MTLNOVEL Ch. 1
Chapter 1: The Saintess, I Am Guilty
“Miss Verna, you wouldn’t want your mother next door to hear, would you? Keep it down!”
“Shameless! Vile! Scoundrel!”
The Continent of Tran.
That night, a torrential downpour raged.
Lightning flashed, and thunder roared.
It was the perfect time for a crime.
Boom!
Thunderbolts tore across the night sky, illuminating the room of Baron Kanis’s daughter—Verna Kanis.
The colored glass windows couldn’t block the light, and in that instant, the room was bathed in radiant brightness.
Two beautiful, bare women were entangled together, entwined on an extravagantly luxurious bed.
The bed curtains hung low, unable to conceal the overflowing allure.
One of the girls wore a silver mask, her face obscured but exuding an air of refined sanctity, starkly at odds with the scene before her.
Her hair was coiled within a headscarf, and she was positioned above.
The other girl radiated nobility, beautiful as an elf.
Though she was the daughter of a baron, Verna was only sixteen, in the full bloom of her youthful radiance.
But no one could have expected that tonight…
“You, you disgusting pervert! Scoundrel! Why… Why would you do this?! Wuu…”
Her beautiful eyes brimmed with tears, filled with boundless rage and hatred.
The baron’s daughter tried to rise, but her body was powerless.
The other girl let out a cold laugh: “Because I like it.”
“You can scream louder if you want, so the baroness can see you like this, heh heh heh.”
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“The night is long, and Baron Kanis passed early, leaving no one to arrange your marriage. A beautiful girl like me, skilled at undressing, is willing to ease your loneliness in the dead of night—haven’t you been secretly thrilled, Miss?”
“The thunder roars outside, and the rain pounds fiercely. Are you deliberately shouting so loudly for the thrill?”
“Shameless!” The baron’s daughter, furious, tried to retaliate.
But before she could chant a magic spell, the girl interrupted her.
“Wuu… mm—”
After another round of thunder and rain, only the sound of pouring rain and crashing thunder filled the heavens and earth.
The rain outside grew louder, more urgent, masking the traces of the crime.
After a long while, as if resigned, or perhaps enraged at her own powerlessness, the baron’s daughter gave up, placing her hands beside her head…
A picture of surrender, ready to be taken.
But she refused to yield: “I will kill you!”
Her voice was cold.
But…
“Heh, no matter how cold your words are, they can’t hide the warmth of your body, Miss Verna.”
“And—kill me? Do you even know who I am?”
The masked girl was confident.
The mask on her face wasn’t an ordinary item but a magical artifact imbued with protective enchantments, capable of confounding perception.
Voice, scent, appearance, aura… all could be concealed!
Even if Verna Kanis was a mage, she couldn’t hope to discern her identity through the mask.
“Do you think you can escape punishment for doing this?” Verna sneered back.
“My father, Kanis, is dead, but the baron’s estate still stands! My mother still lives!”
The girl shook her head mockingly: “If those old allies of Kanis were truly willing to stand up for you, a widowed mother and her orphaned daughter, you wouldn’t have fallen so low that you can’t even afford a few maids.”
“Now, in Red Maple City, everyone knows those nobles and merchants are itching to claim you for themselves. Why would they help you?”
“Besides, if this gets out, aren’t you afraid the Kanis Baron’s reputation will plummet, tainted for eternity?”
“I don’t care, but what about you? Your mother?”
“Verna, you wouldn’t want you and your mother to be ruined, would you? If that happens, Baron Kanis will never rest in peace.”
Her weakness struck, tears streamed down Verna’s exquisitely beautiful cheeks: “You demon, shameless scoundrel! Disgusting! I will kill you!!”
The other spoke the truth.
No one would help them.
Those lords and ministers often visited under the pretense of checking on the baron’s widow and daughter, openly or subtly expressing their vile intentions.
How could she not see through their filthy desires?
“Kill or flay me, talk about it after dawn.”
A night of relentless battle.
Verna didn’t know when she fell into a deep sleep…
She had a nightmare.
A shameful, infuriating nightmare.
In the dream, she was… by a woman more beautiful, more holy than herself…
Yet she couldn’t see her face.
But she felt that the other was more beautiful than her.
“Aaah!!!”
Waking from the nightmare, the storm outside had ceased.
Morning dew dripped from the eaves, and the world seemed renewed.
