CA - Chapter 111
Chapter 111
After a cup of tea in the garden, Audrey made an excuse and left. Although her official reason for coming to the Gosse Church was the divine ruins, she was actually more concerned with Lisa’s situation.
Upon leaving the garden, Audrey didn’t return to the residence the blonde bishop had arranged for her. Instead, she went straight to the detention cells.
Reese had instructed Mario to lock Lisa in a cell. When Audrey learned of this, she said nothing, merely ordering the Inquisitors beside her to replace the guards at the cells.
She also had Karen, who had just regained consciousness, moved to an adjacent cell.
In the short time it took to drink a cup of tea, the Gosse Church’s detention cells had been taken over by the Inquisition. Holy Knights from the Inquisition patrolled a perimeter of several hundred meters, prohibiting any unauthorized personnel from approaching.
Liz personally stood guard before cell number three. When she saw Audrey arrive, she stepped forward and said in a low voice, “Head Inquisitor Audrey, Priest Lisa has woken up.”
“Oh?” Audrey glanced at the cell door, her phoenix eyes narrowing slightly. “How much longer can she live?”
She had just learned that Lisa had used a forbidden technique to save her daughter.
Liz frowned, giving her best estimate. “About ten days or so.”
Audrey’s brow furrowed, a flash of displeasure crossing her face. They were a step too late. Lisa was clearly more useful than a Holy Knight who knew nothing.
What a pity. Ten days might not even be enough time to bring her back to the Holy See.
Audrey’s thoughts churned, but her expression remained impassive. She instructed Liz, “You stand guard outside.” With that, she pushed open the cell door and walked in.
Liz glanced inside through the half-open door, her eyes flickering for a moment. The door was closed from within. She turned and stood at the entrance, her thoughts already drifting elsewhere.
Lisa had just woken from her coma to find herself in a detention cell. She struggled to sit up, her back against the cold wall. With the power of darkness eroding her from within and her power of light completely devoured, she had no protection. The piercing pain in her body made her tremble uncontrollably.
Her consciousness was still hazy. Lisa closed her eyes and licked her dry lips. Her limbs were so heavy she could barely lift them, so she didn’t even have the chance to end her own life.
The crisp sound of footsteps gradually cleared her muddled mind. She opened her eyes dazedly, and the first thing she saw was the hem of a pure white robe, adorned with exquisite and noble patterns embroidered in red silk thread.
The absence of gold thread in the embroidery on the robe already proved the visitor’s identity. Lisa slowly raised her head to look at the person gazing down at her and called out in a weak, hoarse voice, “Audrey.”
Audrey stared down at her for a moment, her red lips curling into a beautiful yet mocking smile. “Bishop Lisa.”
As a former confidante of Archbishop Cambecus, Audrey had always kept this woman on her “special observation” list. She just never had an opportunity during Lisa’s time as a bishop. Now, an opportunity had presented itself, but unfortunately, the woman didn’t have long to live.
Audrey had always believed she could dig up many things that “interested” her from this woman’s mouth.
“Are you mocking me?” Lisa fought to keep from passing out. She tried to straighten her back but failed, slumping wretchedly to the floor.
In the past, whether facing Reese or the person before her now, her presence had never wavered in the slightest. She was nothing like the pathetic mess she was now.
From the moment she chose to give up her position as bishop to care for Karen in Eden, she had anticipated this day would come.
But she was tired. She just wanted to watch this child grow up, to see her wings gradually become full.
Yet she had given up everything, and in the end, she had still failed to take good care of Karen.
In that brief moment, a flood of memories returned to Lisa. She leaned her head against the wall, lowered her eyes, and said in a low voice, “I won’t say anything. You don’t need to interrogate me.”
Audrey raised an eyebrow and let out a low laugh. She squatted down and gently placed a piece of parchment on Lisa’s lap. “You’re not still waiting for Archbishop Cambecus to rescue your daughter, are you?” she asked, amused.
Lisa’s head snapped up, her eyes fixed on Audrey. “What do you mean?” she asked hoarsely.
“Archbishop Cambecus sent someone to find me.” Audrey’s gaze was filled with mockery. “He said that your defiance of the Holy See has disappointed him greatly, and he told me not to spare either of you.”
