SAINTESS [Chapter 159: Don't Say it!] (Patreon)

“Th-This...??”

The spectators who were unfamiliar with Winnie weren’t the only ones left stunned. Even those who knew him were equally dumbfounded, Fred, for example.

He knew Winnie was the strongest fighter among them, as well as the one who brought them the most pride, but that was only in comparison to the card players!

As for the overall standard of the card players at Carillian Academy... bragging about it on ordinary days was one thing, but anyone who actually believed it was a complete idiot.

As their club president, how could Fred not know their true level?

Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that Winnie would exceed expectations this much.

“As expected of Brother Winnie! He’s so cool!”

“Brother Winnie! So cool!”

Andre and the others raised Winnie’s banner high. Their shouts were so loud that even Winnie heard them.

The reason was simple at this moment, the entire arena was deathly silent, making the card players’ voices sound exceptionally loud.

Meanwhile, Winnie had only one thought on his mind.

He had still used too much power.

Winnie shook his head. Ever since reaching the Master Realm, he felt that the density of his mana had undergone a qualitative leap. Furthermore, it seemed that his old methods of controlling mana from the Warlock Realm and the realms below it could no longer be used as a reference.

He had never intended to attract so much attention. To conserve his strength and keep his true abilities hidden, he had deliberately avoided revealing his real power and cultivation realm until the tournament reached its final stages.

Unfortunately, things hadn’t gone as planned.

He had thought he had held back enough, but he had still used too much mana.

Winnie pulled the Frost Fang out of the ground and reined in the ice elemental power he had released.

Soon, the icy cocoons and spikes surrounding him melted away, and the blizzard gradually subsided.

“The victor has been decided! The winner of this match is Chosen Number Fifteen, Winnie Varelis!”

The referee officially announced the result.

He could tell that Winnie had held back, but the boy didn’t seem to have a clear understanding of just how destructive his power truly was.

Even if the referee had failed to stop Fein in time, Fein likely would not have suffered any serious injuries, since Winnie had deliberately restrained most of his strength.

Nevertheless, the referee could not afford to take even the slightest unnecessary risk and had to prevent such situations whenever possible.

The main reason was that the blizzard unleashed by Winnie’s spear had been far too shocking. With his many years of experience as a referee, he had instinctively intervened and dragged Fein to safety.

“Senior, are you all right?”

Winnie transformed the Frost Fang back into an earring and let it hang from his earlobe before leisurely walking over to Fein and the referee.

He genuinely wasn’t mocking Fein. He was sincerely concerned about whether Fein had been injured, since he had lost control of his strength a little just now.

But to Fein, it might not have sounded that way.

Hearing Winnie’s question, Fein glanced at him several times, looking as though he wanted to speak but stopped himself.

His lips were pale. He felt that Winnie was most likely mocking him, especially with the word “Senior.” There was an indescribable note of sarcasm to it.

Even though he thought that, he didn’t dare say a word. There wasn’t the slightest trace left of the high-spirited arrogance he had displayed before the match.

“Senior? Are you all right?”

Seeing that he remained silent, Winnie tilted his head and asked again.

“I’m... fine.”

After a long silence, Fein finally squeezed those words through gritted teeth.

“Oh, I see. I’m glad you’re alright. But you should at least say something if you’re fine! For a moment, I thought I’d hit you so hard that I’d knocked you speechless, Senior.”

Winnie chuckled softly.

“...”

Fein looked as if he had swallowed a bellyful of bitterness. Given his flamboyant and aggressive personality, he would normally never suppress his feelings like this.

But one had to know when to bow to circumstances.

Right now, Fein was displaying an impressive degree of cowardly prudence.

“Sir Referee, may I leave now?” Winnie stopped looking at Fein and asked the referee beside him.

“Yes. The match is over and the winner has been decided. Student Varelis, you may leave.” The referee glanced at Winnie and nodded. “Congratulations on advancing to the round of sixteen.”

“Great.”

“Wait.”

Just as Winnie was about to turn and leave, a voice called out from behind him.

“Does Senior Fein have any further advice for me?”

Winnie turned around and looked at Fein.

“May I ask... what realm are you actually in?”

After holding it in for a long time, Fein finally asked the question he cared about most.

“Sorry, Senior Fein. That concerns my upcoming matches, so I can’t tell you.”

With that, Winnie turned and left, leaving the spectators in the stands to continue their discussions.

