CA – Chapter 66
Chapter 66
Lucille was not joking.
If the blonde priest truly made that request, she was willing to help her through this full moon night.
She wanted to draw more warmth from her.
Just the thought of Beverly having left her scent on the blonde priest caused a surge of anger to well up in Lucille’s heart, making it unbearable.
Whether it was possessiveness over her “prey” or some other sentiment, Lucille did not want the blonde priest’s clean and warm scent to be tainted by anyone else.
She had discovered the blonde priest first and had been protecting her ever since, so she should belong to her. Lucille closed her eyes, hiding the turbulent emotions swirling within them.
Tang Qiu leaned against the other end of the tree trunk, toying with an ice-blue fruit in her hand. Night had quietly fallen, and moonlight spilled over her body, a familiar heat rising from within. The hand holding the fruit paused for a moment. She lifted her gaze and glanced at Lucille, her eyes meeting Lucille’s, who was looking right back at her.
She lowered her head and chuckled softly, holding up the ice-blue fruit Jemma had given her. With a curl of her lips, she asked, “Do you think this will work?”
Lucille glanced at it and said flatly, “...It will.” After all, it came from the Wolf Race.
Tang Qiu bit into the fruit. The skin was thin, and the juice inside burst forth, a sweet and sour taste spreading through her mouth. She carefully assessed her body’s condition and raised an eyebrow in surprise.
The heat had actually dissipated quite a bit.
Lucille had been observing Tang Qiu’s expression. Seeing her look of relief mixed with a hint of pleasant surprise, she knew the fruit had indeed worked.
She calmly averted her gaze, the emotion that arose in her heart an unknown mix of disappointment and something else.
With this fruit, her significance to Tang Qiu seemed to have diminished. Lucille lowered her eyes, the air around her growing slightly colder.
Tang Qiu did not miss the low pressure emanating from Lucille. With the heat suppressed and the danger of her estrus period temporarily resolved, Tang Qiu’s spirits lifted considerably. She looked up at Lucille, assuming her low mood was still due to their earlier conversation, and couldn’t help but say with a smile, “Do you really want to spend the night here?”
Although the tree trunk beneath them was thick, giving them some room to move, for a werewolf and a vampire, a slight surge of emotion could mean that not just the trunk, but the entire tree, would likely face the fate of being snapped in two.
This was not a suitable place for doing anything hot and passionate. Besides… their relationship didn’t seem to have reached that stage, had it?
Her probing gaze lingered on Lucille’s face. Tang Qiu stared at her for a moment, then suddenly leaned closer. Her long, snow-white hair fell onto Lucille’s lap with the movement. She looked into Lucille’s dark red eyes, her own gaze flickering as her lips curved into an unconscious, teasing smile. “Do you wish this fruit didn’t work?”
Lucille’s evasive gaze seemed to answer her question. Tang Qiu narrowed her eyes and suddenly asked, “Do you like me? Is that why you want to sleep with me?”
Lucille had never made such a request during the previous full moon nights.
Although she had been the one to start the topic, Lucille’s reaction was far too suspicious.
Lucille froze for a moment, her hands on her lap unconsciously clenching. She looked down at the strands of Tang Qiu’s hair on her legs, momentarily at a loss for how to respond.
She hadn’t thought about the question that deeply. The only reason she had said those things was because Beverly had made her feel a sense of crisis.
Lucille’s prolonged silence made Tang Qiu frown. A thought occurred to her, and she raised an eyebrow. “Could it be that you’re like Anna, just wanting a priest for a lover? Or… a werewolf lover?”
Having integrated into the continent of Statu, Tang Qiu knew that the customs here were very open-minded.
It was not at all strange for nobles to have several lovers. If two people hadn’t confessed their deepest feelings for each other, their relationship was generally considered that of lovers.
It was all for the sake of pleasure.
Who knew how many lovers the high and mighty Marshal Lucille of Edry had, Tang Qiu thought, frowning.
Of course she was different from Anna. Lucille frowned, wanting to retort. However, when she looked up and met Tang Qiu’s eyes, which were as pure and clear as the sky, her mouth opened, but in the end, nothing came out.
She wanted to possess this person, to make her exclusively hers. Lucille pressed her lips together, worried that if she said those words, the warmth in Tang Qiu’s gaze would vanish.
Lucille’s silence left Tang Qiu feeling a little disheartened. She sat back in her original spot and took out some medicinal herbs from the Space Gem Fanny had given her. While examining them, she said nonchalantly, “Perhaps there will be a chance in the future.”
“The fruit will eventually run out.”
The atmosphere suddenly turned cold. Lucille looked at Tang Qiu, who was sitting opposite her selecting herbs, and wanted to break the stiff silence but didn’t know what to say. She lowered her gaze and pondered for a moment before suddenly saying, “I don’t know the Violet that Beverly mentioned.”
