Chapter 513
Wait…
Did Eleanor start to believe in herself?
Charlotte was taken aback and barely stopped herself from diving into the Consciousness Communication Faith Network to check if it was true.
Speaking of which, she hadn’t been paying much attention to her believers recently.
There was no helping it, the prayers of the believers were just too noisy.
Ever since the establishment of the Faith Network, which allowed her to connect with her followers, Charlotte had come to deeply understand what it meant to be troubled.
She had less than a thousand followers, yet her mind felt like a noisy marketplace, with prayers in the morning, prayers at noon, and prayers at night… even deep into the night, people would occasionally pray, which was incredibly annoying.
So… Charlotte had long since blocked out most of the prayers.
Though her spiritual power was now strong, the soul power of her original body was still not capable of processing countless prayers like a computer.
Charlotte believed that other Mythicals surely had corresponding solutions, probably some kind of “tool” that could handle most of the prayers for them.
Otherwise, even gods would probably be driven mad by these incessant sounds.
Charlotte had also tried searching Albrecht’s memories for related information, but unfortunately… Albrecht was, after all, a legend. He knew how to ascend to godhood, but knowledge of being a god was utterly lacking.
Charlotte, being a novice herself, and having started “driving without a license,” could only set the Faith Network to a semi-activated state, not actively receiving prayers from anyone except a few Favored ones.
Only in her spare time would she immerse her consciousness, connect to the Faith Network, and selectively respond to prayers with particularly strong emotions.
Thinking about it now, she had been busy with other matters these days and had not responded to her followers for a long time.
Though it felt somewhat irresponsible to say, if Eleanor really had started to worship her…
Ahem, she probably didn’t even know yet.
…
After instructing Count Gaston with a few more orders, Charlotte sent him away.
The central meeting was ultimately not convened, and his blatant appearance was rather conspicuous; in the political turmoil of the New Moon Kingdom, Charlotte wanted to take advantage just beneath the surface, not to draw attention.
As for Gaston… his ambition was a bit too great. It was clear that she had bound him through a Blood Servant Contract and even specifically left a Mind Suggestion for unconditional loyalty, yet he still harbored his own thoughts and greed.
If there were mistakes to be spoken of, it was not his fault—considering the viewpoint of the Gaston family, his demands were indeed understandable.
But Charlotte was not quite satisfied.
After all, she had used Spiritual Control to dissolve the resistance of Gaston and his son; theoretically, after becoming Blood Servants, their way of thinking should prioritize Charlotte above all.
But as it appeared now… the contract was binding them indeed, but its effect seemed limited.
This made Charlotte hesitate about her original plans.
In her strategies, Count Gaston was meant to be a chief chess piece for her covert control over Bold, and she even planned to use his claims on the Duchy of Gaston to seek more power in the future.
However, if this chess piece could not satisfy her, then many things needed to be reconsidered.
Perhaps it was Charlotte’s guilty conscience.
Unlike with Albrecht, who “voluntarily” became a Blood Servant, Gaston and his son were truly under her punitive Spiritual Control.
Initially, Charlotte had only planned to use them until the war’s end, then remove their control, alter their memories, and let them autonomously perish back in Bold.
Charlotte had always been sensitive about using direct Spiritual Control.
She knew her self-control was limited and it was easy to develop a path dependency—once accustomed to Spiritual Control, many future solutions might rely on this shortcut.
And the very essence of a shortcut lies in its potential hazards.
Not to mention that any magic can be potentially undone by its very nature, even without being undone, forcibly controlling others’ spirits can easily cause one to lose oneself in power.
Charlotte was always sensitive about losing herself.
Therefore, she originally did not plan to keep controlling the two indefinitely.
But later on, Count Gaston truly earned considerable merit during the war, and his overall abilities unexpectedly met her approval, which then led to the discussion of making him the Regent Minister of Bold.
Gradually, Charlotte’s plan for Gaston shifted from erasing his memory after use to trying to see if he could become a true follower.
A true follower is different from being controlled by [Spiritual Control].
