"Damn it..."

In the room with the large bed, Ariel set down the voice stone and, flushed with embarrassment and annoyance, smacked the man behind her who had deliberately started causing trouble just now.

"I was talking to Liya, what were you doing?!"

"You didn’t like it?"

Muen leaned close to Ariel’s ear and bit lightly at it. "I thought you liked it a lot."

"Wh-who would like something like that! What if Liya noticed?"

Ariel huffed in dissatisfaction. She had already been startled when the voice stone call came through, and she hadn’t wanted to answer while doing something this embarrassing in the first place. But this hateful blond bastard had insisted that she pick up.

And not only that—while she was trying to talk, he had deliberately started making trouble. He had clearly wanted to humiliate her!

"Your mouth says you didn’t like it, but your body’s being pretty honest."

Muen quickened his rhythm, making Ariel’s body tremble slightly and nearly "fall over" again. Of course, she did not really fall. Before that could happen, Muen had already tightened his arm around her slender waist and comforted her gently.

"Don’t worry. As long as she doesn’t see it with her own eyes, I don’t think Liya would ever believe something like this."

"Mmph... th-that’s true."

Ariel narrowed her eyes, feeling her soul gradually rising higher and higher. Her gaze drifted unconsciously to the full-length mirror nearby.

Through the mirror, she saw that her cheeks were flushed deep red, her eyes hazy. That trademark unruly smile of hers had long since vanished without a trace, replaced instead by the little tip of her tongue peeking unconsciously out between her parted cherry lips with every rolling wave.

Not to mention Liya—even she herself from a month ago would never have imagined that she, Ariel Bugaard, would be bullied this badly by that hateful blond bastard.

"Come to think of it, you did the same thing to Liya before, didn’t you?!" Ariel suddenly gritted out.

"What?"

"Don’t play dumb. In the Holy City, when I called Liya on the voice stone."

Ariel suddenly remembered something and sharply jabbed her elbow into the hateful blond bastard. "Back then I already thought Liya’s voice sounded strange, and she said something about doing squats. I didn’t understand it then, but now that I think about it... it was you too!"

"Cough... it just happened to be a coincidence, a coincidence." Muen rubbed his nose, looking slightly awkward.

"Heh. A coincidence? Same trick, same two people, just switched around. Are you happy now?"

The more Ariel thought about it, the more humiliated she felt.

Two beautiful girls who were each other’s childhood friends, both being played with by the same person. That had once been the sort of thing she herself had dreamed about. Yet in the end, she and her own childhood friend were the ones being enjoyed together by this hateful blond bastard.

Sometimes the word fate really did take some bizarre turn in the last place you expected.

"My dear, let’s not bring up things from so long ago."

Ariel’s elbowing accomplished nothing. Instead, it only gave Muen a better point of leverage, and he went even deeper.

"How about we talk about something more recent?"

"W-what more recent thing?"

"For example..." Muen smiled with wicked malice. "How did someone who said she wasn’t coming end up coming anyway? And so early, too? An’s still bathing."

"Ugh... I didn’t..."

The moment he brought up something even more embarrassing, Ariel’s attention was instantly diverted.

"Stop talking nonsense. I didn’t come early on purpose..."

She had not come early on purpose. It was just... just... just that while passing by this room, she had happened to get caught, that was all.

Yes. That was all.

...

...

"So that completely rules out Ariel as the little cheating cat."

After carrying out a round of rigorous and perfectly reliable deductive analysis, Liya crossed out this conclusion, which had been impossible from every angle to begin with.

Actually, when you thought about it, the guess itself had been absurd.

After all, that was Ariel. That strong, brave, unyielding, confident, independent Ariel Bugaard! Even if Liya worked her little head so hard it overheated, she still could not imagine Ariel blushing shyly as she yielded herself to the yellow-haired bastard she hated most, much less putting on lace-trimmed lingerie and taking the initiative to beg for it.

It seemed that strange feeling she had sensed earlier had only been some odd association brought on by how fixated she was on that little cheating cat, combined with Ariel’s information being mixed in among all the rest.

