Gospel of Blood

After the “Cardinal’s Rebellion,” Charlotte stayed in the Holy Palace.

It must be said that the effect of the “miracle” before the sculpture square was very significant.

When Charlotte first arrived in the Theocracy, she could clearly feel the wariness from many clerics. But after she displayed the “miracle,” everything changed.

Continuous requests for visits, endless offerings of supplies, and the clerics in the Holy Palace treated her even more attentively than the attendants in the Starfall Kingdom.

Almost any request she made would be fulfilled, and any information she wanted to see would be delivered promptly, even if it was secret or forbidden church records. If she asked a cleric in the morning, it would be delivered by the afternoon at the latest.

The power of faith is truly strong. Charlotte could even see stars shining in the eyes of the clerics and knights when they looked at her. The almost overflowing fanaticism made her, the “fake Saintess,” feel a bit guilty.

The food delivered daily from the Holy Palace was varied and featured delicacies from the Starfall Kingdom and the Crescent Kingdom.

Many of these delicacies were rare even for the royal family of the Starfall Kingdom, especially the extraordinary ingredients containing magical power that were evidently chosen with great care.

As for the saintess’ attire and the sacred artifacts matching the saintess’ identity, they were prepared in a full set.

And this was even though Charlotte had not yet completed the formal certification of her saintess identity.

Moreover, the Theocracy even wanted to arrange a hundred female clerics devoted to God to serve her.

Of course, Charlotte politely declined.

The enthusiasm was overwhelming, so much so that even Charlotte felt uneasy.

She felt like a pop idol who had suddenly become famous overnight in her previous life.

No, it was even more outrageous than that. The clerics in the Holy Palace were more exaggerated than fanatic fans from her previous life when they saw her.

It can only be said that after the “miracle,” the Theocracy truly regarded her as a messenger of God and one of their own.

At least… on the surface.

As for why it was only on the surface, it was because Charlotte suspected this was also a way for the Sun Temple to lull her into a false sense of security.

Honestly, if Charlotte hadn’t already known from the Guardian Scepter that the Theocracy had been infiltrated to the point of being like a sieve, she might have truly believed in their enthusiasm.

Enthusiasm, yes, it certainly existed. Those true believers did indeed respect and worship her from the bottom of their hearts. Especially the high-ranking priests who wanted to visit her, the praises and devotions in their letters were so sincere it would be hard to write them otherwise.

But on the other hand, this was likely the calm before the storm.

Charlotte could still sense a vague feeling of threat, and it seemed to be growing stronger over time.

However, Charlotte couldn’t identify what it was, as if something was obstructing her investigation. She suspected it was some sort of artifact collected by the Holy Court that could block detection or divination.

Charlotte also couldn’t conveniently investigate it herself.

As a side effect of the miracle, she had become the sole focus of attention in the entire Holy Palace, with almost every gaze upon her, making it impossible for her to act alone.

Charlotte even suspected this was part of the Sun Temple’s plan to “trap” her in the Holy Palace.

Charlotte had considered leaving the Holy Palace to go into the Holy City, but after experiencing the fanaticism of the clerics and believers once, she gave up.

Taking on the “saintess” identity also imposed some constraints on Charlotte, preventing her from acting as freely as before.

There was no way around it. Just as the Sun Temple didn’t want to be exposed, Charlotte couldn’t reveal that she had discovered their secrets.

Fortunately, Charlotte still had her followers.

After careful consideration, Charlotte decided to let Sebastian and Nice investigate in her stead. She would command from behind the scenes and use bloodborne magic to create the illusion that the two had never left.

Yes, Charlotte couldn’t personally investigate, but she could use Sebastian and Nice as her eyes.

Moreover, if necessary, she could use their connection to perform God’s Descent!

As for the Guardian Scepter, the task of tracking the bloodborne captives was ongoing, in parallel with Charlotte’s task of finding the source of the threat.

In addition, Charlotte strengthened her connection with the Holy Court’s faith network daily with the help of the Guardian Scepter.

This was to prepare her to seize control of the divine artifacts later.

As for how to strengthen the connection, it was simple: pray according to the rituals provided by the Guardian Scepter.

The Guardian Scepter’s identity was unquestionable, Charlotte had repeatedly verified it. It was indeed the artifact of the God Harald and harbored no ill intentions towards her.

Through the rituals it provided, Charlotte clearly felt her compatibility with the Holy Court’s faith gradually increasing.

Moreover, as her omnipotence increased, Charlotte was surprised to discover that she could even grant her followers, like Sebastian and Nice, the ability to use holy power to some extent, similar to the abilities of blood servants.

This indirectly confirmed that blood divine power and holy power were indeed of the same origin.

However, when Charlotte expressed her desire to participate in the interrogation of Cardinal Priest Filiberto, the Inquisition politely refused.

According to the Chief Judge, heretical trials were the darkness within the Holy Court, and the Inquisition neither wanted nor wished to sully Charlotte’s eyes.

Charlotte was not surprised by this.

According to the Guardian Scepter, Pope Gregory XII was highly suspect, so it was certain that the Chief Judge, as his confidant, was also implicated.

On the other hand, Charlotte felt that the Sun Temple’s infiltration of the Templar Knight Order and the Demon Hunter Bureau was not as deep.

But to be safe, Charlotte did not rashly contact the Templar Knights or the Demon Hunters.

As for the daily invitations and visit requests, Charlotte declined them all because she was genuinely too busy.

Delegating intelligence gathering among the clergy to the Guardian Scepter was the wisest choice. Her personal involvement might be detected.

Days passed, and four days later, Charlotte received news from the Inquisition.

The “truth” and the “mastermind” behind Cardinal Priest Filiberto’s rebellion had been uncovered.

“The Inquisition claims that a faction of corrupt clergy attempted to overthrow the Theocracy’s authority, led by Filiberto and three other cardinals.”

“Nice and I secretly used the holy spells you taught us to verify this. Just like Filiberto, the captured clergy had no holy faith.”

Sebastian reported after gathering the information.

“And what about Filiberto?”

Charlotte asked.

“Dead. The Inquisition claims he committed suicide out of guilt.”

Sebastian replied.

Charlotte nodded slightly.

It seemed that Filiberto had been silenced. He was likely the one among the captured “false believers” who knew the most.

However, if they were going to silence the clergy and knights involved in the rebellion, why did the Inquisition also go to the trouble of capturing so many “false believers” who had not yet been exposed?

Among them were even cardinals, who were of Legendary rank.

This seemed unnecessary, especially since these “false believers” were also Sun worshippers.

Could it be that the Inquisition was genuinely “investigating”?

Or was Gregory XII worried that Charlotte would expose them first and discover something?

But that didn’t make sense, she hadn’t taken any actions in the past few days.

Something was wrong.

There was a significant issue here.

Every action has its underlying motivation.

So, what was the reason that made the Sun Temple, which wanted to deal with the myth that was Charlotte, take action even if it meant exposing and even killing some high-ranking Sun worshippers?

Or perhaps “disposing” of these Sun worshippers without divine faith was beneficial to their upcoming plans?

Charlotte fell into deep thought.