"This is Lord Leon, a prince."
It seed as though he hadn't noticed the odd expressions of the two priests. After casually introducing Leon's na and status, "Prince Vernon" led him through a designated passage, quickly heading toward the main building of the Anointed Church.
The two priests wanted to stop them but, seeing the guards following Prince Vernon, ultimately didn't speak. Instead, they stomped their feet and followed, hinting,
"Your Highness! The anointing ceremony is about to begin, and there are many people in the chapel. As you see..."
"I think it's just fine."
"No, what we an is that now the You Sui Sanctuary is preparing 'purity' for the ceremony. Shouldn't those with less 'pure' hair colors stay outside...?"
"What do you an by 'less pure'?"
Hearing the priests' nervous persuasion, "Prince Vernon" paused, glanced at the two white-haired priests, and then unemotionally asked,
"Is there anyone in the entire Lily City whose hair color is completely 'pure' now?"
"Your Highness, that's not what we ant..."
"Then what do you an?"
Suddenly raising his right hand, he roughly tore the hoods off the two priests, revealing their own black-and-white mixed hair. "Prince Vernon" snorted and said,
"According to your requirent, if one can't enter due to 'impure' hair color, then what's with you two? Shouldn't you be chased out of the sanctuary as well?"
"..."
"Prince Vernon."
Seeing the two priests rendered speechless, Leon, deep in thought, first glanced at the slightly angry Prince Vernon and then calmly advised,
"I don't have to go and observe. If the Abysmal Church has a 'purity' requirent, I can wait outside for you."
"No need, you can co along."
"It's really unnecessary."
Unconsciously blinking, Leon stared at "Prince Vernon" and said without blinking,
"There's no need to make an exception for . Isn't the most important thing in Carleighwen Kingdom the rules?"
"Haha, no need to worry about that."
Prince Vernon chuckled at this and continued walking while replying,
"The rules of the church are set by themselves and are only effective for followers who are willing to obey them. They are not laws officially recognized by the kingdom. Their only power is to expel those who refuse to obey the rules... Are you going to chase away?"
"..."
"Since they didn't say anything, they won't drive anyone away."
Glancing at the two priests who didn't know what to say, "Prince Vernon" completely ignored them and proceeded to lead Leon toward the central Anointed Church, enthusiastically introducing along the way,
"Lord Leon, this Anointed Church is one of the few buildings in Lily City with colors other than pure white... Look here!"
Taking Leon aside a bit, they stood under the spire to the left of the main entrance of the church. "Prince Vernon" rubbed the seam of the white stone to reveal a large horizontal piece of embedded gold leaf.
"These gold leaf pieces embedded in the seams of the white sandstone, apart from symbolizing the divine nding of the earthly, have been polished into a very smooth mirror surface, which can reflect sunlight back onto the flat roof above the church at noon, projecting an image of the Mother of Lightlessness."
Raising his hand sowhat perfunctorily, he pointed at the image slowly fading on the roof of the church, and then proactively stepped into the church, pointing to the beautifully arranged colored windows as he continued to introduce,
"As for those high up in the church, they are intertwined with cobalt blue, gold gilding, and pearl white glass, cast and layered like rose petals, creating the rose windows. During heavy rain, so of the rainwater will accumulate inside the glass, condensing the core scriptures of the Abysmal Church and Luminous Church."
"The flying buttresses corresponding below the windows, the carvings on the columns of these flying buttresses, depict the ancestors of our Carleighwen Kingdom, relying on the support of so 'friendly forces' to establish the East and West Carleighwen Kingdoms on both banks of the Calvin River... You should know about this, right?"
Hmm? Not going to pretend anymore?
Observing the sudden change in aura, Prince Vernon turned his head and directly asked Leon a question, causing Leon to stop his illusion weaving, which was ready to obscure the prince's perception at any mont.
Additionally, all preparations to infiltrate "Prince Vernon's" Heart Lake, set marks around his soul leading directly to the Realm of the Dead, and the action of preparing to launch the Crimson Heart to ambush were all paused.
"I know a bit, I suppose."
Secretly commanding his subordinates to set up the [Crimson Heart], ready to activate it and drain all the blood from "Prince Vernon's" body at any anomaly, Leon replied expressionlessly,
"Back then, the two ancestors of East and West Carleighwen Kingdoms, with the aspiration to watch over all of humanity, together beca the residents of the Watcher's Palace.
The Cleanup Bureau, as promised, assisted their descendants in gathering nearby city-states and settlents, establishing a kingdom on each side of the Calvin River... However, now only one remains."
"Not just one remains; both are already gone."
After correcting Leon's statent, "Prince Vernon" slightly tilted his head, evading the powers of [False Illusion] trying to erode his hearing, and coldly stated,
"The Heroic Country and the Land of Justice anticipated by our ancestors existed for a few hundred years. But gradually they rotted away, eventually festering and decaying into what they are today."
"Oh..."
Regretfully glancing at his ear, Leon blinked and asked,
"So, what do you want to do? Cut out the rot you ntioned?"
"Just cutting out the rot is aningless."
Shaking his head to deny Leon's suggestion, "Prince Vernon" stated with burning eyes,
"If I learned anything in my attempt to change all of this... it's that everything related to humanity, if it exists for too long, will inevitably slowly rot!"
"So?"
Surprised, Leon raised an eyebrow at this statent.
"Humanity has its limits? Are you not planning to be human anymore?"
"???"
No... How did you reach that conclusion?
Prince Vernon, whose montum had just built up and then dropped due to Leon's erratic thought process, held back for a while before pretending not to hear, continuing with a tense face,
"The Thirteen Kingdoms are like this, and so is the Cleanup Bureau that created them!
They should have quietly perished when they beca irreparably rotten, but they used their powers to escape this fate, forcibly preserving their thoroughly decayed bodies... That's not right!"
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