Chapter 82: Do You Still Have Time to Flirt?

The Red Queen’s aura was very unstable, and the specialist behind her had no idea what was wrong with this lord.

He glanced at the magic mirror, where the image was frozen on Hall’s face.

This young man was very famous in Saint Louis. He knew him.

“My lord, what is this?”

“Who is the person in the image?”

“Hall, Hall Faxtius. You know, the third son of that admiral from the Western Military District.”

“Oh, Hall?”

The Red Queen repeated, “Hall Faxtius, is that your real name?”

She quickly reined in her aura and began to ponder.

She couldn’t be sure yet that he was the Holy Son who had been missing from the order for three years.

After all, even if it was a one-in-ten-million chance, there were always people in the world who looked similar.

The reason for her extreme suspicion was simply because he had appeared at this tea party.

And a scene that would seem absolutely incredible to ordinary people was unfolding.

The Red Queen’s magic mirror could also see what was happening under the table.

Christine, the saintess candidate, was teasing him with her small foot, clad in a white cotton sock.

“You two really know how to flirt. Hehe… and you, Mandosha, I’d like to see what tricks the three of you are playing.”

The Red Queen watched the scene in the magic mirror of Christine teasing Hall with her foot under the table. Even though she thought it was not yet fully confirmed in her heart.

She was so angry that her back molars were about to shatter.

As for the specialist who had been talking to the Red Queen earlier, he had long sensed that something was wrong with the sage.

He went to inform the others first, and the plan proceeded as usual.

“Alright, today’s tea party ends here.”

The tea party ended after two hours.

These two hours were like sitting on pins and needles for Hall.

Christine had been teasing him under the table the whole time, but on the surface, she acted as if nothing was wrong and chatted with the noble ladies.

Occasionally, she would help mediate between Ye Wangxue and Leticia, and even ask Himan, “What do you think of Hall?”

It was very stimulating, a bit too stimulating.

Christine’s small foot would even climb up Hall’s leg.

He was really afraid she would attack him directly.

Now, as Christine put her foot back into her shoe and then stood up and announced the end of the tea party.

He was finally liberated.

Then, the several noble ladies bowed to Christine and said their goodbyes.

Leticia, for some reason, left in a hurry after saying goodbye to Hall, not staying for long.

Ye Wangxue, on the other hand, was yawning at the side. She felt this tea party was so boring. Most of them were naive young ladies who had not yet seen the world.

She had no common language with these people. The only thing she was satisfied with was that in terms of appearance, dress, and figure, she had indeed won.

In this round, the Eastern woman wins!

She planned to wait for Hall to leave together.

Himan didn’t leave either. She also planned to wait for Hall to leave together.

And Christine hadn’t said goodbye to Hall yet. It seemed she wanted to keep him for last.

Himan felt she had to observe, to see if Christine really liked Hall.

This matter had to be treated with caution.

So, ten minutes later, in the back garden of the Hero’s Cathedral, only Christine, Hall, Ye Wangxue, Himan, and Maria, who had been cleaning up and serving tea for the tea party, were left.

Seeing that there was no one else, Hall stood up and said, “Miss Christine, thank you for your invitation today. I’ll be leaving with my fiancée now.”

Keep your distance. Both in words and actions, you must keep your distance.

“Oh, Lord Hall, aren’t you going to thank me for my hospitality?”

Christine raised an eyebrow, picked up a delicate little teacup with her right hand. The milk tea inside was not yet cold. She blew on it, took a light sip, the meaning in her eyes obvious.

He understood what she was saying.

It seemed she had done it on purpose, but why would she treat him to such hospitality?

He had to admit, the feeling of the flesh on the sole of Christine’s foot, combined with the warmth and the moderate pressure, was indeed comfortable in this late autumn season.

“Then thank you for your hospitality, Miss Christine.”

Hall didn’t hesitate. Hesitating for too long would easily make Himan and Ye Wangxue suspicious.

“Heehee~”

Christine smiled with a hint of deep meaning.

