Wayne rubbed the skin under Anastasia’s dress with his fingertips. The smooth, silky feeling was so pleasant that he couldn’t stop even though he knew it was wrong.

Anastasia recovered from her shock. She said nothing about the hand messing around on her bottom, and neither did she stand up. She stayed on Wayne’s lap with her arms around his neck, looking down and pretending that nothing was happening.

She justified her reaction as an act of gratitude. Wayne had saved Ivan’s life, and Ivan could not repay the debt. It made sense for her to do it for him as his daughter. Besides, she was only getting groped on the bottom, not losing anything substantial. She would call it a bargain.

After a moment, Wayne moved his hand away reluctantly, blatantly twisting the truth, “Lady Holy Maiden, I examined you and concluded that you have relapsed again. I’ll conduct another surgery later.”

“Apologies for the trouble I cause you.”

She even had to thank him!

Anastasia would like to sit on him a little longer, and Wayne’s eyes clearly said that he was reluctant to let her go. Unfortunately, there was a third wheel among them, so she had no choice but to stand up.

As she did, she created a jacket with Darkness to cover up the long dress, which didn’t really cover much of her body. She didn’t want her father to misunderstand. What he had seen wasn’t representative of her relationship with Wayne. It was the Goddess of Darkness’s doing.

Wind abated, leaving Ivan sliding to the floor. He was still pale and reeling from the shock. Though his faith hadn’t crumbled per se, his worldview had taken a serious hit. He needed time to recover.

“Your Holiness, you may not believe it, but that was an act put up by Anastasia and me. We did it because her being the Holy Maiden made it difficult to gain your approval.” Wayne went up to help Ivan up and consoled him. “There’s no goddess, only Anastasia and I. I hope that you’ll support us.”

As if I could oppose your relationship!

Ivan shuddered, looking at Wayne with complicated feelings. Everything else aside, the scumbag had saved his life. He opened his mouth, but didn’t know what to say. He didn’t even know how he should address Wayne. In the end, he turned to his daughter and said, “Ana, you... you’ve suffered.”

The goddess couldn’t descend to the human world personally, so She could only go on a date with Her human lover and satisfy Her needs by using the Holy Maiden’s body.

Being both a father and a follower, Ivan made an outlandish leap in logic. Anastasia didn’t know what he was even talking about. She shook her head, saying that she didn’t feel like she was suffering.

Again, the situation was complicated and could not be explained in simple words. Ivan should leave Londan and get away from the heat.

Ivan agreed. Londan was such a mess that he couldn’t deal with it as a mere pope. He picked up his Shadow Cloak from the ground and was about to leave, but after taking two steps, he turned back and patted Wayne on the shoulder, offering the cloak.

“You’re an extraordinary young man. I’m entrusting Ana to you. Consider this my gift to you. Take it and treat my daughter well. If you ever hurt her, I’ll—um, I’ll take the gift back.”

Ivan’s expression kept shifting. He had lost his justified anger when he arrived in Londan and wasn’t sure how he should treat Wayne. Though Wayne had a messy personal life, he treated Anastasia well. Though Wayne had taken advantage of his daughter, he had also saved Ivan. Though Wayne was good at deceiving women, he’d won over the goddess...

The last thing was beyond incredible. The Pope had thought that he had seen everything under the sun, but what Wayne had done was unheard of. It didn’t matter how big a scumbag he thought Wayne was; if the goddess wanted him, there had to be something special about Wayne, something well-hidden.

“Ivan, stay put once you’re back in the Rus Federation. Don’t run around in the future. Do you understand?” Anastasia warned her father once more.

Ivan nodded. His daughter had been through more than he had, with a broader horizon and a more advanced understanding of the world. He could not argue with her.

Before his departure, he felt compelled to ask, “Ana, if the Holy Maiden is found to have lost her purity... what’s next?”

“The one who found out about it would have committed sacrilege!”

That makes so much sense!

In other churches, the Holy Maidens would be burned at the stake for losing purity. In the Church of Darkness, whoever discovered the Holy Maiden’s loss of purity would be burned at the stake. It might seem wrong, but it was the way the Goddess of Darkness operated.

Wayne would like to make a snide comment, but he tried to swallow his words. Then he failed to do so and let his comment slip: “Don’t worry, Your Holiness. With me around, Lady Holy Maiden will forever retain her purity. What you’re worried about won’t happen.”

It’s because of you that she’ll lose her purity! Take a look at the mirror. What’s your promise going to do? Even if you say that the Holy Maiden will stay pure, will the goddess cooperate?

Furious, Ivan clenched his fist and was going to make a swing at the trash who had taken advantage of his girl, but then he sensed Anastasia’s cold, observant gaze. This was the goddess’s trash, and he didn’t have the right to take it out.

He felt like a failure as a father, but then he realized that while he couldn’t do anything to Wayne, he could have Auston pay for his son!

With a glint in his eyes, he said, “Mr. Wayne, I’d like to have a private word with you.”

“Oh? Is there another gift?” Eyes lit up, Wayne said gleefully, “You’re a parental figure to me. You don’t have to come bearing so many gifts! Just bring a couple with you the next time, or I’m gonna get angry.”

Gifts? I’ll have to be an idiot to visit Londan again!

