A saintess? She's just a bad woman.

Page 133

"What are you talking about? I only made her my fiancée because I felt sorry for Miss Graham. We are both nobles, and her parents died when she was very young. I wanted to help her out of compassion for her family's plight. You should understand how difficult it was for me to make this decision..."

Think it over carefully; I intend to marry her. Miss Graham and I are a good match. Although she is currently experiencing some financial difficulties, my family is very wealthy, and helping her pay off her debts is nothing to me.

She's quieter when she's with me. Although she's a bit timid and speaks softly, that's the kind of woman I like. I don't like women who are loud and boisterous, like shrewish women who chatter incessantly. I think quiet women are very attractive.

When he said it, it was as if he truly believed it, as if he had ascended to the moral high ground.

His expression was radiant with satisfaction, as if he had helped a young lady in distress, which gave him a great sense of accomplishment.

He said it as if he genuinely liked Miss Graham not because of their noble status.

"But everything you've said is a lie. The Dryden family just wants the Graham family's wealth. She has no parents or siblings. You just want to use marriage to get her family's assets and everything else. You just want to use seemingly respectable means to take everything that Miss Graham owns for yourself."

“I don’t deny it. But isn’t this beneficial to both sides? Aren’t all aristocratic marriages like this? Apart from love, they are all unions for interests and political purposes.”

"Generally speaking, that's how it is. The premise is that you're not a scammer."

Saint Karina was already fed up with the other person's clumsy acting.

Moreover, Curtis doesn't have much patience, and she must also be eager to know the answer.

"At first, perhaps you did think that way, just as you said. But Miss Graham has a fatal flaw, or rather, something that a noble like you, who prides yourself on your noble blood, cannot tolerate. That is... Miss Graham is cursed, a curse from a vampire who bit her and tried to transform into one of her own kind."

Let me think... Although I've never seen that family crest, I imagine it must be a magical object capable of suppressing curses. Nobles usually use ancient objects, precious items inlaid with numerous magic stones, as mediums for imbuing magic. It could prevent Miss Graham's curse from being activated. I think Miss Graham is a kind lady; she must have told you about the curse after you proposed to her.

Only that family crest can extinguish the vampire curse, allowing Miss Graham to live in the Toran Empire as a human, not a monster. You want to expose this secret, this curse upon Miss Graham, to humiliate her! That way, you can smoothly dissolve the engagement without facing any criticism. You even want to imprison her, arrest her as a heretic, so you can use your status as her fiancé to smoothly seize her wealth.”

Saint Karina listed her conjectures.

"Really? You've said so much, but what evidence do you have, like that I took that family crest?"

The young master sneered, convinced that Saint Karina was incapable of producing any evidence.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid this will disappoint you. I already spoke with your servant, and he said it's on you."

"Do you want to search me?"

He slammed his hand heavily on the table, the thick mahogany table making a dull thud, as if he were making some kind of protest.

"Get rid of me! These accusations are far too much for me, for a gentleman; they are all baseless charges."

"I understand. I'll come and get the evidence."

Saint Karina, on the contrary, remained calm.

She was frighteningly calm from beginning to end.

"A bewitching humanoid creature."

As the incantation was recited, a deep magical glint flashed in Saint Karina's blue eyes, and the red light fell upon the young master before her. Then, the man who considered himself noble and claimed that Saint Karina was slandering his character was subdued.

"Bring out the family crest."

Saint Karina gave the order directly.

"Yes."

The man nodded mechanically.

Soon, he reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a family crest inlaid with many beautiful magical gems from the cold silver chain.

It was a symbol of the family and also a symbol of the marriage agreement between the two.

Now caught red-handed, the truth is indeed Miss Graham's fiancé. Only he could have taken it without anyone noticing.

"Give me the stuff."

Then, Saint Karina issued another order.

"Yes."

My mind was controlled again, and I was forced to answer questions mechanically.

"Alright, that's fine now. Dispel the spell."

As Saint Karina spoke, she dispelled the spell.

"I think we have evidence now. You liar and thief."

"You won..."

The man collapsed to his knees with a thud, as if he couldn't bear the weight of it all. His handsome face now looked as if he had aged twenty years.

233. A Plea for Retention in the Boudoir

After that, Saint Karina didn't do anything to the young master. She just gave him a little intimidation and made him obediently hand over one-tenth of his family fortune, which she converted into gold coins and gave to them.

This money is a deal; Saint Karina will not reveal the young master's affairs to the public, but will only tell that young lady.