Lisa’s pale face turned ashen. With trembling hands, she picked up the parchment. She stared at it for a long time before a tear suddenly splashed onto her hand. She bit her lip and said in disbelief, “This is impossible…”
She wasn’t asking Cambecus to save her, only that he take Karen away…
He clearly knew Karen was his child.
Audrey was not softened by her tears. She rested her chin on one hand and asked with a smile, “Do you have anything you want to say to me now?”
“Say to you…” Lisa crumpled the parchment into a ball, her tone suddenly becoming agitated. “What good would it do? Can you change the Holy See? You don’t have the authority to arrest a Cardinal. You can’t do anything, Audrey.”
Audrey’s expression slowly darkened.
“I’m really jealous of you, Audrey.” Lisa’s eyes were bloodshot. Her agitation brought on a violent coughing fit, but she continued speaking in broken phrases, “You… cough… you people from the Inquisition know nothing. You’ve been shielded from the darkness from the very beginning.”
“What do you know about the Holy See? Upholding its honor…” Lisa scoffed. “Do you think you can protect something even the Pope doesn’t want to protect?”
“Lisa!” Audrey cut her off, her face grim. “I could kill you for that sentence alone.”
Lisa sneered, completely unfazed.
Audrey watched her in silence for a moment, her brow tightly furrowed. She took several parchments from her Space Gem, pointed at the contents, and said in a heavy tone, “I’ve investigated Archbishop Cambecus for five years. I found that the priests attending him are frequently replaced for no reason. Is he keeping priests as mistresses?”
“Although the Inquisition doesn’t have the authority to arrest a Cardinal, as long as I’m in the Holy See, I will make them pay the price.”
Lisa met her gaze for a moment, then her eyes shifted down to the contents of the parchment. “What Archbishop Cambecus has done is far beyond your imagination,” she said coolly.
“You can’t win against him.”
Seeing her refusal to say more, Audrey stood up and looked down at Lisa for a while. “I will take good care of your daughter,” she said faintly.
Lisa glared at her. “This has nothing to do with her. Karen is innocent.”
Audrey nodded in agreement and chuckled lightly. “That’s why I’ll let her stay in the Inquisition until the end of her days.”
“I’ll be back tomorrow. You can think about whether you have anything else you want to say to me.”
With that, Audrey turned and left impassively. Lisa, both furious and frantic, could only watch in despair as the door closed in front of her.
After Audrey left, only two Holy Knights remained guarding the cell door. It was as if all of Lisa’s strength had been instantly drained. She collapsed to the floor, her eyes staring blankly at the ceiling.
Suddenly, a strange sound reached her ears. A black vortex appeared on the cell wall. Lisa turned her head to look, stunned. Two people emerged from the vortex, one after the other. The one in front had long golden hair cascading over her holy robes, her face wearing its usual gentle smile.
Some light returned to Lisa’s eyes. She silently sat up and watched the blonde bishop.
The cell was well soundproofed, so there was no need to worry about the Holy Knights outside hearing anything, but Tang Qiu still waved her staff and set up a barrier.
She whispered a few words to Lucille beside her, then walked toward Lisa.
Lucille didn’t follow. Instead, she walked to the opposite wall, looked it over for a few moments, and unfurled a scroll. Erin, holding Little Fur Ball, emerged from a flash of black light.
Once Erin arrived, she immediately got busy.
Lisa glanced in that direction with a frown. Tang Qiu, knowing her confusion, kindly explained, “Karen is being held next door. This teleportation array is a type of witchcraft. It has no dark aura, so Audrey won’t detect it.”
Lisa was stunned, her gaze turning urgent as she looked at Tang Qiu. “You can save Karen?”
Tang Qiu smiled gently and shook her head. “I can only try.”
Those were probably the most beautiful words she had ever heard in her life. “I beg you, save her,” Lisa pleaded.
“My saving her has nothing to do with your pleas. It’s because she’s my Holy Knight.” Tang Qiu wasn’t here to talk about Karen. She took out some rotten fruit husks from her Space Gem and handed them to Lisa. “I found these at Rose Manor. You should recognize them.”