"That only leaves the maids."

"What does Your Highness intend to do?" Lin asked.

"Let me think..."

Liya rubbed her smooth chin. She had never imagined that dragging out one sneaking little cat would be this mentally exhausting. But while doing something like this, another strange feeling was also quietly spreading through her heart, one she herself could not even distinguish—was it excitement, anger, or something else...?

After all, in the past she had always been the one caught as the little cheating cat. This was the first time she had ever gone out to catch someone else’s.

"Forget it!"

Liya suddenly clenched all that intelligence in her hand and said irritably,

"No matter how much I think about it, it’s useless. I’m not a detective. There’s no way I can identify her from these tiny scraps of evidence!"

"Oh? Then Your Highness means..."

"Infiltration."

Liya spoke with utmost seriousness. "Search. Confirm it with my own eyes."

"..."

Lin was slightly dumbfounded.

For an ordinary woman to secretly trail someone, sneak in, and catch a romantic rival or mistress in the act—that was perfectly normal. Even Lin, who had grown up in the Holy City, had heard female believers share their experiences of how to tell whether their husbands were fooling around outside, and how to catch them red-handed.

But the one standing before her now was not some ordinary woman.

Though she wore a loose black robe broad enough to hide even her lovely figure, and though her hood concealed half her face, when the night breeze stirred, the exquisite crown of crystal and silver nestled amid those pale golden strands appeared and disappeared, constantly radiating a sacred, noble aura.

The Pure Saintess, Liya Angel.

The Saintess who, in the eyes of countless believers, was holy beyond [N O V E L I G H T] reproach, pure beyond stain, perfect, untouchable, so exalted that they did not even dare let their eyes rest on her too long for fear of being disrespectful or profaning her... and now that same Saintess intended to sneak into another person’s estate like some market shrew just to confirm who the little cheating cat was?

And what came next? Once she confirmed the identity, was she going to drag the cheating cat out on the spot and viciously humiliate her as the official girlfriend?

Be a little more sensible, Your Highness. Strictly speaking, even you... you aren’t the official one either!

"Your Highness, isn’t this a little..." Lin hesitated. "A little inappropriate?"

"What’s the problem with it?"

Liya declared with all the confidence in the world,

"Tonight, I’m temporarily not the Saintess. I’m just an ordinary girl worried sick about her lover being deceived by some seductively shameless harlot from who-knows-where. Isn’t it perfectly normal for a girl like that to do something like this?"

"That..."

"Besides, I was already planning to do this. The investigation beforehand was only for the sake of caution. Since the investigation is useless, then of course I have to go confirm it myself."

Seeing Lin hesitate, Liya immediately changed expressions. She pursed her lips, grabbed Lin’s sleeve, and began tugging at it pitifully, looking utterly plaintive.

"I’ve already worked so hard at being the Saintess for so long. During all this time, I even resisted eating cake because I was afraid of gaining weight. Can it be that Lin won’t even grant me this tiny little request?"

"...Ah."

Lin, who was utterly defenseless against this move from Liya, let out a helpless sigh.

"Of course I have no right to stop Your Highness from doing as you please. I only hope Your Highness remembers how special your status is. What lies between you and Muen Campbell absolutely cannot be exposed to anyone, even if that person is another of Muen Campbell’s lovers. Understood?"

"Don’t worry!"

Liya was overjoyed.

"I won’t rashly come into direct contact with her. I’ll first confirm her identity, and if I don’t know her, then I’ll arrest her on the charge of offending a Church knight and give her a very thorough lesson. I definitely won’t give her any chance to cause trouble!"

Grinding her little tiger teeth together, Liya wore the wicked smile of a delinquent girl, as though she had already thought up all sorts of ways to discipline that shameless little cheating cat.

She had not gone without growth during this time apart from Muen!

And as for whether she could catch her... hmph. She had already been through two hellishly difficult bosses. Was she supposed to be afraid of some stray little wildcat of unknown origin now?

Could this cheating cat possibly be as difficult to deal with as the seductively shameless Empress of the Empire or the seductively shameless Swordbearer of the Silent Bureau?