That amount of money was well worth it to preserve his reputation, at least that's what the young master of the Dryden family thought.

It seems his family is indeed very wealthy, with a solid financial foundation. They had paid off Miss Graham's debts and still had money left over to compensate for the crime they committed.

To outsiders, the young master would say that this was an apology to Miss Graham, a gift of remorse for the sudden cancellation of the wedding.

"Saint Karina, you knew this would happen?"

Curtis squinted, scrutinizing Santa Karina. She was probably wondering why Santa Karina was so intelligent.

"Yes, I knew it. Are you satisfied with this result?"

"As an adventure, searching for things was incredibly boring. However, I did see a great show, which was even more exciting than what you see in a theater."

Curtis gave a fair compliment.

Next, they returned to Miss Graham's mansion under the cover of night, where they were greeted by the mistress of the house, who was anxiously awaiting news.

She looked at Santa Karina and Curtis with eager anticipation in her eyes, probably waiting for good news.

"How's it going? Have you found my family crest?"

Miss Graham had been waiting for so long, and she longed for good news, that she forgot the etiquette of the nobility. She did not call out to the adventurer, nor did she allow the two of them to sit down before speaking.

Even the housekeeper, who disliked adventurers and initially looked down on Saint Karina and her companion for being newcomers, was taken aback by this. Normally, she would have sternly reprimanded her masters, saying this was improper.

In fact, once the housekeeper came to her senses, she did just that.

“Miss, shouldn’t you be concerned about the health of the two adventurer ladies first? You haven’t even given them the most basic address and greeting. As a member of the Graham family and as the hostess, you should be more polite and considerate to your guests who are helping you.”

"Ah... um."

Miss Graham was clearly taken aback by the housekeeper's harsh words. Her expression was somewhat blank, and then she realized that there were many shortcomings in her performance just now.

“Um… I’m so sorry. Melville is right, it was my fault. I got carried away. You know, I was just too eager to get the news.”

She apologized politely.

"It's alright, I actually find you quite charming, Miss Graham~"

Saint Karina didn't mind at all.

"Being charming won't do. Miss Adventurer... the world rarely revolves according to one's own thoughts and will. You are the mistress of the Graham family. Your duty is to behave with propriety, befitting your social status."

To fail to observe aristocratic etiquette and to act in a manner befitting one's status is to insult the young lady's noble lineage. This would invite ridicule from other nobles and those of equal social standing. Even the servants would look down on her. They would gossip behind her back, saying she is unworthy to be the mistress of the Graham family and unworthy to inherit such a vast fortune.

A slip of the tongue may be insignificant to you, a trivial matter, but it is of utmost importance to us. If Miss forgets her manners, her marriage to the Dryden family could be annulled…”

After saying that, the housekeeper glared fiercely at the two of them.

Oh dear, what an ingratitude! How could Miss Graham have such a rigid and inflexible housekeeper?

"Let me make this clear first: the engagement has actually been cancelled. When we arrived at the Dryden family mansion, their male servants blocked our way, said a lot of nasty things, and even tried to use violence, but we dealt with them."

"Solve it? How will you solve it?"

"Of course, we used the methods of adventurers, fighting violence with violence. We beat him up with even more powerful violence."

Saint Karina smiled charmingly and said.

"Oh my God..."

The housekeeper seemed to be picturing the scene in her mind, then let out a sigh. She looked like she'd swallowed a fly, feeling she shouldn't have listened to her mistress's advice and let the novice adventurer get involved.

"It's over, everything's ruined. You've ruined Miss's wedding, everything's finished."

However, even in this state, she never uttered a single insult to the two men. Unlike the male servants of the Dryden family who were constantly spewing vulgarities, the housekeeper was very well-mannered.

Seemingly unable to bear seeing her old age, her sub-world collapsing, and her state of collapse, Saint Karina continued to explain:

"Actually, this wedding was a hoax. The fiancé from the Dryden family was a complete fraud and a thief."

In fact, we started by asking many passersby on the street and even went to information brokers to buy relevant information. Those brokers were like water rats that go crazy when they smell food; if they really had information, they would try to get even the smallest bit, making it mysterious to complete the transaction and get money for the value of the information.

We certainly didn't get any useful information; it was as if Miss Graham's coat of arms had vanished into thin air. No strangers or suspicious masked individuals entered the Graham family mansion that day. This is the conclusion I reached based on all the intelligence I had gathered.

