Mischievous Witch

Honestly, if one were to ask Luke about his impression of that scummy pinkette, it would certainly be a level where derogatory terms like “insufferable transmigrator girl,” “green tea b*tch,” “white lotus,” “wicked woman,” “idiot,” and a whole string of others could be applied to her.

Yet, despite such a poor impression, Luke still had a grudging respect for her disguise skills.

At least in the eyes of 99% of the world, that scummy pinkette was indeed a beloved, virtuous Saintess.

So, when confronted with the image of a wicked woman from Old George’s mind eight years ago, Luke’s first reaction was that it was preposterous.

His second reaction was that perhaps he had mistaken the person, or Old George was hallucinating… this was a minor drawback of his mind-reading ability; it could read out what delusional people or those suffering from ‘chuunibyou’ were thinking.

But as his mind-reading ability entered the ‘memory-reading’ stage, which couldn’t be faked, Luke was astonished to find that Old George hadn’t lied.

Elia was an orphan, abandoned not long after birth, then found by kind people and sent to the church in Old George’s town.

Since she was soon discovered to possess Saintess talent, Elia grew up in the household of the Baron, the most powerful figure in the town, and the priests and clerics in the church were also her guardians.

Spoiled from a young age and raised with high expectations, coupled with her own cleverness, little Elia soon developed a mischievous, devil-may-care personality.

At three years old, she began ordering others around like cattle, intentionally crying loudly if anything displeased her to get others punished.

At four, she learned to command others to play all sorts of pranks for her.

By five, the severity of these pranks had escalated to causing injury.

At six, she learned to frame others, and by seven, when she officially became an apprentice Saintess, she learned to feign innocence and act like a white lotus.

Many people suffered greatly because of her, even losing their families, knowing she was responsible but finding no evidence or leverage.

And she acted this way without any particular goal or benefit, merely for fun, and because she wanted to.

Thus, by the time she was eight, everyone in the entire town regarded her as an “incarnation of a witch,” keeping their distance.

But perhaps the people’s prayers reached the ears of the compassionate Goddess.

After Elia accidentally fell into water and contracted a serious illness, her temperament suddenly changed dramatically, transforming from a chaotic arch-demon into a kind and flawless Saintess.

Initially, people thought Elia was faking it, continuing to avoid her. Some bolder ones even verbally abused her or harassed and persecuted her.

But regardless, Elia endured it all without a change in expression, diligently benefiting the townspeople, making amends for her past mistakes and sins, gradually changing their perception of her…

A year passed in the blink of an eye. Elia completely turned around her reputation, becoming the most trusted person. Even the words of the town mayor, Baron, and priest were not as effective as hers.

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

Seeing the townspeople mesmerized and losing their reason, he fled his hometown in a panic, wandering for several years before finally arriving at the Royal Capital.

But not long after, he was terrified to discover that Elia had also arrived and become the kingdom’s chief Saintess.

He quickly informed his superiors and those around him of Elia’s past wicked deeds, only to be met with laughter and warnings from everyone.

And after three years, the facts proved his testimony to be a joke.

He himself took the time to return to his hometown once, finding that everyone in the town was doing well, the former victims were living better lives, and only he, the worrier, was left in destitution.

Old George immediately couldn’t bear it anymore. After returning to the Royal Capital, he completely shut his mouth, vowing never to say anything bad about Elia again.

‘It’s alright, old sir, I know about Elia’s past situation. I’m just curious and want to understand it in detail. I won’t tell anyone, I guarantee it on my honor as a Hero.’

Luke actually didn’t want to make this poor old man speak, but having mind-reading ability was so helpless; he couldn’t just read his mind and then turn around and leave without asking anything.

So, even if it was just a single piece of information, he had to hear Old George say it; the rest he could simply ‘fill in the blanks’ from his mind-reading.

During this process, Luke thoughtfully cast a calming magic on Old George, so after some hesitation, Old George recounted everything he knew.

‘Thank you very much for your information.’

After patiently listening, Luke smiled and nodded, routinely pulling out a small tip that wouldn’t attract others’ covetousness, expressing his gratitude to Old George.

‘Please wait a moment.’

Seeing Luke about to leave, Old George called out to him as if he had made some determination.

‘Is there anything else?’ Luke asked, feigning ignorance after reading his mind.

‘I hope you won’t pursue the past matters any further… Her Highness Elia is undoubtedly an excellent Saintess now.’

Despite having suffered a broken family, despite once hating her immensely, when Old George returned to the town and saw his remarried wife living a happier life, his children growing up strong, and his fellow villagers, once troubled by Elia, now smiling brightly and feeling immensely proud that their village had produced a Saintess like Elia.

He suddenly felt that nothing mattered to him anymore.

As long as Elia remained so outstanding, no matter how wronged or pained he felt, it didn’t matter.

‘I understand. Please take care.’

Though he said this, Luke was destined to disappoint Old George.

Even personal grievances aside, given Elia’s current disposition, Luke didn’t believe she could continuously pretend to be a good Saintess. Her chance of being exposed was at least ninety percent, if not a hundred.

On a deeper moral level, the current Elia was highly likely a fake among fakes; that is, eight years ago there was an Elia A, between eight and three years ago was Elia B, and the current one is C.

Elia B might have been a truly kind person, but this C was a fraud who stole her achievements, gaining fame through deception. Even if the transmigration wasn’t her wish, she couldn’t be allowed to continue like this.

Furthermore, there was also the possibility that this had always been Elia, but eight years ago she had no memories of her previous life, suddenly remembered one day, and then began prioritizing her own survival.

What Old George and others saw was merely a facade, and in reality, she had committed countless despicable acts behind the scenes, unforgivable sins.

Of course, these were all just conjectures. Even with Old George’s memories, the information was still insufficient.

But if that scummy pinkette truly had problems, Luke would absolutely not go easy on her.

After all, sacrificing people of humble status to save the bigger picture and elevate those of high status should never be something worth advocating.

As for how to obtain more information next… that brings us back to Luke’s series of inquiries about the Saintess.

These past few days, as he walked around, he had heard many inner voices, and then confirmed one thing.

Although infinitely close to a hundred percent, it still hadn’t reached a hundred percent.

Among the lower-ranked nobles and some attendants, a very small minority of anti-Saintess individuals still existed.

The one who provided Old George’s information was most likely from this group.

So next up is—

‘Sir Hero, I’m sorry.’

Someone accidentally bumped into Luke’s shoulder.

Even without mind-reading ability, Luke sensed that the person had slipped a note into his pocket.