How Could the Villainous Young Master Be a Saintess?

By the time Vinny rushed to the club new-member recruitment area without stopping, the place was already pitch-black. During the day, it had been lively enough for heads to crowd together in a packed mass. Now at night, it was so deserted that the only sounds were a few strips of cloth fluttering in the wind. The contrast was terrifyingly huge.

Everyone had left. There was not even a lamp.

Vinny followed the path and walked to a spot not far from his booth. Only after seeing that the illustrations and advertising slogans hanging high above his booth were still there did he breathe a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, they had not been cleared away. The others had probably assumed the person watching the booth had gone out to eat and would come back to pack everything up later, so no one had touched them.

Vinny walked over and was just about to start putting away those advertising slogans when he suddenly discovered a dark figure standing in front of his booth.

“Mm?”

Surprise crossed Vinny’s face. It was this late, yet someone was standing motionless in front of his booth. What was this person trying to do?

This was way too strange, right? Surely this person was not trying to steal something? But what was there at his booth worth stealing? There was nothing valuable, all right? Even scrap collectors would have to weigh whether those rotten advertising boards were worth taking.

A bit of vigilance and wariness rose in Vinny’s heart. Once he drew closer and made out the silhouette of that figure, it seemed to be a girl. By the dim moonlight, Vinny saw that the girl’s hair color was very bright and dazzling. It also looked a little familiar.

This seemed to be...

“Huh? Who’s there?”

Vinny’s quiet approach also drew the girl’s attention. An unidentified person creeping closer to her made the girl wary, along with a little afraid. Although this was Carillian Academy, where public security was guaranteed, there was still no avoiding a few people with twisted minds and outrageous nerve.

The moment Vinny heard the voice, he found it very familiar, and immediately remembered. He had only heard this voice at noon today.

It was Margaret from noon?

“Are you Miss Margaret?” Vinny asked hesitantly.

“Ah, are you... Senior Vinny?” Margaret froze after hearing Vinny’s voice, then reacted.

“That’s me.” Vinny nodded. “I suddenly remembered that I hadn’t packed up my booth yet. I was afraid these slogans would be taken away as scrap, so I came here to close up. What about you? What are you doing here?”

“Me? Uh.” Hearing that, Margaret placed both hands flat over her abdomen and hesitated.

“What’s wrong? Is there something you want to say?” Vinny asked.

“Senior Vinny, did you forget?” A glimmer flashed through Margaret’s lively eyes. “This morning, I said I would come find you after visiting the other clubs with them.”

“Ah. Now that you mention it, I think there was indeed something like that.” Vinny scratched his head. Earlier, he had thought Margaret had only been speaking politely. So she had been serious? After all, her little companions had all acted as if they did not welcome him and had no interest in him. Logically speaking, after seeing that, Margaret should not have come looking for him again.

“Don’t tell me you ran here this late for that?” Vinny suddenly thought of it and could not help saying.

“Huh? But I said that to you, Senior Vinny. If I didn’t come, wouldn’t I be deceiving you?” Margaret clearly did not understand what Vinny meant, as though she felt this was only natural.

“...”

A strange look flashed across Vinny’s face.

That counted as deception? Did this girl not quite understand what polite remarks and social formalities were?

Was she pretending, or was she taking this too seriously?

He had thought she was just saying something for appearances and had not taken it seriously, assuming she would not come.

“Uh, all right. I want to know, if I hadn’t shown up tonight, wouldn’t you have waited the whole night?” Vinny asked with a strange expression.

“Mm. I would always be able to wait eventually. Senior Vinny, you didn’t forget me either, did you? Look, didn’t I manage to wait for you?” Margaret smiled gently.

Vinny did not quite know how to respond to that. He had not come back to look for Margaret at all. He had come back to pack up the club’s advertising slogans. He also had not expected Margaret to have actually waited for him in the same place for so long.

“Did you come alone?” Vinny wondered where Margaret’s guard troop had gone. Judging from their appearance, they did not seem like the kind of people who would be at ease letting Margaret come meet him alone.

“Does Carillian Academy not allow new students to walk around alone?” Margaret asked in surprise.

