Chapter 223 (1): Beware of the Black Cat

After kissing Veronica, Wayne drove back to his residence and began his tutoring session tonight. He was so smooth that it took no time for him to coax Kristen, his tutor, onto the desk.

Since Vera didn’t stay the night today, Kristen was much bolder and ended the class early, spending some quality time with her boyfriend in the bathroom.

Once they were back in the bedroom, Wayne got under the blanket with Kristen in his arms. Then he dropped the bombshell on her.

“Huh? You’re participating in the Holy Maiden selection?”

She couldn’t be more shocked. Although Wayne had mentioned it before, she hadn’t been in the right state to pay any attention and failed to realize that he was serious.

“Yeah, Veronica is participating, too. The Lando family monopolizes the two spots of the Windsor District this time.” Wayne had his arms around her shoulders. It was serene to hold a beauty like her, especially since she was one of his first loves.

“Veronica’s participating...” Kristen blinked, saying tentatively, “To my knowledge, a Holy Maiden must serve the goddess with all her heart and soul, and during her term, she has to keep her heart pure and her body...”

She trailed off. Wayne was smart enough to figure out the rest.

“I’m pure!”

“Nonsense.” Kristen pointed at Wayne before pointing at herself. Forgive her bluntness, but they were literally in an impure state right now.

First, Wayne didn’t have a pure heart for sure. He was a bad boy. Second, although they hadn’t done that, they had done that, that, and that. So Wayne didn’t have a pure body, either.

It would be bad if the goddess examined his memory. Those images weren’t for Her viewing, and such a severely sacrilegious act warranted death a thousand times over.

Just like Filomina, Kristen advised Wayne to be smart and give up his death wish. She didn’t want to lose her boyfriend this early in life.

To eliminate the risk and stop Wayne from participating, she rolled them around and planned to straddle him. Wayne flipped them back and pinned her down, whispering into her ears.

“Don’t give yourself away yet. Listen to me. Although I’m participating in the selection, I never intend to become the Holy Maiden—I mean, the Anointed One...”

“I’ll tell you a secret. Master has an enemy at the church. My mission is to...”

“Do you understand now?”

“I do.” Kristen’s eyes curved into crescents. “You won’t become the Anointed One. Your mission is to make sure that Veronica becomes the Holy Maiden, right?”

“Huh?!”

Wayne was thoroughly confused. Did he not make himself clear enough, or was Kristen being stupid? She hadn’t been like this in the past. Was it because she was in love?

Kristen put her arms around his neck and said happily, “High Reverend Silvia finally understands that you and Veronica can’t be together as siblings, so Veronica will become the Holy Maiden, and you’re there to protect her and eliminate any candidates who may threaten her.”

Really? That’s your conclusion?

She had such sound logic that Wayne couldn’t come up with a counterargument.

“See, am I not smart?”

“Yeah, you’re a smart cookie. I can’t hide anything from you...” He pulled her back into his embrace and buried his nose in her hair. “Tomorrow, I’m meeting Auston. There are things to take care of on the ministry’s end. I’ll go easy on you tonight.”

Kristen was overjoyed that her greatest rival would be thousands of kilometers away for the next couple of decades. She could already picture herself standing outside a church in a wedding gown. Wayne would be the groom, Veronica and Vera the bridesmaids, Mona the host, and Filomina the officiant.

The attendees would applaud. White doves and balloons would soar into the sky as flower petals rained down. Soft music would accompany the blessings given to the newlyweds.

Perfect!

Getting excited, Kristen curled a strand of long hair around her finger and tickled Wayne with it. The moon was nice today. Wasn’t he going to do anything to her?

Not long after, she fell asleep on Wayne’s chest. Her sweet dream put a smile on her face that wouldn’t slide off.

***

“The auditors are coming. Good luck.” In his study at the Lando Estate, Auston fiddled with his silver coin while giving Wayne high praise with a scoff. “The Death Knight has infiltrated the Church of Nature and is even competing to become the Anointed One. No matter what sins the church has committed, they will have more than paid it back with you as their retribution.”

Auston advised Wayne not to give up on becoming the Anointed One. What a wonderful picture it would be for Nature’s Anointed One to moonlight as the Death Knight.

