SAINTESS [Chapter 151: Was it prepared especially for me?] (Patreon)

“Why are you acting so surprised? It was only the preliminaries and the main matches. How could a princess like her possibly lose to opponents of that caliber?” Milian scoffed, planting her hands firmly on her hips. “But Little Dell said she spotted your luggage as soon as she returned. You came back this early? Don’t tell me you were completely crushed by your opponents and came crawling home with your tail between your legs.”

Winnie gave a bitter smile. “Hah, Milian, looks like you are right.”

“Huh, huhh?!” Seeing that, Milian’s eyes widened, and she instantly didn’t know what to do.

Of course she’d assumed Winnie had cleared it smoothly. Her taunt was only because she was certain he’d made it into the finals.

‘Virtue + 80.’

‘Current Virtue: 18379.’

“Th-then… you, you really didn’t make it?” Milian still couldn’t believe it.

“Didn’t you already guess it, Milian? Why are you acting so shocked?” Winnie said in a helpless, low voice.

‘Virtue + 100.’

‘Current Virtue: 18479.’

“Ugh! Th-that… I-I didn’t mean it! You… um… are you okay?” Milian hurriedly said.

“I’m fine.” Winnie shook his head, signaling that he was fine.

But judging by the state he was in, how could he possibly claim he was fine?

And what kind of “fine” person says, “I’m fine,” only to fall completely silent afterward?

Milian’s guilt weighed even more heavily on her.

“I’m sorry… I thought you…”

“It’s okay, Milian. I’m really fine,” Winnie insisted, repeating himself with deliberate emphasis.

“You look nothing like someone who’s fine. Hmph.”

“Then… Can you make a funny face to cheer me up?” Winnie asked, sounding a little dejected.

“Wah… if doing that will make you feel a little better…” Milian said awkwardly. She then pinched her nose with one hand, pulled down the corners of her cheeks with the other, tugged at the skin beneath her eyes, stuck out her tongue, and cautiously asked, “L-like this… does this look okay?”

“Pfft, Milian, your funny face is funniest when you just do it naturally, all at once. This feels way too forced. There’s none of that mischievous little-gremlin charm you usually have.” Winnie couldn’t help but laugh at her awkward, bashful attempt.

“W-what?” Milian froze. “You got eliminated, didn’t even make it into the finals, and you can still laugh?!”

“Heehee, sorry, Milian. I forgot just now. Actually, I didn’t get eliminated, I made it into the finals. Sorry, my bad.” Winnie said, smiling as he took out his qualification certificate and opened it for Milian to see.

“What?!” Milian’s cheeks puffed up indignantly when she saw all three pages stamped. “You’ve got some serious nerves! How dare you trick this princess?!”

‘Virtue + 100.’

‘Current Virtue: 18579.’

“I didn’t fool you, Milian. I told you, I just forgot for a second. It didn’t come to mind,” Winnie said with a chuckle.

“What are you laughing for? You can forget something like that?? You human did it on purpose, just to mess with me and lie to me!”

“Seriously… you all think I’m stupid, don’t you?!” Milian huffed.

‘You want to say something everyone already knows?’

Winnie complained inwardly, but he held back his laugh and didn’t say it.

“Yeah, Milian. I just got back from playing cards. When I play cards, my memory gets bad and I forget things easily. So I played and played and forgot about it, didn’t remember until you made that face.” Winnie tried to sound sincere, but the lingering smile at the corners of his mouth sold him out.

“Honestly, it’s thanks to you, Milian. Otherwise I really wouldn’t have remembered.”

“Go die! You’re such a horrible human! This princess hates you the most! I’m not talking to you anymore!” Milian shouted, whipping her golden twin-tails around as she stomped off to her room, leaving Winnie alone in the entryway, scratching his head in bewilderment.

Hiss.

Didn’t that sound… kind of familiar??

Winnie frowned, sinking into thought.

“Dell, did it go fairly smoothly?” Winnie turned his gaze to Shikondell at the side.

“Yes. I made it into the finals too.” Shikondell nodded.

“Good, Dell. Very nice. See? You’re actually amazing. Show some confidence and self-affirmation, keep fighting with this momentum.” Winnie encouraged her. “Look, the thing you thought would be hard… wasn’t actually that hard, right?”

