus early in the morning, found there were no seats, and was standing there dozing while clutching the hand strap.

But the Tyrelis Continent had no buses and no office workers, so Margaret’s appearance gave people an indescribably eerie feeling.

She could not have slept badly last night and started dozing while walking, right?

No way. Could someone really doze off while walking? Was that not way too ridiculous??

“Margaret?”

Vinny did not want to invite trouble, but Margaret’s current state truly could not be left alone. He walked forward and tried calling her name.

Seeing that Margaret did not react, Vinny took a few more steps forward and called out to her again. Still no response.

Vinny frowned and reached out to pat Margaret on the shoulder.