“No, that isn’t what I meant. What I mean is, your... mm, friends didn’t come out with you?” Vinny hesitated slightly when he said the word “friends.” He did not know whether using “friends” was appropriate or whether “subordinates” was more suitable. After thinking about it, he still felt “friends” was better.

“I told them to go back,” Margaret said.

“They weren’t worried about you coming out alone? And coming to see me, no less?” Vinny raised an eyebrow. “I hope this is just my petty suspicion, but from what I saw, they didn’t seem very willing to let you interact with me alone.”

“About that, I’m sorry, Senior Vinny. I apologize to you on their behalf. They are always very wary of people they don’t know well. In truth, they are all very good people. I believe that if they understood you well enough, they would definitely be able to become good friends with you too,” Margaret said apologetically.

“Good friends? That is probably a little too demanding, for both sides.” Hearing this, Vinny suddenly gave a laugh, then studied the cherry-haired girl in front of him with a gaze full of thought-provoking meaning.

“Honestly, Student Margaret, I’m very curious.”

“Curious? May I ask what you’re curious about, Senior Vinny?” Margaret did not understand what he meant.

“I’m very curious whether you really don’t know, or whether you’re pretending.” Vinny looked at Margaret meaningfully and lifted his chin.

“Me? Whether I know or not?” Margaret tilted her head in confusion. “What are you referring to, Senior Vinny? Know what?”

“...Forget it. It’s nothing. Pretend I never said that.” Vinny withdrew his gaze.

Those eyes were truly too innocent and pure, so much so that even Vinny found it somewhat difficult to guess what exactly she was thinking.

“Senior Vinny, if you have any questions, you can ask me.” Margaret did not understand what sort of question was so difficult to voice.

“It’s nothing. I was just curious how you’re so sure I can get along well with them.” Vinny casually pulled over another topic.

“Curious? Mm, now that you mention it, Senior Vinny, you might not believe me, but I’m relying on feeling.”

“Feeling?” Vinny felt a little like laughing when he heard that. “Junior Margaret, are you serious? There are many things in this world that can’t be figured out by feeling alone.”

“That is true, but for some reason, there has always been a voice in my heart telling me that Senior Vinny definitely isn’t a bad person,” Margaret said, clasping her hands together.

“Huh?” Hearing that, Vinny froze for a long while before recovering. The corner of his mouth twitched. “All right. I hope that’s true.”

“Of course it’s true.” Margaret spoke to Vinny earnestly. “I never lie.”

“Never lie?” Vinny looked Margaret up and down and felt an indescribable urge to make a jab.

“Junior Margaret, have you really never lied? Then what happens if you have lied?” Vinny asked in amusement.

“Me? Lied?” Margaret’s face filled with hesitation, as if she thought about it for a long time. Then her face abruptly reddened. “Do some embarrassing things from when I was very little that I don’t want others to know count?”

Hearing that, Vinny fell silent again.

“Junior Margaret, you can choose not to say things like that out loud.”

Judging from Vinny’s current observations, if this Margaret was not pretending, then she was frighteningly naive.

However, Vinny leaned more toward the former. After all, she was the Dawn Saintess pushed out by the Church. How could she truly be this innocent?

Margaret also seemed to realize she had misspoken and fell silent all at once.

“In any case, I just feel that Senior Vinny definitely isn’t a bad person. Even though we’ve only met once, and even though you don’t like talking much, I still feel you must be a very good person.”

“So you do know we’ve only met once.” Vinny was amused and pretended to rub his forehead. “I’m a good person? You’re that certain? Don’t tell me there’s a label on my face saying something like ‘I’m a good person’?”

“There isn’t. Your face is very clean, Senior,” Margaret shook her head.

“Oh, really? Then thank you for the compliment.”

“Speaking of which, Senior, did you recruit anyone today?” Margaret asked curiously.

Was she really bringing up the one thing he did not want to talk about?

Vinny even suspected she might be deliberately mocking him.

“Of course I recruited people. A sea of people, what did you think? There were plenty of new students who wanted to join our club.” Vinny glanced at Margaret. “What else did you take our club for? Some marginal club making up the numbers?”

