Evelyn remained silent for a brief moment, then waved her hand.
The leader of the Knights Templar retreated tactfully.
Su Zhao had already risen to her feet without realizing it. Her lips were tightly pressed, and her eyes were filled with anticipation.
Once the irrelevant people had vanished and the last person had closed the door behind them, the space became a private, enclosed area for just the two of them.
Evelyn approached as expected.
Though the Saintess appeared cold and aloof, seemingly difficult to approach, she was, in reality, the easiest to get close to.
The persona Su Zhao had chosen inherently carried a natural vulnerability. As a neglected little thing with no right of succession, this princess might appear noble on the surface, but in reality, she was looked down upon by everyone.
Evelyn held no wariness toward her, always maintaining a compassionate, pitying attitude.
Su Zhao wondered if the Holy See had ruined their Saintess. She spent all day pitying this person and that person, helping here and helping there, yet she ignored the fact that human effort has its limits. The more one strains to do something, the less likely one is to do it well.
Still, Su Zhao wanted to hear what she had to say and whether she had any other ideas.
Evelyn leaned down, moved closer, and gently brushed her thumb against Su Zhao’s cheek.
“This time, you being abducted from the Summer Palace was like a public slap in the face to the Empress.”
Su Zhao had been listening half-heartedly, but before she could react, her waist suddenly tightened, and her entire body lifted into the air.
Evelyn had picked her up!
“Sister!” Su Zhao’s mind went blank. Caught completely off guard, she instinctively gripped Evelyn’s shoulders in shock.
In this posture, much like carrying a child, Su Zhao’s fingers tightened unconsciously. She shamefully tangled her fingers into the fabric on Evelyn’s shoulders, twisting it into a knot.
“Don’t move.”
The Saintess’s figure looked slender and fragile, yet her strength was considerable. She held Su Zhao steadily, her steps calm and powerful.
It was only when Su Zhao was settled onto a chair, her back sinking into the soft cushion, that she finally began to collect her thoughts.
Her forehead was rubbed gently.
Just like patting a small puppy.
Su Zhao’s cheeks burned fiercely. Slowly, ever so slowly, she loosened her fingers, which had been twisting the fabric.
She dropped her hands to her sides, then sluggishly hid them behind her back.
Evelyn’s attitude remained perfectly natural; she seemed completely unaware of Su Zhao’s embarrassment and did not even notice the incriminating creases she had made on her own shoulders.
“The Succubus is truly detestable. The Empress has already issued a special warrant, announcing to other factions that she is to be hunted throughout the entire continent.”
“However, for her to be so rampant, Lanster City must be inextricably involved. They are undoubtedly the Succubus’s accomplices; they are the Succubus’s partners in crime without a doubt.”
Su Zhao finally perked up. Hearing such absurd remarks, she set aside the burning of her ears and finally focused her attention.
She was completely bewildered. “Huh?”
Evelyn smiled faintly.
“Lanster City has always been a thorn in the Empress’s side. The Empress has always been authoritative, so she naturally cannot tolerate the existence of such an outlaw territory within her own kingdom.”
“Whether you call it venting her anger or taking the opportunity to clear out a persistent threat, the point is that the Empress was enraged by this and has ordered me to purge Lanster City. She wants all the dark creatures entrenched there to be completely eradicated; she wants to reclaim this city.”
Su Zhao: (She remained silent).
Su Zhao knew very well that the Empress’s decision was by no means born of familial concern.
It was purely because the Succubus’s provocation was so egregious that it caused the imperial family to lose face, and the Empress’s dignity had been severely offended.
At this moment, the entire continent likely was watching the development of the situation here. The neighboring empires, hungry for a chance to strike, and even the demi-humans watching from the sidelines were closely observing the Empress’s reaction.
Under these circumstances, the Empress had to demonstrate sufficient deterrence. Only by uprooting the dark forces of Lanster City could she intimidate those with ulterior motives and ensure they dared not harbor any further delusions.
