Chapter 32

The two pushed the door open. Sykes, leaning by the window, turned his head sideways—his burning golden eyes carrying an oppressive smile.

"Such an honored guest, saintess."

Ye Zheng gently bowed her head. "You're joking. How could I deserve the term honored guest?"

Sykes turned around. His face against the light appeared especially dark.

"Your Highness, Miss Ye was busy with Church matters recently. She didn't intend to delay the competition."

Yu Tianming patched things in the subtle atmosphere between them. Getting Ye Zheng to join was to connect the Church and royal family—not to make relations worse.

He subtly glanced at the innocent-looking Ye Zheng. It shouldn't be his imagination—Ye Zheng was especially untamed facing the Crown Prince, even if she packaged her impatience well with submissive posture.

It was said the Church saintess was kind and loving, caring for the common people. He always thought it was just Church hype. After all, the rumored Pope was also noble and just—in reality... Yu Tianming pushed up his glasses. But Ye Zheng seemed somewhat different.

He was puzzled. Why not submit to the Crown Prince? Sykes represented the future supreme power of this nation. Though the emperor and current empress had a pair of prince and princess, everyone knew they posed no threat to Sykes's position.

Sykes not only had SSS-level talent but the emperor's favor and ministers' support. Even the Church vaguely showed satisfaction with Sykes.

Yu Tianming could never understand this new teammate's actions. Just because of Sykes's tyranny and injustice, give up a high branch within easy reach? Besides teaching this saintess the doctrines of hope and justice, hadn't the Church taught her basic common sense as a subject?

"So that's how it is. I hope the saintess can show the same enthusiasm in my team as in Church work."

"Qin Lu said you'd surely bring me a huge surprise. I hate being deceived most. You'll satisfy me, right?"

Sykes was tall. Now slightly tilting his head up, looking down, his oppressiveness was even stronger.

"Please rest assured, Your Highness. I will do my utmost."

Ye Zheng raised her head. Her slightly cold black eyes directly met Sykes's scrutinizing golden pupils that held a trace of mockery.

"Um, excuse me—this sensor lit up. An aberrant realm has descended southeast, a bit far from us."

"Your Highness the Crown Prince, shall we move out?"

The flamboyant red-haired Ryan cautiously asked. He completely lacked his usual arrogance when causing trouble with Ye Di. In the room corner, he hugged the sensor seriously monitoring aberrant realm movements.

Ye Zheng glanced at Ryan. If that guy Ye Di were here, his status would probably be about the same as Ryan's.

Thinking this way, Ye Zheng felt a bit regretful. Maybe she should package Ye Di and send him to Sykes for a beating. On second thought, given Ye Di's obsession with joining the Royal team, perhaps there really would be a chance to "help" Ye Di in the future.

Sykes strode toward the table with the sensor. Ryan tactfully moved aside, making room for Sykes to examine the display.

"It's a bit far."

"Mark it first."

Sykes stared at the position shown on the sensor and said slowly, "To help Miss Saintess adapt to the team quickly, this distance is nothing."

Yu Tianming immediately understood and pulled Ryan along to prepare the Crown Prince's departure outside. Sykes habitually sat on the sofa reading a book while waiting, looking completely unhurried, as if awaiting a not-very-important ball.

Only when Yu Tianming knocked to signal readiness did he push the door open and step out. Ye Zheng quietly followed behind him.

Seeing the mode of transport, Ye Zheng's eyes widened slightly. She had assumed it would be a car, but it was actually a massive winged aberrant beast about one story tall—entirely pitch-black, terrifying in appearance. Yet upon closer look, its round eyes were clear and gentle, even carrying a hint of fear.

On the beast's back was a luxurious cabin. Servants had set up a ladder. Sykes climbed it, with Yu Tianming and Ryan following closely.

Ye Zheng stared at the backs of her three teammates, walking slowly at the very end.

The ability competition was four-person teams plus one substitute. There was still one teammate who had not appeared, and she could not even confirm if this person truly existed—

Unknown gender, unknown background, only a codename: Raven. The Crown Prince's shadow knight. Legend said no one except the Crown Prince had seen Raven's true face—or rather, anyone who had seen Raven no longer existed.

Many thought Raven was just a myth, until Sykes entered this competition and one slot on the team clearly belonged to Raven. Ye Zheng slightly narrowed her eyes. She leaned toward believing this shadow knight truly existed. Precisely because of that, Sykes was extraordinarily difficult for her to handle.

Not only possessing unparalleled strength himself, but also having the deeply scheming prime minister's son and the traceless shadow knight as personal guard. As for Ryan... ah, that one was negligible. Worthy of being her younger brother's friend—one look and he seemed endearingly stupid.

In short, under these circumstances, trying to uncover the royal family's hidden dragon bone secrets made her feel a trace of confusion and unease.

『Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Secrets and stuff will naturally surface at the plot points. No need to risk your life chasing them deliberately.』

『Why not open the manga app and slack off a bit? Relax your mood. Occasionally reading some over-the-top CEO explosive love cheesy comics is super stress-relieving.』

The system kindly recommended. Ye Zheng could not help letting out a light laugh.

She had already boarded this strange aberrant beast carriage. Inside the cabin were only her, Yu Tianming, and Sykes—each sitting on one side. The luxurious and comfortable cabin was unusually silent.