Ye Wangxue was vigilant, smelling the scent of a conspiracy.

Himan had also been quite sensitive recently, so she said, “Then, Saintess Christine, we will be leaving now.”

“Wait a moment, don’t be in a hurry. I have one more thing to say.”

Christine suddenly took out a stack of special silver cards.

She spread them out on the marble table that had been cleaned by Maria.

“Let’s do a theological divination, everyone. Although it’s not guaranteed to be 100% accurate, it is still credible.”

This made Himan’s eyes light up.

In the eyes of the people of the Western Continent, the divination performed by a saintess was listening to the voice of God.

Not only could it predict the direction of personal destiny and the rise and fall of a family, but it could also influence the fate of a nation to a certain extent.

This heaven-defying power was one of the foundations of the separation of powers in the Papal State.

And Christine was only a saintess candidate, but her theological divination was also a rare opportunity. In the words of the Easterners.

It was peeking into another’s fate, which required consuming one’s own.

Therefore, saintesses were always short-lived. Even the first Saintess did not live past fifty, and died many years before the first Hero.

“That’s not good…”

Himan thought for a moment and still felt it wasn’t good. This might affect Christine.

“Haha, why worry, Miss Himan? It’s just for fun, not a formal divination. A formal divination requires bathing in holy water and then pricking one’s palm with a pure silver dagger to drip blood on the back of the card to complete. We don’t have to worry about this…”

Christine seemed to have seen through Himan’s thoughts and smiled nonchalantly.

“Okay, I want a divination.”

Ye Wangxue was always interested in divination, and her marriage to the Papal State was actually also to investigate the Western saintesses, to see if they really had the legendary powers.

If so, that would be too terrifying for Great Xia.

Although Great Xia also had children like divine maidens, their status was not as high as that of the Western saintesses, and their abilities were not exaggerated to the point of being “God’s spokesperson in the mortal world.”

“Okay, then Seventh Princess Ye can draw three cards from it.”

Christine pointed to the deck of cards.

Ye Wangxue drew three cards from it.

“Show them to me.”

She then flipped the cards over.

“Princess, Traveler, King. It looks quite optimistic.”

“What does that mean?”

“Nothing. It means it’s a good omen, Seventh Princess Ye. You can rest assured.”

Christine actually understood, but she didn’t want to say more.

“A good omen?”

Ye Wangxue didn’t care. She felt that Christine was being perfunctory because she couldn’t explain it.

So she decided to let it go. This wasn’t a formal divination anyway.

Seeing Christine being perfunctory with Ye Wangxue, Himan was actually a little tempted, but she was reserved after all and didn’t want Christine to spend her energy on her.

And compared to her own destiny, she was more concerned about…

So she said, “I won’t do a divination. If Hall needs one, you can do one for him.”

“Oh, is Hall willing to have a divination?”

“Yes, then you do a divination.”

Hall answered quickly.

Christine’s divination talent in the game was [S]. However, every time she used divination, it would cause Christine to lose some stats. The more she used it, the more she would lose in a single use.

So she couldn’t use it too many times. If she used it too many times, she wouldn’t even be able to fight monsters. Then what was the use of knowing the boss’s stats, distribution, and trigger methods in a dungeon?

But that was a formal divination. A regular divination like this was more like a means for the game designer to provide players with a way to pass the time when they were bored.

It basically didn’t count.

Now he just wanted to finish the divination and leave. He couldn’t be pulled into this any longer.

So he was about to reach out and randomly grab three cards.

But when he got the first one, his hand was pressed down by Christine’s small hand.

“Baron Hall, be a little more serious.”

“Yes, be serious, Hall!”

Seeing Christine cover Hall’s hand with hers, Himan’s blood pressure instantly shot up.

And then her temper flared.

She thought, ‘I specially gave up this opportunity to give Hall a better one, and he just randomly grabs cards?’

‘He probably did it on purpose, to make Christine stop him.’

Hall opened his hand, revealing the hand of the saintess candidate. It was something a man could never touch.