And even if she was, it didn’t matter. This time, Liya had brought a secret weapon specially meant to deal with that type of seductively shameless woman!

"As for if I do know her..."

No, wait.

Liya caught herself.

How could she know her? In this estate, aside from Muen, there shouldn’t be anyone familiar to her at all.

So she only needed to proceed with Plan One.

"In any case, I’ll be careful!"

Liya took Lin’s hand and pleaded,

"I can only trouble you to keep watch for me, Lin."

"Ahh!"

Lin let out a heavy sigh.

"I only hope Your Highness doesn’t get too carried away playing around."

"How can you call this playing around?"

Liya pouted in rebuttal, then turned toward the estate gates, brandished her little fist, and lifted her head high with her chest out proudly.

"This is war! A war to the death!"

...

...

"This is war! A war to the death!"

Somewhere in the garden, the little maid Noa held a broom and bared her teeth at a certain corner.

"You damned cockroach, watch me kill you!"

Smack!

The broom whistled through the air in Noa’s hands with fierce precision. The little monster with eight legs and two antennae darted out of the corner in terror, and before it could flee back into the safety of shadow, Noa smashed it to pieces with one strike of the broom.

Hmph. A mere pest invading the ducal estate—how could it possibly be a match for her, a dignified maid of House Campbell?

"Work done!"

Noa smugly clapped her hands, then slung the broom over her shoulder in a manner entirely devoid of maid-like grace and prepared to move on to her next task.

The head maid was clearly being tied up by some matter that exhausted both body and mind. She had barely shown her face these past two days, so all the maids had been acting much more uninhibitedly. Without An there staring them down like usual, they were far less restrained than before. Some had even gathered together to place bets on whether Head Maid An would last longer, or Miss Ariel would.

Naturally, the first round had clearly gone to the side betting on Head Maid An, because Miss Ariel’s begging for mercy in the latter half of the night had been loud enough to hear even from far outside the door, making a group of shy, innocent little maids blush and pound with excitement, unable to sleep properly at all.

But none of that had anything to do with Noa. Because she had previously helped Young Master Muen do evil, she had been exiled by An to clean the back courtyard, and now had to finish sweeping it all alone before she could go back.

Pitiful, tragic. When really none of it had anything to do with a weak, helpless, and very edible little maid like her. She had only been obeying the young master’s orders.

Still, the young master did more than just give orders. He also gave her a raise.

"I love cleaning, I’m in such a good mood, hm-hm-hmm..."

The moment she thought of that income, far beyond what she had earned before, Noa’s mood turned bright, and even her footsteps...

"Hm?"

She suddenly shivered.

"What’s that about?"

Halfway along, Noa suddenly hugged her shoulders and looked around, muttering in confusion,

"Why did it feel like a cold wind just blew over me? Is it going to get colder early this year?"

...

...

The bath.

Mist filled the air.

A hot spring of perfectly pleasant warmth poured gently from the mouth of a lion sculpture, making the petals floating on the water dance up and down. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

An soaked her whole body in the bath, and for once did not hurry through her washing. Instead, she completely relaxed, letting her lovely body and the pure spring water melt into each other.

Because of the promises she had been forced to make, with no need now to hurry off and eliminate pests, she instead felt strangely lost, as though a goal she had held to for a very long time had suddenly vanished from the world.

But in truth, An did not feel much unhappiness at all.

She still hated those pests, of course. She still longed to completely destroy those seductive bodies that existed only to lure Young Master away, leaving not even ashes behind... but just as it had been last night, when Young Master had finally satisfied her, whenever he wanted to stop her behavior, he gave her more... more... so much more that it overflowed without end.

The satisfaction after being deliberately driven to the very edge of hunger made a person’s very soul go weak and numb, to the point they no longer wanted to wake.

So... temporarily sparing them was not impossible.

Temporarily.

Only temporarily.

There would always be another chance later to clear out pests.

An lifted a hand and stroked the flushed kiss marks scattered all across her body. As her disgust toward pests receded, her heart filled with sweetness.

