Chapter 217: Melissa Suffers a Critical Blow

In the outskirts of Caster City, Reformatory.

Early in the morning, Melissa had already washed up and dressed herself, changed into new clothes, put on a hair clip, then said goodbye one by one to the companions who lived in the same dormitory as her.

Today was the day she officially left the Reformatory.

Two months ago, when she was nearing the end of her term, she applied to a District Church School. With Director Tran’s special permission, she extended her time studying and preparing for the exam at the Reformatory. Last week, she took the examination, and just yesterday, she received her admission approval. After the New Year, she would be able to enroll and begin studying there.

“It’s time to go, Melissa.” the Sister serving as the dormitory supervisor called out.

Melissa carried her small suitcase and followed the Sister all the way to the gatehouse, where Director Tran was already waiting.

“Congratulations, Melissa, may the grace of the gods always be with you.” Director Tran said with a smile, “Take good care of yourself. I hope everything goes well for you after you leave.”

“Thank you, Matron. I won’t forget your kindness.” Melissa respectfully bowed.

“It’s quite difficult to get admitted into a District Church School from the Reformatory. But if you want to serve in the Church in the future, you still can’t afford to slack off.” Director Tran continued reminding her.

“I understand.” Melissa nodded.

“Go on, the person here to pick you up has already arrived.” Director Tran shifted her gaze toward the gate.

The main gate of the Reformatory was basically kept tightly shut except when carriages needed to pass through, but now the door to the side gatehouse room was open. Usually, this place was used for visitation, but today it had been opened to provide direct access to the outside.

“Goodbye, Matron.” Melissa respectfully bowed to Sister Tran one final time. During her days at the Reformatory, she had indeed received considerable care from the other woman.

Director Tran nodded and watched Melissa walk into the side gate. She had already exchanged greetings with the guest who had come to pick Melissa up.

The moment she entered the gatehouse room, Melissa saw Leon already waiting inside in uniform.

“Melissa.” Leon stood up from his seat with a smile.

“Brother Leon!” The moment Melissa saw Leon, her entire body brightened with excitement, and she quickly walked over to him.

“Let’s go, the carriage is already waiting outside.” Leon first led Melissa out of the Reformatory and boarded the carriage he had prepared.

The carriage began traveling toward the port of Caster City. Melissa and Leon sat opposite each other, and she quietly raised her eyes to look Leon over.

She had been waiting for the day Leon would come to pick her up from the Reformatory for a very long time. Yet now that the moment had truly arrived, she inexplicably began to feel nervous.

“I’ve already seen the examination results. Congratulations on getting into the District Church School.” Leon said.

“Mm, I’ll be going there to study after the New Year. It might be a little far away, and I’ll only be able to come back once every half a year.” Melissa said softly.

“It’s fine, there’s still some time. At the very least, you can still spend this New Year with your mother. After you go there, you can also write letters to your mother anytime. When I have time, I’ll go visit you too. I occasionally have some business to handle over there.” Leon said.

“Alright.” Melissa relaxed slightly after hearing that, then glanced outside through the gap in the window, “Then Brother Leon, where are we going now?”

She knew that her mother’s current residence had been arranged by Leon, but she still did not know where it was.

“We’re going to the port in Caster City next to transfer onto a ship, then we’ll head to Arend Island.” Leon said.

“Arend Island……” Melissa blinked. The place name was still somewhat unfamiliar to her.

“Right, I arranged a place there for you and your mother to live. Her body is basically free of symptoms now, and there haven’t been any signs of relapse……” Leon began explaining things to Melissa.

There had originally also been a village on the southwestern side of Arend Island, but it had now been completely abandoned.

Leon selected a portion with a relatively safe geographical location, renovated the houses and nearby roads, and stationed personnel serving as a Self-Defense Group there, turning it into a base used to store and process some of the ordinary supplies needed on the island.

At present, Sally lived in one of the residences there. Occasionally, she was escorted to the Mining Fortress in the Labyrinth to help extract Magic Essence and prepare Magic Potions. Sally was quite dedicated to learning knowledge related to Witches and had already become relatively proficient at extracting Magic Essence. Although she still fell somewhat short of Rena and Weiss in terms of Purity, with the techniques provided by Weiss, the quality could still be guaranteed to a considerable degree.

Moreover, the blood provided by her Blessing of Rebirth was extremely helpful for rapidly cultivating high-level combat Magical Beasts.

Considering that the contents of letters might be seen, many things ultimately could not be promptly conveyed to Melissa through correspondence, so Leon could only explain them to her one by one in person like this.

At the end, Leon then said to Melissa: “Melissa, I completed some procedures. For now, I can more or less be considered your legal guardian.”

“Guardian?” Melissa blinked.

“In the future, I’ll help you handle procedures related to enrollment, property, debts, and so on. If you need to tell someone who your guardian is or fill in a guardian’s name, you can just write mine.” Leon explained slowly.

“Does that mean……” Melissa was caught somewhat off guard, “Brother Leon, you……adopted me?”

There was no way she could accept becoming something like an adoptive father and daughter with Leon!

