Vol 3. Chapter 93: Shame

The earlier illusions had been impressive enough that they actually masked his Virtue changes.

Only now did Vinny notice his Virtue shifting.

‘[Virtue +50].’

‘[Current Virtue: 5624].’

‘[Virtue +50].’

‘[Current Virtue: 5674].’

‘[Virtue +150].’

‘[Current Virtue: 5824].’

‘[Virtue +100].’

‘[Current Virtue: 5924].’

‘[Virtue +200].’

‘[Current Virtue: 6124].’

“......”

A long string of Virtue notifications followed, leaving Vinny honestly a little dazed. To put it simply, there was just too much and too mixed together. There was no way to analyze who had triggered what, or exactly what event had caused which Virtue burst, whether it was because of his abnormal condition or something else.

By the time he scrolled to the end, Vinny saw his Virtue had climbed all the way up to 6524.

Well, who’d have thought a disaster dropping out of the sky would end up giving him this much Virtue. He really had no idea whether to call this a blessing in disguise or not.

Probably not, actually. The risk had been way too high. One careless step and he would have gone right back down the old path, sprinting full speed down the BAN END route, never to return.

With that thought, Vinny looked over at Aesphyra beside him, and found Aesphyra, with perfect timing, looking over at him as well.

The two of them both turned their gazes away at the exact same time.

Vinny had no idea what Aesphyra was thinking right now. All he knew was—

Ah. Ahhh. What the hell had he just done??

Camella’s Delinquent Young Master, what exactly had you been doing just now?!

If it weren’t for Mirexia and Shicodale still watching nearby, Vinny would’ve already been clutching his head and bolting.

He was a proper grown man, a towering iron-blooded hunk of a guy, the king of bad ideas in Camella, Camella’s Delinquent Young Master, Carillian Academy’s top campus heartthrob—

and yet just now he’d pulled something that humiliating!

And in front of Aesphyra, at that!

And even that wasn’t the worst of it. What the hell had that been, just now? He’d gone diving straight into her arms to seek comfort, seriously? Come on! That was Aesphyra we were talking about! The iron-blooded green-eyed one!! He, a grown man, had flown into some girl’s arms like a little girl himself, begging for comfort. Never mind how shameful that was—Aesphyra probably thought he’d done it on purpose just to take advantage of her. She probably wanted to kill him now, right??

She hadn’t had any intention of killing him before, but now she probably had a little bit!

Vinny swallowed with some difficulty, pressed his lips together, kept his mouth shut, didn’t dare look at Aesphyra, and had this prickling sense of a blade at his back, terrified that her gaze right now would feel unbearably sharp.

And more importantly... it smelled so good.

Vinny felt that cool rose-and-camellia fragrance still coiling around the tip of his nose, to the point that every breath he took was filled with that body scent that made his cheeks burn.

Maybe because of everything that had just happened, that body scent suddenly carried a rather special meaning for him. It felt like just breathing it in could give him a huge sense of safety and stability.

No. Wrong. He had to be out of his mind.

As for why that scent had lingered this long...

Well, that was probably because the place his face had just smashed into was a little special.

The moment that thought crossed his mind, Vinny’s cheeks burned so hard they couldn’t cool down at all, like even dumping a bucket of cold water on his face wouldn’t bring the temperature down.

Normally he called her “little bread roll” and “little orange” with every other breath to mock her, but after actually getting a taste, even a little bread roll turned out to be pretty soft and pretty fragrant.

Seriously.

Big cake had its own charms, but little bread rolls had their own strengths too—small and dainty, yet still soft and scented, something you could fit in one hand and just—

Ahem! What the hell was he thinking??

Vinny hurriedly reined his thoughts back in and slapped his own cheeks.

Vinny, oh Vinny, you really have gone insane, huh? Since when did you start fantasizing about the Destiny Heroine up in the sky??

He didn’t know why, but at the beginning he’d rejected Aesphyra so hard that he’d even rejected her scent.

Not because it smelled bad—

but because the moment he smelled it, he’d think of the scene of her holy sword punching through his chest, and his heart would go cold. That chill had turned into rejection.

Now, for some reason, Vinny was starting to feel that Aesphyra’s body scent and hair fragrance were kind of nice.

