Volume One: Intrigue and Deception in the Imperial Capital - The Terrifying Character Breakdown Upon Closer Inspection

Long, long ago, in a country where theocracy reigned supreme, there was a small village.

The village is built against the mountain, secluded and quiet. People live a simple and happy life, rising with the sun and resting at sunset.

They were all devout followers of the Divine Law Cult, praising the world and the Supreme God, and regularly attending services at the village chapel.

The village exists quietly, untouched by worldly strife, far removed from the center of divine authority. Here, it seems as if time itself slows down.

One day, a baby girl was born in the village.

The enthusiastic villagers celebrated for the child's parents, and the kind old priest baptized the child; everything seemed the same.

As time went by, the villagers began to sense something was amiss.

So beautiful.

The baby girl grew into a toddler, and then into a young woman, becoming more beautiful each day than the day before. No one, regardless of gender or age, could resist her beauty. The boys rose earlier and earlier just to catch a glimpse of her drawing water from the well; they also slept later and later just to sneak to the window to admire her sleeping face.

However, the girl's parents were just ordinary farmers, plain-looking, and arguably even ugly. How could such parents have given birth to such a beautiful child?

Some say it's a miracle; she is an angel sent by the Most High God to gain a physical body through this couple and descend to earth.

The rumor spread far and wide, and the surrounding villages all knew about it. People were talking about it, because there were similar precedents in the past, and legend had it that several Saintess had also come from humble backgrounds.

Finally, even the Diocesan Bishop of a nearby city heard the news and rushed over. After some testing, he sent the girl to the best monastery in the vicinity.

"Xiao Ye... Xiao..."

In my dazed state, I felt someone patting my face.

"Wake up, it's time to change shifts."

I rubbed my eyes, gradually coming to my senses, and looked around.

It was 5 PM, and the location was under the bridge spanning the river at the main gate of the capital. Haoyue and I had slipped out of the capital and come here to avoid being discovered. There were many planks, wooden planks, scaffolding, and other such things hidden under the bridge arches, making it convenient for professionals to maintain the bridge. We were now hiding on a metal beam in the shadows of the bridge arches, taking turns to rest and conserve our energy for tonight's operation.

Did you sleep well?

"Hmm... it's alright, I just had a really long dream."

"Dream?"

"Actually, this is related to a secret I want to share with you, but I don't want to talk about it now..."

"Tch~ Xiao Ye, you're such a cheapskate."

Why does your tone of voice sound like Si Nan Ying's?

"Huh? Really?"

"Yeah, sometimes when I'm bored, I tease her and make her angry. She'll yell things like 'Xiao Ye, you big bad guy!' or 'Xiao Ye, you big idiot!' and run away in tears."

"..."

"Even though she's a bit of a goofball, she's really cute, especially when she hugs me and rubs against me—"

Haoyue suddenly rolled over and sat up, grabbing my shoulder and pushing me down.

"Hao... Haoyue? What's wrong?"

"Hey Xiao Ye ..." Hao Yue looked at me with a strange smile and licked her lips, "Don't you think it's really... awful to talk about how great your ex is in front of your new love?"

"She's not some ex! And you're not exactly a new love either!"

"... Eh? Not a new love interest?"

Haoyue froze as if a pause button had been pressed, her face filled with disbelief, and her captivating eyes welled up with tears.

"Hey, are you okay?" I'm most afraid of girls' tears.

Silence.

Then, like a floodgate being opened, gloomy words poured out.

