The Yellow-Haired Villain in Soaring Phoenix's Novels Also Desires Happiness Chapter 458: Farewell

The morning sunlight playfully slipped through the gap in the curtains.

After a night of wind and snow, the entire Holy City looked as though it had been completely washed clean, greeting the day with dazzling brightness.

Though the sun was already high, the two on that broad bed—who had waged their own long night’s battle—only then began to stir awake.

“Mm... what ti is it?”

The girl’s lazy voice broke the room’s silence. Her small head, hair all tousled, reluctantly lifted from the man’s firm chest and blinked drowsily toward the clock on the wall.

“Ah... it’s already this late! There’s morning prayer soon—ah, ow.”

Instantly alert, the girl flustered to rise, only to wince and tilt her head in pain.

She lightly thumped the scoundrel’s chest and scolded him with mock anger.

“Move over—you’re on my hair.”

“...Getting up already?”

Her weak little punches didn’t move the man at all; instead, he caught her small hand and pulled her back into his arms.

“How about sleeping a little longer?”

Muen leaned close to her ear and murmured softly.

“Mmph... no.”

The heat of his breath made Liya’s ears burn. That familiar warmth tempted her deeply, and compared to the lingering chill of early spring outside, she wanted nothing more than to stay buried under the covers.

But Liya still shook her head firmly.

“I told you, there’s a morning prayer ceremony soon. I’m the Saintess—I have to preside personally.”

“Just stay a bit longer.”

“...No, Lin should be coming soon to fetch . Before that, I need to—ah~”

Liya gave a startled cry as, in her instinctive struggling and twisting, she suddenly felt sothing familiar and hard pressing mischievously against the softness of her hips.

“Pervert! Scoundrel! So early in the morning, you’re—”

The Saintess scolded him, her cheeks bright red.

“Can’t bla ,” Muen said, still holding the beautiful girl tightly, kissing her cheek. “It’s just a normal physiological reaction. You should understand that.”

“In that case... let go.”

“Can’t. The fire’s already been lit—if I don’t release it, it’s uncomfortable.”

Muen’s wandering hands grew bolder, and he grinned.

“I checked your schedule beforehand. There’s still about an hour until morning prayer. So... before you lead your followers in worship, Saintess, how about helping with a little morning prayer first?”

“N–no, there’s not enough ti. Lin should be here any—”

“I ant that kind of morning prayer.”

Muen’s breath brushed her ear, his voice a devilish whisper.

“It’ll be quick.”

When she understood what he ant by “morning prayer,” Liya’s face flushed crimson.

“N–no... that’s way too embarrassing.”

“What’s embarrassing about it? There’s no one else here. Besides, it’s the fastest thod, isn’t it?”

“But...”

She had ant to refuse again, but when she turned and looked at the man she loved, she pursed her lips, thought for a mont, then nodded softly.

“Fine. Anyway... this will be the last ti I serve you, you bad man.”

At the words last ti, Muen’s face, which had brightened with her agreent, suddenly clouded with reluctant sadness.

“Yeah. Maybe not the final of all finals—but yes, this is our last one.”

He drew her tightly into his arms, kissing her deeply.

When the kiss ended, the Saintess—who in an hour would lead the faithful of the Holy City in their sacred morning prayer—was already flushed and trembling with emotion.

She rose, lifted the covers, and with two long legs straddled his lap.

Then, recalling what she’d once seen her senior Anna do, she cupped her full breasts in both hands and slowly enclosed him.

“Oh—”

Muen exhaled a sound of deep pleasure as he was enveloped in that impossible softness. Their eyes t—Saintess and sinner—sharing the sweetness of their final intimacy.

From that mont, when the Saintess who owed obeisance to no one knelt down, it was not only before her goddess in prayer.

Yet love, truly, is never one-sided.

“Co here, darling—turn around. Let make you feel good too.”

“......”

......

......

Half an hour later, when Lin arrived right on ti and knocked open the door, what she saw was the Saintess already perfectly dressed—composed, elegant, radiant, without a single flaw.

Lin raised an eyebrow. She had expected to have to rush her again.

“We’ll be off, then.”

Liya smiled at her.

“I’ll leave things to you, Lin.”

“It’s my duty.”

Lin answered respectfully. But as she lowered her head, she caught sight of their tightly clasped hands.

Her brow twitched again, but this ti she said nothing—only watched as Liya and Muen walked hand in hand down the sunlit corridor.

