Chapter 109: The Most Important Letter

The first hour of the Holy Light Era, year 1035.

Himan was plunged into the most crisis-ridden contemplation of her life.

Although it was Sophia who was consulting her, asking if “denying one’s past view of a person is denying oneself.”

But Himan felt that this was not a consultation, but a question.

A question that had knocked on a certain part of her heart.

Since the underground street incident more than two months ago, a lot had changed about Hall.

Himan gradually came to understand that her cousin was popular with children, perhaps not simply because Hall had a handsome face.

She understood that he was changing, but Himan felt that Hall’s journey was like a roller coaster, from good—to bad—to good.

And recently, he had been very improper, with so many girls liking him.

Leticia and Ye Wangxue had even argued right in front of her.

But he could remain silent on the side, not saying a word.

Was it just because Leticia and Ye Wangxue had told Hall not to interrupt that he had been so obedient and not interrupted?

Couldn’t he have a bit of a man’s responsibility?

Himan was straightforward, very straightforward.

But Sophia’s question also made her realize that problem.

Had she herself denied her past self?

This question had been ignored by her all along.

She was unwilling to face it.

Himan’s pride made her unable to face it, and she had hidden it in her heart, never mentioning it to anyone, and rarely thinking about it herself.

In her view, no matter what, she was doing it to make Hall better.

To become the rightful sole boy of the Faxtius family, to inherit his uncle’s military rank and title in the future, and to become one of the pillars of the Papal State’s defense.

Was she denying herself?

At sixteen, was she denying the self before sixteen? Or was she, who was about to turn twenty, denying the self before nineteen?

Himan didn’t know.

Her impression of Hall had three stages.

The bad of the second stage had erased the good of the first stage, and the good of the third stage was gradually confronting the bad of the second stage with the good of the first.

The her before sixteen and the her now were confronting the impression of the her between sixteen and nineteen.

Who was denying whom?

Or had she never truly understood Hall? After all, most of the bad things about Hall were rumors.

Sophia’s question did not receive an answer from Himan, but instead made Himan herself fall into silence.

The two who could not find an answer just stood there under the light snow and streetlights, contemplating life.

Ye Wangxue and Leticia, on the other hand, were chattering and exposing each other’s faults, arguing.

One moment they would say this was wrong, the next that was not right.

And they would bring up everything they had dug up on each other again.

Actually, some of these things they had already brought up many times in their arguments.

But neither could convince the other.

That’s how girls were.

As long as they argued, they would definitely bring up old scores.

Even the oldest and most distant past events could be brought up.

Hall, on the other hand, was numb.

He stood by and listened.

Although the argument was fierce, both were well-bred girls, and it hadn’t reached the point of bringing up each other’s friends, family, and genealogies.

Ye Wangxue was also proud and did not use force against Leticia.

This time, there was really no winner or loser.

After arguing for a long time, it was just Leticia feeling that Ye Wangxue, this fiancée, was not worthy of her name, and why should she control Hall.

Ye Wangxue felt that Leticia was a shameless little vixen, always seducing Hall, a married man.

The same old topic.

Hall even felt that if they only argued about this, it would be fine.

After so many arguments, he was almost able to accept it.

After all, Ye Wangxue was going back to the Xia Kingdom soon, and they wouldn’t be able to argue in a while.

How to put it?

Blackening should be a process of accumulating emotions in the heart.

Only when too many emotions have accumulated will one blacken.

But now they were releasing their emotions, so Hall felt that it was unlikely they would blacken immediately.

And, after tonight’s events were over, he would have completed the mission given to him by the cardinals.

Next week would be the final exams.

After the exams, his file would be unsealed, and he would immediately run.

He would not return to Saint Louis before the next semester started.

“Mandosha Flower, did you come over and kill that imposter while I was unconscious?”

At this moment, Parousia, seeing that Saint Louis was not holding the usual Saintess Candidate group blessing ceremony this year, followed Mandosha Flower back to the underground street of the fifth district.

