“Heh... hehehe! Real good at bluffing, Vinny. Looks like you’ve got other treasures on you too? You can even help yourself break free—tch. Just how many enchanted weapons are you hiding on you? And you can even forge this kind of appearance... Don’t think I don’t know it—this time you used some enchanted tool that creates illusions, didn’t you?!” Caron immediately came to a confident conclusion.

However, faced with his questioning and suspicion, the cherry-haired girl in the distance said nothing. Those heart-shaped peach eyes looked at him calmly and indifferently. Usually, they were like a pool of spring water rippling—always smiling, always full of soft allure. But right now, there wasn’t even the symbolic trace of a polite smile.

The next moment, the pure, flawless cherry-haired girl parted her lips and spoke.

“Caron, being human seems to be nothing but a burden to you. Once you truly decided to cast off that identity, everything you did became so natural—as if you were born for it.” Her voice was like heavenly music, so beautiful it made people lose themselves. But only those familiar with her knew that when Vanessa couldn’t even be bothered to add a polite “Mr.” or “Miss” to someone’s name, the problem was serious.

Amisha couldn’t help thinking of the Church choir’s sacred hymns. Yet no hymn or chant could compare to the girl’s few short words. Just listening to her voice made it feel like her ears were being purified.

Fennia was the same. The instant she saw Vanessa, she recognized her as the “Dawn Goddess” who, last semester, had saved her—and saved the entire academy—during the Demon Pillars invasion.

After a brief storm of thought, Fennia understood everything in an instant.

So it wasn’t that the “Dawn Goddess” had manifested.

It had all been done by the girl in front of her.

So that’s how it was.

So the “Dawn Goddess” who saved the entire academy... was Vinny!

Vinny wasn’t some dead-blood at all. His bloodline had always been alive!

Fennia suddenly thought of how she had once asked Vinny what he would do if his bloodline awakened, and the things he’d said to her after saving her that time—answers to her own immature provocation, her challenge, her demand for a duel. Shame flooded her so hard she wanted to find a hole in the ground and crawl in, and never stick her head out again.

It’s over. It’s over.

She—Fennia Cassius, eldest daughter of the Cassius Family—had actually doubted the identity of a true Saintess one day, and even spoken disrespectfully to her, and challenged her.

This was...!

Aaaaaaah!

The moment she thought of it, a battle roar exploded in her heart. She was so embarrassed her ten toes could dig out a three-bedroom apartment.

No wonder Lady Saintess had, back then, implied that she had no opinions of her own and only blindly followed others.

Now that she looked at it, it really was a perfectly accurate evaluation.

Still... Lady Saintess really was Lady Saintess. She saw through her biggest problem at a glance.

And even though she was the awakened, orthodox descendant of House of Facilis, carrying the goddess’s blood—the rightful Saintess—she had always disguised her identity and endured in silence, tolerating the outside world’s wildly wrong slander and baseless accusations. No matter how much filth others poured over her, she never revealed her identity, never explained anything, trusting that the innocent would prove themselves innocent.

Even as Fennia struggled to hide her shame, her worship of Vinny grew beyond measure.

She suddenly thought of a certain Saintess who, to save the world, spread the suffering of all living beings across herself. At this moment, what Vinny was doing—how similar it was to what that ancestor of hers had done?

Too great. Was this the Facilis that carried the world in its heart?

Worthy of the goddess’s bloodline!

Of course, Fennia really was overthinking it. The reason Vinny kept a low profile and didn’t reveal his identity was simply that he still wanted to keep his life.

“Student Vinny—no, Lord Vinny. I knew it. I knew Lord Vinny really is the Saintess!” Amisha sat on the ground, staring at Vanessa’s figure, her eyes filled with excited joy and shock she still hadn’t fully digested.

“I understand now. So before, everything Lord Vinny said... it was all a test for us. To see whether we could tell right from wrong, and whether we were worthy of being completely trusted by her.”

“Only after we cleared it would Lord Vinny be willing to tell us her true identity!” Amisha blinked her clear, adorable eyes. In an instant, she figured it all out, and couldn’t help marveling at Vinny’s painstaking intent, his deep planning, his thorough consideration.