Evelyn took her hand and continued:
“The Empress has already issued the order, and the Pope, upon hearing of this, has decided to send the Holy Knights to assist me.”
“At the same time, the Empress has mobilized two high-level mages to act with me, hoping to capture that demon alive.”
“Oh.”
Evelyn had said so much, and Su Zhao appeared to be listening intently, but in reality, she did not care much.
She had no interest in so-called imperial dignity, nor did she care about the impending doom of Lanster City.
She was just a passerby. Could one expect a game player to care that much about the fate of virtual entities within a game?
Don’t be ridiculous.
They were nothing but a pile of data.
However, Su Zhao quickly reacted and understood the implication behind Evelyn’s words. After Evelyn finished speaking, Su Zhao did not reply immediately, remaining silent for a long time.
She stared until Evelyn pressed her lips together and the strength in her hand unconsciously loosened, clearly feeling uneasy due to Su Zhao’s ambiguous attitude.
Only then did Su Zhao mercilessly pull her hand back from Evelyn’s, looking her in the eyes with a slightly cold tone.
“So, what Sister means is that Sister is very busy, has to stay here to handle the aftermath, has to deal with the miscellaneous affairs of Lanster City, and still has to rush to the Sun Forest to capture Duke Norland, so you cannot go back with me?”
Evelyn was speechless.
Su Zhao sniffled, her eyes burning.
“To see you, Sister, I even took special care to wash myself until I was fragrant. It was only because I wanted to see you that I let my guard down and ended up being abducted.”
“Who would have thought that in the end, it was really just a single meeting? I looked forward to it for so long, and it ended as soon as it began.”
With zero psychological burden, she shifted the responsibility for being abducted by the Succubus onto Evelyn.
Even though she knew Evelyn had not done anything wrong.
None of that mattered.
What mattered was Su Zhao achieving her own goal.
Evelyn wanted to explain, opening her mouth, but she could not find the right words.
She went to hold her hand again, but Su Zhao dodged.
Evelyn refused to give up, and the two wrestled with their fingers back and forth. How could Su Zhao possibly compete with her?
In the end, Evelyn caught her fingers and gently pressed her stubborn hand down, one finger at a time.
Evelyn’s five fingers interlaced with hers, and their hands were tightly entwined.
Su Zhao frowned and turned her head away, refusing to look at her. Feeling both angry and sad, she murmured, “Rather than meeting once and leaving, it would have been better not to meet at all.”
Evelyn suddenly raised her eyes, her grip tightening, causing Su Zhao a bit of pain.
Those words were hurtful, and it was clear Evelyn was not entirely without feeling.
A sense of bitterness welled up in Su Zhao’s heart. She stole a glance and caught sight of Evelyn’s tightly pressed lips, feeling a pang of guilt.
She knew her words were a bit excessive, but Evelyn was too steady, and her favorability rating remained stagnant. At times, Su Zhao looked at her ambiguous attitude and could not grasp her true thoughts at all.
Who knew when they would see each other next? If she did not try to provoke her a little, how was she going to raise her favorability rating?
The atmosphere suddenly became stifling. Neither of them spoke, with only silence spreading through the air.
After a long while, Evelyn slowly released her hand, her voice carrying a trace of imperceptible trembling.
“Do you really think that?”
Her tone had lost its usual detachment. Even Su Zhao could easily detect the hurt and loneliness.
Her eyes stared straight at Su Zhao, filled with grievance and disappointment, as if she were hoping to find some comfort in Su Zhao’s expression, even if only a little.
Su Zhao could not help but close her eyes, her eyelashes fluttering. Her heart felt as if it were being squeezed by an invisible hand, and she felt a bit afraid to face this sincerity head-on.
But then, she hardened her heart, opened her eyes, and forced herself to forget the guilt.
“If we do not meet, I can always hold onto that anticipation. I can keep thinking of Sister, keep missing Sister.”
“This deep anticipation could grow stronger with time. I would always be full of anticipation for Sister’s arrival.”
