“Thanks for the potion—and besides that, thank you for your sincere honesty, classmate Vinny~?” Aesphyra threw him a look that was both sultry and shameless.

“Sincere my oversized nut!” Vinny was about to roll his eyes clean out of his skull at this freeloader of a white-haired little nut who ate his food and took his stuff.

Ugh—seriously! He was going to die of anger. This damned white-haired nut... was she born to be his natural nemesis??

“You scheming, rotten, white, fun-size nut! I save you out of the goodness of my heart and you dare play tricks on me? You’re begging for a beating!” Vinny snarled. In a flash of rage he was all set to launch into the Grand Art of Abstract Mental Insults—but choked, because he suddenly realized he had no target to hit.

What was he even supposed to attack Aesphyra with??

Aesphyra’s parents were both gone; of the entire Carillian family, she was the only one left. Even if Vinny wanted to attack, there was nothing to hit. This white-haired short-nut’s backstory was ironclad, airtight.

Great—he’d run up against the kind of existence that can swagger across the internet in a previous life without consequence.

“You shameless little bun—if I’d known, I wouldn’t have saved you!” Vinny brandished his double-barreled metaphor, pointed it at Aesphyra, and still couldn’t string together a proper volley; in the end he could only grumble, sullen.

“Mhm~ Thank you, classmate Vinny. Of course, most of all, thanks goes to Miss Vanessa. For her to do all this for me—clearly Miss Vanessa has some baseline of fondness for me. Not bad, not bad. Classmate Vinny truly is dutifully honoring the promise we made in the coach,” Aesphyra smiled like a fox that had just licked the oil.

Damn it—even Jiu Lixue wasn’t this foxlike!

“What promise? I was telling the truth back then, okay? My family’s down to me alone! And I don’t know any Vanessa, all right?” Vinny said, exasperated. “Enough with the ‘promise’ talk. There aren’t any other clan members—I can’t help you with that!”

“Okay, okay—I already understand.” Aesphyra smiled at him, eyes narrowed to crescents. That supremely crafty, bewitching look made Vinny’s hands itch.

If he could beat this white-haired little bun, he’d already have taken a swing.

“Understand my bun-head! What do you ‘understand,’ huh?? I try to connect heart-to-heart and you insist on playing mind games! Give the potion back. I regret giving it to you. Hand it over—I won’t save you. Go fend for yourself, you hateful little bun!” Vinny lunged to snatch the vial—only for Aesphyra to slip past him with a few elegant sidesteps.

In pure physical skill, Vinny was no match for Aesphyra. She kept evading; he kept failing to grab her. The two of them tugged back and forth across the courtyard, scuffling and dodging without end.

“Hah... hah... hah!” Soon Vinny was beat, panting like a dog where he stood. He looked up to find Aesphyra still poised and composed, holding the pink vial in crossed arms, smiling at him.

“That won’t do. Since Miss Vanessa gave this to me—this ‘Kiss of the Blessing Angel’ brimming with Miss Vanessa’s love—there’s no way I could let classmate Vinny take it back.” Aesphyra gazed tenderly at the cherry-pink potion, where a faint Saint Light drifted within.

“Kiss of the Blessing Angel... thinking about it now, the name is quite fitting~ The Blessing Angel’s kiss has descended on me. So romantic. Don’t you think so, classmate Vinny~?”

“Romantic my nut!” Vinny, dog-tired as he was, still had enough breath to spit fire.

“You white-haired little bun—what is this performance supposed to be? Can’t you act normal for once? Are you in heat? Why are you headcanoning a plot that doesn’t exist??” Vinny shot her a glare.

“I used to think you were the rational type. How’d you suddenly turn into a romance-brained fool?? Please. ‘Gravely injured, rescued by a beautiful girl who admires you, then gifted a token of love’—that only happens in novels, okay?? Don’t fabricate ridiculous plotlines, thanks.”

