Julia said, taking out a scroll from the side. It was a replica printed by the foundry. The image had omitted some unnecessary details, preserving only the boy's holiness.
Lu Li leaned forward to take a look, then glanced with a hint of confusion at Julia, whose face remained entirely calm.
How did he remember this painting looking rather different originally?
In fact, his memory was completely correct. What Julia had sent to be printed was indeed not the original version, but a “sanitized” version with Holy Light edited in.
As for the original painting, she had naturally preserved it carefully.
“Even so, I must see it with my own eyes to be at ease.” Lu Li stepped back, placing his hands behind his back and looking searchingly at the young Cardinal before him.
Julia frowned slightly. “Are you trying to skip class again, Your Holiness?”
Hearing this, Lu Li's facade instantly crumbled. Realizing he couldn't play along in front of Julia anymore, he simply resorted to being shameless.
“What class-skipping? I don't know what you're talking about. But those children, I specifically instructed you to take good care of them!”
The boy put on an air that suggested he wouldn't leave if she didn't agree.
Of course, this was also one of his schemes. Since returning to the academy only meant listening to boring lectures, he would rather stay at the Secretariat, dragging things out for as long as possible.
But who was Julia? She saw right through his plot instantly and simply gave her assent.
“Very well, but Your Holiness does not need to attend the upcoming Secretariat meeting,” Julia said.
In fact, ever since the tone of the alliance had been established, the Secretariat meetings were nothing more than back-and-forth discussions regarding the traded resources and drafting agreements, all of which Lu Li had long grown tired of hearing.
It was just that, compared to listening to the theology professors' long-winded lectures at the academy, he would rather zone out at the conference table.
After a brief thought, remembering that there was still a poor little thing from the Eastern Continent waiting for him to “bully” back at the academy, he agreed as well.
Thus, for the very first time, Lu Li boarded a chariot of the Bureau of Heresy Inquisition.
However, the retinue for this journey was astonishingly massive.
Not only were the Cross Guards on horseback clearing the way in front, but the entire Holy Knights order escorted him, to say nothing of the execution knights from the Bureau of Heresy Inquisition guarding his sides.
“Is all this trouble really necessary?” He glanced at Julia and asked.
Normally, of course, such trouble wasn't needed. However, they had been pressuring the Vistari family—who controlled a large number of red mercury veins—very hard recently, so it was better to be as cautious as possible.
Julia replied, “For your safety, Your Holiness.”
Hearing this, Lu Li understood. It seemed she was seriously stirring up trouble, to the point where his own safety had to be prioritized.
He felt that after returning this time, it would be best to stay obediently in the academy to avoid unnecessary trouble.
Flora had initially thought they would all be dragged to some place and executed in secret.
But she hadn't expected everything Fiona said to be true. Far from harming them, those execution knights from the Bureau of Heresy Inquisition had actually sent them to a convent.
Here, they were not only given new clothes but could also eat their fill every day. The only thing that made her somewhat uncomfortable was that while thanking the Lord during daily prayers was one thing, why on earth did they also have to thank that so-called Pope-Emperor?
To Flora, that Pope was nothing but a dictatorial tyrant!
If it weren't for that fellow starting a war, her mother would not have died on the battlefield in Northland.
Bards often sang that the romance of kings was written in blood.
But who had ever stopped to think about how much that “romance” cost?
No one cared. No one cared about those miserable souls.
“Flora! Flora! It's His Holiness the Pope! His Holiness the Pope's carriage!”
After lunch, a friend's excited shout echoed outside the door. It was one of the children who had been “captured” along with her, and her only friend.
Flora frowned slightly. She had planned to take a nap during the noon break, but was woken up before she could even close her eyes.
“Inez, I'm sleeping,” she called back loudly, with no intention of getting up.
Suddenly, the dormitory door was pushed open with a bang, and a skinny figure came running inside.
She looked even smaller and thinner than Flora, but her eyes were extraordinarily bright.
“It's His Holiness! Don't sleep! His Holiness the Pope has come to visit us!” Inez shook Flora's arm repeatedly, clearly unwilling to let her miss this golden opportunity to be bathed in the Holy Light.
“I'm not going, I want to sleep!” Flora brushed her arm away.
“But this is a rare grace!” Inez said. “I absolutely must wake you up. I promised God I would!”
Driven to frustration by the nagging, Flora's stubborn streak flared up.
She gritted her teeth, stood up, and pushed the frail girl hard. “I said I'm not going, so I'm not going!”
Inez never expected Flora to push her suddenly. Caught off guard, she couldn't keep her balance and fell backward heavily.
The moment Flora saw her falling, her heart leaped into her throat, but it was already too late to reach out. She could only watch helplessly as the girl fell backward.
Thud—
A dull, heavy sound rang out in the quiet room.
After falling, Inez made no sound. Flora's face instantly drained of color, and she frantically jumped off the bed to rush to Inez's side.
“Inez! W-Wake up! Inez! Inez—”
She saw the girl's face turn deathly pale in an instant, a bluish-gray hue washing over it as her pupils began to dilate.
Only then did Flora realize Inez was bleeding heavily, her hair soaked red with blood.
“No, no, no! Hang in there, Inez! I'll take you to the doctor right away!”
Carrying the frail girl on her back with great effort, she rushed out of the room like mad, screaming for help as she ran as fast as her legs could carry her.
Yet at this moment, everyone in the convent was gathered at the cathedral to welcome the arrival of His Holiness the Pope. There was no one around to hear the child's cries for help.
By the time Flora stumbled into the cathedral, the poor girl on her back was already on the verge of death.
“Mother Superior! Doctor! Save... please save Inez!” She rushed toward the crowd, sobbing and breathless.
At the same time, the knights startled by the commotion drew their longswords, their gleaming blades blocking her path.
“Halt! Who goes there?” a knight bellowed in warning.
Flora's face was white. Ignoring the knights in front of her, she frantically searched the crowd for a specific figure. But with so many people present today, she could only cry out repeatedly:
“Mother Superior! Mother Superior! Please, save Inez!”
Yet no matter how she screamed, she received no response. Instead, the blocking knight frowned, looking as though his longsword might fall upon her without mercy at any moment.
Just as Flora was about to fall into utter despair, a boy's voice, sounding like sweet music to her ears, suddenly rang out.
“What is going on here?”
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