Though the presence of that other hateful pest had made her lovemaking with Young Master imperfect, something that allowed her to fully savor Young Master’s love... would continue tonight as well, wouldn’t it...?

"Tonight I’ll have to work harder, so that pest doesn’t take too much—who’s there?"

Suddenly, halfway through speaking to herself, An seemed to sense something. She shot up from the bath, her sharp eyes locking onto one corner of the room.

Steel surged.

In an instant, the room was thick with killing intent.

But... once she focused her guard, there was nothing there.

It seemed that the magic stone lighting the bath had merely flickered just now, making her mistake it for someone spying on her.

"Is the magic stone aging... honestly, Noa and the others really are getting careless again."

An frowned and said displeasedly,

"If the magic stone’s about to fail and they still haven’t replaced it, then it seems I’ve been going too easy on them."

...

...

"Phew... so scary, so scary."

In the empty courtyard, Liya emerged from a cluster of Holy Light and nervously patted her chest.

As expected of someone who, according to Church intelligence, possessed the Divine Favor of Steel and might even be connected to some powerful former demonic being. Though outwardly she was just a maid, the killing intent and pressure she had released in that instant had been enough to make even Liya, already the Saintess, feel a slight chill of fear.

"That was close. I almost got discovered."

Liya let out a breath of relief. Judging from the killing intent that maid called An had released in that instant, if she had noticed someone peeping, she would definitely have attacked without hesitation.

And then the situation really would have blown up.

Thank goodness. During this time as the Saintess, Liya’s control over Holy Light had improved tremendously. She was not so lacking that a fifth-tier warrior could detect her so easily.

Still...

"How strange."

Liya’s pretty brows drew together slightly.

"One is cleaning, one is taking a bath. At this hour, neither of them is off doing that with Muen... Among all the maids, Noa and Miss An seemed the most likely, but neither of them looks like the little cheating cat. So who... exactly is that cheating cat?"

Was it because the time had not come yet?

No, no, no. Liya understood Muen too well for that. It was already this late. There was no way he would ignore beautiful girls who were right there in his grasp. No matter how busy he was, he would definitely make time to do what he liked doing with beautiful girls.

After all, that was exactly what he had been like in the Holy City. During the day she had just accepted the devout worship of the faithful, and by night she was dragged into a room and thoroughly ravished. He had even refused to let the little bit of time before morning prayer go to waste the next day. There was no reason Muen would suddenly change after returning to his own home.

"If it’s not the two of them, then could it be..."

Liya thought about it and decided she should not let the fixed assumptions in her mind distort her judgment.

She could not keep all her attention on Miss An and Miss Noa just because they seemed most likely. Because even if it wasn’t them...

it could still be other maids!

"That’s right. Keep going, keep going. I can’t give up!"

Liya pumped herself up, and Holy Light surged. She transformed once more into a faint shadow and slipped into the deep night of the estate...

...

An hour later.

The Liya who had refused to admit defeat just earlier reappeared, panting slightly. After a short rest, she widened her beautiful eyes and stared at the magnificent estate, still grand and imposing even beneath the night.

What was going on?

She had gone through the entire ducal estate, matching every single maid against the intelligence Lin had gathered, only to discover...

none of them was the little cheating cat?

It was already late. Some of the maids had gone to sleep, but most were gathered together excitedly discussing something. In order to avoid being discovered, Liya had not gone close enough to hear what they were talking about. She only knew they seemed to be placing bets on something. But even with her knees for a brain, she knew these maids could not be chatting with their companions while simultaneously doing embarrassing things with Muen.

So their suspicion was eliminated too.

"...Who is it? That little cheating cat... who is she exactly?"

Liya looked slightly trembling at the intelligence sheets in her hand, every one of them now marked with a large red X. She had never imagined that something as simple as confirming the identity of that little cheating cat would be so difficult.

"If she isn’t among the people Lin’s intelligence uncovered, then could she really be so extraordinary that she can completely hide from even the Church’s eyes?"

Liya straightened her back, her little face now filled with gravity.

