Chapter 80 : The Shura Field between Sister and Fiancée

Hall Faxtius had been suffering immensely these past few days.

Just two days after his engagement, rumors began swirling around Leticia Child and Ye Wangxue.

It wasn’t that his reputation was poor—he’d defeated Lenny and Dylan, so no one dared speak ill of him to his face anymore.

Rather, people were speculating whom he would ultimately choose: Ye Wangxue or Leticia.

Some were simply enjoying the spectacle, convinced Hall was walking a dangerous path—after all, history had seen similar cases.

There was an old tale of a duke’s son who effortlessly charmed multiple princesses and noble ladies, juggling several romantic entanglements at once.

But his fate was grim: according to legend, one day while camping by a lakeside with several of those young women, he vanished.

Even more horrifying, his body was later said to have been divided among the girls, each taking a piece home.

This centuries-old Saint Louis legend now had campus gossips eagerly hoping to witness it unfold with Hall as the protagonist.

They wanted nothing less than to see the myth reborn before their eyes.

‘If this were a game, I’d already be sentenced to death,’ Hall thought grimly.

He glanced left at Leticia, right at Himan, then turned to look back at Ye Wangxue.

He was surrounded.

Lorraine wasn’t making things easier at home either—she now lived in the same villa as Hall and Ye Wangxue.

Her stated reason? “To prevent my brother and his fiancée from doing that before they’re officially married—I’ll move into the next room and supervise.”

Lov had immediately nodded in agreement.

As a result, Hall dared not sleep deeply at night.

He feared waking up one midnight to find Lorraine straddling him, her clothes mysteriously gone, her eyes sparkling with heart-shaped adoration.

And then Ye Wangxue bursting in.

That kind of stimulation was far beyond ordinary—it felt like living perpetually on the razor’s edge between life and death.

So Hall devised a plan: he claimed he needed to hone his skills and improve his public image in Saint Louis.

Thus, he began visiting the Demon God’s Labyrinth every day after school and on weekends.

Lov and Lorraine strongly opposed it, but Himan was thoroughly pleased.

‘Just as I suspected—my past self basically looted every possible reward already.’

Ten days later, on a Saturday, Hall returned to the Demon God’s Labyrinth once more.

Unfortunately, he emerged with little to show for it—just a modest profit of a dozen or so gold coins from reselling loot.

‘Still, Ye Wangxue has been in Saint Louis for over ten days now, and she shows no sign of leaving.’

Walking down the sunset-drenched streets, Hall pondered this.

He didn’t expect to run into Maria right at his doorstep.

“Lord Hall, Lady Christine cordially invites you to tomorrow afternoon’s Saintess Tea Gathering. If you’re available, please attend punctually. Here’s the invitation.”

“Oh, let me check—I might not be free.”

He recalled the pure-white Saintess; their last meeting had been during the swordsmanship exchange, nearly a month ago.

He’d almost assumed Christine had given up—especially with the overwhelming pressure from the other four heroines since the engagement.

But according to the original game’s timeline, Christine should’ve already begun her route over a month ago.

Why had she remained silent all this time?

Even if he’d handled the Underground Street questline in her stead, she still shouldn’t have lingered in Saint Louis this long.

After all, Saintess candidates needed to travel, preach, and bestow blessings to gain public support.

“Well then, Lord Hall, you may decide as you see fit,” Maria said, secretly hoping he’d decline—Lady Christine seemed far too attentive toward him.

Inviting him to a tea gathering filled entirely with girls? What would that even look like with only one man present?

“Alright.”

After dismissing Maria, Hall returned to the manor.

Ye Wangxue sat in the main hall sipping tea, while Lorraine nibbled on sweets.

Lov meticulously attended to both young mistresses of House Faxtius—a now-familiar scene.

At Hall’s arrival, Ye Wangxue rose and gently wiped the sweat from his brow with a handkerchief.

Its unique fragrance brought an immediate sense of calm.

But Lorraine quickly stood too, wrapping her arms around Hall’s right arm and pressing her body against his side without the slightest hesitation.

Unfortunately, she was flat-chested—if not pressed flush against him, Hall barely registered the softness of her figure.

Ye Wangxue said nothing.

Over the past ten days, she and Lorraine had repeatedly—both openly and subtly—tried to rein in the other.

For instance, on the third day after the engagement, Lorraine had moved into the room next to theirs, demanding Hall read her bedtime stories.

Ye Wangxue countered, “Little sister Lorraine, surely you’re tired of Western tales. Let your sister-in-law tell you Eastern legends instead.”

Lorraine flatly refused: “I’m a Westerner. I only listen to Western stories. I won’t hear Eastern ones.”

She wore her Western pride like armor.

But Ye Wangxue had her tactics. She produced a storybook from her etiquette tutor’s lessons on Western history and culture.

“Lorraine, you’re sixteen now. You should cultivate your own reading comprehension. If you always rely on Hall to read to you, what will you do if he’s ever not by your side? Isn’t that right, dear?”

It was Ye Wangxue’s classic maneuver—but that day, it nearly failed.

Because Hall had replied, “I’ll just read Lorraine one bedtime story. You go ahead and sleep first.”