When someone becomes a true follower, even if the deep [Spiritual Control] in their soul is removed, they would still remain loyal to her.
In order to achieve this, during the war in Bold, Charlotte often kept him by her side and provided Gaston and his son with various preferential treatments and support.
But reality proved that Charlotte was thinking too optimistically.
From her recent interaction with Gaston, she had subtly sensed her own imprint within his soul and easily understood that his current loyalty to her was still dependent only on spiritual magic and the Blood Servant Contract.
If the contract were to be dissolved, they would likely go their separate ways immediately, and without the effect of spiritual magic, Gaston might even fall into anger and rebellion.
This was a hazard, and not entirely an improbable one, which was also the fundamental reason why Charlotte sought true loyalty.
As for the many favors Charlotte made to the other party after the contract… they had no effect.
To be serious, it wasn’t that Count Gaston himself couldn’t truly recruit followers.
In Charlotte’s view, this was a downside of “Spiritual Control” itself.
Unlike the forceful contract she made with Nisi, and unlike the way she threatened and seduced Yulster to become a Blood Favored, Charlotte’s previous followers had never had their thoughts manipulated.
Unmanipulated thoughts are the purest thoughts, a blank slate that can be freely painted upon, and also more likely to cultivate affection and loyalty through genuine interaction.
Even if, at the beginning, they may have been at loggerheads.
But “Spirit Manipulation” was different.
“Spirit Manipulation” might offer a shortcut to loyalty, but it also planted the seed of “distrust” from the very start.
After all, if there was real trust, why would there be any talk of “Spiritual Control”?
“Spiritual Control” was magic that forcibly obtained loyalty, but it was also a shackle.
It’s like having a stain on a blank sheet, any effort made afterward would be weakened by “Spirit Manipulation.”
It can’t be helped, feelings themselves are bidirectional, and one cannot expect the other party to truly be loyal from the heart while “distrusting” them at the same time.
After all, the other party had already pledged loyalty under mind suggestion, so any favor shown was somewhat taken for granted.
Not to mention that Count Gaston and her other followers were different, even without spiritual control, the count himself was an ambitious noble.
His initial allegiance to the Third Prince was not heartfelt but mutually exploitative.
Of course, Charlotte could choose not to think too much about it.
She could just use him as a tool, as long as she didn’t put him in any critical positions.
But who caused Charlotte to harbor further expectations previously?
Now it seemed very likely that she had simply been too sentimental.
“I was too greedy, I went with the mentality of finding a tool, and didn’t need to expect so much.”
Charlotte shook her head.
She no longer planned to have any further expectations of Count Gaston.
She would treat him as she always had and use him as she always had, since, in the end, he was her Blood Servant.
A tool can be useful in numerous ways, even an ambitious tool, once used correctly at the right position, can yield incredible results.
This was the skill of mastering others.
But for now, better not to think about it anymore.
Shaking her head, Charlotte no longer considered matters concerning Count Gaston.
She wanted to see what the situation with Eleanor really was.
Returning to the study, Charlotte dismissed everyone else and then sank into her consciousness, connecting to the Faith Network.
She had made contact with Eleanor and deliberately memorized her aura, so theoretically, if Eleanor had indeed become one of her believers, she should be able to find her in the Light of Faith.
The Faith Network unfolded, with specks of light twinkling, well over a thousand, all of them Charlotte’s believers.
And after a bit of searching, Charlotte actually found a new sparkle of light in a corner.
It was a rather bright light, relatively firm in faith among the thousand plus believers, and its aura brought Charlotte a similar familiarity.
That… indeed was Eleanor’s aura.
“She really believes in me? And… it seems like it’s quite a fervent kind of belief?”
Charlotte was puzzled.
She was certain she hadn’t preached to Eleanor.
No, or more accurately, she hadn’t expected the other to become her believer.
So what’s with this devout believer’s light of faith now?
Charlotte was surprised, skeptical, and curious.
After pondering for a while, she decided to personally “see” what was actually going on.
Operating the Blood Divine Power, Charlotte connected to the faith light representing Eleanor.
In the next moment, she projected her consciousness there.
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