“No, no, it’s just foster guardianship procedures. It simply means I’ll bear your living and educational expenses and fulfill the responsibilities of a guardian.” Leon explained.

It was actually not uncommon for noble families to foster the children of relatives, friends, or even servants.

Melissa breathed a sigh of relief: “So something like that is possible.”

“If there’s no blood relationship, there are still certain requirements. The first is that the guardian has to be married.” Leon casually explained.

“Married?” Melissa did not react for a moment.

“Right, I was just about to tell you this. Actually, I got married last month.” Leon said.

As though struck by a bolt from a clear sky, Melissa froze on the spot, with only that one word continuously echoing in her ears.

Married……married……married……

Brother Leon, actually……married Miss Rena after all?

At the thought, Melissa unconsciously clenched the hem of the skirt resting on her thighs, while feeling as though her heart had also been tightly clenched by someone.

In truth, it was not as though she had been completely mentally unprepared for this.

As early as when Leon had exhausted every possible method to rescue Rena, even going so far as to make a deal with her mother, she had guessed that the relationship between Leon and Rena might not be simple.

It was just that Leon had never truly explained the relationship between them, and Melissa had not dared to confirm it either.

So deep down, she had still held onto that tiny bit of hope.

But today, the heavy hammer of reality finally came crashing down, smashing that little bit of hope she had hidden in her heart to pieces.

And he had gotten married last month without even directly telling her about it. Didn’t that make it even more obvious that she held no importance in Brother Leon’s heart?

“Was it with……Miss Rena?” Melissa asked softly, trying hard not to let any emotion show in her voice.

“Ah, no. The person I married was the daughter of a Viscount……”

Leon was only halfway through his answer and was about to explain further when Melissa suddenly raised her face: “Huh?”

If he had married Miss Rena, she could at least understand it to some extent.

Miss Rena and Leon had gone through life and death together. If she had lost to Rena, then she felt she would have had nothing to say.

What did he mean, the daughter of a Viscount? During her entire time at the Reformatory, she had never even heard of such a person!

Who was she? Just who was she!?

“What’s wrong with you?” Leon looked Melissa over in some surprise.

After raising her head, Melissa simply kept staring at him. For some reason, there was a slight emptiness deep in her gaze that made it impossible to tell what she was thinking, inexplicably……a little unsettling.

“I……” Melissa came back to her senses, blinked, then quickly lowered her gaze and explained, “I was just a little surprised. I-I always thought that you and Miss Rena……”

Could it be that Leon and Miss Rena actually did not have the kind of relationship she had always imagined?

“No, we really are lovers.” Leon admitted it quite naturally.

Melissa held her breath upon hearing those words. This was the third time today that her heart had been caught completely off guard by a heavy blow.

She looked at Leon in disbelief and could not help blurting out a question: “Then you still……”

“Listen to me finish first.” Leon raised a hand, signaling Melissa not to get agitated, “It’s a fake marriage……”

Afterward, Leon explained to the astonished Melissa how he had obtained a noble title and territory through marriage in order to ensure his safety. He did not explicitly mention the deal with Johnny, merely saying that he needed the privileges of a noble to settle certain conflicts.

“So you and that noble young lady aren’t truly married, you just discussed and agreed to it, right?” Melissa asked softly.

“Right, for now, you could consider it a transaction.” Leon said.

“But it’s still marriage……” Melissa still could not fully let it go and muttered resentfully under her breath, “Brother Leon, you heartless man!”

This meant that not only had the position of lover beside Leon been occupied by someone else, even marriage itself had been snatched away by another woman first!

Those were all things she had always dreamed of……yet someone else had beaten her to every single one of them!

“Where did you learn to say something like that?” Leon could not help smiling wryly.

To him, it sounded as though Melissa were standing up for Rena, but thinking about it……were the two of them even that close? The only Rena Melissa had ever known was Rena while she had been playing the role of “Bishop Leona.”

Melissa thought with a slightly distressed expression for a moment, then suddenly realized something: “But Brother Leon, why would that noble young lady from the Viscount’s family make this kind of transaction with you?”

“Oh, their family owed a huge debt, and I helped them deal with it……what’s wrong with you now?” Halfway through speaking, Leon noticed Melissa once again staring at him with wide eyes.

Owing a huge debt and then making a transaction, why did that plot sound so similar to what had happened with her family? Alarm bells suddenly rang in Melissa’s heart.

“Brother Leon, then you……” Melissa hesitated briefly, but still continued asking, “Then what if that young lady from the Viscount’s family really falls in love with you?”

“What kinds of strange things are you thinking about?” Leon was amused.

Adele probably wished he would disappear from the face of the earth on the spot, and she would fall in love with him? Had this little girl read too many romance stories?

“I’m serious! Brother Leon, you’re such a good person, and you helped her too, so maybe she’ll……” Melissa muttered softly.

“You think I’m a good person?” Hearing that, Leon crossed his arms and looked at Melissa for confirmation.

Melissa nodded vigorously without even the slightest hesitation.

“If you think that way, I’m afraid that noble young lady wouldn’t quite agree.” Leon smiled and shook his head.