Tang Qiu paused and looked up at her, puzzled. “You’re not his descendant?”
Could it be that Beverly was mistaken?
Lucille was silent for a moment, then shook her head slightly and said in a low voice, “...I don’t know whose descendant I am.”
“Oh?” Tang Qiu looked at Lucille in surprise, a flicker of confusion in her eyes. Could she have received the Embrace while unconscious?
“My mother never told me.”
Lucille said calmly, “I was human until I was ten. I turned into a vampire because a maid broke a plate, cut her hand, and I smelled the blood.”
These were the memories she had hidden deep in her heart, the ones she was most reluctant to bring up.
Tang Qiu slowly lowered the hand holding the herbs. She looked at Lucille and frowned. “You are…” Her transformation process sounded a bit strange. Moreover, after receiving the Embrace and becoming a vampire, one would forever remain at that age.
But that clearly wasn’t the case for Lucille.
Lucille knew what Tang Qiu was thinking. She said in a flat tone, “I am a monster.”
She was neither a vampire nor a human. She didn’t know what she was.
Although Lucille’s expression was as cold as ever, Tang Qiu could see that her spirits were very low. She was silent for a moment, then suddenly curled her lips into a smile. She reached out, grabbed Lucille’s calf, and gave it a squeeze, saying softly, “Then it seems we’re in the same situation.”
Lucille watched her quietly. Tang Qiu shrugged and said with a light laugh, “Isn’t a werewolf priest also very strange?”
It was very strange, which was why Lucille couldn’t contain her curiosity back then and decided to leave Edry to follow her.
Lucille met her gaze for a moment, then looked away and said softly, “You are very good.” Not a monster.
Tang Qiu smiled and withdrew her hand to continue sorting the herbs. However, her thoughts had drifted off somewhere because of Lucille’s words.
Not a vampire transformed through the Embrace, so what was she?
Both of them fell into their own thoughts. Time passed bit by bit. The night faded, and the full moon disappeared from the sky. The long, snow-white hair hanging down Tang Qiu’s back slowly returned to normal. She raised a hand to her forehead, enduring a wave of dizziness as the effects of her transformation vanished.
Perched atop a tree more than ten meters high, Tang Qiu steadied herself against the trunk and asked with relative composure, “What happened after I passed out?”
Her memory stopped at the moment she was ambushed while trying to rescue Monica in the leopard den.
Lucille got up and walked over to support the blonde priest’s waist, giving her a sense of security. “Monica was rescued. Someone used the high-level spell, God's Light, to destroy the Blood Domain. The fourth-generation vampire escaped.”
She gave a simple summary of the situation, omitting their recent conversation.
Tang Qiu nodded thoughtfully. A sudden clamor arose from below. She glanced down in confusion and could see many people lying on the ground through the gaps in the leaves. Judging by their clothes, they were priests from the Holy See.
She let out a soft “huh,” spotting a few familiar figures among them. After a closer look, she said with some amusement, “Who rescued Monica?”
Lucille paused, followed Tang Qiu’s gaze downward, and after a moment of silence, explained, “They were already gone when we went to the leopard den.”
As for why they were here now, she didn’t know either.
Below, people wearing pure white cloaks that concealed them completely appeared. Tang Qiu and Lucille didn’t rush down but continued to observe from above.
The Elves had thrown all the rescued priests under the tree. Delphine was earnestly examining the Space Gems they had confiscated from them. Every priest carried some Holy Water of Light in their Space Gem, not to mention there was a Priest among them, so the corners of her mouth lifted higher and higher as she checked each gem.
Some Elves gathered together, pointing at the unconscious priests and whispering, “Should we search them again?”
“Are their clothes valuable?”
“It would be great if we could get a ransom for them.”
Delphine interrupted their discussion. She took out all the Holy Water of Light from the Space Gems and then handed the gems to an elf beside her. “Put them back.”
All they needed was the Holy Water of Light.
The Elves returned the Space Gems one by one, relying on their memory. Delphine watched them with satisfaction. A leaf slowly drifted down onto her shoulder. She casually picked it up and brought it to her nose to sniff, a hint of confusion flashing in her light green eyes.
Delphine looked up at the treetop, which was obscured by dense foliage. After staring for a while, she softly chanted an incantation. The leaves suddenly began to fall, and two figures in black cloaks appeared in her line of sight.
Seeing that they had been exposed, Tang Qiu signaled for Lucille to take her down.
The Elves surrounded Delphine, watching Tang Qiu and Lucille warily.
“The aura on you…” Delphine’s gaze was fixed mainly on Tang Qiu. She sized her up and asked doubtfully, “Are you also a priest?”
The ring Tang Qiu wore to conceal her light aura had been lost somewhere long ago.
Lucille recognized Delphine and her group’s identity and whispered to Tang Qiu, “They are Elves.”
