TBR CH47

Chapter 47: Time Management

When Noah rushed back to the Holy Son’s residence, he happened to run into the knight who had come to check on him and the old priest behind him right at the door.

As time was tight, the Holy Son unhesitatingly plucked a rose from the flowerbed, held it to his lips to sniff its fragrance, and pretended he had simply come out to enjoy the scent of the flowers. Under the sunlight, the Holy Son of the Church exuded an aura of sacred beauty.

Noah tried his best to ignore the sticky discomfort of the sweat from his hasty journey, maintained his carefully crafted pose, and lifted his eyes to smile at the Holy Knight.

That was the charm that could captivate all living beings. The Holy Son believed this firmly.

“Hello,” he made his voice sound sweeter and more moving, looking at the other with an expression of innocent ignorance. “I was just a little bored, so I came out for a walk… Did I do something wrong?”

Noah wasn’t sure if the Holy Knight had questioned any of the passersby who had seen him before confirming his safety, so he deliberately used the vague term “walk.”

The Holy Knight’s attitude visibly softened. He became dizzy in the Holy Son’s smile, momentarily forgetting his purpose for being there, and just waved his hand, saying, “It’s nothing, it’s nothing. We’ve disturbed His Highness the Holy Son.”

The charismatic halo was working well. Noah was familiar with this state and was very confident that the person before him would now believe anything he said. The man had already become a captive of his charms.

Just as a sense of relief washed over him, a feeling of contempt also surged in Noah’s heart.

There are so many of these kinds of people, all of them foolish little things…

Just as this self-satisfied thought began to spread, it was suddenly interrupted by a low and stern voice.

It was the old priest.

His cloudy eyes stared at Noah. He placed his hands together on his chest and murmured a couple of lines from the scriptures for expelling evil. Noah looked at him, and a sense of foreboding suddenly rose in his heart. His fingers involuntarily clenched, crushing the rose petals in his hand. A little bit of flower juice stained his knuckles.

“System, I’ll confirm one more time,” Noah’s tone was unsteady, a little afraid of the unknown. “People of all ages will be affected by the charisma system and will have a very high initial favorability towards me, right?”

Almost in an instant, the system gave an affirmative answer.

Then, the situation at hand must be wrong.

Noah barely maintained his smile, while the Holy Knight had already turned around in confusion, seemingly about to ask a question. This old priest, although not high in rank, had dedicated his entire life to the Church. While the Church was not an entirely clean place, most people would show a little more respect to an elder who did not involve their own interests. The young knight addressed him as “Father Bart.”

At this moment, Noah could feel with extreme clarity the sharp suspicion in the other’s gaze directed at him. But he was as devout and old-fashioned as his appearance suggested, so he did not intend to state it publicly.

“Your Highness the Holy Son,” Father Bart said, “I think we need to meet alone.”

The knight seemed to sense his resistance and wanted to speak up for Noah, or at least not let him face the serious priest alone. But His Highness the Holy Son, who was usually so obedient and pure, suddenly pushed away the hand blocking his way.

“W-we’ll talk inside.” Noah bit his lip and, under the knight’s puzzled gaze, agreed to the request.

The Holy Son’s residence was the place in the entire Holy See that best displayed the grace of the god. Simplicity and modesty were the image of the clergy, but Noah was happy to enjoy the lavish treatment this status brought him.

The room was filled with objects made of pure gold, and pearls the size of a palm were used as casual decorations. Fruits of various kinds, still dewy from the royal orchards, were displayed in abundance. All this did not match the old priest, who was dressed in a somewhat worn, starched robe.

His words were also ice-cold. “Your Highness the Holy Son, I must solemnly warn you,” The first sentence was enough to make Noah’s heart pound with fear, and he continued resolutely and unstoppably, “I saw.”

“Wh-what…” Noah had no reaction at all, but he subconsciously put on a frail and innocent expression. “I don’t understand what you’re saying…”

“Your Highness the Holy Son, I hold for you the same reverence as I do for serving the god, which is why I must privately remind you not to let your mind be deluded by the devil. That man you were in contact with in the Holy See today has an ominous aura about him.”

