Chapter 333

The Lady Virgin Saint’s compassionate smile was generally a pretense.

In a sense, it wasn’t different from wearing an old mask for a long time. Most of the faithful wanted a kind and pure-hearted Lady Virgin Saint. It worked out well for the Lady Virgin Saint, who wanted to remove the tag of ‘heavenly ordained.’

Even if she were an orphan, she couldn’t be messed with since she had the support of countless commoners.

That was the essential nature of religion.

Even the mighty Heavenly Deity Sect couldn’t survive without believers.

That’s why the Holy Kingdom was particularly obsessed with ‘symbols.’

Believers wished to see proof of the existence of the divine. Aside from miracles called ‘divine power,’ many symbols were employed in religious rituals for this reason.

It was a necessary process to lead the spontaneous faith and devotion of the common folk.

Seen from this perspective, how commendable the ‘Lady Virgin Saint’ is.

First of all, her appearance was extraordinary.

Look at her immaculate silver hair, untouched by even the slightest flaw.

Her transparent skin without a single blemish, and her delicate and beautiful features were closer to a piece of art. If the divine had a feeling of ‘favoritism,’ the Lady Virgin Saint would surely be one of the most powerful evidences of that.

Also, her light pink eyes that captivated the hearts of those who met her, and the curves of her feminine figure, which were emphasized even more against the backdrop of her sacred aura.

It was an otherworldly beauty.

She was born to be worshiped. Coupled with her innate divine power that was no less vast, and her exceptional ability to read the psychology of others, she was beyond reproach as a ‘Lady Virgin Saint.’

Her sole flaw was being an orphan, a fact unknown even to her parents. However, compared to the advantages mentioned earlier, this issue was trivial.

Thanks to her clever use of this ‘orphan’ stigma.

She led a life that was disconnected from her past, going as far as to discard the name from her orphanage days, but still she would use the fact that she was an orphan whenever necessary to solicit sympathy.

She was a woman living a thoroughly calculated life.

In some ways, it was a suffocating existence.

There were people who assigned meaning to every single gesture or movement of hers. The position of a Lady Virgin Saint in the Heavenly Deity Sect was that heavy. Therefore, I sometimes felt sympathy for her.

Is the Lady Virgin Saint truly happy?

And if she is, I wonder whose happiness it is.

Her? Or the ‘Lady Virgin Saint,’ the fabricated shell.

At first, it irritated me, but before long, the Lady Virgin Saint had somehow crept into my heart.

Because she showed me sincerity that was meant only for me.

Not just her, but me as well.

The Lady Virgin Saint had become one of the few precious presences in my life.

Since we were such close friends, I sometimes witnessed an unseen side of the Lady Virgin Saint that no one else could see.

Like right now.

The Lady Virgin Saint was greedily guzzling a bottle of wine.

At least it was white wine, and it was relatively low in alcohol compared to whiskey or vodka.

Still, I couldn’t entirely let go of my worries.

The Lady Virgin Saint’s face had been flushed for quite some time.

You could tell just by looking at her glazed eyes.

This woman was drunk.

Absolutely drunk.

So there I was, listening to the drunken ramblings of a drunkard.

“Huh… Huuh… How, how is that even possible…”

The Lady Virgin Saint had been repeating that same line for several minutes now.

Whenever I tried to ask her questions, she would tilt the bottle of wine first, then revert to her original state.

Seeing her shed tears was heart-wrenching, but even I have my limits of patience. I ended up letting out a somewhat irritated tone.

“What exactly did I do to you? You keep blaming me like this…”

“Huuh… Huuh… You bad kid…”

Of course, the Lady Virgin Saint simply tilted the wine bottle regardless of what I said.

With a sigh, I wiped my face with my palms, exasperated.

It was starting to get difficult to stay sober.

I pulled out a bottle of wine that I had stashed in my spatial storage pocket. It was cheap whiskey that I had prepared just in case, which worked wonders whenever I felt existential despair.

You might call it my standby medication to cure my disdain for life.

By the way, the Lady Virgin Saint also seemed to have finished her drink.

She tilted the bottle to drink, but only a few drops fell, and she stared at the bottle in surprise with an ‘Ah?’ look on her face.

Then, when a single drop fell onto her nose, she let out a piercing scream.

Her drinking habits were worse than I could have imagined.

I vowed not to drink with the Lady Virgin Saint ever again.

“Do you need more alcohol?”

The Lady Virgin Saint, who was rubbing her eyes and making a piteous face, looked at me with hazy eyes.

It looked like negotiations could finally begin now.

I swirled the wine bottle enticingly.

“Then let’s make a deal. If you explain things properly, I’ll give you a drink.”

Did the word ‘deal’ trigger her calculating nature?

The Lady Virgin Saint puckered her lips, seemingly somewhat sobered up. I almost grabbed and stretched those lips with my fingers but restrained myself.

“Are you going to be that underhanded?”

“Yes, that’s what I intend.”

How could you criticize someone when you didn’t even know why?

It was such an unreasonable condition. I was simply aiming to reclaim my rightful rights.

The Lady Virgin Saint groaned, as if deep in thought.

But no matter how much she thought, there weren’t many options available. Since the Lady Virgin Saint of the Heavenly Deity Sect had limited ways to obtain alcohol…

All a drunken person wanted was alcohol.

In the end, the Lady Virgin Saint let out a long sigh, like conceding defeat.

“I, am I not too weird?”

“Are you implying it’s just one or two occurrences…?”

I felt the Lady Virgin Saint glare at me sharply.