Therefore, I came to a conclusion. If it wasn't an external theft, then it was an internal theft. Miss Graham would never have carelessly left something so important lying around; she would have kept it safe.

I had a bold idea, but it required the cooperation of that gentleman from the Dryden family. At first, when the valet heard we were hired adventurers acting on behalf of Miss Graham, he immediately demanded we get out, trying to intimidate us and even attempting to burn us alive with magic.

So I showed him that violence can't solve all problems. At least, it won't work when faced with a more powerful force.

Saint Karina gave a sinister grin, which was rather frightening.

“I beat him half to death. Don’t worry, I didn’t kill him. Then he betrayed his master and told us which room his master was resting in. Through some maneuvering, we finally found the family crest on Miss Graham’s fiancé.”

Saint Karina took out the family crest and showed it to Miss Graham.

Without a doubt, this is genuine.

"He... gave it to you automatically?"

Miss Graham asked tentatively.

"Of course not, it's also through magical means. For example, if you've taken magic courses, Miss Graham, you should know about the Charm spell. My strength is much greater than that conman's, so the spell took effect immediately."

Saint Karina flashed a victorious smile, like a king who loves to bare his shark teeth when conquering women and nations.

“I made him take out the family crest, and then, right in front of me, he pulled it out from his coat pocket, from the inside pocket of his clothes, by pulling on the silver chain. I also recorded a magical video, which you can see in this crystal ball. Of course, I also thoughtfully made him pay a little money, enough to pay off the debts left by the Graham family’s parents.”

Saint Karina then pulled out a magic crystal ball, and ten very heavy bags, each containing a thousand gold coins, totaling ten thousand gold coins.

Just as he himself said, his family is quite wealthy.

The young master exploited Miss Graham's reluctance to sell her ancestral home and property to repay debts and her desire to maintain the dignity of the aristocracy, forcing her to marry someone she did not love.

It was clear that the young lady wasn't upset at all about her wedding being ruined. She slowly watched all the images in the crystal ball, understanding the whole story and the real truth. The huge shock made her pale, the classic expression of someone waking up from a deception.

She even had a slight stutter...

"I...I'm really shocked. I can hardly believe he would lie to me."

I trusted him so much that I even told him I was cursed. But he outwardly claimed he didn't care at all, telling me to relax and wait for the wedding preparations. Afterwards, however, he secretly plotted against me; he even wanted to destroy me, and destroy the Graham family's Che.

In fact, if the Graham family were to sell off just one-third of their assets, they would be able to pay off all their debts.

This was all because her parents had been attacked by demons, and young Miss Graham had survived, thanks to the vampires' twisted sense of humor. Her housekeeper hired a very powerful magician to imbue the family crest with magic that could suppress vampirism and thwart the curse.

The money spent on hiring the master had depleted almost all of their liquid savings. Their financial situation was strained, and everything their parents had done before was naturally rendered bankrupt. As a result, they also incurred substantial penalties for breach of contract on previously signed orders, though they allowed Miss Graham to postpone payment until she came of age.

Miss Graham is now nineteen years old, and the debts she has accumulated can no longer be delayed.

She was not protected by the Toran Empire, because the Graham family was not without money.

The young master only needs to spend one unit of money to receive three units of return. At the same time, he will be able to marry a respectable noblewoman, a perfect match in terms of social standing. Miss Graham is also very shy and quiet, which meets his expectations for his future wife.

Originally it was like this...

However, after the young master proposed to Miss Graham and learned the inside story of Miss Graham's curse, his mindset changed.

He could never marry a vampire, a monster, and bring her into his home.

Once the transformation is complete, the vampires will also be on the demon race's side.

Then, a terrible thought arose in his mind. He thought, all he had to do was turn Miss Graham into a real vampire. He could use his family's influence to get her imprisoned as a member of the demon race, a genuine vampire who harms humanity.

Crimes can be fabricated with a mere flick of a finger. There are as many such crimes as needed; nobles are masters of this.

Moreover, as Miss Graham's fiancé, such a selfless act of sacrificing family ties would surely win him the favor of many.

In this way, once Miss Graham is in prison, he can easily kill her there through a little trickery. He, as her fiancé and the victim of the incident, can then pretend to be deceived and gain both fame and fortune, thus rightfully inheriting the entire Graham family fortune.

"What a terrifying scheme..."

Miss Graham murmured to herself. She turned her head and looked out the window.

She looked out at the night sky, lost in thought.