Chapter 540
Death of the Blue Rose
The atmosphere between Loki and Pure White visibly became tense.
No one else dared to speak, and only Eivass could interject at this moment.
“In fact, Cardinal Loki,” Eivass said, tapping his chest thrice with his right hand, “I am personally involved in this matter—because that Bishop Mercedes, she died in the cabinet of my room.
“If it weren’t for Her Highness the Saintess having other important matters at the time, she would have been the first to see her friend’s corpse. I would have been a witness to it all.”
“And what of it?” Loki retorted.
He appeared calm, as if completely unaware of the matter of the White Congealment.
Eivass’s brow furrowed slightly.
—Was this Loki’s disguise?
Was he pretending to be ignorant of the matter to absolve himself of suspicion?
Just then, Pure White suddenly spoke, saying something that surprised Eivass, “Cardinal Loki, Eivass knows about that matter.”
…Huh?
Eivass looked at Pure White in surprise.
What did that mean?
Loki’s expression also shifted slightly.
He knitted his brows, looked into Pure White’s eyes, and said sternly, “You should know that such things cannot be told to outsiders. Especially not to the short-lived.”
“I have not told him everything, just as I have not told him those secrets about you,” Pure White replied, looking at Cardinal Loki with equal seriousness and sincerity. “This matter only concerns me.”
“That is not so. Our affairs concern the Church itself, and are closely related to you, me, and all of us.”
“But in the end, this matter is still my own.”
The two high-ranking members of the Church turned into riddle-tellers, arguing in words incomprehensible to outsiders.
—Yet Eivass, precisely because of this, could easily glean information that others could not perceive.
…Listening to them, Cardinal Loki seemed to have known about the White Congealment long ago?
No, according to their words, the entire council of Cardinals should know about this matter.
That was reasonable. Given Pure White’s upright and trouble-averse personality, she was unlikely to intentionally hide such a thing… Since someone could still use it to scheme against her, it meant that this secret was, in a sense, no longer a secret. Rather, Loki did not want more people to know about it… What was going on?
Also, what Pure White said about Loki’s secrets…
…Could it be that Cardinal Loki also had a secret that could be compared to the matter of the White Congealment?
Was this matter related to Controlled Fire? Was it related to his sudden death?
As Eivass pondered in his mind, Cardinal Loki looked at Eivass again.
“I am not the type of person who likes to repeat things, so I will only say this once more. If you don’t want to listen, I won’t tell you again.”
Cardinal Loki said solemnly, “The Church will fall into chaos soon—your timing for arriving here is not very good. If I were you, I would leave the Church first and return at the end of the year.”
Pure White, standing beside him, simply interjected, “I will protect him.”
But Eivass noticed that she did not deny that the Church would fall into chaos.
Cardinal Loki shook his head, “You cannot protect him.
“—You couldn’t even protect Bishop Mercedes, and you want to protect Eivass? The trouble surrounding him is far greater than Bishop Mercedes’.”
When he heard the first half, Pure White’s brow furrowed slightly—for Pure White, who possessed a calm demeanor like still water, this was already considered anger.
But upon hearing the latter half, she froze.
Her Highness the Saintess temporarily set aside her anger over her friend’s death, knitted her brows, and sternly questioned Cardinal Loki, “What do you know about Eivass?”
“My past is chasing me,” Cardinal Loki replied. “I will be out of my control.”
Pure White frowned slightly, “When?”
“Yesterday.”
“Have you prayed to the Candlemaster?”
“I have prayed to Her three times last night,” Cardinal Loki said, a slight, fearless smile on his lips. “Now it seems the time has come for my soul to return to the heavens.”
Pure White squinted at him, “Then… won’t you accompany me? I can protect both the witness and the sinner.”
“I’ve told you, that matter has nothing to do with me,” Loki replied, shaking his head and turning back.
“Was it the people from Controlled Fire?”
“That’s right.” To Eivass’s surprise, Loki replied.
“Who?” Pure White pressed.
Hearing this, Loki turned back to look at her and uttered a name.
“Gloria Blue Rose.”
Pure White’s usually placid, expressionless face showed a clear tremor.
Eivass, who had been quietly observing, suddenly raised his eyebrows.
He had heard that name before.
This was not a good thing.