“How much did you see—” At this point, it seemed pointless to feign ignorance. Noah regained a little composure. The other party didn’t seem to want to make this public, which meant there was room for maneuver.

The old priest gave him a reproachful look, like an elder heartbroken by a junior’s mistake. “Most of it. Your Highness the Holy Son, you are the being closest to the god. This is a warning. If you do not wish to be forsaken by the god, please immediately distance yourself from these evil deeds. As for this matter, I will not report you, but I will continue to keep an eye on it.”

It would be hard to find a more old-fashioned and conservative priest in the entire Church than Father Bart, but his piety reached an incredible level. He had entered the Church to practice at the age of eight, was proficient in all the scriptures of the God of Light, and had dedicated his life to the god’s cause. If the God of Light were to ask this poor man to die immediately, he would absolutely not have a single complaint.

An hour ago, when he was stopped by that strange man in black to ask for directions, a deep-seated wariness had welled up in his heart. Bart should have gone directly to the Holy Knights, but a priest he passed by greeted him and then whispered that His Highness the Holy Son was talking to someone at the intersection ahead.

Recalling it now, that priest’s face was incredibly blurry. Bart couldn’t even remember the color of his eyes. But that wasn’t the point. The point was… that sentence had made him see something he shouldn’t have seen.

The Holy Son, who had sworn to serve the god for life, was leaning against that man in black. The intimate relationship between the two was self-evident.

Father Bart had intended to report this crime directly, but out of respect for the special position of the Holy Son, and with an old man’s bit of tolerance for the young, he chose to warn the young Holy Son that such a thing could not happen again and should be forever forbidden.

The god said that making mistakes is human nature. As long as one repents to the god, one can be reborn. This was Bart’s earnest hope for the Holy Son.

And what was Noah thinking at this moment? He knew why the old priest’s attitude towards him was like this. Out of severity towards blasphemous acts and respect for the Holy Son, the other party would not reveal the secret in the short term, but he would not give up observing him either.

“System,” the Holy Son bit his lip, looking as if he were about to cry, seemingly ashamed of his crime, but a strong and terrifying malice was strangely rising in his heart. “I have to kill him… As long as this old thing is alive, there’s a possibility of the secret being leaked. I can’t let that happen.”

Thinking this in his heart, he obediently said aloud, “I was wrong. I will follow your advice, serve the god devoutly, and will not see that person again.”

The devout priest before him did not know the vicious thoughts in the Holy Son’s heart. He was quite satisfied with Noah’s remorseful appearance, and his expression softened slightly. “The god will forgive a young soul’s accidental misstep. Your Highness, you know this, as long as you repent sincerely.”

That’s right, the god—

Before the system could stop the host’s thoughts, a brilliant plan was slowly born in Noah’s mind. He was being blackmailed right now, a truly vexing moment. And this method would be the most thorough way to retaliate against the other party.

…If he could make the god he believed in abandon him, torture him, and make everyone in the Holy See think he was a disgusting, lowly liar, what would this most devout old priest think then? He would probably have to shut up, wouldn’t he?

Not long after, Father Bart was sent away by Noah’s hypocritical performance of repentance. And Noah touched his own face, feeling the skin under his fingertips, knowing that in the eyes of others, this appearance alone was enough to dazzle them without him having to do anything.

Even the system tried to persuade him, though not out of pity. “Host, you just need to be more careful with your disguise from now on, or seek help from a capture target to kill him. Both options are relatively safe and don’t require much effort.”

Noah smiled, his smile still angelic, and his words were like those of an innocent child. “He made me unhappy, so I’ll let him taste the feeling of being abandoned by his faith. Isn’t that a suitable revenge?”

The system emitted a crackling electric sound but said nothing, seeming to have cut off its persuasion program. Its right to speak was currently less than that of this self-important host, so it could only accept his greed and resentment wholesale and trust as much as possible that events would develop in the direction the host anticipated.