In his view, what Shikondell lacked most was confidence. Building it up little by little through experiences like these mattered more than anything.

“Mhm! I understand.” Shikondell nodded again.

Winnie put on his slippers and went to the living room. Shikondell had already gone to cook; only he and a certain golden-haired girl, still sulking, were left.

Winnie didn’t speak either, just sat down beside Big Dummy Milian.

Big Dummy Milian shot Winnie a sideways glance, huffed indignantly, crossed her plump legs, and turned her face away.

Winnie found it funny, but still said nothing. He simply sat beside Milian, casually flipped through a random book on the couch, and began reading.

‘Virtue + 60.’

‘Current Virtue: 18639.’

“Hey.” After a long while, someone called from beside him.

“Hey, hey??”

“Hm?” Winnie feigned an expression as though he had only just heard her. He slowly set the book down and turned toward the big golden retriever sitting beside him, her legs crossed, arms folded, cheeks puffed out as she glared daggers at him.

“Milian, were you calling me?” Winnie asked with an innocent expression. In truth, he’d heard her the first time, he’d just deliberately ignored her.

“Tch! I wasn’t calling you, I was calling a bad guy!” Milian said, furious that he was still playing dumb.

“Oh, so you weren’t calling me.” Winnie nodded, then went back to reading.

“You really have zero self-awareness!” Milian got even angrier when he actually ignored her.

How could this guy be so annoying?!

“Huh? What self-awareness?” Winnie looked utterly reasonable. “You said it yourself, you weren’t calling me, you were calling some bad guy. I know very well I’m not a bad guy, so I didn’t respond. Isn’t that right?”

“You are a bad guy!” Milian stared at him with a wronged, resentful look.

“I’m not.”

“You are!”

“I’m not.”

“You are!”

The two of them bickered back and forth like a pair of children, shouting at each other for what felt like forever, as though whoever yelled the loudest automatically won the argument.

‘Virtue + 80.’

‘Current Virtue: 18719.’

In the end, Milian was so tired from yelling she was panting, yet still stubbornly continued.

“Anyway, I’m not a bad guy.”

“Playing dumb, who else could it be besides me here??”

“There’s also a little idiot.” Winnie looked at Milian with exaggerated shock. “Milian, don’t tell me you didn’t know?”

“Waaah!”

‘Virtue + 100.’

‘Current Virtue: 18819.’

“And also, Milian… didn’t you just say you were going to ignore me? Why are you suddenly talking to me now?” Winnie asked, puzzled.

‘Virtue + 60.’

‘Current Virtue: 18879.’

“Tch! Why are you so annoying?! You’re the one I hate most in the whole world!” With that, Milian turned away again and stopped talking.

Winnie hugged his book and fell silent once more.

Hadn’t he heard that line somewhere too? No, it was way too familiar.

Soon, mealtime arrived.

“Milian, dinner’s ready,” Winnie said.

“Hmph!” Milian ignored him.

“Alright, Milian, earlier was my fault. I apologize, okay? Stop being mad, come eat.” Winnie apologized again, sounding sincere.

“Hmph!” Still ignoring him.

“Milian, if you don’t eat, you won’t grow taller.”

“Hmph-hmph!”

“Tch, suit yourself!” Winnie finally got fed up, rolled his eyes at her. “Like I’m begging you to eat or something. Hmph!”

With that, Winnie went to the table on his own, pulled out a chair for himself, and started eating.

“Gulp.” Milian turned slightly and glanced toward the table, pressing her lips together.

“Come on, Milian, stop being so stubborn and come eat,” Shikondell said, trying to ease the tension at the dinner table.

Seeing that Shikondell had given her an easy way to back down, Milian reluctantly made her way over and began eating.

‘Tch, this little idiot. She won’t even take the opening I gave her.’

Winnie took a sip of corn chowder and thought to himself.

After dinner, the three sat on the couch.

“Winnie, don’t think Milian is really angry with you. Actually… I can tell Milian really likes getting along with you like that,” Shikondell said.

“L-Little Dell, d-don’t say things like that! H-How could I possibly like getting along with this guy in that way?!” Milian’s already-puffed cheeks instantly flushed bright red, and she found herself completely unable to meet Winnie’s eyes.