“Oh…”

Hall pulled his hand back.

Then he randomly pointed to three cards that seemed to be far apart.

He thought this would be fine.

Christine then drew the three cards in order.

Just as she was about to flip them over.

A red curtain suddenly rose directly above the entire back garden. On the roads in all directions of the Hero’s Cathedral, dozens of black figures seemed to be flashing.

He immediately became alert.

The Salvation Church had come!

At the sudden change, Himan had already drawn the Oath of Purity from her waist, and then she looked around, focusing her attention on the flickering figures.

She couldn’t be sure if these people were real, and just felt that they were some kind of evil beings.

If they weren’t evil beings, how could they appear at this time?

Although the Hero’s Cathedral was a public cathedral, the archbishop here was not of low status. He had at least two elite Silver Knights of level seventy or above under him, and a knight commander who had to be level eighty to be hired.

Although the knight commander might not be near the cathedral, those two elite knights would definitely be stationed on the east and west sides to ensure the safety of the tourists.

Not to mention, Christine was holding a tea party here today.

Specialists from the Judgment Bureau should also be nearby.

Why would someone dare to attack?

She didn’t understand.

Maria, on the other hand, hurriedly protected Christine and shouted.

“Lady Christine, please be careful. It might be people from a heretical sect. Please quickly use a holy scroll to contact Archbishop Malik to mobilize some of Lord Rohn’s vice-knight commanders.”

“Hall, are you for real?”

Ye Wangxue asked Hall in a low voice at this moment.

She was well-informed and knew that this red curtain was not simple. It probably had the effect of shielding information.

And to set up such a formation without anyone noticing, it must have been prepared for a long time.

“Yes.”

Hall nodded, feigning composure.

But he was frantically thinking.

‘It’s different.’

Although Christine was first attacked by the Salvation Church on this day in the game, there was no red curtain.

As for the boss who came to attack, it was just a small boss. As long as the player hadn’t slacked off too much in the first month of the route, Christine could easily find an excuse to send Maria away and then solve the problem alone.

Thus, although he was thinking about why this variable had occurred, he was not very nervous.

Christine was here, Himan was here, Ye Wangxue was here, and he was here.

Three heroines plus a built-in cheat.

If a player in Christine’s route had this configuration, they could stably reach the mid-game without any problems.

If other routes had this configuration, as long as they didn’t declare war on the Church, they could basically steamroll to the end.

“Swoosh!”

A red magic arrow broke through the curtain and exploded directly in front of Hall.

Himan subconsciously came over to block. The protection effect of the Oath of Purity and a little magic resistance didn’t hurt her.

Hall was also uninjured, because he also had protection in his body. A comfortable warm current surged through him, filling him with strength. His magic circuits were also exceptionally active, as if he could ignite a flame at his fingertips in the next second.

Looking back, Christine’s hands were already clasped together in a prayer-like gesture.

This person’s talent at the start was the invincible [S], and she came with dozens of different high-level holy arts. Any skill book the player found in the game, she could learn it in an instant.

“It seems Christine doesn’t plan to fight herself. In the game, she also deliberately hid her strength before the mid-to-late game, unless she was going to recruit other heroines and share their secrets.”

Hall thought for a moment.

Their combat power was indeed not bad. Two [S] and one [S] swordsmanship talent. Christine could just be a support.

Soon, more arrows rained down from the curtain, forcing Hall to give up thinking.

He reached out his hand to Ye Wangxue, and Ye Wangxue glared at him.

The meaning was, ‘You don’t have your own weapon?’

But she remembered the scene where Hall had liberated Moonbound and defeated Lenny and Dylan, so she still gave Moonbound to him and used her spare sword herself.

Although the spare sword was only of heritage quality, it was enough.

“Ye Wangxue, you go protect Christine and Maria. As long as they can continue to provide protection, we will be stronger than before, and our stamina will not decline.”

“I know.”

She didn’t object. At this moment, Christine’s protection was no longer limited to Hall, but had transformed into a hemispherical, pure white domain with a radius of about ten meters, with some starlight.