Walking on the dim street, she couldn’t help but ask the other party to confirm her doubts.

“It wasn’t me.”

“It was that human male?”

“Ah, yes, it was him. How about it, do you still have the heart to seek revenge on him now?”

Mandosha Flower flicked her hair with her hand.

Parousia immediately showed a “disbelieving” expression.

“How could he have that kind of strength? He was able to beat me, but it was just luck. It was all because of that sword. That sword made me lose my sense of direction, so he was able to sneak attack me. And the aura of that cross, it’s very annoying. It affects the precision of my blood control.”

The Rainbow Sky Sword and the cross were too much of a counter to Parousia.

So she felt that was why she had lost.

“Well, that’s a secret.”

“Wow, you seem to be very familiar with him. Is he really a mole your Salvation Church planted in the Church?”

“I’ve already said it. He’s my person. Why does Parousia have to be so fixated on this point? But why that imposter appeared still needs to be investigated. To be on the safe side, you should not show your face for now and just stay by my side. The cardinals will probably gradually lock down Saint Louis, but the lockdown won’t last long. When there’s a chance, you can leave your Prince and report on the mission’s progress.”

“What mission progress? I didn’t see Christine today, nor did I see the human man I was looking for. There’s no progress at all. I’ll definitely be reprimanded when I go back!”

Thinking of this, Parousia’s head ached above her neck, as if she was about to grow a brain.

“As for Christine’s situation, I can share the information with you. As for that man, I really don’t know the situation. If I find him in the future, I will naturally report to your vampire race. Of course, the reward will have to be more generous.”

Mandosha Flower said faintly.

Parousia understood.

So Mandosha Flower was waiting for this, she was after their vampires’ money.

However, as the race that controlled the taxes of Sunset City and a large number of ancient artifacts and art from the Demon God era, the vampires were indeed not short of money.

They were the big spenders of the demon race.

“Alright, Mandosha Flower. If you can really find the target that meets that condition, and after the Prince confirms it, we can offer a higher price. But besides Christine and the man we’re looking for, we still need to confirm a time for our Sage, the Red Queen.”

She continued, “At least we need to meet with my Prince. Because her father, who had an affair with a human woman, her nominal grandfather, is the oldest Prince of our vampire race.”

Mandosha Flower did not show too much surprise at this, as if she had already known.

She said, “Alright, I will consider it.”

In the morning.

Hall had not slept all night.

He was sitting in the apartment suite of Childland Park.

In the next room to the left were Ye Wangxue and Leticia.

To prevent each other from sneaking away, they had proposed to sleep in the same room.

In the next room to the right were Himan and Sophia.

Because of the question Sophia had raised, they had both fallen into thought and only fell asleep in the latter half of the night.

Hall had not slept because he had received a message from Mandosha Flower with an emergency magic scroll in the latter half of the night.

She had praised him for doing a beautiful job.

Hall had then asked her about the music box.

But Mandosha Flower had just joked with him, saying a bunch of charming words.

Hall couldn’t get anything out of her, and was even warned by Mandosha Flower to destroy the magic scroll after this call to avoid leaving evidence.

But Hall had another key question.

“You were in the dark the whole time. Did you notice any elites from the Judgment Bureau approaching?”

“No, my dear Young Master Hall.”

“Then the Judgment Bureau doesn’t care about the third district? With such a big commotion, no Church forces appeared. It’s very strange…”

“Yes, it is strange. Maybe they wish Sophia would die.”

“Maybe.”

Hall and Mandosha Flower’s conversation basically ended there.

Finally, Mandosha Flower said she was tired.

After the two said goodnight, they each destroyed the magic scrolls in their hands.

And Hall, with his doubts, had not slept since.

Because the situation was very strange.

The Church’s forces in Saint Louis, if they wanted to mobilize personnel, it would still be very easy to get to the third district in the first place to deal with that heretic.