“D-don’t say things like that anymore! Anyway, I’ve got something to do today, so I’m leaving!” Milian sprang to her feet, dashed to the entryway, hurriedly slipped on her shoes, and rushed out the door.

The next seven days, Winnie lived quite leisurely.

This was already the final day of rest. All the necessary training had been completed, and anything that could still be improved had been refined as much as possible. From here on, the priority was simply to avoid injury, preserve their condition, and enter the tournament finals at their absolute best.

Winnie was also brimming with ambition, because aside from his usual killing moves, he’d recently gained one more utterly outrageous ultimate move, one that could flip the situation.

This ultimate move was no ordinary thing.

As for what it was…

“Knock, knock, knock.”

“Who is it?” That day, Shikondell had gone out to buy groceries. Winnie lay alone on the couch reading when he suddenly heard a knock at the door.

‘Don’t tell me it’s Big Dummy Milian again?’

After all, she was the one who came over all the time.

With that in mind, Winnie walked over to the door and peered outside.

Mm. No idea who it was yet, but he could be sure it wasn’t Big Dummy Milian.

Because if it were her, he’d definitely see that golden little cowlick on top of her head bobbing through the peephole.

He opened the door.

Mm. Looks like it’s been too long since he did a thorough cleaning, silver haired furball had spawned in the house again.

“Good afternoon, Winnie~” Aesphyra stood outside the door, smiling.

“It’s you.” Winnie raised a brow. “Haven’t seen you in days. Why’d you suddenly come today?”

“Heehee, is Winnie complaining that I didn’t come see you these days?” Aesphyra tilted her head, smiling sweetly.

“Hey, don’t interpret things randomly, okay? Even wild guesses have limits. Who said that?!” Winnie instantly got triggered and hurriedly protested.

“Heehee, aren’t you going to invite me in to sit for a bit?” Aesphyra gave him the same playful smile as always.

“Tch, fine, fine.” Winnie went inside, wearing an extremely disgusted expression as he handed her a pair of slippers.

“Hm? These slippers… Did Winnie buy them just for me?” Aesphyra tilted her head as she picked them up.

“What an ego. Why would you assume that? Just because they’re new?” Winnie clicked his tongue.

“Isn’t that the reason?” Aesphyra laughed, pointing at the cute cartoon furball pattern on the white slippers.

‘Virtue + 150.’

‘Current Virtue: 19029.’

“That’s just a coincidence. Don’t get carried away!” Winnie shot back.

“Then why are they new? And why do they just happen to be furball-patterned?” Aesphyra wore an expression like she’d already seen through everything.

“So what? I just felt like buying furball-patterned slippers. Is that not allowed??” Winnie snorted.

“Mmm-hmm, but didn’t Winnie say ‘silver haired furball’ is your pet name for me~?” Aesphyra teased. “These slippers have furball, and they’re silver.”

“Tch! It’s just a coincidence, okay? If you won’t wear them, I’ll give them to someone else,” Winnie said, arms crossed.

“Of course I’ll wear them. How could I refuse Winnie’s special favor~?” As she spoke, Aesphyra bent her knees, slipped her loafers off by the heel, and changed into the slippers.

“Seriously.” Winnie pouted, then abruptly realized something.

'The whole ‘Silver haired furball’ thing... I think that was something Aesphyra said, wasn’t it? I don’t think I’ve ever said anything like that myself, have I?'

'Damn, I got tricked again. I fell for it, didn’t I'

“Thank you, Winnie~?” Aesphyra stepped inside.

“Thank you for what?” Winnie pouted. If she had outright insisted that he was giving her special treatment, he could at least have argued back. But she had only mentioned it once, then put on that smug, all-knowing expression as though everything were obvious. Somehow, that made Winnie feel even more miserable.

In this situation, if he argued, wouldn’t it just make him look like he cared way too much about the issue??

And if he cared that much, wouldn’t it make it obvious he really did it on purpose?

“I just… made it convenient to throw away afterward, that’s all!” Winnie copied the excuse Aesphyra had used last time when he visited her dorm.

“Oh? Is that so?” Aesphyra smiled sweetly, leaving Winnie with the helpless feeling that there was simply no way to argue back. “Then Winnie admits it was prepared especially for me.”