CA – Chapter 89
Chapter 89
The King of Gosse had been under the effects of witchcraft for too long. The power of darkness had already corroded his internal organs. Even if the witchcraft were dispelled now, he wouldn’t have much longer to live.
Tang Qiu told Maggie the truth, waiting for her to make the final decision.
Once the witchcraft was dispelled, the King of Gosse would die within a few days. At that point, the royal family would certainly face a new round of turmoil, and there was the matter of the new king’s selection… Tang Qiu subtly scanned the room. The knights standing guard all appeared to be Maggie’s people.
The King of Gosse was critically ill, yet the first-in-line heir to the Gosse Empire wasn’t by his side. Tang Qiu lowered her gaze to hide the flash of deep thought in her eyes.
After hearing Tang Qiu’s words, Maggie fell silent. She tilted her head back slightly, blinking away the tears welling in her eyes. Her voice was choked with emotion as she said, “…Dispel it.”
Tang Qiu glanced at her and said softly, “I will do my best to sustain the king’s life, allowing him to hold on for a while longer to handle the matter of the prince’s succession.”
The matter of Rose Manor might still require the cooperation of the Gosse Empire. Tang Qiu didn’t want the empire to descend into civil strife after the king’s death.
The more chaotic the Gosse Empire became, the easier it would be for the mastermind behind Rose Manor to fish in troubled waters.
Just as Tang Qiu finished speaking and took out her staff, about to cast a healing spell on the King of Gosse, Maggie suddenly spoke. “The prince is at Rose Manor right now.”
Tang Qiu’s hand paused, and her brow furrowed slightly. “Why is the prince there?”
“The nobles around him took him there.” Maggie lowered her gaze slightly, concealing the complex emotions and a glint of cold light in her eyes. She said in a low voice, “I know that Rose Manor is not as simple as it appears on the surface.”
“I have a premonition that it will destroy the Gosse Empire.”
Tang Qiu nodded in agreement and revealed some information about Rose Manor to her. “There may be vampires mixed in at Rose Manor. In fact, it is the Church’s next target for expulsion.”
Hearing that there were vampires at Rose Manor, Maggie’s brow furrowed. She looked up at Tang Qiu and asked tentatively, “If my father requested that you go to Rose Manor and bring the prince back, what would you do?”
“If it were the king’s dying wish, I would certainly agree to it.” As if not noticing the slight change in Maggie’s expression, Tang Qiu raised her hand and pressed her staff to the King of Gosse’s forehead. She then added meaningfully, “But what the Church ultimately needs is an ally who stands on the same side.”
What she needed was a new king who also wanted to drive Rose Manor out of the Gosse Empire.
As for which heir in the line of succession it was, Tang Qiu didn’t really care.
A white light emanated from the tip of the staff, continuously flowing over the King of Gosse’s body. The power of darkness was expelled by the light. The King of Gosse’s eyelids fluttered, and he slowly opened his eyes, but he was too weak. Before he could speak, he fell unconscious again.
Tang Qiu put away her staff and shook her head slightly at Maggie, who was watching her nervously. “He’s too weak. He’ll need to recuperate for two days after waking up before he can handle state affairs.” She took out a bottle of the purer Holy Water of Light she had obtained in Eden and handed it to Maggie. “This bottle of holy water will help him hold on for a while longer.”
Before coming to the Gosse Empire, she had already confirmed with Reese that there were no issues with this Holy Water of Light.
Maggie accepted the Holy Water of Light. She escorted Tang Qiu out, and just as they stepped through the doorway, she suddenly said, “If I were the one to ask you to go to Rose Manor and bring back the prince, would you agree?”
Tang Qiu turned to look at her and said with a smile, “That would require a certain price.”
Maggie pressed her lips together. “What do you want?”
Seeing her serious expression, Tang Qiu also became a bit more solemn. She lowered her gaze and pondered for a moment before saying, word by word, “I need the empire’s cooperation in rebuilding the Church’s prestige in the hearts of the common people.”
The trust of the Gosse citizens in the Church was already showing signs of collapse. Even though she had spent this period painstakingly expelling vampires and Black Witches, the results had been minimal.
Tang Qiu was already planning to switch to a different approach. If she had the empire’s cooperation, the effect would be much better.
