1.5

"You are a good actor."

Yunyu paused on the spot. He was dazed, Michael stared at the stunned Duke, he had a complicated opinion about this guy. The Duke was firm faithless, he refused to convert no matter what. But he also had a gentle soul, the gentlest Michael had ever seen in a human being. Even when the Saintess went to this slum, she still helped these abandoned people, but she had a small, almost unnoticed frown on her face.

But the Duke was too good, and Michael didn't want to admit this. He wanted to think that the Duke was just pretending. He was just acting kind, because he wanted to challenge Michael, as a faithful follower of the god.

Michael refused to admit that the Duke was indeed a gentle soul.

The Duke paused for a moment, in his head, Yunyu was panicked.

[System! Pupa! I've failed, aaaah!]

[Pupa: You haven't.]

[But he knows that I'm an actor!]

[Pupa: maybe he is just accusing you. If he knows that you are not from this world, we would get booted out immediately. Maybe he just thought that you're pretending to be gentle.]

[Ahh, so it's like that.] Yunyu was relieved, he really thought that his cover was blown.

[Pupa: Maybe you're not as good as you think.]

Pupa floated around and blinked after it said that.

[Hey! I am a permanent member of the drama club in high school!] Yunyu wanted to slap this stupid pupa, but the system disappeared immediately after it mocked Yunyu.

Yunyu resumed his act.

The Duke frowned and turned his head, all his gentleness disappeared when he was confronted by Michael. Michael was a bit hurt with this, the Duke was obviously very gentle to those abandoned people, but he didn't even spare a glance at him.

"Stop acting, I know you're just pretending," Michael accused.

"Your Highness, this place is a dirty slum. It's filled with rats and infested with illness. Your holiness shouldn't come to this place, leave," Yunyu said.

Michael bit his lips. True, if not because of this guy, he wouldn't step his shoes in this slum. But seeing the Duke was not bothered with the dirtiness at all, he felt a bit ashamed in his heart.

Yunyu saw that Michael didn't respond, he scoffed and sidestepped the prince. But Michael caught the Duke by the wrist. He wanted to say something, but his attention was immediately shifted when he felt how cold the Duke's hand was.

It felt like a corpse.

Yunyu struggled immediately, but Michael was young and vigorous. Yunyu's eyes were dark and cold, "Let go."

Michael gritted his teeth, "Why is your hand so cold?"

"That is not your highness' business. Let go or I will not be so courteous," Yunyu glared at him. Michael finally let go of the Duke's hand. The Duke left immediately.

Michael stared at the back that was getting farther. He rubbed his fingers, the feeling of the cold hands still lingered in Michael's heart. The Duke was indeed weird, he was pale, cold, like a corpse. He had an elegant, yet sharp facial feature, as if�� if there was a pair of fangs on his teeth, he would be a real vampire.

Michael had suspected this, but the Duke was obviously not bothered with the holy water, he was not burned when he was near Saintess' room.

Also, Michael was positive that a vampire wouldn't go to a slum to help the poor here. Vampires couldn't be bothered by such things as compassion. They were all cold blooded murderers, killing their prey and sucking their prey's blood for daily consumption.

Michael was conflicted. He didn't know what he was thinking right now. His instinct told him that the Duke was a nefarious vampire, and he should've exterminated him immediately. But his heart said that the Duke was a gentle person, the Duke was a faithless, the worst kind of person in his book. But the Duke was someone that should be protected. Because he never harmed anyone.

Michael strolled around the dirty slum, not minding the dirtiness. He was wearing a hood, so nobody knew him. He saw the poor kids who just ate apples together. Those apples were given by the Duke today. They looked very happy just by eating apples.

Michael sighed. He left the slum and returned back to the church immediately. He washed himself and went to meet the Saintess.

When he opened the door of Saintess' room, a woman dressed in white was sitting, adorning the moon in the sky. She glanced at Michael and smiled, "You look very conflicted, what's wrong?"

The Saintess was a beauty, of course. She was blessed by the god. When Michael met the Saintess for the first time, he was awestruck by her beauty and holy aura. She was a perfect human being. Thus, Michael devoted himself to serving the Saintess out of admiration and piety. He thought that he deserved it, but now…

"Your Holiness, may I ask a question?"

