Chapter 020: Kindness

Old Mark was a very diligent man. Although it was rare for a beautiful woman to accompany his third young master to a room for a private meeting during a banquet, he did not let this lower his guard. Instead, he focused all his attention on the area around that room.
After all, there had been several attempts at assassination using the beauty trap in the empire’s history. Though those incidents mostly involved high-ranking officials of the empire, who could guarantee that no one would try to harm his third young master under these circumstances?
However, the third young master surprisingly showed some sense, and Old Mark didn’t dare stop him, so he could only stay in a dark corner, listening carefully.
Although he didn’t know what the third young master and Miss Emily were talking about, Old Mark could sense that the atmosphere had become tense since they entered the study. He became extremely cautious—if that woman dared to harm his young master, he, Old Mark, would chop her to pieces right away, regardless of who she was. Anyone who tried to harm the third young master would face certain death.
To his surprise, less than ten minutes after they entered, there was a sound of breaking things coming from the study!
Good heavens! His third young master was a gentle priest who couldn’t even hold a chicken! How could such an elegant and noble person do such crude things? It must be! That wretched woman must be trying to insult the third young master!
With that thought, Old Mark didn’t hesitate and rushed toward the stairs. Princess Nina and Miss Mia had also been paying attention to the activities in the study. Seeing Old Mark’s actions, they immediately realized that something was wrong in the study!
But unlike Old Mark’s assumption, they both knew something about Emily’s fierce personality and couldn’t help but wonder: Could it be that the priest tried to attack Emily and was beaten in return?
Still, they quickly followed him.
Thus, the three of them arrived at the door of the study on the second floor. Naturally, as Princess Nina, her every move attracted everyone’s attention. When they went upstairs, the other noble young masters and ladies also realized that something had happened!
Those people wanted to follow as well, but before they could act, Du Fan’s cry rang out: “No… you can’t do this!!! Miss Emily!! You must not do this… You have to know… I am a believer of the God of Light… You can’t treat me like this… Ah…”

The final “Ah—” was filled with utter despair. The nobles downstairs might have been useless in other aspects, but when faced with such a situation, they all reacted quickly. Though they still didn’t know exactly what had happened, just that cry alone sparked countless rumors of tragic lovers in their minds.

However, due to a certain charlatan’s excellent reputation and a certain woman’s notorious boldness in the capital, none of these guesses turned out to be unfavorable to Du Fan.

Princess Nina shuddered, feeling a chill in her heart. The situation seemed far more serious than she had imagined. But as a member of the royal family, she remained calm despite her panic. After giving a few gestures to signal the servants not to let anyone else in, she grabbed Mia’s hand and rushed forward.

By this time, Old Mark had already reached the door of the study. He pushed aside the two servants trying to stop him and kicked the door open. A faint aura of combat energy flashed, and the closed door was kicked aside. Old Mark, Mia, Princess Nina… and the two servants collapsed on the ground, all stunned…

Inside the study, Du Fan and Emily were tightly entangled in a pose of extreme wickedness. If one ignored the circumstances, it resembled the sensual scenes in some legendary novels. But upon closer inspection, something was amiss.

Du Fan’s face showed disgust and helplessness, covered from his face to his neck in kiss marks. It was clear that Miss Emily must have forced herself on him! His clothes were torn, and although he had tried hard to protect himself, it seemed that if not for the arrival of outsiders, he would have been completely stripped naked. Especially Emily’s manner of yanking at his clothes was enough to make any man exclaim, “Reverse it! Reverse it!”

But none of this was the most outrageous. The most extreme was Emily. Everyone could see that she was trying to assault Young Master Du Fan, yet her face was pale, as if someone had interrupted her and angered her greatly. Of course, this was only for a moment.

Du Fan struggled desperately on the ground. As soon as he saw the door open, he cried out, “Grandpa Mark… save me… save me… this woman, she wants to… she wants to…”

Actually, Du Fan didn’t need to say much. Old Mark understood what was going on as soon as he saw the scene. Without hesitation, he rushed to Emily’s side, pushed her away, took off his coat, and covered Du Fan with it. Then he turned around and yelled, “Miss Emily! What do you mean by this?!”
At that moment, Mia and Princess Nina also reacted. Mia quickly supported the dazed Emily, while Princess Nina immediately pushed the two servants who had witnessed the scene into the room and slammed the door shut. Then, with an awkward smile, she said, “Um… Grandpa… Mark… please don’t act impulsively. Let’s figure out what’s going on first, okay?”
Under the stress, Princess Nina also started calling him “grandpa” like Du Fan. Glancing at Emily, who appeared pale and vacant-eyed, she felt both angry and amused. She had always thought it was strange for girls to like other girls, but here was Emily, literally pushing a man over—on top of that, in such a situation! It seemed that every generation had its own perverts.
Old Mark was furious. He kept Du Fan behind him and snapped, “What’s there to figure out? Didn’t you all see it just now? That woman! That damned woman! She… she wants… my third young master!”
Although Old Mark omitted the two most important words, everyone present understood what he meant.
Mia, a shy girl by nature, turned red with embarrassment, burying her face almost entirely in her chest, too afraid to lift it. The two servants beside her had blank expressions. Though they knew they had no place to interject in such a situation, they still wanted to laugh but dared not, struggling hard to hold back their giggles.
“Um… um…” Even the usually sharp-witted Princess Nina was at a loss for words. “How about… how about we ask the person involved… to explain what’s going on?”
Although angry, Old Mark was also aware of Princess Nina’s status. As an old servant, he might have yelled in anger earlier, but now that he had calmed down, he couldn’t be too rude. However, it was absolutely impossible for him to bow down to her. With a cold snort, he said, “Fine, then go ahead and ask your Miss Emily.”

Princess Nina glanced at Du Fan, whose expression was quite strange. Seeing that he had no objections, she quickly moved over to Emily and whispered, “Emily, what exactly happened… Just tell us…”
It seemed Emily only then came back to her senses. She looked around, and the usually bold girl suddenly burst into tears, wailing, “That Du Fan… that bastard… that pervert! He used some trick to paralyze my whole body, then touched every part of me, even stripped me of my clothes. And in the end… he framed me like this… Ugh…”
Princess Nina had a strange look on her face and couldn’t help but think to herself, “Dear Emily, even when lying, try to be more believable, will you? Who in the capital doesn’t know that Du Fan is a good-for-nothing who can’t cultivate combat energy or magic? And who doesn’t know you’re a second-level mage? If you go and tell people that a second-level mage was overpowered by an ordinary person, a good-for-nothing, how many will believe you?”
Still, despite her thoughts, Princess Nina awkwardly glanced at Du Fan and asked, “Young Master Du Fan… is what Emily said… true?”
Du Fan’s expression became strange, then softened a bit, even taking on a hint of pity as he watched Emily cry. It seemed he wanted to say something, but he felt reluctant. Finally, with a long sigh, he said, “Well… it seems to be as Miss Emily said. It’s all my fault… Please… don’t trouble her anymore… But Miss Emily, listen to me… Girls really shouldn’t do such things… Sigh…”
By the end, his expression became extremely serious, yet somewhat forced, as if he were trying hard to make people believe something.
Seeing his attitude, Mia and Princess Nina exchanged a glance, both thinking the same thing: Although he admitted that it was as Emily said, judging from his expression and behavior, along with his usual actions, it was easy to deduce that this kind-hearted priest in white would rather damage his own reputation and even face punishment from the Holy Church than let go of Emily, who intended to assault him, hoping to give her a chance to reform… This Young Master Du Fan… is truly too kind…
Book 2: Desecration of the Cultist