Maggie didn’t agree immediately but thought for a moment. The commoners’ reduced faith in the Church was a good thing for the monarchy, but unfortunately, the Gosse Empire couldn’t do without the Church right now… She sighed silently and nodded in agreement. “Alright.”
“But I hope that after the prince is brought back, I will be the first person the Church notifies.”
Tang Qiu’s gaze swept over Maggie’s deliberately profound expression, and she said with a smile, “Of course.”
It was late at night by the time she returned to the church from the royal palace. As Tang Qiu stepped out of the carriage, she looked up and saw Karen pacing back and forth at the church entrance. Hearing the noise, Karen glanced toward the carriage and ran over to greet Tang Qiu. “Bishop Grace.”
“Whose knights are they, anyway?” Karen peeked past Tang Qiu to look at the departing carriage and asked with confusion.
As Tang Qiu walked toward the church, she replied, “They’re from the royal family.”
Karen’s eyes widened in surprise. Recalling the cold looks they had received when they encountered the empire’s knights, she frowned and said, “Are they here to cause trouble for the Church?”
Tang Qiu shook her head, unwilling to discuss the royal family’s affairs further. Upon entering the church, she had intended to tell Karen to go rest, but then something else came to mind. She paused and said, “Come with me. I have two letters I need you to have delivered.”
Tang Qiu returned to her room, picked up a piece of parchment from the desk, and began writing quickly. In a moment, the parchment was filled. She sealed it and handed it to Karen, saying in a low voice, “Deliver this one personally to the Bill Church and give it to Priest Monica.”
Karen took it and carefully put it away. Seeing Tang Qiu still writing, she ventured, “Is there more?”
This letter was much shorter. Tang Qiu sealed this parchment as well, then took out the piece of paper with Erin’s address on it from her Space Gem, which Erin had given her when they last parted. She handed it to Karen along with the newly sealed parchment. “Send someone to the address on this paper and give the letter to a person named Erin.”
Karen nodded. Just as she was about to leave with the two letters, she heard the blonde bishop say, “Have Priest Lisa come see me.”
Karen was taken aback. She subconsciously glanced outside through the window and frowned. “It’s so late.”
Seeing that Tang Qiu had already started looking through the pile of church affairs on her desk, she turned reluctantly, muttering under her breath, “Why do I have to go?”
She had no desire to see that woman who haunted her like a ghost.
Although she was extremely reluctant, Karen still walked to Lisa’s room, raised her hand, and knocked. With a blank expression, she said, “Priest Lisa, Bishop Grace wants to see you.”
The door opened from the inside. Lisa was surprisingly still awake. She came out and stopped Karen, who was about to turn and leave. Looking at her stiffly held arm, she asked with concern, “Your arm…”
Karen shook her off and maintained a distance of about a meter from her. She said coldly, “Bishop Grace wants to see you.”
With that, she turned and strode away, her figure disappearing around the corner.
Lisa watched her back disappear with a somewhat dejected expression. She closed the door and walked toward Tang Qiu’s residence with her head lowered.
When Lisa arrived at Tang Qiu’s room, Tang Qiu was still looking through church affairs. Although Willie hadn’t managed to persuade Lisa to cooperate with him, it didn’t mean he had been idle. He had deliberately sent all the church affairs to Tang Qiu’s desk, wanting to see her overwhelmed and in the embarrassing position of not having enough priests to help her handle them.
Lisa was aware of Willie’s petty actions, but she chose to ignore them.
Although she had refused Willie’s proposal to oppose the blonde bishop, she had no intention of helping the blonde bishop either.
“Bishop Grace.” Lisa stood in front of the desk, her head bowed as she said flatly, “It’s so late. Why did you summon me?”
Tang Qiu continued to flip through the documents in her hand without looking up. Her tone was casual as she said, “Priest Lisa, do you want to die?”
Lisa’s head snapped up, her composed expression finally cracking. She pressed her lips together, stared intently at Tang Qiu, and asked, “What do you mean by that?”
Tang Qiu put down the documents, finding Lisa’s question rather amusing. She looked at Lisa with a peculiar expression. “Do you think I’ve forgotten what happened in Eden?”
“Or do you think that with Archbishop Cambecus backing you, I wouldn’t dare to touch you?”
Lisa’s face turned slightly pale, and she remained silent.
Tang Qiu watched her quietly for a moment, a slight smile playing on her lips. Her tone was as gentle as ever. “If you don’t want to die, why did you come to the Gosse Church?”