Within the domain, feathers would fall on Hall.

This holy art was Christine’s exclusive [Star Angel’s Holy Domain]. Its effect was to greatly increase all attributes of allies within the domain, and it also had healing effects, negative status resistance effects, and provided a stackable [Holy] attribute damage bonus to allies’ attacks, and a fixed amount of damage reduction.

It was basically extremely invincible, but the consumption for Christine herself was also great.

And this skill, like the [S] theology talent of Lorraine and the [A] of Leticia, could not be learned through any means.

According to the players’ statistics, no other person in the game could cast this holy art.

However, Hall always felt that after experiencing it personally, the effect was not as exaggerated as it was written in the game.

But his strength and speed had at least increased by thirty percent, and the splash damage from the red magic arrow explosions was also ineffective against him.

“Then it seems that the opponent’s strength should be similar to that small boss of less than level eighty in the game. They’re not planning to show themselves, are they?”

Hall looked at the curtain. The frequency of the arrow rain had gradually weakened. Such a formation also had a consumption for the caster.

They had two healers, so they were definitely not afraid of a war of attrition.

As for the shadows that had appeared in the garden, they should also be ordinary members of the Salvation Church. They probably didn’t attack because they felt they had little chance of taking them down.

But just as Hall thought that today’s incident was about to be resolved, a blood-red lightning bolt as thick as a giant’s arm fell from the center of the curtain.

It directly pierced through the dome of Christine’s [Star Angel’s Holy Domain].

“Lady Christine?”

Maria called out, supporting the seemingly tottering Christine.

Hall quickly glanced at Christine, wondering if something had happened.

Normally, the Christine who was hiding her strength should have a higher level than him, Ye Wangxue, and Himan at this point in the timeline.

But the situation didn’t allow him to worry too much about Christine.

Because the attack of that blood-red lightning bolt gave him a strong sense of déjà vu.

Could it be that the boss leading the Salvation Church’s attack today was…

—The Red Queen.

…

A woman in a red dress descended from the sky. The woman had long, flaxen hair, and her face, in her early twenties, was somewhat bewitching. Her tall figure was quite a turn-on for men, and the beautiful legs under her red dress were even slightly longer than Himan’s.

She was barefoot, her toes touching the ground, but a closer look would reveal that she was half-suspended in the air.

However, the most attractive thing about this woman was her blood-red, moon-like eyes and pointed ears.

Those were the characteristics of the blood clan.

And the blood clan was also quite special among the monsters. When the Demon God was alive a thousand years ago, the blood clan was the praetorian guard that protected the Demon God. Now, the blood clan controlled the Western Demon King’s domain, and was a constant threat to the existence of the Basel Empire.

Now Hall was sure that the person who had attacked today was indeed the Red Queen.

The Red Queen’s profile card was written like this.

Her father was of the blood clan and had fallen in love with a human woman. Her mother had died in childbirth when she gave birth to the Red Queen because she was pregnant with a child of the blood clan.

Her father was also hunted by the Church. In order for the young her to survive, her father had chosen to lure the pursuers away alone.

The Red Queen had nowhere to go. At that time, a member of the Salvation Church who was observing the Church’s actions nearby picked her up, and she had joined the Salvation Church ever since.

Because she was a mix of blood clan and human, the Red Queen’s magic talent was ridiculous. She perfectly had the coolness of the seven sages, but it was limited to the black magic type. Her talent for learning normal magic was only C-.

Her level cap was also very high.

Although the heroines would only encounter the Red Queen in dungeons in the mid-to-late game in many routes.

But at this moment, Hall felt that the opponent’s level was definitely not low.

If this were two years later, this lineup would be able to steadily farm the Red Queen.

But now, he wasn’t sure.

The entire inner circle of the Hero’s Cathedral was now under control, and the fastest support from the Judgment Bureau was five kilometers away. This was a illusionary formation. From the outside, it seemed that nothing had happened inside.