No, not “kind of nice” anymore. He was even starting to feel they were a little—

No. No way! He couldn’t keep thinking about this. This had to be the lingering control and influence of [Blood-Debt] that hadn’t fully ended yet. It had left his brain and thoughts abnormal, still not back to normal.

All of this was [Blood-Debt]’s plot!

No matter how he tried to spin it, Vinny still felt that his earlier self had been a complete mess, an absolute disgrace!

Of course, while Vinny was over here fantasizing for half a day, endlessly guessing at what Aesphyra might be thinking, he was completely ignoring what Aesphyra’s actual reaction was right now, and had no idea what was truly going on in her heart.

“Why would [Blood-Debt] appear on campus?” Since it was already dark, Mirexia just assumed Vinny’s awkwardness was because he was still under lingering influence from [Blood-Debt], and she failed to notice the color in Vinny and Aesphyra’s faces, or how the two of them kept subconsciously turning away from each other.

“That, that thing, that was the evil [Divine Armament], [Blood-Debt], right?” Shicodale said in surprise. “But why did it have to come after Classmate Vinny?”

“That’s something no one can say for sure.” Aesphyra, who had been silent this whole time, suddenly spoke up. Her meaningful tone carried a faint emotional fluctuation, but it wasn’t obvious. Vinny was still lost in his own feelings, and the other two also failed to notice, so no one picked up on it.

“Vinny, are you alright? Do you feel unwell anywhere else?” Mirexia asked, walking over and carefully checking Vinny’s condition.

“Other than feeling like I’ve burned through all my mana and hit total exhaustion, I don’t feel uncomfortable anywhere,” Vinny said, shaking his head.

“Better let the priests and nuns from the monastery give you a check-up.” Mirexia wasn’t reassured. As she spoke, she slung one of Vinny’s arms over her own shoulder.

“Mirexia, I can walk. I’m not that wiped out,” Vinny said helplessly.

“No. If [Blood-Debt] can silently sneak onto campus and fixate on you, that’s very dangerous. From now on, someone should stay by your side at all times. Otherwise [Blood-Debt] might take advantage of an opening and slip in,” Mirexia said firmly, not backing down.

“T-then, I could, I could stay by Vin—”

Shicodale, on hearing that, immediately raised his small hand, wanting to say he could take on the job—only to be cut off the moment he opened his mouth.

“You’re right. It looks like the seed was already planted the day Classmate Vinny went to [Painting Hall Tower] to choose a °• N o v e l i g h t •° weapon. How exactly [Blood-Debt] set its eyes on Classmate Vinny is something we can no longer find out, and fretting over that now isn’t important. But since Classmate Mirexia is so busy every day, I doubt you can cover every angle,” Aesphyra’s thoughtful voice cut in, interrupting Shicodale’s attempt.

“As for that point, I’ll report it to the Academy. The Academy will take measures, or assign someone specifically to protect Vinny,” Mirexia replied.

The two of them were both talking past each other, like they hadn’t heard a word Shicodale said.

“Eh? Eh-eh?” Seeing that no one seemed to have noticed him at all, Shicodale’s raised little hand could only slowly fall back down.

“Strengthening the Academy’s control and guarding against [Blood-Debt] is obviously a good thing, but this matter is a bit special, Mirexia. You understand what I mean, right?” Aesphyra folded her arms and looked at Mirexia seriously.

Since ancient times, sinful [Divine Armaments] like [Blood-Debt] had always been demonized. And that demonization wasn’t exactly wrong—most of those [Divine Armaments] were scourges, so making sure everyone knew to stay far away from them was right.

But if it went too far, people would develop the same prejudice toward anyone those weapons had targeted.

Why would that kind of filth fixate on you? Doesn’t that mean there’s something wrong with you too??

There would definitely be people who thought that.

That was the subtext in Aesphyra’s words. It was also why she hadn’t let Shicodale rush off to the mentors first thing.

Aesphyra quietly glanced toward the direction where [Blood-Debt] had disappeared earlier, then looked again at Vinny beside her, who still seemed to be sulking over who-knew-what, and fell silent.

Why had it turned out like this?

The worldline now had completely diverged from the worldline of her previous life. In Aesphyra’s eyes, that previous-life “worldline” was already little more than a ridiculous dream.

So why had [Blood-Debt] still ended up targeting Vinny in the end, still come looking for Vinny??

Exactly which link had gone wrong, that led to [Blood-Debt] latching onto Vinny and even managing to affect his mind from long range?