It was an ordinary morning, yet a busy one.

Nuns and clerics bustled through the cathedral, hurrying on their duties.

Thus, the only place they could walk together hand-in-hand was this corridor outside the Saintess’s private chambers—where no one dared intrude.

So they walked slowly.

So they savored every mont.

As if trying to etch each other’s warmth, breath, and the lines of their palms deep into their hearts.

But even the longest corridor must end.

At the last step before the turn, their hands finally, reluctantly, let go.

The golden-haired man stepped back with a charming smile, becoming once again the gallant knight who made young nuns blush.

The pure Saintess straightened, folded her hands before her abdon, and transford once more into the revered figure adored by all believers.

Thus, one before and one behind, they walked through bows and reverent gazes all the way to the cathedral gate.

“Well then... I’ll see you off here, Sir Muen.”

“Mm. Thank you for accompanying , Saintess.”

Liya nodded serenely in farewell; Muen nodded back with equal calm.

To anyone watching, it was nothing more than a normal, innocent parting between a knight and a Saintess.

Yet the feelings in their eyes—only the two of them could understand.

The air was still faintly cold, but the sunlight after snow was dazzling.

Liya brushed her fingers over the bracelet on her palm, watching Muen disappear down the Pilgrims’ Road.

This was their final farewell.

She turned, ready to throw herself wholly into the day’s duties, to fill the hollow left by parting.

But she suddenly paused mid-step. The communication stone at her waist was vibrating faintly.

Liya raised it to her ear and listened carefully to the voice on the other end.

“Sweetheart, you were amazing last night.”

That familiar teasing tone made her blush flash and vanish in an instant. With her now-perfect poise, she showed no visible reaction at all.

But the smile at her lips softened ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ noticeably.

Unable to answer with so many watching, she carefully put the stone away.

Yes—“last” was not truly last.

Farewell was not forever.

They would et again. They were never truly apart.

......

“I really can’t understand it,” Lin sighed again, watching the Saintess and Muen Campbell disappear from sight.

With things so tangled between them, how could their feelings still be that deep?

Or maybe she was simply inexperienced—perhaps this kind of three-person entanglent was more common than she thought?

“Well, at least it’s only three people. No matter how ssy, it can’t be completely unfixable.”

Shaking her head, Lin thought that ever since eting Muen Campbell, her once-icy composure had nearly turned her into so kind of expressive clown.

Good thing he was leaving.

Still... that ant the Saintess would surely be sad.

Thinking so, with mixed feelings, Lin entered the room to help tidy up, as was her habit.

The room was far ssier than expected. Torn undergarnts lay scattered, ripped apart in haste—a clear sign of how “intense” the previous night’s battle had been.

“Wait—if it was that rough, then this bed probably...”

Her gaze fell on the new bed she’d just bought.

Having learned her lesson from last ti, she didn’t sit down directly. Instead, she pressed a hand on the bed and pushed lightly to test it.

Creak—

Sure enough, with one final groan of protest, the poor bed that had endured an entire night of tornt finally collapsed for good.

Lin’s mouth twitched. She didn’t know whether to praise that bastard’s stamina—breaking two beds in a row—or to admire the Saintess’s incredible resilience, managing to work as though nothing had happened.

“Well, broken is broken. He’s leaving anyway. And at least this ti he didn’t hide under the bed—hmm?”

Her muttering stopped abruptly; her whole body stiffened.

Because as one of the bed boards slid loose, a face appeared in her view—blank, numb, eyes staring vacantly at nothing.

Soone was actually under the bed!

And that soone was—

“Ariel Bugaard???”

Why was she under the Saintess’s bed?

Last night she’d only just received the Saintess’s order to search for the missing girl—

and today she found her under the Saintess’s bed?!

Countless question marks filled Lin’s mind, her brain threatening to short-circuit.

What on earth was happening?

In this tangled web of relationships, already complex enough to rival a magic circle, was there seriously... a fourth person?

“You—”

Lin, utterly overwheld, looked toward Ariel. She had wanted to ask sothing, but Ariel rely cast her a dull, empty glance. Without a word, she rose from the wreckage of the bed and walked stiffly toward the door.

Her face was expressionless, yet Lin—well-versed in reading people—saw in those lifeless eyes a strange, heavy weariness. A kind of maturity she hadn’t seen before.

As if this girl had grown up far too much—overnight.

Lin: “???”