Chapter 69

Xu Jiahang couldn't think of his son's name in his head for a moment. Because the others were present, he couldn't directly ask who it was. That would have been like exposing himself as the original owner. So he just laughed dryly and said, "I know."

He did not forget to instruct the butler to take the little valet to his study after the dinner; unlike ordinary reception rooms, only truly important and noble guests would be invited to the Earl's study.

A fierce look flashed across the butler's eyes, and then he returned to his normal humility: "Yes, sir."

The Son of God barely touched the tableware throughout the entire dinner. Apart from the goat's milk mousse cake, no other food piqued his interest.

Even though he had not actually participated, his departure still marked the end of the banquet.

He sat where he was, looking expressionlessly at the guests and hosts kneeling on the ground, like a lifeless and exquisite doll.

Perhaps from the day he was chosen to become the Son of God, he was no longer a human being, and could no longer experience vivid joys, sorrows, anger, and happiness, or deep love, hate, and vengeance.

After the farewell kneeling ceremony, the high priest picked up the Holy Child and, under the guidance of the Count, walked towards the study, with the eyes of everyone and the gaze of the statue of the Pietà hanging on the wall.

After the masters disappeared from sight, the respectful smile on Tan Ning's face disappeared. He told the servants to do what they were supposed to do and hurried upstairs from the other side of the stairs. The corners of his clothes rustled in the wind.

In the attic on the third floor, the little cub was sharing a dinner of milk, cereal and dry bread with the elderly maid.

Although Li Jue is a little greedy, he is not picky. Of course, delicious food is better, but even if it is dry and hard bread that can choke you to death without milk, he can still enjoy it.

Gwen watched him devour his meal with a kind smile.

The little guy always eats everything with relish. Even people with no appetite will want to eat a few more bites when they are with him.

Just chew the hard bread so hard, don't knock your little teeth out...

The knock on the door startled her.

Since the Holy Son was going to stay overnight at Caster Castle, there wouldn't be as much fanfare as when he came here; she was so focused on watching her son eat that she didn't notice the banquet was over.

The attic was the secret place where the housekeeper had instructed her to hide the little male servant, and no one else should know about it.

Was he discovered?

She looked through the cat's eye nervously, and was relieved to see that it was Tan Ning.

"Mr. Tan." She opened the door and saw that the housekeeper, who always had a kind smile, had a serious expression on his face. She couldn't help but take a deep breath. "What happened?"

Tan Ning glanced at the little cub who was still sitting obediently on the small stool, chewing on the bread with both hands while peeking at the adults talking, and sighed: "His Royal Highness the Holy Son wants to see him."

"See Li?" This time, she gasped and said in a panic, "Little Li has been here the whole time. She hasn't gone anywhere and hasn't caused any trouble for the master. I haven't left the attic either, I can testify to that..."

Tan Ning raised his hand to stop her feeble explanation: "I know no one will blame him. But he must come with me now."

Gwen twisted her apron with her hands, her lips trembling as she tried to speak. She was an elder who wanted to protect the child, but she was also a helpless servant. Ultimately, she could only pin her hopes on the fair and capable Mr. Tan not to do anything to a child. A thousand words melted into one: "...Yes, I understand."

In contrast to the worried Gwen, Xiao Lijue was extremely happy to see Tan Ning. After Granny Gwen wiped the crumbs off his face and hands with a wet towel, he happily ran towards Tan Ning, his big eyes shining: "Uncle!"

Tan Ning subconsciously wanted to touch his head, not forgetting that there was an old maid standing there, so he turned around and said, "Follow me."

After Gwen's worried face disappeared behind the closed door, Tan Ning stopped in the empty corridor and pinched the little cub's cheek: "Are you hungry? Do you want to eat something delicious?"

Li Jue had already seen that the adults' airs were all fake, so he hugged his waist affectionately and raised his little face: "Baby, you're full! You and grandma ate a lot together!"

So much, do you mean the tasteless dry bread and the cold, stale milk?

While Tan Ning felt sad, he once again blamed Miao Ling for doing something weird to mess up the immersive experience of the plot - the little cub could clearly receive the best treatment on the fishing boat, or anywhere else, but he had to suffer here.

...It's all Meow Ling's fault.

"After this is over, I'll take you to eat something delicious."

Tan Ning calculated that after every dinner, the kitchen would make nearly twice as much leftover, which was enough to fill the stomach of such a little kid.