From the moment she became the Bishop of the Gosse Church, she had been standing in opposition to Cambecus. Tang Qiu certainly couldn’t tolerate the existence of Cambecus’s influence in the Gosse Church. Although she had been busy expelling external threats during this time, she had also been deliberately giving Willie, Lisa, and the others time to “make their moves.”
The more people involved, the more convenient it would be for her to deal with them.
What surprised her, however, was that Lisa had actually refused to cooperate with Willie. Ever since arriving at the Gosse Church, she had been well-behaved and had never done anything out of line.
This made Tang Qiu begin to wonder why she had come to the Gosse Church in the first place.
Tang Qiu didn’t think Lisa was a fool. She must have guessed that she wouldn’t be spared, yet she still came to the Gosse Church, willingly walking into a death trap.
Lisa took a deep breath, trying her best to remain calm as she said, “I don’t want to die.”
Tang Qiu raised an eyebrow. She stroked the smooth surface of the desk and said lightly, “The King of Gosse was afflicted by witchcraft. The Church sent Priest Willie to investigate, but he concealed the matter and refused to use a healing spell.”
This was the first Lisa had heard of this. She frowned, then heard the blonde bishop continue, “I know that even if this matter is thoroughly investigated, it won’t shake Archbishop Cambecus’s position.”
“But for Priest Willie, this is undoubtedly an excellent reason to take a tour of the Inquisition.”
“Of course, when the Inquisition arrests people, they never just arrest one.” Tang Qiu glanced at Lisa and asked with a smile, “If you don’t want to die, you can go with Willie and the others.”
Lisa’s face was pale. She lowered her head and murmured, “…I can’t go to the Inquisition. I want to stay here.”
“I’ll do anything.” She looked up, her eyes fixed on Tang Qiu’s, and said in a deep voice, “As long as you spare me, Bishop Grace.” Her final words were laced with a plea.
Tang Qiu met her gaze thoughtfully for a moment, then raised her hand and slowly pushed a piece of parchment that was under the church documents toward Lisa.
Lisa picked up the parchment with a blank expression. She glanced down at it, her eyes sweeping over a few familiar names. She closed her eyes and said in a low voice, “I understand.”
She folded the parchment and turned to leave with a cold expression.
After Lisa left, Lucille jumped in from outside. She glanced toward the doorway and asked flatly, “You’re not going to kill her?”
She walked over to Tang Qiu’s side, leaned casually against the desk, and looked down at the top of the blonde bishop’s head. Her eyes were dark, and a crimson hue swirled within them.
Tang Qiu shook her head. She leaned back in her chair, looked up to meet Lucille’s gaze, and said softly, “She’s more useful alive than dead.”
Lisa knew too many of Cambecus’s secrets. Even if they couldn’t be pried from her lips, just having her in hand was a useful card to play.
Lucille didn’t know much about the Church’s affairs, but she wouldn’t argue with Tang Qiu’s decision. She raised a hand and twirled a lock of Tang Qiu’s blonde hair. Her dark red eyes flickered, her focused gaze sweeping meticulously over Tang Qiu’s gentle features and rosy lips.
She bent down, her somewhat cold hands cupping Tang Qiu’s face, and gently kissed her soft lips.
Tang Qiu was startled for a moment. Realizing that Lucille had pulled back after just a light kiss, a hint of a smile flashed in her eyes. She reached out, pulled the other woman back, and tilted her head up to capture Lucille’s lips, giving them a light, playful bite. “Have you forgotten everything I taught you?” she teased.
Receiving the blonde bishop’s response, Lucille’s eyes darkened. She knelt on the chair with one knee, trapping Tang Qiu between herself and the chair, then lowered her head and kissed her lips heavily. After lingering on her soft lips for a while, the tip of her tongue pushed past her teeth and delved inside, kissing her with a fiery and lingering passion.
By the time they separated, a trail of saliva that hadn’t been swallowed trickled down Tang Qiu’s chin, which Lucille then licked clean.
Her lips traveled from the chin to the side of her neck. Lucille opened her mouth and bit open the button on Tang Qiu’s collar, then pulled the collar open with one hand. She eagerly buried her head in the side of Tang Qiu’s neck, her sharp fangs piercing her skin as she greedily swallowed the blood that was so delicious to her it made one want to lose themselves in it.