Ye Zheng looked out the window. The aberrant beast flapped its wings and took off. Sitting inside, she felt no turbulence—more stable than she had imagined.

If she guessed right, Ryan was probably driving up front. It was his talent 【Aberrant Beast Control】 that made this aberrant beast carriage exceptionally smooth and comfortable.

Ye Zheng glanced at Sykes. She suspected Sykes had taken Ryan—who had a not particularly outstanding talent—into the team perhaps just to have a useful servant.

This was her first time flying in the sky. Ye Zheng gazed at the pure sky scenery for a while, then boredly withdrew her gaze. Ye Zheng sighed softly. Under the subtle gazes of her two teammates, she took out a book.

The girl in a white dress held a Church scripture, her eyes calmly scanning the pages—appearing especially refined and elegant, perfectly fitting the saintess persona. Ye Zheng lowered her gaze. Only she could see that a phone was clipped between the pages.

『Oh man, even a serious-looking saintess like you sneaks phone time!』

『As expected, humans can't resist playing on phones.』

The system rambled in Ye Zheng's mind.

From what the system said, phones in the higher-dimensional world had very rich functions—the forums and manga app alone showed that. There were apparently video apps and novel apps too—functions that did not exist in her world.

In the "Throne of the Aberrant Realm" world, phones were expensive luxuries with only communication functions. Even Pei Xi and the others' phones were issued by the competition committee for contact purposes.

Therefore, Yu Tianming and Sykes would never imagine that she—a fellow paper person—was avidly browsing something mysterious like forums.

Sometimes the system was right—don't keep yourself too tense. Though she absolutely would not read any CEO explosive love stuff.

[T/N- Ceo love is where a ultra-rich Male-lead fall for Poor Female Lead . You know that buying whole shop instead just a dress like normal people yeah that one . If you want some beginner stuff then you could just watch K-drama Dynamite Kiss(2025) , it's a sh!tshow but watchable sh!tshow.]

The forum was still arguing over Pei Xi versus Zhao Mei's spotlight. Fans who liked Pei Xi clearly had stronger fighting power—their arguments were everywhere. In contrast, those who liked Zhao Mei seemed much weaker, but unexpectedly, her popularity was rising rapidly instead.

A look of sudden realization appeared on Ye Zheng's face. She vaguely understood the term "fan abuse."

Yu Tianming sat opposite Ye Zheng, subtly observing this new teammate. Seeing her reading outdated old Church textbooks yet showing an expression of scholarly achievement, he was momentarily shocked by her devotion as saintess. His perception of saintess Ye Zheng seemed to become more complete.

Ye Zheng scrolled through the forum. Recently, readers had not produced much substantial content—just rehashing old topics.

There were also combat power rankings. Ye Zheng did not need to click in to know they were definitely inaccurate, because for now no reader would rank her combat power.

Though everyone was heatedly discussing Zhao Mei's true strength lately—even some guessing Zhao Mei might be the ultimate villain hiding in the protagonist group (though this view was niche; most preferred the white moonlight beautiful-strong-tragic male second theory)—Ye Zheng was more interested in the former guess.

Interestingly, even as the character herself, she found it hard to accurately position herself. Maybe she really was that niche ultimate villain.

Ye Zheng exited the forum with no fresh topics and opened the manga app.

Besides "Throne of the Aberrant Realm," she could read other manga too. Ye Zheng had curiously checked some out and found they mostly did not suit her taste.

Of course, "Throne of the Aberrant Realm" was the same. If not for being in this world, she would not pay it such attention. For example, in the latest original plot spoilers for "Throne of the Aberrant Realm," there was again a plot she did not like or understand.

The aberrant realm they were heading to—in the original plot, the Royal Academy team as villains would not only encounter the protagonist group but also unlock new characters: members of the middle district academy team.

In this original plot, the female lead Ye Zheng still had nothing to do, but another newly introduced female character seemed to have plenty of plot and her own highlights. It was clear the author had put effort into shaping this new character.

Not only effort in plot but also in appearance design—though Ye Zheng could not understand the author's peculiar fashion taste.

Ye Zheng looked at the newly introduced middle district academy captain on the screen. She had neat short hair that made even the saintess envious—heroic and tall.

Wearing a black tight long dress with high slits on both sides, small patches of fabric at the chest and both waist sides cut out in hollow designs—truly unexpected and utterly useless.

Ye Zheng tilted her head, staring at this sharp-tempered female character on the screen. She could not imagine that soon she really would appear dressed like this—this outfit would make even walking with large strides difficult, let alone fighting.

Sometimes saying the author cared about male characters but was perfunctory with female ones did not seem accurate. Ye Zheng looked up at her two teammates' hairstyles and clothing—such "clever ideas" did not appear on them.

『Sigh, male authors are like this—every now and then they throw in some fanservice with female characters to please male readers.』

"This manga has a lot of female readers too. Why not cut a big hole in Sykes's chest clothes to please female readers?"

Ye Zheng's gaze shifted to Sykes's chest tightly wrapped in fabric. Puzzled, she communicated with the system in her mind.

The manga author especially liked shaping ultra-popular villains like Sykes, right? He should add such reader-pleasing elements too, Sykes's popularity would definitely be even higher.

『No no no, the big villain's aura would drop instantly!』

The system simply could not imagine the proud and noble Sykes with a chest cutout...

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Authors Note

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Zhengzheng: Support Sykes chest window freedom!