Chapter 230 (1): All Magic Leads to a Role in the Establishment

Ottilia is Flora’s student...

x4

Wayne, Veronica, Silvia, and Leno all gaped in disbelief. Wayne, especially, was beyond shocked. He had thought that he had a good grasp of Ottilia.

The bookish young woman appeared quiet and docile, submissive without an opinion of her own, but in reality, she was ninety percent rebellious bone. As a follower of the Goddess of Nature, she had the blood of a free mage flowing in her body. She wasn’t particularly reverent to the goddess.

Flora was clearly planning to disqualify him so that she could recommend Ottilia as one of Windsor’s Holy Maiden candidates. Was Ottilia really qualified? Did Flora really know her student? Or perhaps the former Holy Maiden had seen faith as what it was—All magic led to a role in the establishment. Whether one was devout didn’t matter. One’s position decided their stance, and those with power had the final say about faiths.

Or perhaps it should be said that the gods didn’t care!

Even more astoundingly, Flora had been the one to bring in Leno and have the pictures taken. The photos ultimately revealed the candidate she wanted to recommend...

What is the woman trying to accomplish?

Wayne shook his head. Flora had brought in Leno, but she clearly didn’t know what he would do and hadn’t seen the photos beforehand. Otherwise, something this absurd wouldn’t have happened. She had shown her skin for nothing. The real idiot was Leno!

Silvia and Veronica glared at Wayne. The mother and daughter put two and two together and came to the same conclusion: it would be unexpected but understandable if he had been caught with Veronica/Vera, but Ottilia? He'd better not try to fool them with the excuse of a honeytrap. Flora wasn’t that stupid.

Did you kiss Ottilia when she seduced you?

x2

Wayne shuddered, his scalp tingling as he frantically looked for a response. It wasn’t too late to make things up.

“Lady Flora, I didn’t know that she was...”

Leno stood rooted to the spot like air had solidified and trapped him, preventing him from making a move. Only his mouth was opening and closing, but he didn’t know what he was saying.

He just wanted to help his dream woman and gave her a pleasant surprise, receiving a sweet, delighted smile in return. Who would’ve anticipated that her student was an item with her competitor? He certainly couldn’t have imagined it even in his wildest dream.

Good intentions had paved the way to hell. Leno found it unfair, but since it was his dream woman he was dealing with, he took the blame despite the facts.

He had been careless and allowed himself to be carried away, only thinking about doing good before his dream woman. If he had shown her the evidence before presenting it, the misunderstanding would’ve never occurred, and she wouldn’t have hated him.

His heart shattered under her icy gaze, the imaginary noises ringing in his head.

Fool! What are you waiting for? Hurry up and put away the photos!

Flora glared at Leno, giving him a pointed look.

Destroy the evidence now and insist that nothing had happened, and things could still be salvaged.

Leno suddenly snapped out of his dazed state. Vaguely understanding what she was telling him, he frantically reached out to retrieve the evidence.

Smack!

Wayne stepped forward and slammed his hand on the conference table, firmly pressing the photos down. Then he snatched them and pressed them to his chest to prevent the shameless priestess and knight from destroying the evidence.

“Great photos, don’t you think, Knight Leno?” Wayne grinned, desperately sending a signal to Silvia with his eyes. “And Priestess Flora, you don’t have to cover things up for me at this point. Yes, I’m no longer pure. Ottilia and I didn’t just kiss. We’ve slept together, too.”

Veronica’s eyes reddened with rage. She had been wary of inside jobs day and night, but it turned out that a thief from the outside was more difficult to prevent! She had praised Senior Kristen for being noble and Vera for being useless, thinking that she could rest easy by guarding against Vera.

She never imagined that the scumbag would be even scummier than she had thought. When Vera couldn’t break down Veronica’s defense, he turned to the market and readily gave himself away in the face of a honey trap.

No wonder he was so skilled at kissing. He had practiced it with Ottilia!

Bastard, you told me it was your first kiss!

Silvia was equally furious. If the intimate photos were of her student and daughter, leading to them being disqualified, she would’ve accepted it with gritted teeth. Worst came to worst, it would even be acceptable for Wayne to be caught with those women at his birthday celebration. They were either his friends or his secretary, all part of their inner circle. Even if her daughter was lagging behind, there would still be a chance to overtake the other women in the future.

But Ottilia? Her mortal enemy’s student had, without anyone knowing, put a green hat on Veronica’s head and stolen her man? It would be no different from Silvia’s mortal enemy stealing her spouse.

Auston would’ve defended himself were he here. He hadn’t done anything of the sort.

Master, don’t glare at me, but at Flora!

Wayne was dying of anxiety. He slammed the table again with all his strength, sending Silvia a wink. It didn’t work very well. Both Silvia and Veronica turned to him with murderous eyes, making him break into goosebumps.

I can’t keep doing all the work here!