But she was a defiled flower.
Looking at the bed she had once lovingly arranged, now in utter disarray, the searing pain, sorrow, and hatred from the previous night surged within her.
Verna leaned against the headboard, crying helplessly, her once-flawless beauty exposed to the air.
Exhausted from crying, no one came.
As the other had said, the baron’s estate had long declined since Baron Kanis’s death.
Let alone being bullied, even as the baron’s daughter, she could cry for hours without a single servant coming to comfort or inquire.
The once-bustling baron’s estate was a husk of its former self.
It took Verna a long while to collect herself, her starry eyes gleaming with unquenchable anger and hatred.
“Don’t let me find out who you are, or I’ll hunt you to the ends of the earth and kill you!!”
Her knuckles whitened from clenching.
She had navigated the mire of nobles and merchants alongside her mother, dodging countless men who coveted them.
Yet tonight, a woman had taken her first…
And that woman was a girl!
Absolutely!
I will kill you!!
The girl’s red hair, stained with filth, flickered with sparks.
Then, it calmed.
Verna abandoned the impulse to burn the bed…
The current baron’s estate could no longer afford her recklessness.
Silently, she cleaned up the mess and carefully stored the bloodstained bedsheet.
The girl went to the kitchen, boiled water, and scrubbed her body with such force it seemed she’d peel off her tender skin.
She changed into clean clothes, prepared food, and brought it to her mother—Rona Kanis.
“Mother.” The girl pretended nothing was wrong, carrying breakfast. “It’s time to eat.”
In Rona Kanis’s room, a slender, beautiful woman sat by the window, staring blankly at the clear morning sky.
Hearing the voice, she turned: “It’s Verna.”
A lifeless smile pierced the girl’s heart.
Since Baron Kanis’s death, her mother had been like this.
In the past, she would have gone to comfort her.
But after what happened last night, Verna had no heart for it.
Her mother’s eyes held only her father, blind to her limping steps, her pained frowns from enduring discomfort.
If it were the gentle, kind mother from her memories, she would have noticed her daughter’s distress long ago.
After serving Rona Kanis her breakfast, Verna changed into casual clothes and left.
An hour later, she arrived at the Holy Light Church in Red Maple City.
This Holy Light Church was a branch, but it housed a saintess, priests, and matrons among its clergy.
As Red Maple City was part of the Holy Empire—the territory of the Duke of Red Maple—it was a populous city.
Even as a branch, its facilities and staff were well-equipped.
And it held significant prestige and fame.
It was said that today, the branch’s saintess—Sophia Luluan Moonchant—would preside in the confessional hall.
Overwhelmed and distraught, Verna wanted to see her.
The Holy Light Church was grand and sacred, but Verna had no mood to admire it today.
She sat distractedly in the chapel for a while, and when a priest informed her she could visit the confessional hall to see the saintess, Verna rushed out eagerly.
At the confessional hall, the white knights guarding the entrance allowed only one person at a time.
Verna was the fastest, so she was admitted, while those behind her had to wait.
Entering the confessional hall, marble pillars carved with vivid reliefs lined the space, and the floor gleamed like crystal, reflecting light.
It was said to let people see their sins when they bowed their heads.
Verna’s heart raced as she gazed at her reflection advancing on the polished floor, inwardly judging her own transgressions.
“Follower of the Holy Light, please halt.”
A voice, clear and ethereal as the moon goddess, both majestic and divine.
Verna stopped and looked up to see a breathtakingly beautiful girl, her face veiled lightly, dressed in a pure saintess’s gown, seated above.
She radiated holy light.
The Saintess!
Sophia Lulusan Moonchant!
She was as holy, as beautiful as ever.
In her defiled state, Verna instinctively felt unworthy.
But for some reason, this meeting stirred a sense of familiarity.
Even though she had never seen her face.
She had visited twice before, and never felt this way.
Verna sighed inwardly, quickly averting her impolite gaze.
“Lady Saintess, I… am guilty!”
Verna’s trembling voice echoed.
“May the mercy and forgiveness of the Holy Light be upon you, daughter of man.
The Holy Light will hear your sins and grant her followers the brightest guidance.”
Saintess Sophia’s voice was dreamlike, as if imbued with a magic that could draw out the heart’s secrets.
Verna bit her lip, struggling for a few seconds before saying: “I… I was… defiled by a demon last night!”