Chapter 34

It’s really too much.

Recalling the two merchant uncles discussing her at the dining table earlier, Vanessa felt a surge of indignation.

Coincidentally, one of the talkative uncles dropped his wallet, so Vanessa decided to play a small prank on him.

Who told them to talk behind her back?

They could have said anything else, but to spread rumors that she sent body hair and nails to Mirexia??

Isn’t that something only a pervert would do?

Even the former Winnie wouldn’t have sent such disgusting things, right?

And how could they casually spread such rumors?

Who would ever send such private items to someone else??

Such rumors would only cause trouble for both her and Mirexia!

As for the rumor about her snatching candy from a child, that was even more absurd.

The former Winnie might have been a troublemaker, but she wasn’t some stray dog.

Even at her worst, there had to be a reason for her actions.

What possible benefit could she gain from stealing a child’s lollipop?

A lollipop covered in someone else’s saliva?

Just thinking about it made her nauseous.

Even a lunatic wouldn’t do something so ridiculous, right?

As far as she could recall, not only had these events never occurred, but they weren’t even remotely accurate.

What she couldn’t tolerate the most was the rumor that she had blue eyes!

If it weren’t for her excellent upbringing holding her back, she would have stood up and demanded to know where those two uncles thought she got the money to keep male concubines??

On this point, she and Aesphyra were united as allies, they both liked sweet, soft girls.

The difference was that Aesphyra was attracted to beauty.

As long as someone was pretty enough, that little minx was willing to spend time conquering their heart.

Vanessa, on the other hand, wasn’t so picky.

As long as the person was compatible with her and genuinely liked her, that was enough.

Just like in the original story, false and malicious rumors about Winnie kept popping up from time to time.

It was hard to say who started them, but the nobles in the capital were certainly happy to fan the flames.

After all, countless nobles coveted Mirexia’s beauty, status, wealth, and the supreme power and benefits that came with marrying the kingdom’s first heir.

They would do anything to eliminate their competitors.

It was an unspoken rule, but you, Winnie, dared to openly pursue her and cling to her?

Wasn’t that just painting a target on your back?

Even the children of powerful nobles didn’t dare to make their intentions public.

Shouldn’t you take a look in the mirror and ask yourself if you’re even worthy??

Fine, if you don’t want to be decent, we’ll make you decent.

And so, with the help of these nobles, the malicious rumors about her grew more and more outrageous, and her reputation naturally worsened.

Although the former Winnie wasn’t exactly a good person, the spread of these absurd and exaggerated rumors was largely thanks to these nobles.

What she didn’t expect was that they could stoop so low as to spread rumors about her being bisexual…

Another reason was that, facing the once-glorious Varelis family that had ruled the church, everyone wanted to kick them while they were down.

After all, the church with the Radiance Saintess and the church without her were two completely different entities in terms of influence.

Although the church’s influence still spanned all human nations, its deterrent power was not what it used to be.

Therefore, they were more than happy to tarnish Winnie’s reputation, thereby eradicating the Varelis family’s legitimacy in the church.

As for who was behind this latter reason, it was hard to say.

Vanessa didn’t dare to reveal her awakened bloodline publicly or enter Carillian Academy openly for this very reason.

For her, revealing the secret of her bloodline awakening would only make her a target.

She might even be snuffed out by some scheming forces while still in her infancy.

Don’t expect the church to protect her, she suspected that the main force targeting her was the church itself.

Someone wanted to permanently remove the Saintess from the church.

But if that were the case, it would be completely unnecessary.

Vanessa sighed softly in her heart.

She had no interest in the Church of Radiance or the position of Saintess.

Her self-awareness was clear.

She knew she was just a small NPC in this world, without the protagonist’s fate or the favor of destiny.

Her only aspiration was to graduate smoothly from Carillian Academy, get a good job, and preferably earn a small fief through military achievements.

Then, she would find a compatible NPC girl to spend the rest of her life with. That was all.

Compared to the heroines of this story, her dreams were incredibly ordinary.

After all, she knew all too well the consequences of having the protagonist’s ambitions without the protagonist’s luck.

And as for being the Saintess?

Not to mention how awkward it would be if it were discovered that the church’s Saintess was actually a man, just the title itself represented the highest authority in the church.

That sounded extremely high-risk, didn’t it??

Not only would she have to constantly guard against internal power struggles, but whenever conflicts arose between human nations, she would have to mediate, right?

And when the demons attacked, the Saintess would undoubtedly have to lead the charge and fight them, right?

The demons of Terraria Continent were notoriously fierce in combat.

If she were at the front lines without the protagonist’s help, it wouldn’t be long before her head ended up on the city walls.

Even if she didn’t die, being captured alive would be just as terrible.

She had seen plenty of “demon and Saintess” themed illustrations in her past life!

Was this some kind of karmic retribution??

This made the position of Saintess even less appealing.

Why seek such attention?

Big or small, none of these matters concerned her.

If the sky fell, Aesphyra, the cheat-like chosen one, and the other heroines would handle it. She just needed to live her NPC life peacefully.

There were fewer pedestrians at night. Vanessa tiptoed cautiously back to her dilapidated old building and quietly closed the door.

It was late, and after a busy day, she had finally solved her basic needs.

She was feeling sleepy and wanted to wash up quickly and go to bed.

However, her body seemed to resist being treated so roughly, instinctively protesting against such behavior.

She needed a proper bath.

But when Vanessa arrived at the bathroom, she suddenly realized a serious problem.

It seemed there was no shower gel, shampoo, perfume, or skincare products left at home.

Well, it wasn’t that there was none left, there had never been any to begin with.

Except for shampoo, Winnie never used those fancy, unnecessary products for bathing.

The former Winnie was a bit unkempt and rough around the edges when it came to personal care, much like most boys who didn’t bother with grooming products to maintain their bodies.

This was partly due to Winnie’s financial situation and partly because he lacked noble upbringing, finding the idea of a refined lifestyle troublesome and unnecessary.

This also led to his indifference toward his appearance.

The thought of having neglected her body for so long made Vanessa feel extremely uncomfortable, as if she had been tainted by something dirty. It felt like every hair on her body was standing on end, stiff and frozen.

She knew her obsessive-compulsive tendencies were acting up again.

Unable to bear the torment, she had no choice but to go out again, heading to a daily necessities store to carefully select a bunch of grooming products.

She went empty-handed but arrived with a bulging pink backpack.

Well, the pink backpack was a free gift for reaching a certain spending threshold.

Honestly, if she hadn’t experienced it herself, Vanessa wouldn’t have known she could be so hard to please.

Her obsessive-compulsive tendencies forced her to compare each product, not just for effectiveness but also for cost-performance, and then consider whether they suited her skin and hair type.

She couldn’t settle for anything less than perfect.

It was as if she was being endlessly tortured by her own compulsions.

She wanted to just buy something passable and call it a day, but her instincts kept pushing her to achieve perfection.

What was even more unbelievable was that Vanessa had never paid attention to these noble ladies’ grooming products before, yet her selection skills were surprisingly sharp.

The shop owner, who had hoped to sell her some overpriced, flashy but useless items, was sweating bullets, thinking, “Oh no, this isn’t one of those clueless, rich young ladies.”

It took her over an hour to finally feel satisfied. Exhausted, she dragged herself out of the store.