Chapter 8 : He Must Seize the Initiative

Right now, the gazes of all the students in the classroom were fixed on Hall, giving him a firsthand experience of what it felt like to have the world’s attention focused on him.

Lenny was practically fuming.
It was one thing for Christine to invite Hall, but to even say that if Hall didn’t go to see her, she would personally go to him, felt like she absolutely had to have him.

Lenny had tried to pay a visit before, but as the son of an Earl, he simply wasn’t qualified.
Even if his father tried to pull some strings, he would only be told that Lady Christine was busy with countless matters and had no time.

But now it seemed that Christine did have time, and could even spare some to meet with Hall alone.

Just as Lenny thought.

That excuse was just a polite refusal.
As a Saintess candidate, if Christine met with just anyone, she simply wouldn’t have the time.

“It seems I have no choice but to accept?”

‘You really are asking for a beating, Hall.’

Hearing his somewhat helpless words, everyone felt the same way.

Lenny and most of the students thought he was showing off.

Himan thought he was still the same old him.
Did he think Christine was like all the other girls he had messed with in the past?

Maria believed he was being disrespectful to Lady Christine.

So she cast a “kind” look at the young man.

“I’ll go this afternoon.”

There was no escaping it.

It was better to seize the initiative.

At this point in time, Christine probably didn’t know that replenishing her mana with him could increase her strength.

Hall planned to use the remaining time before three in the afternoon to thoroughly recall the absolute no-go zones in Christine’s route.

“So… why are you following me?”

After leaving the classroom, Hall planned to go home and feast his eyes on Lov.
When he left this morning, Lov had said she had prepared a new style of maid outfit and stockings.

He could also get a shoulder massage from his little maid and taste the skills of the Faxtius family’s head chef.

‘The first thing after transmigrating isn’t to enjoy life, but to risk it?’

‘No need. He wasn’t some protagonist with a “thirty years east, thirty years west, must revive the family” persona.’

He was a complete villain, an unorthodox evil character, the kind that could corrupt the heroines.
If he risked his life, he would truly lose it.

But after delivering the message, Maria didn’t leave immediately.
Instead, she followed him all the way out of Holy Light University.

A noble young master being followed by a nun, this combination was quite eye-catching even in the chaotic city of Saint Louis.

As passersby cast sidelong glances, Hall finally questioned Maria.

It wasn’t that he felt awkward; he was, after all, a dissolute noble young master.

It was just that Maria looked like she was going to follow him home.

Because the Rohn Cathedral where Christine was currently staying was in a completely different direction from his family’s estate.

“I am here to observe your character, Baron Hall.”

Hall’s current title was Baron.
Although it was the lowest among the noble ranks, as long as he didn’t cause trouble, not to mention inheriting his father’s Duke title in the future, it wouldn’t be a problem for him to retire as a Marquis.

“Miss Maria, have you made a mistake?”

He knew what she was thinking.
This girl was a fanatical loyalist of Christine.
In the game, she could also be recruited into the party.

When present with Christine, her damage would be increased by fifty percent, and when in the background, she would continuously provide support effects for Christine.

She was quite useful for dungeon grinding, but she had to be paired with Christine.
If you didn’t train Christine, she was basically useless.

If you didn’t follow Christine’s route, training Christine and completing her side quests to get her exclusive set required fighting high-level and difficult enemies.
If you were unlucky, you’d have to grind for sub-stats and critical hits.

Furthermore, once Christine was trained up, she could easily solo some of the simpler heroine routes, without needing a support.

This made Maria’s position rather awkward.

The consensus was that if you didn’t follow Christine’s route but wanted to train her, you could consider training Maria.
If you didn’t train Christine, Maria would just collect dust.

“It is my duty as a nun. You are to meet with Lady Christine alone this afternoon…”

She might as well have written “I don’t trust you” on her face.

Hall thought for a moment.
In the story, Christine was very good at hiding her true nature.
Maria only found out much later that Christine was not actually weak.
In Maria’s eyes now, she suspected that Hall might take advantage of the lack of witnesses to make a move on Christine.

But what he had been considering since leaving the classroom was that Christine had better not make a move on him.

“You can rest assured.”

Faced with this, the nun neither nodded nor shook her head, just looked at Hall.

She didn’t feel assured.
Hall’s reputation was too bad.
When Hall had just left the classroom, Himan had even come over to ask Maria if Christine was serious.
Her cousin, when it came to girls…

Maria had a slight impression of Himan and could see her concern, so she was even more worried about the afternoon meeting.

Before leaving the church, she had even checked her diary entries about Christine.
The records showed that besides meeting the Faxtius family at a banquet in the year she first arrived in Saint Louis, there had been no other contact.

Why would Lady Christine suddenly want to see Hall today?

She should have only seen Hall at that banquet several years ago.

But it was clear that Saint Louis was never short of famous young masters, and there were plenty of noble young men with good reputations.

If Christine wanted to, it would be very simple to meet a noble young man.

Why specifically choose Hall?

Maria couldn’t understand it a million times over.

Could it be that Christine wanted to use the power of the Holy Light to purify the sullied soul of the admiral’s son?

That made sense.
If Hall inherited his father’s position in the future and guarded a border for the Papal State, how could he do so with such a character?

Lady Christine must have her reasons for doing this.

The nun couldn’t help but sigh in her heart.

In that case, she had to pass this first test for Lady Christine, to preliminarily observe whether Hall’s character was as bad as the rumors said.

Seeing Maria’s persistence, Hall didn’t force her to leave.
If he triggered some strange plot point and she went to Christine and said something unexpectedly bad, it would be terrible.

Although he didn’t want to be on good terms with Christine, he definitely didn’t want to be on bad terms with her either.

Afterward, the two returned to the Faxtius family’s mansion in silence.

‘It’s fine to be normal at noon anyway, whatever, I’ll endure it.’

Hall could still distinguish between one day of pleasure and a future of daily pleasure.

“What would you like for lunch?”

“There are many suffering people in the world. I only need simple food.”

‘Uh.’

‘What kind of logic is that?’

Hall was momentarily surprised.

“Vegetarian, right? Do you want dessert?”

“Dessert… no, thank you.”

Hall looked at Maria’s face.
He guessed she wanted some.
Duke Faxtius was always generous, and the supply of afternoon tea and desserts for the servants in the mansion was always ample.
Anything left overnight would be thrown away.

He remembered that Maria’s character setting was that she liked desserts, which was why he asked.

“If you don’t want any, fine. It’s a waste to throw away the extra desserts at my house. I’ll have Lov bring you some.”

He found another maid and had her inform Lov.

Maria looked at him, feeling a little happy in her heart.
She came from a humble family, and desserts were something she only got on her birthday when she was a child.

In recent years, staying by Christine’s side, Christine lived a very simple life, and she was absolutely not extravagant either.

But the slight good impression Maria had of Hall quickly ended with Lov’s arrival.

Because the revealing dress of this maid made her feel that it was too shameless.

This person, Hall, really couldn’t be trusted!