Yes. Thinking about it, what kind of women had that yellow-haired pig gotten involved with before? The Empress of the Empire. The Swordbearer of the Silent Bureau. The Saintess of the Church...

Then this time, for the little cheating cat to be someone from some vast hidden power would not actually be strange at all.

The Stone Cauldron Association? The Origin Tower? Or royalty from some other nation?

Liya drew in a deep breath.

She had already approached this unknown little cheating cat with the greatest possible caution, but she had not expected the other side to be even harder to deal with than she had imagined.

She had not even met her face-to-face yet, and already she felt tremendous pressure!

"But I’m not going to back down that easily!"

Magical flame suddenly flared up, burning all the intelligence sheets in her hand to ash.

Liya’s eyes were resolute, and a blazing fighting spirit rose in her as well, fierce as those flames.

Since there was no way to learn who you were beforehand, and no way to catch even the faintest trace of you, then I’ll just stop taking the long way around!

"Mmm... ah..."

Carried by the breeze, a faintly sweet moan drifted from deep within the estate not far away. Liya’s entire round of intelligence gathering had not been useless after all. At the very least, she now knew where Muen’s room was. And just as she had expected, Muen was inside right now doing embarrassing things with that little cheating cat!

"If probing and gathering information from the side can’t tell me who you are... then I only have one choice left. I’ll have to go see for myself. Sorry, Lin..."

Liya murmured under her breath.

After all the circling around, in the end she still had to use the most direct method to do the most dangerous thing.

—to confront that cheating cat of unknown identity head-on, with neither side having any preparation at all!

"Prepare yourself, you little slut..."

Holy Light rolled around Liya’s body, making her look utterly solemn.

"The anger of a predecessor like me is not something you’re going to endure lightly!"

Liya secretly decided that afterward, she would definitely increase the intensity of that cheating cat’s "discipline" by five times... no, ten times!

A full ten times!

...

...

A few minutes later, with the help of Holy Light, Liya arrived soundlessly outside Muen’s window.

As the room of a duke’s son, it naturally had anti-peeping magical measures on it, so this was nothing like that first time when Liya had pushed open the door and, from outside the classroom window at the Academy, been able to safely take everything in at a glance.

This time, if she wanted to see everything clearly, Liya had to actually enter this dangerous room already filled to the brim with desire.

Fortunately, for the current her, that was no longer difficult.

"Holy Light Intangibility."

Liya whispered softly.

In an instant, her whole body brightened, as if she had completely merged with Holy Light itself.

Then that Holy Light dispersed, transforming into several fluttering butterflies that passed straight through the glass and into the room.

The butterflies of Holy Light beat their wings soundlessly. The two people inside, fully focused on their passionate battle, did not notice that faint trace of Holy Light at all.

Unfortunately, Liya in this state also had no real visual presence. So after the butterflies circled the room once, they slipped beneath the bed—the only place available for hiding—and re-formed into Liya’s body.

The heart-racing sounds were right there beside her. Lying under the bed, Liya no longer had the leisure to think too much. Gritting her silver teeth, she said,

"Let me see just what kind of divine creature you really are, you wretched little cheating cat!"

As she said that, the fullness of her chest got in the way so badly that she had to struggle forward under the bed with great difficulty before finally reaching a spot where she could see the two of them. Then she slowly poked her head out a little...

"Mmm... ah... no... slower..."

Sweet cries filled the entire room.

Right across from the bed, a girl with skin like creamy jade wore pieces of cloth even bolder and more indecent than anything Liya had seen before. She was bracing herself against the dressing table, legs bent slightly, deliberately lifting her little backside and standing in a posture close to horse stance.

And behind her, the golden-haired man Liya had longed for and thought about day and night was riding her wantonly.

Everything matched the scene Liya had imagined.

That little cheating cat was every bit as seductive and shameless as expected, so indecent and wanton that even Liya herself felt as if she were about to melt from the sounds spilling from her mouth, never mind Muen.

But the one thing Liya had never expected, the thing that made her mind go blank with a buzzing shock, was—

reflected in the mirror, she saw a face she knew.

"Ariel???"