Chapter 179

Chapter 179

Emily looked at her calmly.

“Duke Charles may be of noble status, but behind all that, I imagine his life isn’t exactly easy either,” Tu Nan said with a sigh.

Emily gave a soft laugh. “You’re right. To others, we look dazzling and untouchable, but only those of us standing inside know it’s nothing more than a castle in the air. Who knows when it might come crashing down?”

“Why are you telling me this?” Tu Nan asked softly.

“After last night, I had someone look into you a little. You’re close to both Maria and Dennis, so I’m curious-who exactly is the chosen one?”

Tu Nan’s brows twitched. “Would you choose someone just because I chose them?”

If that were truly the case, it would feel somewhat unlike Emily.

“Although I owe you a small favor and promised I would repay it, that favor clearly isn’t worth that much.” Sure enough, Emily answered without the slightest hesitation. “However, because of the bit of history between us, I’m willing to hear your opinion.”

“If you really have to choose, isn’t Tracy your best option?” Tu Nan asked. “He’s your father’s own nephew. Why ignore what’s close at hand and seek something farther away?”

Emily sneered. “In the face of absolute power, a blood tie like that becomes insignificant. My father pacified the rebellion for the current King, and now that things have only just stabilized, the King is already getting impatient. If Tracy ascends the throne, perhaps at first he’ll remember the Charles Family’s contributions. But it won’t take long before he starts to fear us-fear that the Charles Family might develop other ambitions.”

“He is indeed my father’s own nephew, but-he doesn’t bear the name Charles in the end.” Emily’s voice was very soft. “Other countries are different. They’d be delighted to see our country fall into chaos. They’d be more than happy to watch such a scene unfold.”

Emily said it lightly, but Tu Nan knew this was also a difficult road.

One careless step, and she would fall to pieces.

At the end of the day, the Charles Family was too prominent right now. Everyone wanted to drag them down and use their blood and bones as stepping stones to secure their own positions.

“If you choose wrong, your fate will be just as miserable,” Tu Nan warned. “You might even die faster.”

“You can think of me as a mad gambler,” Emily said with a smile, though there wasn’t the slightest emotion in her eyes.

Tu Nan suddenly thought of something.

“I’m one of Maria’s people.” Tu Nan looked straight into her eyes. “If you have to cooperate with someone, I suggest you choose her.”

“Oh?” Emily was somewhat surprised. “I thought you would choose Dennis. After all, with Eugene dead, his chances of inheriting the throne are greater.”

Tu Nan shrugged. “Compared to Maria, he’s far from qualified.”

“It seems you think very highly of Maria.” Emily propped her chin on her hand and blinked at her. “What’s your reason?”

“Because her desire and ambition are endless.”

Emily raised an eyebrow.

Having desires had never been a bad thing. Only when people had desires would they keep climbing upward for the sake of fulfilling them.

“I’ll take your suggestion into consideration,” Emily said seriously. “But you should understand that I must be responsible for the entire Charles Family. I need to be extremely, extremely cautious with this decision. At least for now, Maria hasn’t shown me any value that would make her worth cooperating with.”

“Perhaps you’re right, but her power is too small. When someone has no power, no matter how great their ambition or desire may be, it’s nothing but empty talk.”
“I’ll make sure you see it,” Tu Nan said with certainty.
—
By the time they returned to the Royal Palace, it was already afternoon.

Tu Nan immediately went to find Xu Duoyi and shared the Rule Slip she had found with her.

1. Whatever you believe in will exist.

2. You may make wishes to Them, but every wish comes at a price.

3. Anyone burned to death by fire within the Church will become Their believer, until the next believer burned to death by fire appears.

There were very few Rules, but every single one was loaded with meaning.

“The second and third are easy enough to understand, but what does the first one mean?” Xu Duoyi asked in surprise. “If I randomly believe in an ant, will that ant become a god?”

“Maybe it means that even an ordinary person can become a ‘god’ as long as they have believers?” Tu Nan guessed.

Then she told Xu Duoyi about the strange incident with the Nun.

“When I went there, the Queen was by my side the whole time. I barely said anything, and that Nun didn’t have any abnormal reaction either.” Xu Duoyi frowned. “From what you’re saying, could she be ‘Their believer’?”

Tu Nan nodded.

Otherwise, it was hard to explain why the Nun’s reaction had been so strange the moment Tu Nan raised a question.

“When you went, did you notice the Divine Statue of a beautiful woman in the church?” Xu Duoyi asked again. “I kept feeling like there was something odd about that Divine Statue…”

“Wait…” Tu Nan’s heart jolted, and she couldn’t help cutting her off. “You said the Divine Statue you saw was of a beautiful woman?”

“Yes…” Looking at Tu Nan’s expression, Xu Duoyi seemed to realize something. Her eyes widened slightly. “Don’t tell me you didn’t…”

Tu Nan shook her head. “I didn’t see anything.”

“Then why would I…” Xu Duoyi’s fear surged up all at once. “Does that mean something?”

“Don’t panic yet. Think back carefully,” Tu Nan comforted her. “According to the first Rule, could it be that you… have some kind of faith in real life?”

“I don’t believe in religion!” Xu Duoyi grew even more frightened. She tried hard to keep her voice calm. “I’m absolutely sure. I don’t believe in any god. But I don’t know why-I just felt that it should have been a Divine Statue of a goddess… and very beautiful…”

Her voice had gone a little dazed.

Seeing that something was wrong with her state, Tu Nan immediately interrupted her.

She raised a hand and waved it in front of Xu Duoyi’s eyes, warning her sternly, “Stop thinking about it. There’s something strange about that Divine Statue. The more you dwell on it, the deeper you might sink.”

Xu Duoyi snapped back to herself, still shaken.

The fact that the Divine Statue she had seen was different from what Tu Nan had seen made her worry about the upcoming ritual, but she understood that at a critical moment like this, she absolutely could not drop the ball.

Xu Duoyi gritted her teeth and took a deep breath, pushing the chaotic thoughts out of her mind before giving Tu Nan a smile.

“Don’t worry. I’ve been through plenty of Instances, and I still have quite a few life-saving items.”

Tu Nan knew Xu Duoyi didn’t want to distract her. A little absentmindedly, she nodded.

Why was the Divine Statue Xu Duoyi saw different from hers… What was the key here that she hadn’t thought of?

Which one of them had the problem-Xu Duoyi, or her?