I’m Really Not Trying to Be Chased by the Heroine as the Villainous Playboy! – Chapter 701

Chapter 83: I Want to Hug You

Having defeated the Child of Light, the Saint’s Trial was concluded, and only the final ceremonial ritual remained.

The victorious candidate was to emulate the first Saintess, approach the altar, and place her hands upon it to receive the blessing of the Holy Light.

Of course, the altar didn’t have any special powers—it was merely a decorative piece for the ceremony.

By sheer coincidence, the entire chapel had been utterly destroyed, yet the altar remained intact.

Exhausted, Alice could barely stand, and Roy had to support the frail girl by holding her arm and shoulder, inching her forward.

Seizing the moment, Roy voiced his confusion.

“How did you break through to Sequence 6 back then?”

Bloodline tiers don’t just develop on a whim; they need to adhere to specific promotion rules tied to that bloodline.

The stronger the bloodline, the more complex the promotion rules tend to be. Especially since Alice couldn’t draw on the experiences of those who came before her.

Whether in the original story or in promotions, Alice’s several breakthroughs seemed quite unusual, reminiscent of the so-called protagonist’s halo, with no apparent pattern.

Sometimes they occurred in daily life, at other times in battle. Without a doubt, the most bizarre instance was the “head pat” that propelled Alice straight to Sequence 8 on the spot.

But Alice’s journey to Sequence 6 wasn’t just a matter of luck.

“How did I break through…”

Alice herself seemed puzzled.

“Think carefully—what were you doing when you broke through?”

“I don’t know, I was just… thinking about my Master…”

She kept thinking about how her Master was always watching her.

The emotions she felt then were as fiery and passionate as they were now, but now they were tinged with shyness.

Alice secretly averted her gaze, speaking vaguely. The fair skin of her face, cleaned up by Roy, flushed with a slight pink.

The girl’s movements, like a small creature, hinted at the answer, causing a moment of surprise for Roy, bringing a wave of warmth to his heart.

Perhaps Alice had cherished him for a long time.

Roy had an epiphany.

When he thought back, every time Alice leveled up in the original story, it was connected to Charlotte and others.

And in this life, whether through head pats, facing a Cult, or the final duel with the Child of Light, the seemingly random promotions had a common thread.

Every time, he had been by her side.

Phoenix once said that the promotion of extraordinary bloodlines relies on the soul.

Just as his Iron Blood was tempered through life-and-death battles, maybe Alice’s Angel was elevated by her feelings for those she cherished.

The more intense and pure the feelings, the more they could drive the Angel bloodline’s promotion.

This was enough to show just how much Alice treasured him.

The warmth of the revelation brought a wetness to Roy’s eyes, creating a conflicting emotion.

“Master?”

“It’s nothing.”

Just wanted to hug you, that’s all.

Soon, they arrived before the altar.

“In the legendary Third Era, the first Saintess completed the Goddess’s trial alongside her Knight, reaching the altar in the sacred realm, where she received the blessing of the Holy Light and was canonized.”

“Now, it’s your turn.”

As Roy finished his sentence, to his surprise, Alice didn’t step forward.

“Only the candidate can be canonized?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“But the trials were clearly completed by both the Knight and the candidate,” Alice began to cling to a strange point.

Roy couldn’t help but chuckle, “Then you’d better ask the Goddess.”

Alice stared at the pristine, holy altar, shimmering with pure white sacred fire for a moment before suddenly saying, “Master, I don’t have the strength anymore.”

“Do you want me to help you get a little closer?”

Alice shook her head, “I can’t even lift a finger.”

“But the winner of the trial must complete this ritual. So it’s only natural for the Knight to lend a helping hand, right?”

“You kid…” Roy couldn’t help but laugh.

Then, the young man leaned down to the fragile back of the girl’s hand, grasping her hand and placing it against the altar along with hers.

Though this was merely a symbolic ritual, devoid of any special power or meaning, Alice still squinted her beautiful eyes, revealing a sense of contentment.

Thus, the Saint’s Trial came to a successful conclusion.

【Congratulations on completing the Reverse Fate Node!】

【Current Reverse Fate Node: Angel】

【Angel Reverse Fate Progress】: 30%

【Reward】: Reverse Fate Point +1

——————————

With the conclusion of the Saint’s Trial and Alice’s canonization, the atmosphere across the Western Continent underwent a dramatic transformation.

First was the Academy of Magic.

Students from the Eastern Continent no longer had the arrogance to boast, no matter what they said, it only drew laughter from their Western classmates, paying the price for their prior arrogance.

“Wow, the prodigies from your Eastern Continent are amazing! Four of them couldn’t even defeat just one Roy!”

“Oh, with the Holy Light descending, favored by the Goddess, the Child of Light ultimately fell to a mere maid. What’s going on? Looks like the Goddess favors the maid from our Western Continent more!”

Meanwhile, the Lionheart Kingdom also rode on Alice’s coattails and gained some fame.

Many believers chose to pilgrimage and visit, all to catch a glimpse of the Saintess Alice’s homeland.

Moreover, numerous Holy Light extraordinary beings directed resources to the Lionheart Kingdom, fervently constructing churches, vowing to spread the Holy Light from the very origin of the Saintess.

In this regard, the Lionheart Kingdom welcomed it warmly, even commissioning a statue of a holy knight at Iron Blood Ridge for the pilgrims to pay respect.

By the way, the Ainbrad family’s Iron Blood Ridge was originally remote, economically underdeveloped, surrounded only by forests and magical beasts, devoid of anything but seclusion.

To put it bluntly, even dogs wouldn’t go there.

But ever since Alice became the Saintess, Iron Blood Ridge experienced a tourism boom, with Holy Light believers even hiring adventurers at high prices just to trek through the woods and visit Alice’s homeland.

Additionally, the ballads sung about Alice, the dance performances, and the industries forged with Golden Sands and the Southern Sea rapidly operated, spreading the Saintess’s name across the entire Western Continent.

However, the real excitement was in White Harbor.

The largest church city in the Western Continent, the venue for the Saint’s Trial, and also the place where Saintess Alice herself resided—enough to leave Holy Light believers in a frenzy.

To catch a glimpse of the dignity of the Saintess, many believers even sold their possessions just to flock to White Harbor, creating a massive influx of people in just a few days.

Consequently, the status of the White Harbor Church also rose, earning reverence from numerous believers and even threatening to surpass the Eastern Continent’s churches.

After all, the White Harbor Church stood as the sole dominant force in the Western Continent. After years of development, the believers there had deep feelings for White Harbor and gradually lost their concept of the Eastern Continent’s churches.

Now that White Harbor had its own Saintess, it was on par with any church; why bother seeking far and wide in the Eastern Continent just to receive cold shoulders from the locals?

The booming development of White Harbor Church made the higher-ups beam with joy, looking a decade younger.

Even when encountering higher-ups from the Eastern Continent’s church, they no longer had to speak meekly or keep silent.