“Worthy of Lord Vinny!” Amisha felt that she had only just had the fortune of encountering a Saintess who hadn’t appeared for three generations, and already received the Saintess’s precious guidance.

No—rather, the first encounter between her and little Fennia and Lady Saintess had, in itself, been steeped in an intense sense of mission and destiny.

This... must be a special mission bestowed upon her and little Fennia by the Dawn Goddess and all the Saintesses of the past!

To let them, in this age where Facilis had been waning for a hundred years, devote themselves wholeheartedly and with absolute loyalty to assisting this newly born generation’s Dawn Saintess!

Since the last Dawn Saintess, Sophia Facilis, died in battle, the world had gone a full hundred years without a Saintess.

Everyone believed the blood of Facilis had been cut off. Yet the truth proved that Facilis sheltered the world. No matter how fallen humanity became, no matter how unjust, Facilis would never abandon the duty of saving humankind.

And so, just when everyone believed there would never be another Saintess again, even as the Facilis line withered and declined, a successor Saintess was still born!

This had to be proof that the goddess and the Saintesses still had not given up on saving humanity!

For a moment, Amisha felt a fearful weight like a mission descending from the sky.

She had a feeling...

She was going to witness history.

Amisha’s imagination had run wild, but it still lined up with part of Vanessa’s thinking—Vanessa really did, because of their trust, reveal her identity in front of them without restraint. Even if she didn’t have much of a choice. She had to do it.

“Heh... hehehe! Vinny, what are you putting on this act for?? Don’t think that just because you pulled some trick, you can really treat yourself as the goddess’s spokesperson! Everyone knows your bloodline is fake—you’re a complete counterfeit!” For some reason, being questioned like this by the sacred, flawless cherry-haired girl made Caron’s heart tighten. It felt like he’d been dragged before a tribunal, a sinner being judged by a Saintess.

Vanessa didn’t respond to Caron. She glanced back at Fennia and Amisha behind her. They had both been completely healed by the holy light she released.

But even if the injuries were healed, magic couldn’t be restored.

She flexed those slender hands like carved jade. At this moment, her stamina and mana were abundant. After becoming Vanessa, her state refreshed—her injuries were healed by her own holy light, and every condition had returned to full.

“Vinny, you really are something. Just to pull off this trick, you really suffered for it. A grown man dressing up # Nоvеlight # as some prior Saintess... who do you think you’re fooling, and fooling successfully? Who are you trying to scare?” Caron frowned, and it wasn’t clear who these words were meant for.

“Senior Caron, you’re wrong.” At that moment, Amisha spoke, bracing herself with her staff. “If you were devout enough, you should be able to see that this isn’t any prior Saintess—and even less the Dawn Goddess.”

“What are you talking about??”

“In truth, Senior Caron, you realized it long ago, didn’t you? That holy light clearly isn’t any kind of trick. Or rather—no trick, of any level, can imitate holy light.” Amisha continued, her expression solemn.

“Lord Vinny was never any counterfeit. She is the true bloodline descendant of the goddess—the Facilis bloodline. Her bloodline has always been genuine.”

“!” Caron clenched his fist, teeth grinding, staring hard at the cherry-haired girl who was freely blooming pure white feathers and sacred motes of light before him.

“How is that possible?” Thinking back on Vinny’s various performances and behaviors, and how badly he and Vinny had never gotten along, Caron’s eyes widened. No matter what, he couldn’t connect Vinny with titles like “orthodox descendant of House of Facilis” and “the rightful Dawn Saintess.”

Impossible. How could this bastard really be an orthodox descendant of House of Facilis? How could a descendant of the Dawn Saintess be like this? Clearly...

He looked at the sacred, dazzling girl before him. A long wind stirred her luxurious cherry hair like silk. The pure-white ceremonial outfit with gold-thread trim, two ribbons engraved with crosses hanging down along the skirt to either side of her high-heeled boots. The soft armor on her upper body was decorated with a few silver tassels. The winged hair accessory shone brilliantly.