Su Zhao’s voice contained a trace of sobbing; her tone was full of grievance, and her eyes gradually reddened.
“But such a hurried meeting has completely ruined that anticipation, leaving me feeling only that this anticipation has been betrayed.”
Su Zhao opened her mouth, her throat feeling as if it were blocked by a ball of cotton. The words she wanted to say were hard-stifled, and she could not make a sound.
Another silence followed.
Her eyes grew red again, tears spinning in them, and her tone could not have been more sincere: “Sister is not wrong, and I am not wrong, but it was just wasted.”
Evelyn slowly pressed Su Zhao’s palm against her own cheek.
“I do not want it to be this way either. I also want to spend more time with you. But the situation on the continent is turbulent right now; there are crises everywhere. The conflicts between humans and humans, humans and demi-humans, and among demi-humans themselves have never ceased.”
“The Empress does not trust me, and the Pope is wary of me. I carry too many responsibilities; I truly have no say in my own actions.”
Su Zhao could clearly hear the helplessness and exhaustion in her tone.
She lowered her head and whispered, feigning weakness.
“I know Sister has her own difficulties, but I just cannot control my emotions. I want to spend more time with you so much, even if it is just a little bit more time.”
Evelyn leaned down.
As Su Zhao lifted her head, she felt Evelyn’s warm palm firmly cup her cheek.
Evelyn gently held her face, her thumb softly stroking the corner of her eye, carefully wiping away the tears that were about to fall, her movements exceptionally gentle.
“I came to the Lan-Yin Empire this time specifically to see you.”
Although she had said it was on the Pope’s behalf to negotiate with the Lan-Yin Empire regarding the division of a disputed territory.
But such matters naturally had learned negotiators to discuss them. Before the negotiating team departed, the Pope had clearly established his bottom line, and as for other matters, there were specialized people to handle them.
Evelyn raised her hand, her fingertips gently brushing Su Zhao’s eyelid to wipe away the moisture.
Her ice-blue eyes gazed at her, whispering: “I just wanted to see you.”
For such matters, anyone could have led the team.
It did not have to be the Saintess risking her life to come here.
The Saintess, who could communicate with the legendary God of Light, was second only to the Pope in the entire Holy See. If she were lost, it would be a significant blow to the Holy See.
The Empress had dared to besiege the Pope; what would stop her from killing the Saintess?
As for the accusation of blaspheming the God of Light, the Empress would only say: “Unless you let me see Him with my own eyes.”
She had never believed in so-called gods.
She had struggled to pull up the Holy See’s roots and chase them out of the Lan-Yin Empire precisely because she was sick of the Holy See’s brand of brainwashing heretical doctrines.
Did the supreme monarch of the human world still need to be recognized by some ethereal god to gain legitimacy and establish the foundation of her rule?
Why should she?
However, as long as an external threat existed, no matter how tense the relationship between the Lan-Yin Empire and the Holy See might be, they were both human.
With a unified stance, they had to unite to cope with the powerful demi-humans.
This pair of allies, the Lan-Yin Empire and the Holy See, no matter how deep their resentment might be, would exercise restraint on certain levels. They would not let their relationship continue to deteriorate until it reached an irreversible point.
One did not need to mention the bloodthirsty and terrifying dark creatures; even the elves, who belonged to the same Light Faction, still harbored deep wariness and hostility toward humans.
Humans had a long way to go if they wanted to secure their own territory and reclaim the land that once belonged to them from the hands of the demi-humans.
And the role of the Saintess of the Holy See, without a doubt, held an important position in this process.
When responsibility and personal affection were placed on opposite sides of a scale.
How would Saintess Evelyn choose?
Su Zhao was suddenly a bit curious.
“I do not want to go back to the Summer Palace.”
Thinking this, she asked without any hesitation.
“If it does not work, let us elope, Sister. Forget about status, responsibilities, the big picture, or your mission.”
She held her hand and said sincerely:
“You came to see me, so take me with you, Sister.”