"So it seems like it's always been just me confessing my feelings, I haven't even heard a reply. But every time we meet, I'm sending out love signals. Every day I secretly sneak out to buy horoscope magazines to check my love fortune. The night before a match, I'm so excited I can't sleep, so I do some stretching exercises in the middle of the night to relieve my boredom. My subordinates saw me, it was so embarrassing. I thought maybe one day I'd have a chance to show off my cooking skills, so I went to learn to cook and even burned my clothes. Music has always been my weakness. To avoid being laughed at, I secretly hired a vocal coach, but I still sing off-key as soon as I open my mouth. I always wear white cheongsams, which might be considered unfashionable, so I wanted to change the style. But when I opened my closet, all the cheongsams were either black or white, and they were all the same except for the patterns. Then I realized I'm nineteen years old, but I don't even know what the clothes that young girls are wearing these days are like. What's wrong with me? My femininity is so low. But, but I just can't suppress the feelings in my heart. I'm becoming more and more strange. After saying goodbye to my darling, when no one is around, I lie on the ground and pick up the fallen hair and eyelashes, wash them clean, and seal them. Every night when I'm lonely, I savor the touch of their skin." While using my fingers to quell my desire, I always ended up staying up late, leaving myself sleep-deprived. Each time I wanted to go deeper, I was afraid of accidentally breaking through and causing misunderstandings. I also considered what if you liked playing with the back. So I got some strange tools and secretly inserted them under the cover of night, practicing for several days until I could finally experience pleasure from behind. But only then did I realize how perverted, how shameless, how utterly obsessive I was! Maybe my darling likes the innocent, pure type, not the overly erotic type, just love without lust. If that's the case, then all my efforts were wasted. Actually, I wouldn't object to the classic love story of an older sister and a cute younger sister, holding hands and gazing deeply into each other's eyes, the older sister helping the younger sister tie her tie, the younger sister blushing and confessing her love with a love letter, accidentally biting her tongue, or the noble and beautiful older sister confessing her love in front of everyone. But what should I do? Which direction should this take? I don't know! Ahhh, babbling on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on..."

It's broken.

"Haohao, Haoyue, don't get excited! Well, actually, I like you too, so stop nagging with that sickly look in your eyes. You're scaring me!" I quickly comforted her. I felt that the more she rambled on, the more terrifying it would become if I thought about it carefully. I decided to ignore it.

"#%%&||?>:&%@...￥{%￥%(Random thoughts, random thoughts, random thoughts)"

"Cheer up, Haoyue. Calm down, organize your thoughts, and say whatever you want to say—"

"Let's merge!!!"

"Your character is completely out of character!"

"Then let's bring Si Nan Ying along for the joint operation!"

"It sounds wonderful, but thinking about it carefully, it's even worse! And please remove the '♀' from your sentence!"

"Let's merge!"

"You actually removed it!"

"Let's team up with Si Nan Ying!"

"The second sentence is unnecessary!"

"Let's combine Si Nan Ying along!"

"It's not that we don't need to remove the '♀', it's that we don't need to repeat it again!"

"Meow!"

"Why are you trying to act cute at a time like this!"

"Meow meow meow!"

"Are you deliberately trying to annoy me?! Stop meowing!"

"Woof!"

"I'm not telling you to bark! Besides, I prefer cats to dogs!"

"Meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow!"

Have you calmed down yet?

"Um... I'm sorry you had to see this." Haoyue rarely showed an embarrassed smile, which felt refreshing to me. I immediately felt that seeing this smile made all the hard work worthwhile.

"By the way, Haoyue, I have a question." I suddenly remembered something important.

"How?"

"Um... I remember you once said I was very manly, right...?"

"Yes, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing, the sentence itself is quite normal, but the way you said it makes it sound like there's something else going on."

"Is that so? Isn't the reason obvious?" Haoyue shrugged. "Because your inner self is fundamentally masculine, isn't it?"

"Huh!? How did you find out?"

"I wasn't sure at first either, but judging from your reaction... hehehe~" Haoyue covered her mouth and chuckled, looking like a little devil.

"Uh (⊙o⊙)."

"In the underworld, a good eye is essential. Actually, I've been trained to 'read people' since I was a child, and I've seen all sorts of people. Gradually, I've developed the skill of reading people's minds. The first time I saw you, I felt you were different from others. You always gave me the feeling of 'a man mistakenly born a woman.' It seems I was right after all~"

"I see..."

And so, we spent the last few hours before the operation chatting and laughing.

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School starts soon, the good days are numbered... sigh...