Elves… Tang Qiu was a little surprised. She first glanced at the still-unconscious Monica and the others, then lifted her cloak slightly and smiled at Delphine. “I am Priest Grace of the Bill Empire Church. They are my companions.” She pointed at Monica and the others.
When they heard her introduce herself as a priest and a companion of these people, the Elves’ wary gazes suddenly turned fervent.
Tang Qiu felt a bit baffled by their stares but maintained a calm expression and looked questioningly at Delphine.
Although she had always heard that the relationship between the Elves and the Holy See wasn’t great, Tang Qiu didn’t sense much hostility or killing intent from them. Their gazes, however, were rather strange.
One elf couldn’t hold back and said to Tang Qiu, “We saved your companions. You have to pay a ransom to take them away.”
“We only accept Holy Water of Light.”
“If you don’t pay, we’ll kill them.”
Although they had just been planning to leave these people here, seeing Tang Qiu didn’t stop them from changing their minds.
Tang Qiu listened to their jumbled and somewhat chaotic threats, blinked, and subconsciously looked at Delphine.
Delphine met her gaze, her light green eyes twinkling. She then held up one finger and said in a serious tone, “Only ten bottles of Holy Water of Light per person.” Though they were robbers, they had their principles.
Tang Qiu: “…”
So the Elves rescued people just to demand Holy Water of Light? For some reason, Tang Qiu was suddenly reminded of Jemma, who was far away in the werewolf territory.
She reined in her wandering thoughts, pondered for a moment, and generously nodded in agreement. “Alright.”
The Elves stared at her with bright eyes.
Tang Qiu took the Holy Water of Light from her Space Gem and placed it on the ground, saying meaningfully, “It’s just some Holy Water of Light. It can’t compare to the friendship between the Holy See and the Elves.”
Seeing how readily she agreed, Delphine’s smile became more sincere. She collected the Holy Water of Light and said in a cheerful tone, “There is no friendship between the Holy See and the Elves, but that doesn’t stop us from building a friendship between ourselves.”
She took out a green leaf and handed it to Tang Qiu. “I am Delphine, captain of the Saint Forest Mercenary Team. We occasionally take on missions.”
“But we only accept Holy Water of Light as payment.”
Tang Qiu took the leaf, glanced down at it, and then nodded. “Alright, I’ll remember that.”
Having acquired more Holy Water of Light, Delphine was very satisfied. She signaled for the Elves to feed some green liquid to the unconscious priests, told Tang Qiu they would wake up soon, and then led her people away.
Tang Qiu watched as Delphine and the others disappeared, then looked thoughtfully at the leaf in her hand and said to Lucille beside her, “Are the Elves this hard-pressed for resources?”
They had even gone so far as to form a mercenary team.
“The Elf race is very close to the light. Holy Water of Light can enhance their perception of the elements.” What Lucille knew was only from books; she wasn’t sure if there were deeper reasons.
Tang Qiu nodded. She put the leaf away and turned to look at the still-unconscious Monica and the others. A thought seemed to strike her, her expression shifted slightly, and she turned her head to meet Lucille’s gaze, a smile playing on her lips. “I was just wondering what excuse I could use to go back.” She hadn’t expected one to present itself so perfectly.
As she spoke, she walked over to Monica and sat down, leaning against the tree trunk behind her and closing her eyes slightly.
Lucille glanced at her, understood her meaning, and with a flash, found a nearby tree to hide in.
The liquid the Elves had fed Monica and the others was very effective. Tang Qiu hadn’t been feigning for long when she felt Monica beside her begin to stir.
Monica sat up in a daze, still disoriented by the unfamiliar surroundings. It wasn’t until she caught sight of the blonde priest lying beside her that the memories from before she passed out came flooding back. Her expression changed, and she raised a weak hand to push Tang Qiu’s shoulder, her voice hoarse. “Grace, wake up.”
Tang Qiu opened her eyes at the right moment, looking at Monica with just the right amount of confusion in her eyes. “Priest Monica.”
Monica helped Tang Qiu up, and before she could react, suddenly pulled open her collar to take a look, then said with a cold face, “Those vampires…”
Monica’s movement wasn’t fast, but Tang Qiu hesitated for a moment and didn’t dodge. Her neck had indeed been bitten, but it was Lucille who had done it.
In Monica’s eyes, however, she had been captured by vampires.
One by one, the others began to wake up. Monica sat and rested for a while, then reached for the Space Gem at her waist, wanting to take out a few bottles of Holy Water of Light to recover her strength. However, after a thorough search, she couldn’t find a single bottle.
A little puzzled, she silently withdrew her hand.
The Holy Knights were physically much stronger than the priests. Even though they had also been bitten many times, they were able to stand up after a short rest. They began helping the still-weak priests walk out of the forest.