But the Church had not made a move.

Perhaps they were gathering personnel to protect the remaining six Saintess Candidates.

In that case, the cancellation of the blessing ceremony during the New Year could be explained.

But Hall carefully recalled the game’s settings and his assessment of the quasi-vampire man from last night, and still felt that the Church itself was very suspicious.

First of all, the vampire man was in a semi-frenzied state.

How could he have attacked a Saintess Candidate without being discovered by the surrounding guards?

On such an important day.

There would surely be Knight Captains under the cardinals accompanying them.

Those Knight Captains were almost equivalent to the cardinals’ strongest private army.

Their equipment, if the player chose a route that was hostile to the Church, each of them could be considered one of the late-game bosses.

Super Perception was a necessary skill.

So he didn’t think that quasi-vampire could have escaped the Knight Captains’ perception.

Then there was only one possibility.

When the Saintess Candidate of the Bal Empire was attacked, the knight responsible for protecting her was not by her side.

Thus, Hall, who had not slept all night, quickly went out of the room, down the stairs, and got today’s morning paper from the hotel front desk.

As expected, the news of the Saintess Candidate of the Bal Empire being injured and attacked by a vampire occupied the headlines of all the major newspapers.

From these reports, one could vaguely glimpse the situation last night.

Hall then filtered out a few key points.

—The place where the Saintess Candidate of the Bal Empire was attacked was the dressing room.

—When the Saintess Candidate of the Bal Empire was attacked, the Knight Captain was accompanying the cardinal at the cardinals’ party.

—The Saintess Candidate of the Bal Empire was not killed, but her body was injected with blood containing a mixture of Demon God’s and vampire power, which almost completely erased her divinity. So far, she is still in a coma, and whether her divinity can be restored is still being observed by the doctors.

—The Saintess Candidate of the Bal Empire has now been sent to the former royal city of the Demon God to receive further treatment.

But Hall didn’t think that half-crazed quasi-vampire could have injected blood containing a mixture of Demon God’s and vampire power into the Saintess Candidate’s blood, instead of killing her.

Besides, this also seemed too deliberate.

And from the map of Saint Louis.

The location of the Bal Empire’s Saintess Candidate’s residence was a whole fifth district away from the embassy where Sophia was.

Although that vampire’s speed could quickly cross it, from last night’s situation, it was impossible that there were no Judgment Bureau specialists in the entire fifth district.

Many coincidences came together.

It made Hall wonder if the Church was doing experiments on the power of the Demon God again.

In the game, there was a route where Christine completely broke with the Church.

Some of the lines would say that they had to capture Christine and use her unparalleled divinity to dilute the influence of the Demon God’s power.

It wasn’t that humans and most races couldn’t control the power of the Demon God, but that their minds would be polluted by controlling the power of the Demon God and they would get lost in that powerful force.

But in the game, using a Saintess Candidate for experiments was basically after the Saintess election was completely determined in the early year 1036 of the Holy Light Era, and the Saintess Candidates who were not selected had lost a certain value.

It was now the beginning of the year 1035.

Had the Church’s department responsible for researching the power of the Demon God already made a breakthrough?

“I even suspect that that quasi-vampire was a scapegoat for the Church. He didn’t even enter the Bal Empire’s Saintess Candidate’s room. That Saintess Candidate was just simply injected with blood containing pure Demon God’s power…”

Having realized this truth, Hall began to think about his future actions.

The cardinals intended to make him the captain of the Black Knights.

Before they discovered his secret, they probably wouldn’t have any ideas about him for the time being.

But this also meant that he was very likely to be an enemy of many of the heroines.

That was naturally impossible.

Being an enemy of the heroines was a certain death.

If he went against the cardinals, he might die a little later.

“What are you thinking about? Your brows have been furrowed since early this morning. You had four beautiful girls with you for the New Year. Aren’t you satisfied, Young Master Hall?”