“As expected of Senior Vinny.” Margaret wore an expression of sudden understanding. “Sure enough, I’m not the only one who thinks the card-player-soul club is very interesting. Everyone thinks so too.”

Vinny’s expression changed all at once. The look he gave Margaret was filled with strangeness.

For a moment, he did not know whether the other party was sincerely praising him or being sarcastic.

Why did he feel she was being sarcastic? Because the facts were the exact opposite of what she had said. Aside from her, there had been practically no one who thought the card-player-soul club was interesting. After an entire morning passed, not a single person had stopped in front of their club’s recruitment booth for more than ten seconds. It had been a complete speed bump, nothing but passersby.

“Then, are there still openings? If possible, could you add me too?” Margaret asked.

Hearing that, a meaningful glimmer flashed through Vinny’s eyes.

She wanted to join their club?

What exactly was her objective? Was it so that, after joining the card-player-soul club, she could monitor him more conveniently on behalf of the Church of the Dawn?

Very likely.

This move was stupid enough too. Did she think pretending to be a fool would let her muddle through and get planted beside him?

Vinny also figured it out. The other party was most likely deliberately playing the airhead to make a move against him. Fortunately, he had handled recruitment personally today. If those clubmates of his, who acted like they had gone eight lifetimes without seeing a woman, had been in charge of recruitment, she really might have slipped in.

However, there were still some strange points. For example, who came up with such a foolish idea?

Arranging for a Saintess who, in his eyes, was an obvious counterfeit to enter his club—could he possibly agree?

Had they not even asked around? He was the vice president of the card-player-soul club. If he said one, who in the club would dare say two?

The card players regarded him as their father. How could matters in the card-player-soul club not follow his will?

“Sorry, Junior. There were honestly far too many people joining today. I couldn’t even finish listing the names. There really aren’t any openings.” Vinny deliberately sighed.

“Huh? Is that so? Looks like the timing really was unfortunate.” Hearing this, Margaret was very regretful.

“Mm, so there’s no helping it. I really can’t add anyone. Go look at other clubs. I think those companions of yours would also rather you join some other club.” Vinny glanced at Margaret as he spoke.

“All right.” Hearing Vinny say this, Margaret gave a soft sigh. “I’m sorry for troubling you to spare time for me despite being so busy, Senior Vinny.”

“Speaking of which, I’d like to know which class you’re in, Senior Vinny.”

“Mm?” Vinny looked deeply at Margaret.

Oh, the dagger had finally come out after the map was unrolled. Finally, the dagger had come out.

She really did want to monitor him.

However, this intention was way too obvious, right?

Vinny frowned.

If he were the other party, he would not say something like this. That would only make the target wary. It would be better to say nothing and find a way to observe in secret.

But it did not matter. That did not affect Vinny’s passive triggering right now—running his mouth.

“What’s this, Junior Margaret? You want to ask about me that badly?” Vinny raised an eyebrow. “Honestly, Junior, are you interested in me?”

“If that’s the case, you should give up early. It’s not that I’m trying to say anything, but the competition is quite fierce. You may not know this, but I’m a famous school heartthrob and king of popularity on campus. The girls chasing this young master could line up from Carillian Academy all the way to Camella Kingdom. There are too many to count.”

“H-Huh?! That isn’t what I meant!” Hearing this, Margaret’s cheeks reddened, and she hastily denied it. Then she cleared her throat. “Senior, you misunderstood me. I just always feel that you are very kind. I don’t know how to describe it. I just feel that you are very interesting.”

Why not just say you want to monitor me? Why go through such a huge detour?

Hearing that, Vinny suddenly laughed inwardly.

It seemed he had been underestimated.

That old thing, the Pope of the Dawn, was either muddled from age, or his impression of Vinny was still stuck before enrollment. To think he actually believed Vinny would fall for a honey trap like this?

Did he think that, at a time like this, hearing an unparalleled beautiful girl put on the air of a little admirer and say, “Big brother, I admire you so much!” would make him fall for it and lower his guard?

One could only say that old bastard must think Vinny had gone through so much and only increased in strength, without his mental state growing at all.

Wait.

Fine. If that was the case...

Vinny thought of a good method.