Now, she was spotless, pure, flawless—perfectly embodying every trait of a Saintess in all those epic chapters.

And as for him...

He had been corroded by the Most-Evil Divine Armament. His blood had been replaced by that evil weapon. His entire life was held in that evil weapon’s hand. He had no idea what road awaited him.

Caron unconsciously clenched his fist. He had thought his fate could belong to himself from now on. Instead, he was either controlled by people, or controlled by objects.

Why... why did it turn out like this?! 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Caron couldn’t understand it.

Clearly—clearly, the person who could stand on the stage in that high-profile way, receiving everyone’s reverence and worship, should have been him, with his boundless future!

It should have been like that. His and Vinny’s positions should have been like that too. He was the genius basking in praise and others’ awe—the youngest Dragon-Knight of the era.

And Vinny—he was the one who should have been spat on by countless people, a rat in a stinking gutter!

That was how it was supposed to start. The strong stay strong. He should have gotten better and better, reaching heights Vinny could never even glimpse, while Vinny could only rot in that home of his that was like a rat’s nest, keeping those few stinking corpses until they were forgotten.

So why had their realities switched now??

Looking at that sacred, flawless girl, receiving Fennia and Amisha’s unconditional trust, the resentment and imbalance in Caron’s heart erupted completely.

He was the one who should be standing there!

“You—You counterfeit! You think you can become a real Dawn Saintess just because you pulled a few tricks?!” Caron roared and charged at Vanessa, raising [Blood-Debt] in his hand and chopping down at her.

“You like pretending, huh? Then I’ll strip all your disguise off right now!”

“Lady Saintess, be careful!” Fennia shouted when she saw it.

There was no need for her to warn her.

Vanessa flipped her hand, and a mithril flanged hammer appeared in her grip. One hand held the handle, the other braced the hammerhead, and she met Caron’s attack head-on.

“Clang! Clang!!” With the violent sound of metal crashing, Vanessa’s long hair swayed. Her high-heeled boots scraped two marks into the ground as she was forced back several meters.

But after she stabilized her stance, Vanessa suddenly exerted force. Caron instantly felt as if he’d slammed into a solid mountain—then that mountain seemed to drive its entire mass into him.

Caron was smashed back again and again by that terrifying brute force.

What kind of monstrous strength was this?!

Caron believed his own strength was already enormous. Now, with [Blood-Debt] reinforcing him, it was even more extraordinary. Yet he was being crushed in raw power—so shocked he couldn’t believe it.

“So strong.” Fennia stared blankly and murmured. “Is this the legendary divine strength of a Saintess?”

Vanessa pressed Caron down, then kicked viciously.

[Blood-Debt] extended blood vessels in time to shield Caron. Vanessa’s white high-heeled boot struck those blood vessels, sending ripples shuddering through them.

Caron was kicked and sent flying.

“How is this... possible?!” Caron’s eyes bulged. That terrifying strength crushed the last bit of luck he’d been clinging to.

Vinny couldn’t possibly have this kind of strength.

That left only one possibility.

“[Blood-Debt]. What the hell are you doing?? Cutting corners like this—are you trying to drag me down with you?!” Caron shouted.

‘Young Master Caron, you really are a complete idiot.’

“What, you mean you weren’t cutting corners? Then why can’t my strength even compare to Vinny’s little trick?!”

‘Are you actually stupid, or just playing dumb? You still haven’t seen that her Facilis bloodline is the real thing??’ [Blood-Debt]’s voice carried a trace of realization and gravity.

‘No wonder. No wonder I couldn’t tempt her like that earlier. So she’s the real thing.’

‘In that case, even if I made her grip me, I probably still couldn’t tempt her smoothly.’

“What... are you talking about?”

‘What else could I be talking about? The blood of Facilis on Vinny is the real thing—and it’s awakened.’

“How could that be? Don’t talk nonsense. I understand what kind of trash Vinny is better than you do!”

‘That’s why I’m saying you’re truly stupid. Haven’t you realized that earlier “male” identity was very likely nothing but one of her disguises??’ [Blood-Debt] mocked.