Moyel sat down beside Hall with breakfast.

She had also chased out after Leticia ran out last night, but had always just observed from the dark.

She saw Leticia and Ye Wangxue arguing with reason, their faces flushed in the light snow.

She just felt that her young lady had grown up again.

The Buddhist-like young lady who had no desire to compete in the past was becoming more and more competitive.

As the future master of a commercial empire, it was not good to have no desire to compete.

“Oh, it’s Moyel. What were you doing last night?”

Hall avoided her question.

“I wasn’t doing anything. My lady didn’t let me show my face. She faced your fiancée alone. How about it, were you conquered by my lady’s charm and determination?”

Moyel said, half-truthfully.

The reason she had appeared at this time was to take advantage of the absence of the other women to give Leticia a boost.

But Hall was silent on the side.

Moyel thought it was not enough to win over a scumbag with just this.

But she was not in a hurry.

She just continued, “Young Master Hall, think about it. If you marry the princess of the East, the cardinals will surely be on guard against you. You can’t possibly betray the Church, right? And that old man of yours in the East won’t necessarily fully support you. Even if he wants to, it will be difficult to exert his influence in the Papal State. If you marry the princess of Xia, you’ll at most have a few more political chips now, but this will lock your upper limit. But if you marry my lady and marry into our Child family, my lady can make you a cardinal. She’s not interested in that seat.”

“It seems Miss Moyel has misunderstood. I’m a very Buddhist person and have no intention of participating in any power struggle. My interest is to have pretty girls by my side every day, to be able to eat whatever I want to eat, not to worry about anything, and to live a carefree life.”

Half of Hall’s sentence was sincere.

If he could really live such a life, it would be ideal for his past self.

Now, Hall’s character’s death was too heavy.

He wanted to live a normal life, but from the progress of the plot, it would be difficult to live a normal life without dealing with those troubles.

“Oh, is Young Master Hall being sincere?”

“Sincere.”

Moyel was stunned when she saw Hall nod.

Because even if Hall wanted to, it would be impossible if he married Leticia.

The son of a general and duke marrying the sole heir of a commercial empire, and then living a peaceful and stable daily life, was quite funny.

Like a plot that would be imagined in a novel.

“But Young Master Hall also knows it’s difficult, right? Although my lady is also a Buddhist person, your statuses do not allow you to be so.”

Moyel said.

“It is very difficult, so I have to fight for it.”

Just as Moyel was about to say something more.

A small figure appeared at the main entrance.

And that person was Lorraine.

“Brother, you stayed here last night?”

Lorraine ran over in a panic, looking at Moyel beside Hall with a wary expression.

Lov’s figure also followed closely behind.

It was she who had brought Lorraine over.

Last night, Lorraine and Lov had waited for Hall all night, but he had not returned.

The two women were very worried in their hearts, so they began to discuss where Hall might have gone.

In the end, they locked onto the Childland Park where Leticia had last met Hall.

Because if Hall had been spending New Year’s Eve with Ye Wangxue, they should have returned to the Faxtius estate.

“Mm.”

Hall nodded.

But Moyel said directly.

“Miss Lorraine, your brother stayed in this hotel with my lady last night.”

Now Lorraine’s gaze turned cold, and her heart was in turmoil.

‘Could it be?’

Yesterday, she had only tentatively wanted to lower Hall’s divinity to pave the way for drugging Hall in the future, and at the same time, to observe Hall’s reaction, she had specifically used a delayed-effect charming item.

Could it be that everything she had done had just paved the way for Leticia?

“Uh, excuse me, did Young Master Hall sleep in the same room as Princess Leticia last night? I remember that Young Master Hall was supposed to have gone to see the Seventh Princess.”

Lov, on the other hand, was calm.

Moyel couldn’t lie and could only nod.

Lorraine’s cold gaze immediately softened.

