Chapter 480
When he had met with Count Castel just recently, he had sensed that the other party’s strength was at the peak of Silver Moon.
What you need to remember is that in the records, just a year ago, the other party was still a Noble who had not awakened the power of their bloodline!
Although after becoming a Saintess, one’s strength would soar rapidly under the Divine Lord’s care, those fortunate enough could achieve similar feats.
From this perspective, the Great Priest’s judgment indeed had some merit.
With these thoughts, the Demon Hunting Cardinal finally calmed down, and with a wry smile said,
“Your Excellency the Great Priest, you are right, I was perhaps a bit too agitated.”
The Great Priest Charles nodded slightly in response, then continued,
“Let’s leave everything to time, maintain our vigilance towards her, whether she is the Saintess or not, she indeed has a connection with our Lord.”
“Even though she harbors dissatisfaction towards the Church, she still donates money and prays devoutly and has even received the Holy Light’s response…”
“She is worth our kindness and efforts to draw in.”
“Your Excellency the Great Priest, what about the ’Dark Night God’ and the Blood Demon Sect?”
“Keep tracking them but ignore that complaint letter from the Blood Demon Sect. The power of our Lord is the most pure, and it does not tolerate any desecration by the forces of the Evil God. If Count Castel were involved with them, he would not have come through the Eternal Day unscathed.”
…
After leaving the Lutecia Cathedral, Charlotte returned to her estate at number 7 Riverfront Street.
When she arrived, night had already fallen, and Sebastian, the Elf butler, was waiting diligently at the entrance of the estate.
After Charlotte entered the estate and changed her clothes, the Elf butler stepped forward and, with utmost respect, bowed,
“Master, I have found out why no Nobles had come to visit.”
“Oh? Why is that?”
Charlotte asked with a slight lift of her eyebrows.
Sebastian continued,
“In the time you visited the Church, I took it upon myself to investigate and discovered it’s related to the convening of the Central Assembly.”
“The Royal Family and the Nobles have an unwritten rule: within the week before the Assembly convenes, all Nobles are forbidden from hosting private banquets and gatherings…”
“Even the Royal Family must abide by it, supposedly… to ensure the fairness and integrity of the Central Assembly.”
Charlotte: …
She had not expected this to be the reason.
Count Castel, after all, used to be a vassal of Bold, and nobody in the Royal Capital had explained these rules to her.
So, it seemed she had been overthinking things before.
However, this was indeed a headache because Charlotte was not clear about anything to do with the Central Assembly, or anything in the Royal Capital, for that matter.
“Sebastian, since it’s an unwritten rule, how did you find it out?”
Charlotte asked.
Sebastian smiled faintly, revealing a mouthful of pearly white teeth:
“I caught someone snooping around the entrance of our estate and got it out of him.”
Charlotte: …
“Which family does he belong to?”
She inquired.
“Hehe, he is from a small family called Field, members of the Third Prince Party. Not just them, upon investigation, those watching us in secret belong to various families and factions, and it seems there are even people from the Royal Family.”
Sebastian responded.
Charlotte raised an eyebrow:
“Oh? So that means we’re in demand?”
Sebastian stood up straight, nodding slightly:
“Of course. You are someone who defeated the forces of two Duchy Alliance Armies. Despite the unwritten rule, nobody invites you during the meeting, but in reality, everyone is actually paying attention to us.”
“However… most of them likely bear no malice, and are more inclined to be neutral and curious. Otherwise, those observing us wouldn’t be these underlings.”
With that, he added,
“Moreover, I have also found out what happened to you at the city gate; the Noble family in charge of the city’s defense has the background of the Third Prince. They replaced the originally scheduled City Gate Guards at the last minute with those completely uninformed.”
Charlotte was slightly taken aback, and then scoffed,
“They can only resort to such underhanded tactics, that’s all the competence they have.”
…
After hearing Sebastian’s report, Charlotte went upstairs to the study of the estate.
Although she had returned from the Church, the unexpected entrapment in the Illusion Realm Divine Art had left her with some PTSD.
Even though the experiences after her return were entirely different from those in the Illusion Realm, and though Sebastian had already investigated the true reason behind the lack of Noble visitors, Charlotte still could not ease her mind.
She feared that her breakthrough from the Illusion Realm was still her own “misperception.”
With this thought, Charlotte dismissed everyone else, then decisively immersed her consciousness, attempting to enter the Dark Night Ancient Castle.
Crimson mist spread, and the grandiose and solemn ancient castle slowly emerged.
Sitting on the Blood Throne, and looking at the Blood Holy Scripture materialized in her hands, Charlotte let out a long sigh of relief.
Being able to enter the Dark Night Ancient Castle meant that her spiritual world had returned to normal.
Now, she had truly come out from the Illusion Realm.
“I still somewhat underestimated the Church’s power; the Church is more cautious than I envisaged, and they wield stronger forces. Even possessing the Blood Holy Scripture, I still got hit unwittingly. In the future, when dealing with them, I need to be even more cautious, especially when facing those Legendary Clergy…”
Charlotte murmured to herself.
She did not believe that her recent “performance” would really make the Church regard her as the Saintess.
She indeed had no interest in joining the Church. Joining an organization meant inevitably being subjected to that organization’s constraints, and the Church was an enemy of the Bloodline. Even if the stance of the Divine Lord Haral remained uncertain for the moment, rashly entering the Church would only put herself in danger.