Once Winnie exited the arena, all sorts of chatter erupted throughout the stands.

Many second-years already knew what Winnie was capable of. Although they were shocked, they weren’t too astonished, since Winnie’s strength had always been obvious and many of them had witnessed it firsthand.

The students from the other years were different. Their opinions naturally diverged completely.

Most of them expressed disbelief and dissatisfaction with Winnie’s victory. A small number even suspected that he had used some kind of undetectable, prohibited substance that could temporarily amplify his strength. Once the side effects kicked in during the next match, he would surely collapse.

Winnie naturally couldn’t hear any of this. Even if he could, he probably wouldn’t have cared.

There were no more matches involving anyone he knew that morning. When Winnie reached the entrance, he spotted a familiar figure waiting outside the arena.

Winnie kept both hands tucked into his pockets and smiled calmly, as if he had expected her to be there waiting for him all along.

“Winnie~ You were truly amazing. Congratulations on your victory.”

Aesphyra clapped her hands and spoke with a cheerful smile.

“Was there ever any doubt?” Winnie snorted.

Winnie had been fairly composed inside the arena, but for some reason, the moment he encountered Aesphyra, his attitude changed completely.

“Once this young master makes a move, how could it possibly be ineffective?”

“You won your last match pretty easily too.”

“I’m really looking forward to it~” Aesphyra said with a soft laugh.

“What are you looking forward to?” Winnie asked. “Are you looking forward to fighting this young master?”

“That’s only one part of it. I’m very curious to see how much Winnie has improved during this time.”

Aesphyra smiled mysteriously.

“What else are you looking forward to?”

The moment Winnie asked the question, he realized the answer. His cheeks turned red.

“Tch! You couldn’t be thinking about those weird things again, could you?”

“Hmm~ What weird things? I don’t understand what Winnie means.”

Aesphyra giggled.

“What else could it be?”

Winnie was certain she was deliberately pretending not to understand so that she could force him to say it aloud.

‘This silver haired furball was as wicked as ever!’

“Hmm~ I really don’t understand. Winnie will have to say it himself before I can.”

Aesphyra tilted her head and leaned forward.

Winnie could even smell the distinctive rose fragrance wafting from the young woman. His cheeks turned even redder.

“Stop pretending you don’t know!”

“But I really don’t know. Can Winnie give me a hint?~”

Aesphyra tilted her head slightly.

This girl wasn’t planning to go back on their agreement, was she?

“It’s... that,” Winnie whispered.

“What is ‘that’?”

Aesphyra pressed him with a beaming smile.

“Hey, you! How could you forget something like this? I mean the agreement that whoever loses has to become the winner’s maid!”

Winnie stammered as he spoke.

Clatter!

The moment the words left Winnie’s mouth, before Aesphyra could respond, the two of them heard something fall near the entrance to the spectator stands.

They looked over and saw Mirexia standing there. Her lips were slightly parted, and she looked as though she wanted to say something but couldn’t. Her expression was filled with indescribably complicated emotions.

‘Virtue + 300.’

‘Current Virtue: 19, 809.’

Oh no.

Winnie covered his mouth, suddenly becoming rather embarrassed.

How had Mirexia ended up witnessing that?

He genuinely hadn’t seen this coming. Mirexia was almost always busy working overtime or heading off to do more overtime, so Winnie had naturally assumed that she wouldn’t show up very often.

But the Chosen One Contest was currently underway. As one of the Chosen who had qualified, of course she would be here!

No, wait. Mirexia wasn’t the problem, was she?

No matter who saw or overheard something like this, it would sound strange, right?

A maid?

At least Mirexia knew the circumstances behind it. If anyone else had overheard, his reputation would truly have been ruined!

Breaking news: Notorious Campus Bully Is Secretly the School Beauty’s Maid!

He absolutely did not want rumors like that spreading around!

Then again, now that he thought about it, he didn’t seem to have had a good reputation at Carillian Academy in the first place.

Aside from defeating Eric and gaining some recognition among the second-years, his overall reputation seemed to be exactly as bad as ever.

“Oh? Mirexia, darling? Are you heading out for lunch? What a coincidence.”

Aesphyra didn’t mind in the slightest. Nor did she show any discomfort. It was as if all of this seemed perfectly ordinary to her and wasn’t worth mentioning.