Wayne clutched his chest. He went from questioning Auston to understanding Auston to becoming Auston. Now, he was so frustrated that he wished to be put out of his misery.

“Candidate Wayne, I’m not making baseless claims,” Flora said definitively. “I swear to the goddess that Ottilia is pure. She’s never gotten intimate with anyone, and I ask you not to tarnish your own reputation, either.”

As she spoke, she looked at Leno again, telling him to snatch the photos. This was the perfect chance since Wayne was being confronted on both sides by the two Dragonbloods.

“Hey, why are you looking at Knight Leno? Feeling guilty?” Wayne yelped, stuffing the photos into the inner lining of his jacket. To destroy Flora’s wishful thinking, he gave up on himself and said, “Do you think she’s pure just because you say so? Well, I say we’re not pure. Ottilia and I have slept together, and we’re both impure. Neither of us is qualified to be candidates.”

Wake up, Master! Veronica is a fool, but you’re not!

You’re a strong career woman who’s learned the lessons from the scumbag. It’s been twenty years, enough for you to see your fair share of things and get your brain upgraded. You must understand your student’s good intentions.

While there’s still time, hurry up and continue the topic. This will eliminate both me and Ottilia, and your plan to crush Flora will be a complete success.

Hurry, we’re opening champagne for celebration tonight!

Wayne had been giving her looks so hard that his eyeballs nearly popped out, but Siliva didn’t receive the message. In her rage, Wayne’s image overlapped with her bastard husband’s, making her fists itch.

Veronica was itching for a punch, too.

(ཀ_ཀ)

Wayne despaired.

This is hard!

“Candidate Wayne, you’re right that my testimony alone isn’t good enough evidence when it’s my words against yours,” Flora said calmly. “And anyone with a brain can tell that these photos are purposefully taken from problematic angles when you’re only two friends reading in the library together. They can’t serve as evidence.”

“We slept together!” Wayne shouted desperately, determined to resist to the end even though his teammates had turned away from him, leaving him alone.

“Don’t waste your breath. Whether you did it or not, we’ll know once we test it,” Flora said coolly. “I’ll call my student over. You two can confront each other in person...”

“Ha, what’s the point of that?” Wayne scoffed. “She’s easily embarrassed. She’ll insist that we haven’t slept together even if you ask her ten thousand times.”

“No, I have a crystal ball from headquarters that can test whether a Holy Maiden is pure. Every Holy Maiden holds one.”

Flora glanced at Wayne, raising the danger level of this sinister man in her head. She said coldly, “That’ll tell us whether someone is pure. You may try it, Wayne.”

“Um...”

A bead of sweat fell from Wayne’s forehead.

My god, there’s actually a crystal ball like that!

How outrageous! What does the church’s headquarters intend by treating the Holy Maiden like that? They would trust a damn crystal over their chaste Holy Maidens?

The trust between people had broken down. Even he, an outsider, felt bad for the Holy Maidens.

Pitiful, how fucking pitiful!

Wayne would have to be bored to feel bad for the Holy Maidens, of course. He would rather all Holy Maidens become impure—ideally, because of him. He was only feeling wronged because he was going to undergo the test. What if...

Well, there were no ‘what-ifs’. He was definitely not pure.

“Huh?!”

As Wayne and Flora’s confrontation reached a climax, Silvia belatedly realized that she had been so furious that she had likely, possibly, probably missed a great opportunity. She looked thoughtfully at her student before looking at the silent Leno, finally shifting her gaze to Flora.

Flora hadn’t sent her student for a honey trap. She wouldn’t benefit whether it succeeded or not. Conversely, Wayne’s seduction could make Flora suffer a crushing defeat while disqualifying himself. Flora’s student, whom she had taught with great effort, would be eliminated in the preliminary selection, amounting to nothing.

It was a good plan, but... of all things, why did he have to resort to seduction? It was such a waste!

Meanwhile, Veronica was still glaring at Wayne, planning how she should break him apart and put him in different garbage cans once they got home.

Leno jolted with a start, climbing out of his abyss of anguish. Receiving Flora’s signal, he hastily said, “I remember now. That day, when I took the photos, Ottilia and Wayne were sitting quite far apart. They were chatting and laughing about the book they were reading. I was taking pictures from a problematic angle to create a scandalous effect. They are both pure.”

“Knight Leno, saying this is useless now. I’m going to get the crystal ball and call my student over. The test will tell who’s pure and who’s not.” Flora turned to leave, not giving Silvia any time to speak.

Wayne was clearly feeling guilty. He had to have lost his purity.

It made sense. He was the bodyguard Silvia had arranged to help her daughter through the selection process. As a young master of a wealthy family, how could he not have gotten a taste of women?

Nobles were all the same. The timid ones would’ve gotten involved with the maids as soon as they started growing hair down there.

Things would only be worse for the bold ones!