The Red Queen spoke lightly.

Her gaze swept over Hall, Himan, Ye Wangxue, and Christine.

On the way here, she had also briefly received Hall’s information from her subordinates.

She roughly understood the relationships between the people present.

To be honest, she kind of wanted to kill Ye Wangxue directly now, because according to the intelligence, Mandosha had been working with Ye Wangxue and had been active in Saint Louis for the past six months.

So Mandosha should have known that Ye Wangxue was Hall’s fiancée. The reason this woman had been able to live until now.

She could only think of one reason: “her status as a princess of Great Xia.”

But the influence of Great Xia in the West was extremely limited. The Salvation Church even feared the Holy Church, and did not mind provoking Great Xia.

Or perhaps, Mandosha wanted to use Ye Wangxue to join forces with Great Xia to deal with the Holy Church?

Then they could just exchange other benefits. She had not expected that Hall would have a fiancée.

Could it be that this man was just somewhat similar to the [Holy Son]?

Was he actually not?

Her gaze shifted to Christine, who looked almost faint.

Her expression turned cold.

“That Mandosha, she said three years ago that both the Holy Son and the Angel were dead. If it weren’t for [Demon] telling me that [Angel] was not dead but had become a traitor, I wouldn’t have discovered what she had been hiding all this time if I hadn’t come to Saint Louis.”

The Salvation Church was widely active in the underground, spreading its doctrines and opposing the Holy Church.

And the seven sages naturally had their own areas of responsibility.

Among them, Mandosha had chosen the most dangerous one, the Papal State.

At first, the Red Queen thought it was because she had fallen in love with the Holy Son and the Angel and was devoted to the order.

But now, it seemed that was not the case.

But if the [Holy Son] and the [Angel] were not dead, and they had obtained a piece of the Demon God’s legacy, they were just a few steps away from their great cause.

The Red Queen’s thoughts were in a turmoil. She planned to take Christine and Hall with her first.

After interrogating Christine, this traitor who served the Holy Church, she would then question Hall.

She also knew that Hall was sizing her up. It seemed that the other party did know her.

As long as he knew her, then his identity as the [Holy Son] would be confirmed.

Otherwise, how could there be two such similar people in the world, and both know her, a sage whose movements were usually secret?

“Are you from the Salvation Church?”

Himan spoke at this moment.

She was very straightforward, and didn’t quite understand the situation. She just asked whatever she wanted to ask.

“You don’t need to know.”

The Red Queen had no interest in Himan.

This, however, angered Himan.

She said to her, “You must be from the Salvation Church. A while ago, you and those spies tried to lay a hand on the Duchess of Child, and now you’re targeting Saintess Candidate Christine. It’s over. Leticia went back alone just now. You heretics of the Salvation Church will definitely be destroyed!”

This made Ye Wangxue a little embarrassed.

Then she glanced at Hall and thought, ‘Your cousin hates the Salvation Church so much. Can you still be a high-ranking member of the Salvation Church?’

But the Red Queen only showed a hint of a contemptuous smile at Himan’s words.

She only said, “Now, let Christine and Hall go with me, and I can still spare your lives. Otherwise…”

Hall also knew that it was over when he heard this. He definitely wouldn’t dare to go with a ruthless and decisive female lunatic sage like the Red Queen. As for Christine, if she lost in this side quest.

It would be over quickly.

He would still be dead.

So he wanted to take a gamble. There was no other way.

There was only that one move left.

The next moment, Ye Wangxue suddenly felt a warmth on her lips.

Her waist almost went limp from that kiss. It was not very intense, but her body’s reaction was unusually strong.

What surprised her even more was that she felt a steady stream of power being input into her body.

As for the others, they were completely stunned.

The Red Queen and Himan’s eyes widened.

Especially Himan. She was furious. She couldn’t understand why Hall still had the time to do this.

But after he broke the kiss, he only said softly to the still dazed Ye Wangxue.

“Time is limited. All we have to do now is to beat back the woman in red.”