“I would love to, but I’m no longer pure because of Veronica.” Wayne sighed, echoing Auston’s sentiment. “No matter the sins you’ve committed in your earlier life, you have more than paid it back with me as your heir.”

Auston scowled, staring daggers at him. “I know your relationship with the Church of Heavenly Father. You fooled them by pretending to be an angel. From the very beginning, Mona has been loyal to you. She’s an angel’s servant—

your

servant.”

Wayne’s heart sank. As expected of the Old Two-Face, he made another accurate guess. But...

“Wrong. It was the church that mistook me for an angel. I did everything to disprove it, but they wouldn’t listen, telling me to look into the mirror and see what else I can be but an angel.”

Wayne shrugged. He happened to hate demons, so he chose to work with the church. As long as it wasn’t Palis, he would go wherever demons appeared.

“You shouldn’t have lied to the church!” Auston warned.

“It’s fine. I had them make a written waiver stating that, since I’ve made it clear that I wasn’t an angel, they alone should take responsibility for their false assumption if something goes wrong.”

“...”

The ‘written waiver’ part made Auston’s eyebrows twitch like they had a mind of their own, and his expression became stiff. Wayne had gotten two such agreements from him, and the more he thought about it, the more annoyed he became. He took a deep breath and suppressed his displeasure. “What’s your biggest secret? Say it. It’s important to the family.”

“I’m the goddesses’ illegitimate son!”

“...”

“See, you don’t believe me when I tell the truth.” Wayne huffed out a sarcastic laugh. “At the end of the day, I’ve completed the Church of Heavenly Father’s mission for me. Mona is loyal to me and will never betray me. If you need any information in the future, just ask.”

Auston sighed. He knew that he could no longer do anything about Wayne. Even though he would be telling the truth, Silvia would still think that he was framing Wayne due to the image of a good student Wayne had put into her mind.

Auston rubbed his face. The punch last night was so fierce that it reminded him of the earlier days of their marriage. A brief separation made a relationship feel fresh like a new marriage, and a long separation made it feel like first love again. This...

This is nice!

The constant pain tormenting him over the years had given Auston a strange kink. It was partly because of Silvia, but mainly because of the Goddess of Darkness’s training.

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

“So, what information are you giving me today?” Wayne asked.

“It’s related to the demons.”

“Have you found Juliette?”

“Not yet...”

After learning about each other’s secret identities, they no longer had to pull back when they shared information. In some way, they now had a deeper trust in each other, making them closer than actual father and son. And while they wouldn’t say it, they were quite pleased with their secret identities.

The combination of the Death Knight and the Darkness Knight would allow them to dominate Londan. If not for Auston’s insistence, Wayne wouldn’t hesitate to follow Franc’s example and charge into the Ministry of Magic to put the Queen under the guillotine.

But he couldn’t.

“Before we start talking about the demons, I have one question, Auston. What’s your relationship with the Queen?” Wayne asked curiously, looking for some juicy gossip.

“I’m nothing more than an ex-boyfriend, if even that, and after we each started a family, we no longer have anything to do with each other,” Auston explained easily.

Wayne gave him a thumbs-up and said enviously, “So, did you forbid me from approaching the Princess because she’s Veronica’s sister?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Her Majesty and I have never gotten that intimate.”

Auston told his story honestly. Back then, he approached Sophelia with ulterior motives—first, he wanted to become the Prince Consort to increase the influence of the Lando family, and second...

Sophelia, then a princess, was beautiful, and he couldn’t fight the urge to seduce her.

Sophelia had been innocent and pure back then. While she wasn’t completely gullible, she wasn’t that shrewd. She was far from the black-hearted and ruthless woman she was now. With the knights shielding her from anything harmful, she had never been educated by scumbags, and in a few days, she fell hard for Auston.

She gave her first kiss away.

Auston had been young back then, and his ulterior motives were obvious. Once the King at the time found out, he immediately separated the couple.

When Auston and Sophelia met again, the Princess had already become the Queen and the Minister of Magic, while Auston was a high-ranking member of the ministry. Their relationship remained entirely official. The reunion didn’t reignite the spark.

It wasn’t even much of a reunion. Auston behaved according to his role and never went against the Queen, fulfilling the duty of a Tulip Family with absolute loyalty.