Chapter 178

Chapter 178

The two of them exchanged a glance, then laughed together.

“The education I received growing up taught me that everything has a price,” Emily said, walking to the wall and tilting her head up to look at the stained glass. “If wishes came true just because you made them, the world would be thrown into chaos.”

Sunlight cast multicolored spots across her face.

In the very center of the church stood an enormous Faceless Divine Statue, looking down from on high at the people before it.

Tu Nan raised her head to look at the Divine Statue, feeling a little puzzled.

Why was the Divine Statue’s face completely blank?

Didn’t the people who came here to pray find that strange?

She made a circuit around the church, but found nothing particularly special. Aside from that Divine Statue, she had already checked everywhere else.

Tu Nan cautiously approached the Divine Statue.

Once she reached its base, the Divine Statue seemed even more towering. The shadow it cast enveloped her, heavy and oppressive.

Almost everyone who came to the church to pray felt awe toward the Divine Statue. People like her and Emily were the exceptions.

Perhaps the Rule paper was hidden here.

“What are you doing over there?” Emily asked.

“Just looking around,” Tu Nan replied. Her gaze swept around the Divine Statue, and finally, behind it, she vaguely spotted half a sheet of paper.

She glanced back at Emily. Seeing that Emily wasn’t looking her way, Tu Nan turned her back, reached out, and swiftly pulled the paper free.

Tu Nan lowered her head and scanned it quickly. After confirming that it was a Rule Slip, she crumpled it into a ball in her palm and tucked it into her sleeve. Then she walked calmly back to Emily’s side. “We’ve pretty much seen everything here. Let’s go take a look somewhere else.”

Emily happened to be getting bored as well, so she nodded.

They walked out of the church. The Nun was waiting outside the door.

“Have you both finished your prayers?” the Nun asked softly. “Did you make your wishes to the god?”

“Of course,” Emily said without batting an eye. “Can the god really hear our wishes and make them come true?”

“The god is omnipotent.” The Nun revealed a somewhat strange smile.

“I heard that the Church will be sacrificing the Saintess in a couple of days,” Tu Nan called out. “Might we have the honor of seeing the place where the ritual will be held?”

The Nun did not refuse. She led them to a huge square behind the church, where a wooden stake stood in the center.

According to what the Queen had said, Xu Duoyi would likely be tied to that piece of wood, then burned by raging flames.

Tu Nan’s lashes fluttered, and she put on an expression of pity. “Are they really going to tie the Saintess to the stake and burn her to death? Isn’t that a little too cruel?”

The smile on the Nun’s face vanished at once. Her expression darkened, and she stared at Tu Nan gloomily. “Only fire can cleanse the sins from her body. Those who serve the god must possess clean and pure souls.”

“I just think it might be very painful for her,” Tu Nan said, biting her lower lip with a look of distress.

The gloomy aura around the Nun grew even stronger. Without anyone noticing when it began, her eyes had turned murky. Her face twisted into a ferocious expression as she snapped, “It is her honor to serve the god. Only filthy people feel pain. A pure soul feels no pain at all!”

“No pain at all!” She kept repeating the sentence, as if trying to convince them, or perhaps herself.

Tu Nan frowned.

“She seems a little off…” Xu Duoyi leaned closer and whispered in her ear. “We’d better not provoke her.”

More than a little off.

She was practically like a computer program that had suddenly bugged out, capable only of throwing up frantic pop-ups.
“I’m sorry.” Afraid the Nun might lose control if this went on, Tu Nan immediately tried to soothe her. “I was too ignorant.”

The Nun froze. The expression on her face seemed to empty out completely. It took her a long while to react, and when she did, she said mechanically, “It is all right. God will forgive the ignorant.”

“It’s getting late,” Tu Nan said, glancing at Emily. “I think we should be leaving. Miss Nun must be tired.”

Emily went along with it at once. “Indeed. We’ve disturbed you for quite some time. It’s time we left.”

“I’ll see you out,” the Nun said, returning to the way she had been at the start, a smile on her face.

Tu Nan finally understood what that strange feeling had been all along.

The Nun felt like a bot.

Her emotions did not come from the heart. They were preprogrammed, displayed in front of you according to a script.

As long as you respected God, she would smile at you.

Question Him, and she would go mad.

Tu Nan left the Church with questions weighing on her mind.

On the Carriage ride back, Emily was in low spirits.

“I thought there might be something interesting, but it turned out to be boring,” she said listlessly. “Aside from being a bit larger, and aside from the Nun looking somewhat unwell mentally, there was nothing special about this Church at all.”

“Is the Church in your kingdom different?” Tu Nan asked.

Emily shook her head. “The King does not advocate belief in gods. In my country, there is only one small chapel. That was why I wanted to come take a look at the Church in this country.”

“And what about the Witch?” Tu Nan asked. “Does your country accept the Witch?”

Emily’s lips curved faintly. “No matter where they are, those who are different are always ostracized. The Witch possesses wondrous abilities, and almost every ruler of every nation would fear that such power might threaten their position. So no matter where the Witch goes, the Witch is not welcome.”

As if remembering something, she added, “Usually, once people discover a Witch, the Witch’s fate is to be burned to death.”

Tu Nan’s expression grew grave.

“It seems you’re very interested in the Witch?” Emily asked curiously.

Tu Nan did not know what Emily thought of the Witch, so she did not answer rashly. After weighing her words for a moment, she said slowly, “I don’t know much about the Witch. Has the Witch ever done anything like murder or arson?”

Emily thought it over carefully. “There are indeed records of stories where the Witch cursed others. But you know how these things are-history is written by the victors. At the very least, I have never seen a Witch kill anyone.”

“You’re not afraid of the Witch?” Tu Nan asked.

“There are many things far more frightening than the Witch.” Emily’s words carried a deeper meaning. “For example… the King’s suspicion.”

Tu Nan looked deeply at Emily. She suddenly realized that since this morning, Emily had been testing her, intentionally or otherwise.

From deliberately taking out that Family Head Token to what she had just said, every move had been an obvious probe.

Perhaps Tu Nan’s reactions had satisfied Emily, so Emily had moved on to the next step.

Judy Carter was close to both Maria and Dennis. Tu Nan believed that with only a little investigation, Charles would be able to learn that beneath the kingdom’s seemingly calm surface, undercurrents were surging.

Not to mention, they had witnessed that grand spectacle last night.

“Any King would become wary of a subject who commands a large army,” Tu Nan said unhurriedly, looking into Emily’s eyes. “Let alone when that subject… also has a nephew who is about to marry the princess.”