“Sorry to shatter your romance filter, but this vial wasn’t a gift from some pretty girl. It was me—the rough-and-tumble guy—who went home these past few days and accidentally dug it out of a dusty corner of the old warehouse, then poured it into a new bottle.”

“Mm, it’s probably been in the underground storehouse so long there might’ve been rat droppings and urine on it. If you don’t mind, go ahead and drink up—may it poison you, you white-haired little nut!” Vinny grumbled.

“Oh?~ Really?” Aesphyra tilted her head.

“Yeah. If you’ve got the guts, drink it! Might have a nice pungent funk!” Vinny folded his arms and huffed.

“Then I won’t be polite.” Aesphyra twisted off the cap and tilted the bottle, little by little. The pale pink potion flowed out, blooming with pure white foam like angels’ feathers.

“Tch. Look how eager you are. Here’s hoping you choke,” Vinny muttered, still cursing from the side.

When she finished the entire vial, Aesphyra capped it, took out a silk scarf, and lightly wiped the corner of her mouth. Then, cradling the bottle, she deftly tossed both the gloves and scarf into the bin by the door.

After she drank, Vinny could clearly see a faint pink sheen suffuse Aesphyra’s skin. She seemed to glow; behind her there was even the vaguest vision of white wings—like an angel had descended in that instant to shelter her.

[Virtue +100.]

[Current Virtue: 10304.]

“You finished it—so why are you still holding onto the bottle? Not tossing it with the rest?” Vinny had assumed she’d throw it away. Instead, she clutched it, clearly unwilling to let go.

“This is Miss Vanessa’s first gift to me—and the most precious. Of course I’m keeping it~” Aesphyra said with a bright smile.

“For the love of—there is no Vanessa. Do you not understand human speech? Or is that nut-brain of yours incapable of grasping the problem here?” Vinny couldn’t help himself.

“What ‘other clan members’? I don’t even know of any relatives—let alone a same-age one. If he can get into Carillian Academy, she can’t?”

“No need to explain, classmate Vinny. You don’t have to hide anything from me—I’m on your side~” Aesphyra said, smiling.

“Forget it, I’m done talking—can’t be bothered.” Vinny rolled his eyes. “Everything I told you is the truth. Playing matchmaker, arranging introductions—sorry, I can’t, because that person doesn’t exist.”

“All right—you’ve drunk it. How do you feel? Any rat-musk aftertaste?” Vinny asked—then immediately felt that was off.

He’d refined the potion with his own blood. Saying it tasted like rats was basically insulting himself...

“As for off-flavors—none at all.”

“? Then what did it taste like?” Now Vinny was genuinely curious about what alchemical potion refined with his own blood actually tasted like. Hopefully not copper and gore...

He hadn’t tried it himself. He should’ve taken a sip, in hindsight.

“White camellia... and something like the scent of bird and beast feathers—soft, downy, fragrant. There’s also sunshine and rain in it,” Aesphyra described.

“? You didn’t drink a potion; you drank a rainbow,” Vinny deadpanned.

He hadn’t known a potion refined from his blood would have such a distinctive flavor. And white camellia? Really?

He’d stripped the bottle of Vanessa’s scent. Could the scent linger in the liquid too??

No way, right?? And he hadn’t added a bunch of flavoring, okay??

And last time he’d also drunk a Kiss of the Blessing Angel—how come he hadn’t tasted any of that??

Oh—right. He’d passed out by then. He didn’t remember anything.

“The ‘taste’ is wonderful. Less stimulation of the tongue—more like stimulation of the senses overall. Maybe it’s so vivid that, when you ask me about flavor specifically, I can’t describe it at all,” Aesphyra said, touching her cheek as she spoke of her sensations.

“When you drank the Kiss last time, did you taste all that?”

“If I’m not mistaken, classmate Vinny—you fed me the potion last time, and I was already unconscious, wasn’t I?” Aesphyra tilted her head.

Ah. Right. That was exactly what happened.