“So,” Tar asked, “what do you plan to do next?”

When he heard the question, Edwin was looking down at the page the demon had opened. It was an encyclopedia compiled by someone who called himself “the great alchemist Mephisto,” which detailed the author’s observations and understanding of demon habits. Of course, it was not without its share of fanciful imagination.

The great bishop of the Church of Light knew more about demons than people imagined. Perhaps it was a subconscious concern for his own bloodline. When this gray-eyed priest stood atop the steep white tower and ordered the burning of the low-level demons captured by the Church, he couldn’t help but observe this peculiar species.

Once shackled and brought into the Church’s square, these inferior species had no chance of survival. The God of Light had bestowed his grace back then; the Church’s chains had an extraordinary restraining effect on evil creatures. Even if a lord-level demon were bound with blessed mithril chains inscribed with spells, it would be difficult for them to escape—provided they obediently lowered their heads. So, most of the time, this trick was used on low-level demons.

Some of them had bewitched the populace, and some had carried out wanton massacres. When brought to the execution platform, the demons’ forms were horribly twisted, often showing beastly features, and they would roar out inhuman shouts in anger. Large black patterns would bulge on the demons’ bodies, and pure black blood would flow, only to be devoured by the all-cleansing divine fire.

Edwin would sometimes think from his high perch: I am, in fact, such an inferior species. These strange, grotesque, and miserable beings shared the same bloodline as him.

In secret, Edwin had once privately conducted some small experiments on the demons hunted by the Church. Of course, it was harmless. And Edwin himself, through these experiments, had found some effective ways to suppress his own bloodline.

In the current situation, these methods could only provide temporary relief. So when he heard Tar’s question, the Bishop repeated it to himself, only to find that at the current stage, he couldn’t find a perfect answer. The book the demon had been looking at just now had vaguely proposed many conjectures about bloodline magic, but most of them lacked convincing evidence.

Edwin was silent for a moment, then looked at Tar. Tar had casually picked up another book. The demon’s sharp horns were completely exposed, and his unique vertical pupils were unconcealed. But Edwin suddenly felt that he was a little different.

Most of the low-level demons that were burned to death had cloudy, turbid eyes, flashing with the fierce light of greed and malice. But Tar… Tar’s beautiful red eyes were as clear as brewed wine. Edwin had never seen such a demon before. He could captivate people’s hearts with just his eyes alone.

“The transformation of the bloodline cannot be stopped for the time being, so,” Edwin glanced at the cover of the book in the demon’s hand, paused for a moment, and continued, “rather than hoping to find a power to directly confront a lord-level demon, disguise is more appropriate. Tar, you just said you can cast a spell to hide a demon’s aura—”

“Yes, it is my honor to serve you.” Tar gave a mock nod, seeming to have the thought of bowing, but was too lazy to stand up.

“…At the same time, I must be prepared. The prince will set a trap for me in the future, and for now, there is some obvious evidence to deal with.”

The gray in the Bishop’s eyes gradually condensed, like the thin mist on a blade’s edge. Uncovering the past for him was like slowly peeling off a scabbed-over wound, but he had already taken care of all the witnesses.

So, all that was left was the “relative” the gray-haired man had spoken of. He was not willing to sit and wait for death. Perhaps compared to Prince Angelo, Edwin was more willing to be a venomous snake himself.

“Also, I need to collect evidence of the prince’s dealings with the demon…” he murmured, as if he himself had never done such a thing.

“Sounds very difficult,” the demon smiled with curved eyes. “Where do you plan to start?”

When thinking about the problem, this option had only existed as a future possibility. But when truly faced with this matter he had avoided for so long but now had to speak of, Edwin was silent for a good while.

He said as calmly as he could, “I need to find that man… the source of my bloodline, in name.”

