Lorne quickly turned around.

A petite girl stood just a few steps away.

She had dazzling red hair and a pair of pointed ears of the same color. She revealed sharp canine teeth and emitted a low growl from her throat, full of threat.

She was like an explosive little fox.

This is... a beastkin?

Quite cute, actually.

Lorne's eyebrows raised in surprise. Although he had known about the existence of beastkin, he had never seen one before because there were no beastkin settlements nearby.

So this is the so-called "beast ear girl"... She does look fluffy and soft...

Makes you can't help but want to take her home and raise her.

But soon, he shook his head and tried to remain vigilant. Lorne noticed that the girl was wearing the clothes of the church, although they were stained with blood, they were still recognizable.

...How did the people from the church arrive so quickly?

Did the Holy Knight Arnold inform the church before he was silenced?

Lorne looked at Arianne with confusion.

"Tsk, a troublesome person has arrived," Arianne gritted her teeth and got off the carriage with a helpless expression. "This child is called Leila, she is the so-called 'candidate for the Saintess'... Although she looks innocent and lovely, she is actually very fierce."

Candidate for the Saintess.

As the name suggests, it refers to the person reserved to be the successor of the "Seven Saintesses" in the future. When one of the Seven Saintesses dies, the church selects one from these candidates to inherit her title and artifact.

"How did you find your way here, Leila? Did you use your nose?" Arianne furrowed her brows and asked coldly.

"Well, uh... um..." Leila took a step back, avoiding eye contact with Arianne, seeming a bit shy. "I heard that Lady Arianne is on her way back to the Holy City, and she will arrive in a few days... But I couldn't wait any longer and wanted to meet you, Lady Arianne, so I sneaked out to greet you..."

Hmm...

Seems like she's quite an enthusiastic fan.

Lorne thought silently on the side.

No wonder she showed such strong hostility towards me earlier... Maybe she misunderstood something between me and Arianne? Ah, these young girls, besides love, they have nothing else in their minds.

We are just innocent "master" and "slave" after all...

No, wait.

It seems even worse.

"So, you followed the route I might have taken, all the way from the Holy City... and caught my scent in this area?" Arianne already roughly understood the situation. Leila finding her way here was purely coincidental. The church still didn't know about Arianne's "apostasy" or Arnold's death...

"Yes, that's right! Lady Arianne, you are so clever!" Leila's cheeks blushed, her eyes filled with admiration. But after glancing at Lorne, she returned to her explosive state.

"You haven't answered my question yet, Lady Arianne! Who is that man next to you, and why does Lady Arianne smell like him? And it's so intense..."

As Leila spoke, she stamped her feet, on the verge of tears.

"It's like... it's like they were tightly hugging each other all night without letting go!"

Her emotions were a bit out of control, and her volume increased as well. Nearby passersby all heard the explosive remarks and gathered with an eager-to-see mentality.

"Hey, it seems like it's true." At the same time, Arianne raised her arm and sniffed carefully. "Come to think of it, I did sleep on his bed last night..."

A chorus of "tsk tsk" sounds filled the surroundings.

Everyone seemed to be getting more and more excited.

"Bed, bed, on the bed?!" Leila exploded even more.

"Hey hey, little girl, you seem to have some misunderstandings," Lorne panicked for a moment. "My scent on Arianne? It's easy to explain, because she is currently wearing my clothes! In short, the situation is completely different from what you imagine...""Scammer!" Lila clearly didn't buy into that excuse. "Sister has already admitted it, she wouldn't lie! Besides, why would she wear your clothes unless..."

As she spoke, she suddenly paused, a horrifying image flashing in her mind.

Lila gasped.

"Unless... you pervert tore Sister's clothes apart last night! So she had no choice but to wear yours! That's it, case closed!"

The crowd erupted in commotion. Onlookers whispered among themselves, "What a beast..." "No, maybe the girl willingly did it?"

Lorne was dumbfounded for a moment.

Her explanation made so much sense, I couldn't argue...

At the same time, a series of system prompts appeared in front of Lorne.

"Evil Point+10."

"Evil Point+8."

"Evil Point+11."

"Evil Point+4."

... so even this works!

Lorne suddenly realized that to gain "Evil Points," she didn't necessarily have to commit evil acts. It seemed that as long as she could make people around her perceive her as evil, it would suffice.

And now...

In the eyes of the onlookers, Lorne was already a complete scumbag.

...

On the other side of the street, towards the square, the music continued. Helena was completely unaware of Lord Mayor's current predicament, already starting to sing the next song.

The melody was quite cheerful.

In a way, it was quite fitting.

But unfortunately...

The raging fury from the opposite Beast Ear Girl was not a joke. At this moment, her eyes glowed with ferocity, as if she wanted nothing more than to devour Lorne alive.

"Unforgivable... do you have any idea how serious your crime is?"

She trembled slightly, lowering her arm. The cuff of her sleeve flickered with a cold glint of metal. It seemed that she had a weapon hidden there.

This was about to turn into a fight!

"Hey hey, Arianne, aren't you going to say something?" Lorne pleaded with Arianne. He didn't want this matter to escalate. "If you explain properly, this kid should calm down, right? After all, she's your fan..."

However, Arianne remained indifferent.

With her arms crossed and leaning against the carriage, she seemed to be deep in thought. After a moment, Arianne lifted her eyes and looked at Lorne's face, smiling.

"Why hesitate? If you want to fight, then fight. Come on, Lorne!"

"What?"

Lorne wore an expression that screamed "Are you messing with me?"

Physically assaulting a cute Beast Ear Girl on the street? I couldn't stoop so low!

Wait, hold on...

She's a "Saintess-in-training" over there, which means I definitely can't win. So if Arianne doesn't step in, the result will be me getting beaten up by the Beast Ear Girl in public.

That would be too miserable.

"Don't worry, Lorne. Didn't we already have some 'training' yesterday?" Arianne said nonchalantly. "To be honest, I was quite surprised by your potential. Although you're still a rookie, you should be able to handle one or two moves from Lila... probably."

"Just one or two moves?"

"And besides, everyone is waiting to watch the show, right? This is a rare opportunity, you need to give them a good performance... just let go and do it. I'm here with you in crucial moments!"

With that, Arianne winked at Lorne.

Clearly.

She was plotting something in secret.