“…Then where is Gloria?”
Pure White took a deep breath.
Loki glanced at her, then turned back to the mirrors.
He pointed to one of the mirrors, and a girl suddenly appeared within it.
Her flaxen hair was very short, even shorter than Eivass’s.
The next moment, her image zoomed in abruptly, expanding from a single mirror to cover the entire wall. The image, which previously only showed her face, now revealed her entire body.
Gloria was wearing a light and breathable white robe. She was short, appearing to be a girl of fourteen or fifteen.
And beneath her clothes, one could clearly see rows of crystal-like formations, resembling scars.
There were dense crystal formations on her palms, the backs of her hands, her shoulder blades, her collarbones, and her neck… She even moved stiffly.
What was most striking was her right eye.
Her right eye had transformed into a deep blue gem as beautiful as a starry sky, seemingly containing countless stars within it. It had no pupil or eyeball.
In her hands, she held a thick stack of letters.
They were “Confessions” written in slightly distorted handwriting.
One could faintly see that the contents described the act of murdering Bishop Mercedes.
She walked to the edge of the earth, near the edge of a ring.
Then, a golden radiance ignited in her hands—perhaps it was also a particularly bright amber.
Catalyzed by the light, the letters came alive one by one, transforming into paper cranes that flew out in all directions simultaneously. As the paper cranes dispersed, she tilted forward, spread her arms, and fell.
“…Gloria!” Pure White exclaimed.
She subconsciously took half a step forward, extending her right hand as if to grasp the air. But the moment it was about to extend, she slowly lowered it.
“…When was this?”
“This morning,” Cardinal Loki replied.
The next moment, he waved his hand.
The scene abruptly changed.
It was a leafless, twisted tree shaped through horticultural techniques. It was originally used as a seat, but now it was scattered with numerous gem fragments—blue, green, yellow, red… The entire tree sparkled, adorned with these shattered gems.
Only a gemstone face, with its eyes tightly shut, lay before the tree. It too was shattered into two large halves, with only the part above the chin remaining intact.
“Candidate Saintess Gloria,” Cardinal Loki replied. “Her congealment disease had long been in its terminal stage, and she only survived due to your heartfelt talks. But she had grown tired of this state for too long… Maintaining the status quo was also an act of twilight. ‘Stopping the congealment itself does not stop the congealment,’ this is a paradox of the elves.
“But clearly, rather than delaying the congealment and ultimately having her soul frozen in those sculptures, she preferred a brief and brilliant death.
“How can you define her actions towards Mercedes as murder… rather than salvation?”
Loki turned back to Pure White, “As far as I know, Bishop Mercedes did not resist when she died. Are you so sure she wanted to live, to be with you… waiting for the future congealment?”
This time, Pure White subconsciously averted her gaze.
“Your Highness the Saintess,” Loki said softly, “only one best Saintess can be born from dozens of Candidate Saintesses. They are all your substitutes; if you encounter an accident, they may become Saintesses.
“If you do not die, others can only remain Candidate Saintesses for their entire lives, cultivating techniques that resonate with the Nine Pillar Gods, living in the outer rings isolated from the mortal world. You should know how high the probability of congealment is for Candidate Saintesses.
“You say that because elves who do not easily congeal become professionals, thus professionals do not easily congeal. Then I ask you, does the inheritance itself truly not affect the probability of the congealment disease manifesting? The high congealment rate of Candidate Saintesses, the near-binding life-or-death relationship between each group of Pope’s Guards where one dies and another congeals… and your former mentor, Bettinaydia Flower—are the deaths of these individuals truly unrelated to the inheritance itself?
“—You are a success, a survivor, Your Highness the Saintess. Just like me. We are all fortunate. But there are always unfortunate people. Some cannot become inheritors, and some inheritors die. Among those who followed me, not all were professionals—there were also some inheritors seeking change, treatment, and release from the crisis of congealment. They are also elves.
“Now I ask you, Your Highness the Saintess—
“Is Controlled Fire truly in the wrong?”
Facing the Saintess and the four members of the Pope’s Guard, Cardinal Loki’s words did not waver in the slightest.
His gaze was as fervent as fire, and the crimson radiance burning in the depths of his pupils was like the sunset.
The sunset is twilight.
(End of Chapter)
