To be honest, if you asked Luke what kind of impression he had of that trashy pink-haired girl, then words like creepy TS girl, green tea bitch, white lotus, wicked woman, idiot, and a whole string of other insults would all fit her just fine.

But even with such a terrible impression of her, there was one thing Luke had to admit.

Her skill at putting on an act was genuinely impressive.

At least in the eyes of 99% of the world, that trashy pink-haired girl was without a doubt a beloved and noble Saintess.

So when old George pictured her as the wicked woman she had been eight years ago, Luke's first reaction was that it was absurd.

His second reaction was that maybe George had the wrong person, or maybe the old man was just delusional... that was one small drawback of Luke's mind-reading ability. It could also pull out the thoughts of chuunis and delusional people.

But as his mind-reading moved into the stage of reading memories, a stage where lies were impossible, Luke realized in astonishment that old George had not been lying.

Aelia was an orphan. Not long after she was born, she was abandoned.

Then a kind-hearted person found her and sent her to The Church in the small town where old George lived.

Because her talent as a Saintess was discovered very quickly, Aelia was raised in the baron's household, the most powerful family in town. The priests and pastors of The Church were also her guardians.

Since she had been burdened with high expectations from childhood, spoiled rotten, and was naturally clever besides, little Aelia quickly developed the personality of a little demon king.

From the age of three, she was already ordering other people around like servants. If anything displeased her, she'd deliberately burst into loud tears and get others punished.

At four, she already knew how to order people to carry out all kinds of pranks for her. By five, those pranks had escalated to the point where people could get hurt.

At six, she learned how to frame others. By seven, when she officially became a Novice Saintess, she learned how to act innocent and play the pure white lotus.

Quite a few people suffered terribly because of her. Some even lost their families and homes. Everyone knew she was behind it, yet no one could find any proof or leverage against her.

And she didn't do any of it for some grand purpose, nor for any benefit.

She did it simply because it was fun, and because she wanted to.

So by the time she was eight, everyone in the town saw her as the incarnation of a witch and kept their distance.

But perhaps the people's prayers reached the compassionate ears of the Goddess. After Aelia accidentally fell into the water and came down with a serious illness, her temperament suddenly changed completely. She went from a chaotic little fiend to a kind and spotless Saintess.

At first, people thought Aelia was faking it. They still avoided her like the plague. Some bolder ones hurled abuse at her, while others made things difficult for her or even persecuted her.

But no matter which it was, Aelia endured it all without changing expression. She worked sincerely for the good of the town's people, making up for her past mistakes and sins, little by little changing how they saw her...

In the blink of an eye, a year had passed. Aelia had completely turned her reputation around and become the person everyone trusted most. Even the mayor, the baron, and the priests didn't carry as much weight as she did.

But as one of the victims, old George naturally never believed it.

When he saw the townspeople all bewitched out of their minds, he fled his hometown in panic. After wandering around for several years, he finally arrived at the royal capital.

But not long after, he discovered in horror that Aelia had come there too, and had even become the kingdom's chief Saintess. He hurriedly told his superiors and the people around him about Aelia's past crimes, only to be met with ridicule and warnings.

And over the next three years, reality proved that his testimony was nothing but a joke.

He found time to return to his hometown once. There he discovered that everyone in the town was living just fine. The former victims had all gained better lives and better status. Only he alone had ended up a miserable drifter, worrying over nothing.

Old George couldn't take it anymore.

After returning to the royal capital, he shut his mouth for good and swore never to say another bad word about Aelia.

"It's alright, sir. I know about Aelia's past. I'm just a little curious and want to understand it in more detail. I won't tell anyone. I swear it on my honor as the Hero."

Luke didn't actually want to force this pitiful old man to speak, but having mind-reading powers was just that awkward. He couldn't exactly read someone's mind, ask nothing, and then turn around and leave.

So even if it was only a single sentence of information, he still had to hear old George say it aloud. As for the rest, he could treat it as something he had merely imagined.

During the process, Luke even thoughtfully cast a calming spell on old George. So after hesitating for a moment, the old man still told him everything he knew.

"Thank you very much for the information."

After listening patiently to the end, Luke smiled and nodded. As usual, he took out a tip small enough not to attract anyone else's greed and offered it to old George in thanks.

"Please wait."

Seeing Luke about to leave, old George called out to stop him, as if he had finally made up his mind about something.

"Is there something else?" Luke asked, even though he already knew from reading his mind.

"I hope you won't pursue what happened in the past anymore... The current Lady Aelia is without question an outstanding Saintess."

Even though she had ruined his family, even though he had once hated her with all his heart, when old George returned to the town and saw that his remarried wife was living a happier life, that his child was growing up strong, and that the fellow townspeople who had once been driven to misery by Aelia were now smiling brightly and taking immense pride in the fact that their village had produced a Saintess like her—

In that moment, he felt that whatever happened to himself no longer mattered.

As long as Aelia remained this outstanding, then no matter how wronged or how miserable he felt, it was fine.

"I understand. Please take care of yourself."

That was what he said, but Luke was destined to disappoint old George.

Even setting aside personal grudges, with the way Aelia was acting now, Luke didn't believe she could keep pretending to be a good Saintess forever. If her chances of crashing and burning weren't 100%, they were at least 90%.

On a deeper moral level, the current Aelia was very likely a fake among fakes. In other words, eight years ago there had been an Aelia A, from eight years ago to three years ago there had been Aelia B, and the current one was C.

Aelia B might have truly been a very kind person. But this C was a shameless fraud who had stolen her achievements and reputation. Even if being transmigrated into this body wasn't her choice, he still couldn't just let her keep going like this unchecked.

There was also another possibility. It could have always been this same Aelia, except that eight years ago she had no memories of a past life. Then one day she suddenly remembered, and from then on started acting with self-preservation as her top priority. What old George and the others had seen was merely a disguise, while behind the scenes she might have done who knew how many filthy things, crimes too grave to forgive.

Of course, these were all just guesses. Even with old George's memories, the information was still insufficient. But if that trashy pink-haired girl really did have a problem, Luke would absolutely show no mercy.

After all, sacrificing people of low status to preserve the bigger picture and protect those of high status was never something that should be encouraged.

As for how he should gather more information next...

That brought things back to Luke's recent string of inquiries about the Saintess.

Over the past few days, as he made his way around, he had heard many, many inner thoughts.

And from them, he confirmed one thing.

It was infinitely close to one hundred percent, yes, but it still wasn't truly one hundred percent.

Among the lower nobility and some attendants, there were still a very small number of people who opposed the Saintess.

The ones who had provided old George's information earlier were most likely from that group as well.

So next came—

"Hero, I'm sorry."

Someone accidentally bumped into Luke's shoulder.

Even without using his mind-reading ability, Luke noticed that the other person had slipped a note into his trouser pocket.