The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 1035

Chapter 1034
Aragon de Vendome
Eivass silently looked at the old Duke.
—Whether the “Annie Alexander” who gave birth to him or the “Annie de Vendome” who is still alive now is the original, and which is the copy… but one thing is self-evident.
That is… this old Duke of the Vendome Family is Eivass’s true maternal grandfather.
It was only at this moment that Eivass truly realized…
He actually had a true, blood-related direct relative alive in this world.
The familial love he had sought from the Old Queen in the past, he had now obtained without seeking.
The old Duke also gazed at Eivass.
His pupils, which should have been emerald green, were now covered with a film, appearing a hazy gray. Even so, he could see Eivass’s face clearly without glasses.
“…So alike.”
The old Duke stared at Eivass without blinking, murmuring in a low voice.
Eivass sat quietly on the sofa opposite, Annie sat beside him, facing Sherlock. Arsen, who followed behind, hesitated for a moment, took off his coat, and sat alone on another side, occupying the largest sofa.
“Like… you?”
Eivass asked softly, “Like you did when you were young.”
Looking at this old man, who, despite his age, still showed faint resemblances to himself, Eivass became much more obedient.
“Heh heh… I suppose so.”
The old Duke’s answer was vague.
His voice was deep, and his laughter rumbled from the depths of his throat. Like the growl of a tiger or a lion.
He stared fixedly at Eivass and suddenly uttered a name: “Aragon.”
“What?”
“My name… is Aragon de Vendome.”
Old Aragon tapped his fingers on the armrest of the sofa, his tone gentle and calm.
Towards his suddenly appearing grandson, the old man’s voice was so gentle. As if he would scare him away if he were any louder.
“I will remember it.”
Eivass nodded seriously.
Silence fell on the table again, while Sherlock, who was drinking black tea, curled the corner of his mouth almost imperceptibly upwards. He pretended not to see anything, focused on his tea, and remained silent.
He did not speak first, directly telling Eivass about what he had encountered.
Based on Eivass’s understanding of Sherlock, this meant that Sherlock had found a clue but had not yet completed it—he always liked to maintain an air of mystery like this.
When he didn’t have a clear direction for a case, he always liked to discuss it with others to gain inspiration. But once he got inspiration and grasped the direction, he would suddenly fall silent— he particularly liked to act alone in this stage to verify his guesses.
Because that was Sherlock’s pride and reserve.
He did not want to voice a wrong guess; it would mean failure and would mislead others’ thinking. This was an unacceptable failure for Sherlock—he could not see the truth due to his own reasons, but he could not forgive himself for stating a false truth.
Once he was sure of everything, he would pour it all out like a torrent. You couldn’t help but listen, as Sherlock in this stage always had an unusually strong desire to confide an experience— he would continue talking about it the next time he saw you if he knew you were busy.
—It was like a tokusatsu fan or a TCG player excitedly talking non-stop to their girlfriend.
Seeing that Sherlock was immersed in the second stage, Eivass knew that there was nothing to be gained from talking to the riddle-master Sherlock, so he directly turned his head to look at the old Duke.
He hesitated for a moment before directly asking, “Your Grace… are you not feeling well?”
He was truly worried seeing old Aragon shivering from the cold to such an extent.
It was May now.
With the fireplace on and wearing heavy fur pajamas, he was still shivering from the cold… If Eivass didn’t have strong fire resistance, he would have felt dizzy from the heat after sitting for a while. Even though Arsen, due to the influence of his cultivation, was already accustomed to heavy clothes, he still had to take off his coat to sit down.
“Currently, I am probably among the top three healers in the Material Realm. If there are any physical problems, it would be more effective for you to find me than to take medicine or ask other Bishops for treatment.”
Eivass saying he was in the top three was actually being modest.
Even His Majesty the Pope now might not be able to match Eivass in his Sin Eater Beast form when it came to healing.
Old Aragon did not refuse, only smiling and looking at Eivass, “Then I’ll have to trouble you.”
Eivass’s pupils flashed with golden light, igniting the crimson Radiance symbolizing the path of Synchronized Devotion.
Without words or actions—the “Regenerative Blessing” that could slowly restore the body was already applied. Immediately after, a free “Radiance” was also cast on old Aragon.
The old Duke’s body instantly regained vitality. His purplish-blue skin instantly returned to normal and became lively. Even his hazy pupils regained their emerald green color. He seemed to be inflated, recovering from a shriveled state to a full one, and instantly looked twenty years younger.
Even Aragon himself was surprised, “This is… the healing ability of the former Pope? It truly…”
Hearing this, Eivass inwardly took note.
He clearly had not expected Eivass’s healing ability to be so strong.
Asking Eivass for healing before was probably just to not spoil his mood.
But from another perspective…
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Neither the Illuminate Spell nor Radiance could prolong life. To restore an aging body and thus prolong the physical state of youth was the domain of the Fire Worship art… it was the “company benefits” of the Candlemaster for those Priests who burned their own lives to illuminate others.
What the Illuminate Spell could do was merely “repair damage.”
—In other words, Aragon’s condition was not natural… but artificial.
Only curses or injuries inflicted by others would be healed when receiving the Illuminate Spell.
In game terms… only a depleted health bar could be healed; if the maximum HP was reduced, healing would be useless no matter what.
“…Why did you think healing would be useless?”
Eivass asked seriously, “Did you receive the Illuminate Spell from a Bishop, but it was useless?”
“Yes…”
Aragon immediately felt the heat.
He ordered the fireplace to be turned off and took off his pajamas. Annie clearly felt the cold, shrunk her neck, but said nothing.
Aragon realized this.
He did not immediately answer Eivass’s question, but first looked at Eivass and pleaded on behalf of his daughter, “Could you use that healing spell on Annie as well?”
“Of course.”
Eivass did not hesitate.
As a Priest, let alone that she was an alternate form of his mother… even if a stranger made the request, he would accept it. Regardless of reward—this was the resolve of a devotee.
As a devotee, if he had the ability to help others within his reach, and he watched them suffer without being able to act, it would be as unbearable as a glutton forced to fast, or a man with extreme thirst forced into abstinence.
After Annie received the treatment, she also touched her heart by chance.
“…It’s not cold anymore.”
“What exactly is going on?”
Eivass asked seriously, “Is it some kind of curse?”
“Perhaps… but I cannot be certain whether it is a curse or a blessing. I have also sought many methods of curse removal… whether it was the healing of a Bishop or the curse removal of a Witch, nothing worked. Even the ancestors… I never expected…”
Aragon breathed a sigh of relief, and the tension that had been constricting him also relaxed.
His expression was extremely complicated. Although he was saved, there was no obvious excitement, but rather a sense of annoyance and regret.
Annie spoke up beside him, saying softly, “In the past, among the Vendome family… there was an ancestor who committed a forbidden act. Since then, every generation of Vendome has suffered from a strange illness.
“At any random point in their lives, they would suddenly fall ill. After that, they would feel cold every night. The closer it was to midnight, the more severe the cold would become, and it would return to normal after sunrise.
“The longer one suffered from this illness, the more severe the cold would become. My brother, Berard, fell ill when he was six or seven years old and died at the age of twenty. The doctor said he froze to death, as if he had lain in a blizzard all night.”
(End of Chapter)