Aesphyra brushed her fingers over her heart, sensing something.

Before, it had been as if several slits had opened there; every breath turned the air into sharp, icy shards that stabbed into the space around her heart. With each inhale, her heart screamed with fresh, bloody pain—even while talking to Vinny just now. She had simply held it in, keeping her expression as controlled as always.

She was not someone who wept and wailed at the first sign of hardship.

After taking the Kiss of the Blessing Angel, she could distinctly feel those slowly widening fissures at her heart being stitched closed by a warm force. Each breath no longer hurt to the point of madness.

Even though it was only a Two-Wing Kiss, the Blessing Angel’s Essence within was of high enough quality—and the medicinal force strong enough—that finishing the entire vial let that warm power heal steadily, repairing bit by bit.

[Saint’s Grace] is a benediction of divine blood; it does not belong to humankind. To command it, humans must pay a price.

Use that divine power against its rules, and risking your life is utterly ordinary. This was a wound that should have been irreversible—yet it was soothed by an angel’s favor and fond regard.

Aesphyra, who had been nearly out of options, had not been expecting much. She’d always been fiercely self-reliant. If even she couldn’t help herself, no one else would have the ability to do it—and she disliked asking for help besides.

Outside of family, she had never relied on anyone. After she honed her own skills, even the family rarely relied on her; rather, many of the family’s strategies and business moves required her guidance.

This time, she had, for the first time in a long while, experienced being helped by another—and thereby escaping a crisis.

A strong sense of peace welled up in her chest.

It seemed... accepting help from someone else felt pretty good.

“Thank you, classmate Vinny—and Miss Vanessa,” Aesphyra said, heartfelt.

“Tch. Thank you, my foot. Who told this young master to be so unlucky as to end up owing you a favor??” Vinny curled his lip. “Ugh—owing other people is fine; easy to repay. Owing you is different. What kind of trouble magnet are you? Every time I try to pay you back, it’s a nightmare!”

“Anyway—seeing you okay is enough. I told Mirexia your health was a bit off these days and got you a leave of absence. Rest up before term starts. Don’t go in to Student Council,” Vinny said, turning toward the gate.

“Classmate Vinny is unexpectedly attentive. Thank you—and please thank dear Mirexia for me,” Aesphyra said with a blossom of a smile.

[Virtue +10.]

[Current Virtue: 10314.]

“Heh—don’t thank me yet. I didn’t tell Mirexia what exactly was wrong with you. So—want to know the reason I gave to get your leave approved?” Vinny grinned, having found a way to claw back the momentum.

“I suppose... [N O V E L I G H T] sick leave?”

“Of course it’s sick leave. But do you know what kind of sick leave?” Vinny smiled with evil cheer.

“Oh? Do tell, classmate Vinny.”

“Uterine chill,” Vinny enunciated, smirking.

“...” Aesphyra watched him, smile not reaching her eyes. “I’m sorry—I didn’t quite catch that. Would you repeat it, please?”

[Virtue +70.]

[Current Virtue: 10384.]

“The reason on the slip says ‘uterine chill,’ hahahahaha!”

“You frigid little shorty—don’t think you can catch up with this young master. Hah! Disaster is always a step behind me! I’m out!” Cackling like a little gremlin, Vinny bolted for the gate before Aesphyra could give chase.

Ahhh—how satisfying!

She’d played him—but he’d gotten his payback! And he’d farmed a fat stack of Virtue from her, too.

Today was a great victory for the Capital’s infamous wastrel!

Aesphyra stood at the courtyard gate, smiling wordlessly for a long time. Soon, the figure sprinting away and laughing was out of sight.

After a long while, she exhaled and shook her head.

“Honestly... how could I ever have such a ridiculous thought?”

“The two of them... there’s no way they’re the same person.” With that, Aesphyra hugged the bottle and turned toward her villa.

Never mind that the idea was absurd— even if one truly believed a man could become a woman, there was still no explaining why their personalities would be so drastically different.