It was the moment when my fake smile turned into a tight-lipped expression.

The Lady Virgin Saint finally continued her sorrowful confession.

“Of late, I’ve been feeling particularly strange. Sometimes I feel happy over trivial matters, and other times I cry myself to sleep at night. I wasn’t like this before, so why is this happening?”

“Are you saying the reason is me?”

“Yes.”

Her statement was decisive.

The Lady Virgin Saint’s eyes still shimmered with blurry moisture.

“I’ve heard people say that recently, you seem to get along well with Sister Yuridina.”

That single remark hit home.

I almost spat out the alcohol I was about to sip but managed to hold it back thanks to extraordinary patience.

I looked at the Lady Virgin Saint with surprise.

How does she know about that?

Could the person who witnessed that night be the Lady Virgin Saint herself?

The suspicion arose momentarily, but I immediately erased it from my mind.

If she had been the one who saw it, she wouldn’t have said she “heard” about it.

She would’ve said she “saw” it.

The Lady Virgin Saint was now trembling all over her body.

“How can that even be?! I hear that when you’re alone with Sister Yuridina, there’s the sound of skin being slapped. You’re so envious… No, this is irreverent! It’s harassment!”

Once again, her pointed criticism hit me right in the center.

I almost spat out the alcohol again and ended up coughing heavily.

The details she provided were more than I expected.

Yes, I did slap Senior Delphine’s buttocks on several occasions, but I had always thought that this was a complete secret.

If viewed from another angle, this could undermine the dignity of the next head of the Yuridina Clan.

So I couldn’t help but take the Lady Virgin Saint’s words seriously.

“Are you saying this rumor has spread?”

“Of course! How could I possibly know this kind of rumor?”

The Lady Virgin Saint’s glare was not ordinary in the slightest.

By now, her eyes were watering with indignation.

“But, you weren’t like this before! It’s sexual frustration, isn’t it?!”

“No… Well, I’ve always been like this.”

So, in other words, I had a history of sexually harassing the Lady Virgin Saint, had I not?

It seemed the Lady Virgin Saint had interpreted my past actions in a slightly different way.

“Back then, you only messed with me…”

She glared at me as she spoke, her gaze sharp.

I cleared my throat awkwardly, averting my eyes.

Come to think of it, I didn’t really have a defense.

The Lady Virgin Saint was a pure maiden. Naturally so, since she was the Lady Virgin Saint.

My hands defiled her when she was untouched.

Honestly speaking, if the Lady Virgin Saint had asked me to take responsibility, I would have had no choice but to comply.

And the fact that I spent my first night with another woman meant I truly deserved to be called trash.

I felt my confidence faltering.

Of course, I did have excuses.

“Still, it’s not something I can just casually interfere with from the Lady Virgin, right? I, I might face divine punishment too…”

“Is there anyone who fears divine punishment and does such acts?”

I raised my hands in defeat.

Then poured the wine into the glass, downing it in one gulp.

My esophagus burned.

“So what is your point ultimately? Are you asking about my relationship with Senior Delphine?”

“W, what kind of relationship…?”

“At the moment, I should deny any relationship.”

At least for now, I had to deflect it this way.

Otherwise, the explosions would be endless, starting with Ceria and Senior Elsi. Despite my playful answer, the Lady Virgin Saint looked even more aggrieved.

“Is that reasonable?! I heard you two do scandalous things together!”

“Isn’t that just a rumor? Moreover, by your standards, aren’t we in a special relationship as well?”

As the alcohol started to kick in, my tongue became more fluid.

Or maybe it was the audacity from drinking that kept me from succumbing to guilt.

“So, what exactly is our relationship?”

“U, us?”

“Yes, us.”

The Lady Virgin Saint was confused by my blunt inquiries.

Especially since she was already drunk, it was natural for her to be perplexed with my difficult questions.

While she hesitated, I pressed my attack further.

“Are you not the Lady Virgin Saint of the Heavenly Deity Sect? Previously, I may have been rude, but now that you’ve become precious to me, I intend to treat you with the respect you deserve.”

Unable to form coherent sentences due to intoxication, the Lady Virgin Saint mumbled.

A drunk person typically behaved that way.

The more they tried to think logically, the more they strayed. Eventually, their logic would collapse, and words would slip out unexpectedly.

A theory developed from countless times I had been drunk.

I had cross-verified it with friends like Reto, so the Lady Virgin Saint wouldn’t be different.

With that, I planned to knock her out after completely disarming her.

“So don’t worry too much. Once you sober up, we’ll discuss the source of the rumor…”

At that moment.

“…Wh, why.”

The Lady Virgin Saint’s body began to shake as she sobbed.

I instantly realized my mistake.

I pressed her too hard.

A drunk person must be dealt with carefully. Especially intoxicated women should be approached with utmost sensitivity, like the first snowfall of the year.

Otherwise, you risk them melting away like tears.

The current Lady Virgin Saint was clearly on the brink of an emotional outburst.

In a bid to prevent her from causing trouble in her drunken state, I chose my words carefully.

“Uh, Lady Virgin Saint? It seems like you’re agitated. Calm down a little…”

“Why, why have you stopped molesting me now?”

It was over.

I clenched my eyes shut while pouring another drink. All I could do was hope she’d forget this line by tomorrow.

The Lady Virgin Saint, now using her arms to support her chest, went further.

“Aren’t I already over it?! Look at the chest you stared at every day! Touch it! Forcefully! Do it however you want!”

With a sigh, another drink was downed.

The words that finally escaped my mouth were:

“Fine, if that’s what you want…”