“Last night, I celebrated the New Year with Princess Leticia, the Seventh Princess, Her Highness of Cateline, and my cousin. We were originally planning to go home, but something happened on the way.”

Hall briefly explained the situation, focusing on the heretic, and then avoided Lorraine’s related minefield.

It was just a perfunctory explanation.

Soon after, the awakened girls also came downstairs one after another, looking at each other with a bit more caution in their eyes.

“Lady Christine, last night was really thrilling. I didn’t expect that one of your rivals would meet with such a terrible fate…”

After the incident, they had been protected in the Saint Michael’s Cathedral.

And after dawn, the two of them were sent back to the Roan Cathedral.

But at this moment, Maria was still shaken.

In history, it was not uncommon for Saintess Candidates to be assassinated.

The assassins could come from a cardinal who was not on good terms with their own cardinal, or from a Demon Lord’s force, or from another country’s force, or even from an Eastern force.

And, generally speaking, the higher the probability of being elected Saintess, the more likely one was to be assassinated or have one’s divinity abolished by various means.

So Christine was not completely safe either.

“It’s fine, Maria. Last time, when the people from the Salvation Church wanted to take me away, they didn’t succeed, did they? The bishop will protect us.”

Although Christine was slightly shorter than Maria, she was the one patting Maria’s head.

“Lady Christine, why don’t we reduce our outings in the future? It’s less than a year until the Saintess election officially begins. If we get through this year, as long as you become the Saintess and become God’s messenger, no evil thing in this world can escape your light.”

“That’s also hard to say. To canvass for votes for the Saintess election, this year may be quite busy.”

Christine said faintly.

“It seems so, Lady Christine… In any case, losing one rival is a mixed blessing. I don’t know if the cardinal from the Bal Empire will establish a new Saintess Candidate, but to accumulate fame now, it’s definitely impossible to surpass you, Lady Christine.”

As Maria was speaking, she heard a knock on the door.

“Saintess Candidate Christine, a letter from Lord Roan.”

It was Archbishop Malik’s voice.

“Come in.”

The blonde, holy maiden calmly instructed.

The white-robed bishop then pushed the door open and handed Christine a letter.

She opened the letter, and her eyes narrowed slightly.

“It seems Lord Roan doesn’t want to rest.”

“This is a good opportunity, Saintess Candidate Christine. So I’ll have to trouble you to make a trip after the New Year.”

Although Malik’s words were respectful, his tone was very casual.

“Alright, please tell Lord Roan for me that I will complete the mission.”

Christine also answered calmly.

The white-robed bishop immediately left.

And Maria asked doubtfully.

“Lady Christine, where are we going after the New Year?”

“The Bal Empire.”

Her tone was faint, and her expression was still calm.

The time was January 3rd.

The discussion in Saint Louis about the attack on the Saintess Candidate of the Bal Empire had not yet subsided.

After the holiday, Hall’s final exams for the theoretical courses had gradually begun.

Sophia had already left the Papal State and was on her way back to Cateline.

Before she left, she had Tarasha give Hall a royal honor seal envelope of the Kingdom of Cateline.

If Hall had something to say, he could use this to write a letter and have it delivered to her in the shortest possible time.

Ye Wangxue still hadn’t returned to the Faxtius estate.

While preparing for the final exams to prove the learning ability and swordsmanship talent of an Eastern princess, she was also indeed planning to go back to the Xia Kingdom for a trip.

Leticia, on the other hand, had temporarily returned to the theology academy to prepare for the final exams.

Of course, this was just a formality.

As long as she didn’t turn in a blank paper, her overall grade would be [A].

And this afternoon, Hall, who had finished his first exam, returned home.

But he saw Lov standing at the door, holding a familiar-looking decorated envelope in her hand.

It was a letter from the cardinals, with a joint signature from the Judgment Bureau.

The content inside this time was very simple.

It just said.

—Captain of the Third Squad of the Black Knights, Hall Faxtius, your personal file has now been unsealed.