Opening the Champagne Early

After learning about the situation at Count Barge’s mansion from other maids, a wild and melodious laugh echoed from the Saintess’s bedchamber.

Elia had initially been somewhat worried that even if Madame Mary ‘blackened’, she wouldn’t be able to defeat that bastard Hero, so she had specifically prepared a three-person gauntlet, each stronger than the last, with the earlier ones meant to wear down the bastard Hero’s will…

Unexpectedly, the bastard Hero started doing foolish things right from the beginning, so brazenly accepting the invitations without any disguise, leading to him being blockaded at the gate.

Now, regardless of whether the bastard Hero could resist Madame Mary’s temptation, his reputation was bound to plummet.

Even if he tried to argue, people wouldn’t believe he did nothing inside.

Of course, there was still a tiny possibility of a comeback… that is, if the bastard Hero truly did nothing, and Iris was still willing to speak well of him and promote him everywhere.

So, while cheering, Elia still quietly hid the champagne, waiting for her maid to bring back the most crucial intelligence.

‘Your Highness Elia, are you still awake?’

Hearing the faint sound and knocking, Elia barely managed to suppress the surge of excitement, maintaining only a hint of eagerness as she said, ‘Please come in.’

The golden-haired elf maid pushed the door open. As expected, her face held no smile; it was utterly solemn, even tinged with a hint of fatigue—clearly, that bastard Hero had messed things up.

‘Hahahaha…’

Elia, who couldn’t help but laugh inwardly, instead showed a comforting expression on her face, gently stroking Iris’s head and asking in a slightly heavy tone:

‘Iris, how did it go?’

‘Everything was just as Your Highness Elia expected… they are truly pitiful.’

‘Is that so…’

Elia couldn’t help but show a somewhat distressed expression, while inwardly cheering.

‘It seems that bastard Hero couldn’t resist the charm and bullied the orphaned mother and son. He truly is a beast in human skin!’

‘But thanks to Your Highness Elia, they are now alright.’

‘That’s good.’

Elia tried her best to appear relieved, rather than ecstatic.

But inwardly, she was naturally overjoyed, because this also meant that the worst-case scenario, Iris personally intervening to save the day, had occurred… However, the most satisfying part was that she could once again gain a massive wave of goodwill from the entire nation and accumulate even more fame.

‘No, it’s still not enough.’

Elia put on another worried expression and asked:

‘How is Sir Luke doing?’

Iris couldn’t help but frown, her face showing annoyance:

‘To be honest, not so good.’

‘That’s a given!’

Elia couldn’t be happier about Iris’s displeased attitude.

‘What did His Majesty say?’

‘His Majesty sent people to maintain order, but there were many who wouldn’t listen, and Count Barge and Madame Mary were also endlessly annoyed by them… Your Highness Elia, could you please go help them tomorrow?’

This was a foreseeable outcome; Madame Mary had always had a bad reputation, and Count Barge had the nickname of a mama’s boy and weakling. Getting involved with the Hero in this manner, it would be strange if they weren’t utterly slandered.

But even if Iris didn’t say anything, Elia had plans to help, because rescuing lost lambs perfectly suited the Saintess’s identity and could also prevent people from suspecting her of stirring up trouble behind the scenes.

Besides, the reason the magic she left behind emitted holy light was to market herself and gather more popularity—in her eyes, being a Saintess was like being an internet celebrity in another world.

‘I’ll go now.’

Therefore, as a Saintess who constantly worried about the world and its people, how could she possibly let such a matter go unaddressed overnight?

Furthermore, how disappointing that bastard Hero was now could be glimpsed from Iris’s visibly greater concern for Madame Mary’s side.

At this moment, if Elia were to show unwavering loyalty to the bastard Hero, people would inevitably hate and despise him even more… Elia naturally wouldn’t miss such a great opportunity to kick a man when he’s down.

Iris also knew that the sooner this matter was resolved, the better, so she didn’t object.

Not long after, the mistress and maid arrived outside the Count’s mansion.

Compared to the evening, when it was jam-packed, the crowd now had dwindled by more than half, but there were still over thirty people there.

The Count and his mother were dealing with them, and behind them, the black-haired Hero could only watch, unable to get a word in.

Seeing this, Elia’s heart swelled with delight; she walked over with a solemn expression.

‘It’s Her Highness Elia!’

Upon seeing Elia arrive, everyone rushed forward and began to denounce the Hero’s “unchaste” act of accepting invitations.

‘I know everyone has many dissatisfactions and doubts, but please trust me, Sir Luke must have his difficulties in doing this…’

Elia immediately used vague and somewhat boundless excuses to speak favorably of Luke, forcing the crowd to temporarily suppress their anger.

Of course, this anger would definitely erupt later; there were too few people now, and the destructive power was too low to push Luke into an abyss of no return.

‘What about Count Barge and Madame Mary then? Your Highness Elia, you wouldn’t believe their nonsense, would you?’ Some people still wouldn’t give up.

In fact, everyone had been chattering for so long, merely venting their dissatisfaction; not a single person had discussed the actual sequence of events.

As for Elia, they also implicitly assumed that the Saintess had learned everything from her maid, Iris.

Although Elia didn’t know much about the process of the events, it didn’t prevent her from filling in all the processes and details in her mind—thus, she understood at once that these people were puzzled by the rapid change in the Count and his mother.

‘This is actually all my fault; if I hadn’t always been unaware of the problem, they wouldn’t have only just now…’

But as a mature internet celebrity… Bah, Saintess, before taking credit, the first thing to do is not to boast about her achievements, but to humble herself, detailing her incompetence and negligence, to create an impression that the only reason this matter hadn’t been resolved sooner was because she had arrived too late.

At this point, some people’s rebellious psychology would kick in, causing them to start speaking favorably of her:

‘This isn’t Your Highness Elia’s fault!’

‘That’s right, Your Highness Elia is busy with a myriad of affairs; for her to find the time to think of us is already a blessing we’ve accumulated over several lifetimes!’

Seeing people praising and understanding her, Elia bowed gratefully: ‘Thank you, everyone.’

With the Saintess’s help in corroboration, people no longer doubted the drastic change in the Count and his mother, nor their previous testimonies, and dispersed one after another.

‘Thank you very much, Your Highness Elia.’

The Count and his mother also came to express their gratitude with a group of guards.

After everyone had dispersed, only three people remained at the entrance of the Count’s mansion.

Iris tactfully retreated into the distance, leaving the two alone.

Gazing at the weary, somewhat bewildered, and sorrowful Luke, Elia did her best to suppress her laughter, stepping forward and saying in a comforting tone:

‘Sir Luke, I’m sorry that you had to encounter such an unpleasant incident…’

‘No, it’s I who should apologize; it’s my failure that led to this happening…’ Luke bowed his head deeply, just like a primary school student who had made a mistake.

But unfortunately, there’s no going back in time.

‘Sir Luke, please don’t worry, everything will be fine tomorrow.’

Tonight, even without Iris, the gossip queen, taking action, others would spread the news of Luke being unable to resist temptation throughout Dickden-like Capital.

By then, even if Luke knelt and begged for forgiveness, it would be in vain.

‘Mhm, then I’ll head back first… Your Highness Elia, please rest well.’ Luke left somewhat dejectedly.

After returning to her bedchamber, Elia then spent the most wonderful, refreshing, and satisfying night she had had in days.

Morning.

Elia woke up early, washed, and full of anticipation, went outside to savor the thrilling fruits of victory.