Ordinarily, only someone with very high compatibility with a [Divine Armament] could influence each other’s minds like that. It was a kind of soul resonance. Sinful [Divine Armaments] were no exception. Of course, for other [Divine Armaments], compatibility wasn’t the only condition for choosing a host.

Could it be that Vinny’s natural compatibility with [Blood-Debt] was extremely high??

But even if that were true, how had [Blood-Debt] found him in the first place??

Right now, Aesphyra still had no way to know the answers.

Could this be the corrective force of the worldline itself?

At that thought, Aesphyra’s dark brows took on a deeper, more serious cast.

If the worldline’s corrective force kept steering reality’s ending toward the “this is how it’s supposed to be” ending... what was she supposed to do?

Fight against the power of the world itself?

As a Destiny Heroine, Aesphyra had a vague sense that going up against the force of the world’s operating track was something out of a fairy tale.

But if the world’s power really insisted on running that way...?

Aesphyra gazed at Vinny—

this Vinny whose only similarity to the Vinny from her previous life was his appearance.

He was the Vinny she knew.

Just picturing this Vinny she knew so well turning into that previous-life version someday, being controlled by a sinful [Divine Armament], made her fingers quietly tighten.

That was something she would absolutely never allow to happen—

even if what she had to fight was the power of the world itself.

She wouldn’t let this world fall into seas of fire and despair again, and she wouldn’t let Vinny head toward a self-destructive ending.

No matter what.

“I understand what Classmate Aesphyra means,” Mirexia said with a nod. She knew exactly what Aesphyra was talking about, and of course she wasn’t going to let Vinny fall into danger.

“Don’t worry. Leave the rest to me. I’ll handle things with the Academy.” Mirexia was as reliable as ever in this regard.

And Aesphyra was just as meticulous.

“Huh?” Shicodale, standing in the middle, listened to the entire exchange, then looked at Vinny, and then at Mirexia, still completely at a loss, like an outsider.

It was like everyone, living or dead, was putting on a show, and only Shicodale was there to take the hits.

For some reason, he had this feeling that his whole role had been: run around in a panic when Vinny lost his mind and went missing, find Aesphyra for help, then follow her instructions to fetch Mirexia—and after that, he had no more part to play.

And everyone seemed to have silently accepted that fact—

that Shicodale couldn’t really help with anything.

After that, with the three of them accompanying him, Vinny went to the church inside Carillian Academy for an examination. By this point, Vinny had lost track of how many times he’d gone into the church to have his body checked lately.

You really had to say it—these days had been truly full of disaster.

But still, how to put it...

Glancing at the three girls at his side, Vinny felt a warm glow in his chest.

Whatever else, at least all of that had only been illusions, not reality.

He could live his whole life in a lonely night, if he had never seen the light.

Now, though, he had no desire at all to live alone in that deep, endless darkness. He couldn’t bear that feeling.

After that, it was Mirexia who supported Vinny along. Aesphyra didn’t come up to his side, just silently walked ahead, leading the way and watching the surroundings.

Even so, Vinny’s gaze still landed on Aesphyra from time to time.

What’s going on in that white-haired nutball’s head?

When she’d seen him about to touch [Blood-Debt] earlier, what had she felt?

Was it disappointment??

After everything they’d gone through, in the end he’d still almost strayed off onto the wrong path. Even if it hadn’t been his will, would Aesphyra overthink it??

Vinny didn’t know. Aesphyra walked in front of him, moon-silver gauze draped over her slender shoulders, yet giving off a feeling as solid as a mountain.

“Vinny, don’t worry. [Blood-Debt] won’t be able to hurt you. I... we’ll protect you.”

Seeing that Vinny’s expression was still a bit dazed, Mirexia spoke up to comfort him. She’d originally meant to say “I’ll protect you,” but when the words reached her lips, her old habit of being too reserved in this area flared up again. It felt way too cheesy to say it like that, like she was making some vow of eternal protection, and her own cheeks heated up. So by the time the words came out, that “I” at the front had turned into “we.”

“Yeah, I’m fine, Mirexia,” Vinny said with a nod.

“Hmm? Isn’t this Classmate Vinny? You’ve already woken up? Good, good, it’s great that you’re awake.”

The priest, seeing Vinny, joked lightly, “You’ve really been seeing a lot of me these days. We’re about to become old acquaintances.”