Ivan pretended not to hear the words. Standing in a corner, he mumbled to Wayne about how he had met Auston, embellishing the story to emphasize Auston’s despicable, shameless personality.

Simply put, he was siccing Wayne on Auston the way Auston had sicced him on Wayne.

They should’ve been comrades in arms and formed an unwavering alliance as fathers of Wayne’s victims, but the Goddess of Darkness’s little game shattered the alliance.

Anastasia side-eyed them. She was going to listen in and see if they were talking about her, but she lost interest when she realized that her father was setting someone up.

“Did Auston really say that?” Wayne made a strange face. It was shameless of the local to bully an outsider.

“Exactly what he said.” Ivan nodded seriously.

“Has he not said anything else? For example...” Wayne reached into the Void, trying and failing to draw Twilight Despair. That damn old man even anticipated this!

Wayne made a face, imagining Auston sitting on the sofa as the Darkness Knight, laughing out loud with Megan in his arms.

“For example?” Ivan raised an eyebrow. He had a feeling that he was missing something important.

“It’s nothing,” Wayne dismissed him, thinking about how he should get back at Auston. A plan quickly formed in his mind.

***

Half an hour later, Mona came over with a camera. She was surprised to see the stunning beauty in a long black dress. Was this her comrade in bed tonight?

Ivan had already left, barely controlling his limbs as he walked. Wayne touched his own face and beckoned Anastasia over for the plan. The three of them got into the black car, driving toward Buckingham Palace.

Mona looked at the Holy Maiden of the Church of Darkness in the back, whispering, “Boss, is it really right to have her first time in the palace? I’d suggest you lower the difficulty level in case the Holy Maiden gets scared off.”

“...” x2

Anastasia looked out of the window, while Wayne rolled his eyes.

“Focus on driving and don’t speed.”

“I’m not speeding.”

“Talking back at me? I’ll make you cry once we’re home!”

Only when the car pulled over at Buckingham Palace, and Wayne and Anastasia changed their appearance, did Mona realize that she was overthinking. No, she was underthinking, in fact.

Wayne had transformed into Auston, and Anastasia had transformed into Sophelia. The Prince Consort and the Queen were returning to the palace to stay the night rather than working overtime at the Ministry of Magic’s headquarters. The guards on shift hurriedly let them in, not daring to say anything or ask any questions.

In the garden, the couple snuggled while Mona took pictures of them from behind a tree. She chose the perfect angle to make it seem like they were entangled while proving that the photos were candid shots taken in secret. The photographer had caught the couple in action. This was definitely not fabricated.

Even when it wasn’t through the lens of a hidden camera, Anastasia and Wayne still seemed intimate. They desired each other, and one of them was controlling himself, while the other was tamping down her urges. Wayne, in particular, could’ve played the man, woman, and photographer on his own, but out of selfish ulterior motives, he asked Anastasia and Mona for help.

After more than ten pictures, Mona took a close-up of Wayne. The picture didn’t feature the Queen, but the Prince Consort putting his pants back up while walking out of the grove. He looked tired yet rejuvenated, with satisfaction and regret warring on his face. It was the perfect representation of a middle-aged man who loved his wife but couldn’t stop cheating on her.

“Perfect!”

The photos would drop like a bombshell. Wayne named the collection, “While the High Reverend of Church of Nature Works Overtime.”

“Can you develop the photo tonight, Mona?”

“It’ll only take an hour. Why don’t you come to my place to get the photo as soon as it’s developed?” Mona suggested. “As you know, I am a detective. I have a darkroom at home.”

“Good idea. I can’t rest easy until I have the photo in my hand, and I won’t be able to sleep well tonight.”

Developing photos? I’m just not thick-skinned enough to expose you!

Anastasia would like to check the developed photos, but she didn’t want to invite humiliation by asking to join them. She looked at Wayne silently, waiting for him to invite her along.

The hesitant look of suppressed desires clearly indicated her terminal illness. No number of surgeries would cure her. She was one step away from experiencing her peak; Wayne only had to nod.

Wayne hesitated. He wanted to personally corrupt the flawless Holy Maiden, but he also wanted her to keep her holy radiance forever.

“Boss, you’re getting selfish again,” Mona said seriously. She had been through the same thing, so she knew how terrible it felt to be stuck in limbo.

“Um...”

In the end, it was Mona who offered the olive branch and gave the push. When Wayne remained hesitant, wanting to have the best of both worlds, she made the executive decision to take Anastasia home.

***

It suddenly started pouring rain. The water of the River Thames rumbled wildly through the misty port, so the ship on the river rushed into the ocean without the need for any propelling power.

The photos cost Wayne a fortune. He had planned to pay a hundred million for each of the two rolls, but both Mona and Anastasia asked for a few more. He ended up giving away a few more hundred million[1].

Naturally, the photos couldn’t be developed that night. When Wayne got the photos and strode into the Lando Estate with his head held high, it was already noon the next day.

“Old man, I’m making you pay today!!”

1. Because of the average sperm count per ejaculation, the author often uses ‘paying hundreds of millions’ to refer to sex. Since 億 (yi), which means a hundred million, is pronounced the same as 一 (yi), one, there have been many jokes based on the pun. ☜