“What... were you two talking about just now?”

Mirexia remained silent for a moment before asking with a complicated expression.

“Nothing much. I was only chatting with Winnie about some everyday matters.”

Aesphyra waved a hand.

“Nothing worth mentioning.”

“Uh...”

Winnie didn’t know how to explain it to Mirexia. How was he supposed to bring up something like this?

It wasn’t that he wanted to hide it from her, all right?

It was just... just impossible to say!

He couldn’t exactly tell Mirexia outright that he and Aesphyra had made a bet where the loser would have to serve as the winner’s maid for a month, could he?

Mirexia might know about his circumstances, but this was still a bit too...

“Isn’t that right, Winnie?”

Aesphyra looked at him.

Winnie glanced at Aesphyra and immediately sensed something was wrong.

Judging by her expression, he somehow felt as if she were saying, “You wouldn’t want dear Mirexia to learn about this, would you?”

Wait, don’t make it sound like...

Surely she didn’t mean it that way, right?

Still, if possible, he indeed didn’t want anyone else to know.

“Winnie?”

“Ah, yes. That’s right. I was talking to this silv- Aesphyra about some rather ordinary, trivial matters.”

Winnie nodded, not daring to meet Mirexia’s eyes.

“Is that... all?”

“Yes, yes. It really wasn’t anything.”

“Then why did I hear you mention something about a maid?”

Mirexia fell silent. A moment later, she spoke again.

“Ah, the maid thing. Well, I only made a bet with Aesphyra.”

Winnie scratched his head.

“A bet where the loser becomes the winner’s maid?”

Mirexia pursed her lips.

“No, no!”

Winnie hurriedly denied it.

“Then what was it?”

Mirexia questioned him firmly, her expression serious.

“Well, um... I did mention a maid, but that was just a little joke between Aesphyra and me.”

Winnie laughed awkwardly and glanced at Aesphyra.

“Isn’t that right, Aesphyra?”

“Mhm, that’s right. Winnie was only joking with me. I merely brought it up to tease him.”

Aesphyra chimed in with a nod.

“See?”

“Is that really so?”

Mirexia looked doubtful.

She had only just walked out of the spectator entrance, hoping she might run into Winnie, when she stumbled upon the two of them talking. However, she had heard only that one sentence and hadn’t seen how Winnie had reacted beforehand.

“Yes, yes. What else could it possibly be? It’s not like I could suddenly become a maid, right? Haha, Mirexia, you really do have quite the imagination! How could someone like me ever become a maid? Even if I wanted to, I probably wouldn’t be able to pull it off, would I?”

Winnie spoke jokingly.

“That’s true.”

Hearing his words, Mirexia relaxed.

She mistakenly believed Winnie was hinting to her that he had revealed the secret of his bloodline to her alone and that nobody else knew.

Since Aesphyra didn’t know about it, how could she possibly make Winnie become her maid?

Clearly, they had only been joking and teasing each other after the match.

Yes. It was obviously nothing more than a joke.

Mirexia immediately understood, and her gloomy mood improved considerably.

To be honest, she had been struggling with these thoughts for days. Now, her heart finally felt a little lighter.

Indeed, Aesphyra didn’t know Winnie’s most important secret at all, did she?

Winnie had only ever taken the initiative to reveal that secret to Mirexia.

That was because they had grown up together. She was the childhood friend he trusted most.

Thus, no one else knew.

Only she did.

Not even Aesphyra knew.

“That’s not necessarily true.”

At that moment, however, Aesphyra seemed to think of something. Her lips curled into a mysterious smile as she murmured softly.

Winnie, who was standing beside her, naturally heard it. He gave her a fierce sidelong glare.

“What?”

Mirexia hadn’t heard clearly and looked puzzled.

“Nothing, nothing. Mirexia, you know how she is. She’s always saying odd things without giving any thought to where she is or who might be listening.”

Winnie waved his hand.

“You two keep talking. Dell is here. I promised earlier that I’d take him to buy some clothes, so I’ll be leaving first. You two chat.”

With that, Winnie went to meet Shikondell, who had just emerged from the spectator entrance. He grabbed the bewildered ‘boy’ and dragged her out of the arena.

“Come on, Dell. I’ll take you to buy a few sets of clothes that fit.”

“Huh? Winnie, why are you suddenly-”

“All right, all right, stop talking. Let’s just go!”