Ye Wangxue was furious—I even called you “dear,” and you still do this?!

But she held her tongue. An outburst would jeopardize her grand plan and her position in the Faxtius household.

So she nodded and left.

Hall later regretted it deeply.

He’d intended to placate Lorraine, gently reject Ye Wangxue, and subtly encourage her to annul the engagement—carefully managing the tension without pushing her too far.

But the moment he entered Lorraine’s room, he was hit by a strange, intoxicating aroma.

Thankfully, his mental fortitude held.

Lorraine then handed him a storybook and asked him to read aloud.

He planned to finish quickly and slip away—but he never made it to the end.

The book was anything but innocent: it was filled with explicit descriptions of forbidden love, using crude, unambiguous terms for intimate acts and body parts.

Even Zhou Shuren himself would’ve blushed in shame before such a text.

Hall wanted to scold her and confiscate the book—but before he could raise his hand, Lorraine placed her right hand under the covers, her cheeks flushed, her sapphire-blue eyes shimmering with moisture as she gazed up at him.

In a soft, honeyed voice, she whispered, “Big brother… do you understand the words in that book? Could you… teach Lorraine?”

She was a temptress—utterly, dangerously so—especially in that loose, pure-white nightgown.

Yet aware of his yandere sister’s lethal potential, Hall could only respond with stern gravity: “This isn’t something a child should be learning.”

“But Lorraine’s all grown up—it’s just not obvious through clothes. Don’t believe me? Big brother can check for himself…”

To his shock, she began unbuttoning her top with her left hand.

Hall suspected that if she were stronger than him, she’d have pinned him to the bed already.

Her yandere progression was terrifying. He wished he could drag his pre-amnesiac self back and demand to know what horrors he’d inflicted upon her psyche.

Fortunately, a knock at the door interrupted Lorraine’s bold advance.

It was, of course, Ye Wangxue.

She’d long sensed the unnatural closeness between the siblings and hadn’t returned to her room—she’d been listening through the wall.

She couldn’t allow Lorraine to steal her man right under her nose.

From that moment on, the rift between Lorraine and Ye Wangxue became irreparable—and remained so to this day.

They hadn’t fully erupted into open conflict then, because a quarrel between sister-in-law and sister-in-law was no trivial matter.

Once such a battle began, the victor would claim permanent dominance.

Hall knew a storm cloud loomed over his head, brewing a tempest that would one day crash down upon him.

Thus, on the eleventh evening after the engagement, once Lorraine and Lov had stepped out to fetch something, Hall turned to Ye Wangxue with grave seriousness.

“I’ll ask you once more—can you please act normally?”

“How am I not normal?” Ye Wangxue retorted.

“We met in the Underground Street. That’s the real you—not this act. You’ve been avoiding the truth this whole time, waiting for me to bring it up.”

Now that he had, she was ready to confront him head-on.

“My dear fiancé,” she said, voice laced with accusation, “you knew who I was back then! Why didn’t you reveal your identity? Why did you tell me to annul the engagement immediately?!”

The words struck Hall like a blunt blow.

But he’d prepared for this.

He replied swiftly: “This is a political marriage, isn’t it? Three years ago, when you learned of it, you sought out the Thousand Blade Sword Ghost as your master—all to gain the power to control your own fate. We have no foundation of genuine affection. I don’t want to rob you of your happiness. Freedom suits you far better than a predetermined union.”

Every word resonated deeply with Ye Wangxue.

It felt as if he’d crawled inside her mind.

“But you lied to me,” she countered. “You claimed you were a high-ranking member of the Salvation Church. If that’s true, why have I never seen you with Mandosha Flower?”

“Well, I’m not lying—ask Mandosha herself. She knows me.”

Hall emphasized this point.

After all, his pre-amnesiac self had ties to the Salvation Church and knew Mandosha—so technically, he wasn’t deceiving her.

“Hmph. I don’t believe you. Bring her here to confirm it face-to—”

Ye Wangxue cut herself off mid-sentence.

She suddenly recalled Mandosha’s chilling words: “If you truly fall for Hall, I’ll kill you.”

At the time, she’d assumed it was a joke.

Now, she wondered just how much of it had been jest.

A bitter ache bloomed in her chest.

From the moment she’d learned in the Underground Street that Leticia fancied Hall, to Mandosha’s cryptic warnings, to discovering Lorraine’s obsession—and even Himan’s strangely protective behavior—she’d realized her fiancé attracted an alarming number of exceptional women.

Perhaps… such a man wouldn’t be so terrible as a husband after all.

“No,” Hall interrupted her thoughts sharply. “She’s one of the Seven Sages. If the Judgment Bureau catches her here, House Faxtius will face impeachment—and possibly a coalition of major nobles turning against us.”

“Fine.”

“I am a high-ranking member of the Salvation Church. You’ll understand in time. I’m not lying.”

Hall began weaving his half-truths.

But then his eyes caught the calendar in the corner of the room.

The date looked eerily familiar—and combined with the tea invitation still in his hand and the mention of the Salvation Church, a chilling realization struck him.

Tomorrow was the 15th of Veritas, Saint Light Era Year 1127.

In the game, this was the very day Christine would suffer the Salvation Church’s first assassination attempt!