"Sure."

"Do you believe that a faithless can be a good person?" Michael asked.

The Saintess smiled and she nodded. She gazed at the moon and said, "Everything is not black and white, except god's command, everything is not absolute. A faithless person can be the kindest person on earth, and a faithful priest can be the most evil human ever on earth."

Michael lowered his head, "Saintess… may I know whether I am a sinful human or not?"

Michael knew that the Saintess could see the sin of every human. At first, he thought that he was worthy of being with the Saintess. But what the Duke said to him was hard. If he was more sinful than a faithless, then that meant…

The Saintess paused, then she replied, "Michael, I have high hopes in you. I hope that you can learn well. I hope you can learn how everything is not black and white. But not from me."

The Saintess turned her head and smiled at Michael, "Because I'm just a locked little bird in this white cage. So, I urge you to learn well before I leave."

Michael felt that his heart was stuffy. He knew that the Saintess was not in good health, and her health would worsen if she was stressed. Her situation was not optimistic, as if God didn't want to stain her with the filthiness of the world, so he wanted to take her early.

Michael thought that by limiting the news from the Saintess, it would help her, but now, it seemed that the Saintess had seen everything.

"Am I… sinful?" Michael asked. He never asked this to the Saintess even after he ordered the massacre of three hundred people. Because he thought that it was right, and also because he was too scared to ask.

But now, he met someone that shook his inner faith like a sudden earthquake, he couldn't hold it.

"Young Priest Michael, every sin can be redeemed in this world, as long as you really want to change your way," Saintess said.

Michael was silent, he bowed his head and left the Saintess alone. The Saintess didn't give him the straight answer, but it was what Michael expected.

The Saintess said that he needed to learn from someone.

'I have to learn from him…'

***

Yunyu was currently rolling on the bed, because he was starving. He was a vampire in this world, he couldn't eat human food at all. Yesterday, he tried eating a grilled chicken, and it tasted like he chewed playdoh.

[Do I really need to drink blood?]

[Pupa: Yes, you need to drink a fair amount of blood at least once a week.]

[But that's disgusting! Why don't you help me here and eliminate my hunger? I can't focus on my work if I'm starving!]

[Pupa: You can always drink fresh animal blood. Maybe go and drink a cow's blood? Chicken blood? Based on the background, animal blood is seen as a worse alternative to human blood, but some vampires drink animal blood instead, because they are 'vegetarian'.]

[A vegetarian vampire? So they condemn the violent act of killing humans? And they kill livestock instead?]

[Pupa: Indeed. But it tastes terrible, consumable, but terrible.]

[You are not helping!]

[Pupa: I am giving you an alternative. In my dictionary, that counts as helping.]

Yunyu zipped his mouth, he was too starving to bicker with the system. He closed his eyes, trying to ignore the pain in his stomach. He had to return to the slum again tomorrow, he just hoped that he could endure it.

In the morning, Yunyu was getting ready to leave the mansion again. He was not a human, thus, his stomach didn't grumble when he was hungry. Instead, he looked even paler than before, it made him ghastly.

When Yunyu was getting ready to return to the slum, his servant reported, "Milord, Prince Michael has been waiting since dawn."

Yunyu was surprised, when he checked it himself. He saw Michael was standing in the guest room. He looked solemn, and when he spotted the Duke, he bowed his head courteously, "Good morning, Duke."

[Pupa! What's his Breakmeter currently?]

[Pupa: Breakmeter 60%, Fatemeter 30%]

Yunyu was ecstatic with the progress. He ignored the Fatemeter, because that was unimportant, but the Breakmeter already hit 60%! He was halfway to his goal!

Yunyu resumed his act, he vigilantly stood far from Prince Michael and asked, "What are you doing here? Are you here to condemn me for being faithless again? I will let the guard show you the way out."

"No," Michael denied. He gulped, trying to find a better way to address this, "I… I will follow you for a day."

"Follow me? To the slum again? Hah, you are too holy for that."

Michael clenched his fist. It was hard enough to admit, but now he had to beg.

Michael walked closer to Yunyu and bowed his head deep, "I beg the Duke to take me to the slum again. I want to learn."