“Bishop,” Tar took his hand off the book cover and leaned closer to him. Only then did Edwin realize how close they were sitting after he had moved a chair for the demon, and how he was gradually losing his guard against the devil before him. The Bishop moved back slightly, but the demon directly placed his hand on the back of his, and Edwin subconsciously felt a resistance to what he was about to hear. “Your hand is shaking,” Tar said, somewhat puzzled. “Are you cold?”

No… It wasn’t the words he had imagined. Edwin inexplicably let out a breath of relief, and at the same time began to feel ashamed of his own reaction. He just didn’t want to hear any words that would directly reveal the identity of “that man.” He would rather describe him as “the source of his bloodline” than directly call him “father.”

The prince’s men said they had already found this person. Edwin wasn’t sure if he could trust their words, but if it were really that smooth, he wouldn’t have been able to get away so easily today. The Bishop was more inclined to believe they had grasped a clue but were still in the process of investigating and confirming.

Kinship is a strange connection. Blood comes from both parents and can be guided towards relatives through ancient magic. But this did not apply to the previous Edwin, because he had forcibly removed half of his own bloodline. The incomplete blood could not contain enough information. Soon, it would be possible.

“Do you need me to go with you?” Tar saw through his thoughts. The demon’s strength was insufficient, but he was unusually clever and sharp. Edwin hesitated for a moment. “Yes, I need you to.” He finally told the demon before him.

Some strange things had been happening in the capital these few days. Experienced old men would light a cigarette late at night and sagely tell the young people, “Some unwelcome guests have come to our city.”

First, many animal carcasses inexplicably fell in the walnut forest west of the city. The blood in the carcasses was completely drained, and they stared blankly at the green sky shaded by the trees. Later, it even included travelers who had lost their way in the forest.

Next, many people claimed to have seen strange black birds, gathering in certain places and making hoarse calls, but their memories were all vague, and they couldn’t remember more specific details.

Also, an elven physician who had lived in the city for many years had recently disappeared without a trace. He had never made any enemies and was very kind to people. His entire race was devout believers in the Light, and people were very worried about him.

Finally, it was said that the kitchen of the largest tavern in the capital, “The Azure Word,” had been tragically robbed. A newlywed couple had ordered enough fig-roasted meat to feed several hundred guests, and all this already-cooked meat had vanished overnight, leaving only scraps. The owner was on the verge of tears, swearing to take revenge on the vile thief.

Well, all these things were more or less secretly connected to the beloved His Highness the Holy Son.

Noah’s day had been nothing short of perilous. Under Father Bart’s surveillance, meeting with his remaining lovers became an even more complicated matter. He bit his lip, still worrying about how to stop his love-struck paramour. Even if they could successfully reach the rose garden, the Holy Son could no longer implement his plan under complete secrecy as he had anticipated.

Just then, he heard a knock on the door. The Holy Knight outside told him he had a visitor.

The man entered grandly, following the knight of the Church of Light. The moment the knight politely closed the door and left, he looked leisurely at Noah and heard his beautiful lover, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time, let out a cry of fear, “Edward, how did you get in!”

“My dear,” the vampire count, the most powerful of his kind, had a pale complexion. He no longer hid his true face. He looked at his one and only partner, whom he held in his heart, and his expression couldn’t help but soften. But then he keenly noticed Noah’s mood. “I accepted the help of an ally, so I came to visit under a legitimate identity. Aren’t you surprised, my nightingale?”

Apart from the initial thought that at least he wouldn’t be caught by Father Bart again, Noah was not surprised by what was happening at all, only flustered.

“Our affair, we agreed not to tell outsiders, Edward,” the youth with the stunning face did not rush over to express his longing as he had imagined. He looked frantic, as if some scandal was about to be exposed.

Edward felt a little sour in his heart for a moment, but it was quickly suppressed by a surge of love. “It is truly a sin to make my little nightingale worry,” he had heard that Noah was seriously injured and had rushed to the capital. In his expectation, the fragile and pure youth would be especially lonely during such a time, just waiting for his lover to appear and give him comfort. “Don’t be afraid. I just asked an old friend of mine for a favor. He won’t tell.”