Tang Qiu wrapped her arms around Lucille’s waist, her warm fingertips slipping under the hem of her shirt to caress her back suggestively. She tilted her head back and let out a soft gasp, her gaze, which was gradually regaining its clarity, fixed on the ceiling. “The full moon is in two days.”
Lucille’s feeding paused for a moment. She licked the blood from around the wound clean, then lifted her head and kissed the corner of Tang Qiu’s mouth. Though her tone was calm, her eyes held a fiery glint. “Have you finished eating that fruit?”
Tang Qiu blinked. “There’s still a lot left.”
Lucille silently lowered her eyes, her hand on Tang Qiu’s shoulder restlessly toying with the buttons on her clothes. She asked lightly, “What about the full moon?”
“I want to go to Rose Manor on the night of the full moon.”
Lucille’s fingers, which were fiddling with the button, paused. She looked up at Tang Qiu, thought for a moment, and said, “Your werewolf form would be safer.”
Tang Qiu pulled her hand out from under Lucille’s clothes, took out a bottle of Holy Water of Light, and handed it to her, gesturing for her to help treat the wound on her neck. “The prince of the Gosse Empire is at Rose Manor. The royal family wants the Church to bring him back.”
Lucille stated a fact flatly, “A corpse would be easier to bring out.”
Tang Qiu let out a low laugh, her tone helpless. “I think the royal family would prefer a living person.”
Of course, after he was brought out, whether the royal family needed a living prince or a dead one was Maggie’s own business.
As the eastern sky showed the first light of dawn, the small town of Trenton, which Tang Qiu had not yet had time to send knights to guard, welcomed two Black Witches dressed in pure black cloaks.
The ground was littered with dry bones, an eerie and desolate atmosphere they found quite enjoyable. One of them took off her hood, her soft hair tousled by the wind, slightly obscuring her smiling gray eyes. She tucked her hair behind her ear, surveyed her surroundings, and said with a smirk, “What a nice place.”
The Black Witch standing beside her crouched down and pressed her hand to the ground, carefully investigating something. She responded to her words casually, “Otherwise, we wouldn’t have chosen this place.” A gust of wind blew her cloak open slightly, revealing a corner of the blood-red robe she wore underneath.
Detecting a trace of the power of darkness with her palm, the Black Witch slowly withdrew her hand. She then took out a small knife and cut her finger. A drop of bright red blood fell to the ground and slowly seeped in.
The night wind suddenly grew wild, and the fresh air was replaced by the stench of rotting blood. The ground beneath their feet trembled slightly. A thick, blood-colored fog rose from the earth, and with it, a dark magic array with streams of blood flowing through it.
Glanna happened to be standing within the dark array. As the bloody streams flowed past her, she could feel a suction force trying to devour the power of darkness within her body. She stepped out of the dark array, her gray eyes fixed on the Black Witch who was carefully inspecting the array. She clicked her tongue and said, “Noah, sometimes I really don’t understand the way you Garcia family think.”
While carefully checking if the dark array was complete, Noah said casually, “I don’t understand the way you Anderson madmen think either.”
Although they didn’t understand each other, they wouldn’t interfere with what the other did.
Glanna waited patiently for a while. Seeing that Noah had finally finished inspecting the array, she walked over to her and asked in a soft voice, “Can we go now?”
Noah looked up at her, her expression hidden by her hood. She took out a handkerchief to wipe the bloodstains from her hands and asked in a low voice, “Where exactly are you taking me?”
Glanna let out a low laugh. She pushed Noah’s back, urging her forward, and said in a light tone, “To a good place. Your witchcraft is more powerful than mine, so I need your help.”
Noah turned to look at her, pondered for a moment, and then nodded. “I can help you, but I have a condition.”
Glanna shrugged and agreed with a nod before even hearing the condition. “Alright.”
“Even if it means borrowing that little madman from your family?”
Glanna raised an eyebrow. “You mean Erin?”
Noah hummed in affirmation.
Glanna thought for a moment, then continued to push her forward, saying with a casual smirk, “I’ll send her to you as soon as I catch her.”
The two figures moved farther and farther away from the dark array behind them. The bloody streams continued to flow silently within the array. The sky gradually brightened, and as the first ray of sunlight touched the ground, the dark array sank back into the earth, disappearing without a trace.
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