These were the husks of the Elf Fruits they had discovered at Rose Manor.
Lisa stared at the husks, stunned, her expression changing. She took them and nodded silently.
“There’s a Tree of Life in Eden. The Elf Fruits from Rose Manor came from there, didn’t they?” Tang Qiu watched Lisa’s expression, her tone calm. “The Vampires are using Elf Fruits to try and reproduce. Was this sanctioned by the Holy See?”
Lisa clutched the husks and looked up at Tang Qiu, surprised. “I can’t believe you know even this.” She had truly underestimated this person.
She sighed and said in a low voice, “What the Vampires are doing wasn’t sanctioned by the Holy See. The Holy See is merely providing them with the Elf Fruits.”
Tang Qiu lowered her eyes in thought, then asked probingly, “Are they being provided to Elder Evan of the Tzimisce Clan?”
Lisa was startled, then slowly shook her head. “It’s an elder named Eden.” As for which clan he belonged to, Lisa didn’t know. She had never even met the man, only heard Cambecus mention him once.
Tang Qiu frowned for a moment, then relaxed. She pondered for a moment before asking, “How did the Tree of Life get to Eden? Why is Cambecus providing Elf Fruits to the Vampires?”
Karen’s fate rested in the hands of the person before her. Although the blonde bishop had said she would save Karen for her own reasons, Lisa still didn’t dare to hide anything. “I don’t know why the Tree of Life is in Eden. However, it’s not Cambecus who is providing the Elf Fruits to the Vampires.”
“…He is acting under the Pope’s orders.”
It was precisely because Lisa understood this Holy See so thoroughly that she didn’t struggle or resist when she fell into darkness. She knew it was all useless.
Tang Qiu had already suspected this, so she wasn’t particularly shocked. She nodded slowly and said in a low voice, “So the Pope has always been in contact with the Vampires.”
Lisa shook her head. “I don’t know.” She only knew about Cambecus’s affairs.
Having asked all her questions, Tang Qiu saw that Erin was nearly finished. She was about to turn and leave when Lisa suddenly called out to her.
Lisa bit her lip, her expression conflicted, but it eventually settled into resolve. She looked up at the blonde bishop and said in a heavy tone, “I know it’s already a great kindness that you’re willing to save Karen, but I still want to beg you, no matter how difficult it is, don’t give up on her.”
“I can tell you Archbishop Cambecus’s secret.”
Tang Qiu stopped and turned to look at her, a flicker of interest in her sky-blue eyes. She tilted her chin slightly. “What secret?”
Remembering the letter from Cambecus she had just seen in Audrey’s hands, Lisa took a deep breath and said slowly, “Archbishop Cambecus has a teleportation scroll.”
“The Pope gave it to him. It can bypass domain blockades.”
A teleportation scroll that could bypass domain blockades was a true life-saving item.
“The scroll’s destination is a manor belonging to Cambecus in the Shas Principality.” Lisa recited the address in detail.
Tang Qiu raised an eyebrow, committing the address to memory. Then, her lips curled into a slight smile. “That is indeed a valuable secret.”
“There’s one more thing…”
“Oh?”
“Cambecus has other children.” Lisa stated something that surprised Tang Qiu. “He sent them all to the Inquisition.”
The Inquisition had a special status. Although it was far from the Holy See’s center of power, its duty to oversee Church personnel meant that others didn’t dare to move against them.
Although Cambecus had been preying on young priests and clerics, he protected his own children, keeping them far from such darkness. Karen was originally supposed to join the Inquisition, but she had preferred to be a knight since she was young.
Cambecus had initially disagreed, but Lisa was soft-hearted, which led to the situation today.
Lisa sighed inwardly. The thought of Karen softened her hardened heart just a little.
“There must be people loyal to Cambecus in the Inquisition. You must be careful.”
Tang Qiu looked at Lisa for a moment, then nodded in acknowledgment. She turned and walked toward Lucille, her eyes lowered as she pondered what Lisa had just said.
Cambecus’s descendants were in the Inquisition… and it sounded like there was more than one…
Just how chaotic had this Holy See become?
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