Tang Qiu refused the Holy Knight’s help and walked beside Monica, asking tentatively, “What exactly happened? Why are we here?”
Monica shook her head. “I don’t know either.” She paused, then glanced at Tang Qiu and said softly, “But, thank you for coming to save me.”
When she had woken up in the cage and saw the blonde priest right before her eyes, the despair and dead silence in her heart had been dispelled by a rekindled hope.
No matter why the blonde priest had come to save her, Monica was deeply moved.
Even if she hadn’t been rescued in the end, Monica felt that in that moment, she wouldn’t have died as coldly and lonely as she had imagined.
Tang Qiu smiled and shook her head. “I didn’t do much.” She paused, then brought up the person who had been with Mario. “Do you remember the person who was with me? He’s Mario, from Archbishop Reese’s side.”
Monica froze for a moment and said nothing. She looked down at her feet. It wasn’t until they were almost out of the forest that she suddenly spoke, “You’re saying… she came?”
Tang Qiu recalled what Lucille had just said about someone using the spell God's Light to destroy the Blood Domain and already had a guess. She looked at Monica with a gentle expression and said with a smile, “I think Archbishop Reese came.”
To destroy the Blood Domain of a fourth-generation vampire, the God's Light cast by a bishop alone would certainly not be enough.
Moreover, Tang Qiu always felt that Reese didn’t seem as indifferent to Monica as she appeared on the surface. Otherwise, why would she have sent Mario, her personal attendant, to rescue her?
After they left the forest, they were quickly discovered by a search party led by Mario. Holy Knights came forward to assist them, and priests ran over to use healing spells on them.
Monica took the Holy Water of Light a priest handed her, drank a bottle, and felt some strength return to her body. She pushed away the Holy Knight supporting her. As she passed by Mario, she suddenly stopped and, after a moment of silence, asked, “Did she come?”
Mario kept his head down and replied, “No, Archbishop Reese is still at the Central Church.”
Monica’s expression, which had just softened, turned cold again. “Then what are you doing here?”
“The matter of the Shas Principality has been assigned to Archbishop Reese. I was sent here to assist Bishop Anthony and Bishop Ralph in expelling the vampires.”
Monica snorted coldly and walked away without another word.
The vampires were driven out, and Monica and the others were rescued. Aside from the sudden and unexplained disappearance of Bishop Anthony from the Shas Church, the mission was a great success.
Mario led the priests and Holy Knights from the Central Church back to the Holy See, while Bishop Ralph led Monica and the others back to the Bill Empire.
When rushing to the Shas Principality, Bishop Ralph had been granted permission to use teleportation arrays all the way. On the way back, however, they had to obediently travel by carriage.
The carriages were provided by the Shas Church and were few in number, so Tang Qiu had to share one with Monica.
Fortunately, though there weren’t many carriages, they were quite spacious, so it wasn’t crowded or awkward for the two of them inside.
Monica’s body had not yet recovered, and her face was still very pale. She leaned against the soft cushion, her tone filled with anger as she brought up Anthony. “Anthony actually dared to run away.”
Anthony had vanished without a trace. No one saw which way he went. Monica believed that he had seen the vampires defeated by the Holy See and, feeling uneasy, had simply fled.
“I won’t let him get away with it.” Monica had already sent someone to report to the Inquisition.
Tang Qiu, who was flipping through a book of light magic, looked up at Monica and, after a thought, said, “What is the punishment for colluding with vampires?”
Monica said icily, “To be burned to ashes by the flames of light.”
Tang Qiu lowered her gaze, absently stroking the pages of the book in her hand.
“But he has a Red-robed Archbishop backing him. And with the vampires either fled or dead, I don’t know if the Inquisition can still find any evidence,” Monica said with a grave expression.
If no evidence could be found, and with pressure from a Red-robed Archbishop, Anthony might be able to walk out of the Inquisition alive.
Tang Qiu asked curiously, “Which Red-robed Archbishop is he relying on?”
“Archbishop Cambecus.” Monica frowned. “...He and Reese have never gotten along.”
Tang Qiu raised an eyebrow. She saw that although Monica’s tone was still cold when she mentioned Reese, her eyes held a complex mix of emotions. She couldn’t help but venture, “Why didn’t you and Archbishop Reese go to the Central Church together?”
They were twins; it wasn’t a matter of one having better aptitude than the other.
Aside from their personalities, their talents were identical.
Monica turned to look out the window. Just when Tang Qiu thought she wouldn’t answer, she said in a low voice, “Because only one could go.”
“She injured me and went to the Central Church by herself.”
They were only teenagers at the time. Monica had only Reese as family, and she had truly trusted her with all her heart.
Monica raised a hand to touch the scar on her forehead, her eyes dimming. But the sharp blade that had been pointed at her had pierced that trust as well.
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