This was completely outside of Noah’s expectations and could even have terrible consequences. “Who is it?” he could only grip the other’s sleeve tightly, forcing him to give an answer. Edward sighed indulgently and helplessly. “It’s Satha, a demon I have some dealings with. The prince of your kingdom relies on him, so he can naturally introduce me to the Holy See as a distinguished guest. Now you don’t have to worry, do you?”

“I…” Noah let down his guard a little, then heard the vampire count in front of him say in a light tone, “With this connection in the future, my little nightingale and I can meet often. Noah, aren’t you happy to hear this news?”

Wh-what? The grip that had just relaxed tightened again. Noah questioned Edward in disbelief, “No, wait a minute, so he agreed to… You can’t—”

His lover’s reaction once again exceeded Edward’s expectations. Even if he was infatuated with the youth before him to the point of obsession, as a great lord, his dignity being repeatedly challenged made him frown involuntarily. “What, does Noah not want to see me often?”

These words were like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, but Noah was completely awake now and naturally couldn’t continue to make one mistake after another. He put on a sweet smile and coaxed the capture target before him gently and a little reproachfully, “How could you think that? I love you so much, of course I want to see you every day. It’s just that I have my duties and responsibilities as the Holy Son to fulfill. You… even with this connection, it’s ultimately not secure enough. Let’s not meet here in the future.”

The words sounded a little weak and powerless. Even so, the youth’s pitiful appearance, amplified by the charismatic halo, was still incredibly fascinating to the other party, making him overlook some of the unreasonable parts of his words. If it were usual, Edward would have already been at his beck and call, agreeing to anything. It was just that this matter was related to their love affair, and Edward did not want to give up such a great opportunity to be intimate with his lover.

“We still have a lot of time,” although he knew his words were far-fetched, Noah still forcefully tried to persuade Edward to give up the idea. This morning’s Adelaide was one thing; if even Edward stayed in the capital, the situation would become even worse.

“My dear,” he persuaded earnestly, “when I find a suitable opportunity to leave the position of Holy Son, the rest of my life will be with you forever. Why rush things? If you do this, I… worry about being discovered, and of course, I worry more about you. Even if the probability is not high, there is a potential danger. This is the Church of Light.”

Noah persuaded him gently and sweetly for a long time before he finally stopped to catch his breath. The vampire count’s dark eyes looked at him, even making the Holy Son a little flustered. But soon, those eyes were filled with love and desire again. He reached out and pulled the youth before him into his arms, nibbling gently at his ear. “My little nightingale has said so much, and I know, but I haven’t seen you in so long. Shouldn’t you show some indication?”

It was barely a success—

But this was also not within Noah’s plans. The youth’s pupils involuntarily contracted. No, no, he had an appointment with someone else later. If he let Edward stay here, the aftermath would be another mess.

But he had no reason or room to resist; the other party had already made a concession for him. The Holy Son gritted his teeth and pushed away Edward’s arms, frantically fabricating an excuse, “I have to go to prayer later…”

“The knight just now said you have no duties today. Noah, you…”

The lie was exposed on the spot. The Holy Son genuinely felt at a loss. He pursed his lips, took the initiative to kiss the capture target before him, and then said breathlessly, “Don’t let anyone else come over. Please ask the knight outside to also not come near here.”

That way, the visitor disguised as a passerby would be met with a firmly closed door. As for the aftermath, he would deal with it later. The most important thing for him now was to suppress Edward’s curiosity and stop him from “visiting” him in this manner again and again. After all, he was going to capture the God of Light in the Holy See in the future.

Noah’s mind wandered during his lover’s intimacy. He secretly clenched his fists, his sharp nails digging deep into his flesh. He told himself over and over again: “It’s fine, it’s fine, I can handle it. This is just a small accident. Everything is still under control.”

He was the Child of Destiny. And the capture targets should, by right, be played in the palm of his hand.

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