"It's over?" Zizi didn't know what to do yet. "Where should we go now?"

"His Royal Highness the Holy Son wants to see you." Tan Ning said, "Have you seen him?"

Li Jue's mouth opened into an "o" shape in surprise: "That, that pretty... black-haired, very pretty brother!"

In fact, he originally wanted to use the description "handsome brother", but then he remembered that this name had been used to refer to Qian Xing, so he added the qualifying modifier "black hair" before "handsome".

The child did not know that he had been ordered by the Earl to be "hidden", so he was not surprised that the Son of God wanted to see him on his own initiative.

It's normal for anyone to want to see him.

He's a super cute baby~

"Yes, that's him." Tan Ning frowned. "Before you meet him, you must remember one thing: absolutely, absolutely, absolutely, you must not touch His Highness the Holy Son without permission."

This was like a bolt from the blue for the little cub who loved physical contact. Li Jue's eyebrows drooped. He had just been fantasizing about touching his brother's silky black hair, but now he was forbidden to do so. "Why..."

Tan Ning also found such rules boring, but the rules of every sub-world had to be followed, so he had no choice but to recite them dryly: "Because he is the purest Holy Son, he cannot be contaminated by worldly affairs... Oh, and all his instruments are disinfected and presented by a dedicated person. In short, you can only look, not touch. Remember?"

Li Jue puffed up his face in disappointment, but quickly consoled himself: "Remember!"

I'm very happy to see you.

Tan Ning was aware of how clingy this kid was, and he was always worried, fearing that the child would not be able to resist and would get close to him.

However, when we got to the study, the situation was reversed.

On the way there, Xiao Lijue was still asking questions enthusiastically, including about the Son of God's situation, which Tan Ning didn't know much about.

When she finally saw the person, she was stunned by the beauty of the Son of God and was too embarrassed to go forward. She shyly hid behind the housekeeper, grabbed the corner of Tan Ning's clothes with both hands and tried to bury her face in it, while secretly looking at him through her fingers.

There were only Xu Jiahang, the Holy Son, the High Priest, Li Jue and Tan Ning in the study, and no other servants.

This was a quiet, enclosed space, and thanks to this, they were finally able to hear the Son of God speak in person.

The young man sitting on the sofa looked at the cub with dark eyes for a while, then looked up at the high priest who was standing beside him with a scepter in his hands.

"Can I touch him?"

——The tone is like a child asking his parents if he can touch a kitten on the street.

His voice was pleasant, but as cold as his temperament, like flying pearls and jade, and melting snow on the mountain top.

Even when the request ended with a question mark, the tone remained unchanged.

The high priest never took off his hood, and faced Li Jue with a smile on his face.

"Yes, but gently."

——The answer is very similar.

Xiao Lijue didn't understand what they were doing and looked up at Tan Ning in confusion.

Even the almighty butler was bewildered: "Your Highness, Your Excellency, this..."

According to Fialan's prayers for the Son, this request for contact with civilians was unreasonable.

But isn't it the high priest who has the final say on whether it is reasonable or not?

"It's alright," the high priest said calmly, "Please grant your Highness's wish."

Xu Jiahang, who was ignored by them, was sweating profusely on the sofa on the other side. The high priest had said the same thing when he asked to see Li Jue: Grant your wish.

He did hear it; it was the wish spoken by the Son of God himself.

But why did it make him feel creepy?

And a question that has not been answered to this day: Son of God, where did you see Li Jue?

For some reason, Xu Jiahang has been feeling more and more anxious about losing control lately—it's not himself who's losing control, but the world around him.

They were deviating from the expected track, and nothing was going as he expected. It was not a utopia where one could travel through time and become the master of the world.

He thought he was standing on solid land, but in fact he was just a small boat in the vast ocean that could capsize at any time.

Could it be, he wondered, that he had never reached Utopia?

However, he was the only one caught in the vortex of uncertainty.

Everyone else was in a calm and even joyful mood as they watched the first contact between the Son of the Sub-World and the Son of God of Infinite Space.

No one is allowed to touch the Son of God's rules and regulations, not even the high priest who raised him has ever broken them; he needs to hold the Son of God in his arms at any time and place, so his gloves never leave his hands.

But there is also a way to allow the Son of God to touch the cub while circumventing this rule.

The man knelt on one knee in front of the boy, took off his gloves with his left hand, and gently lifted the boy's left hand with his right hand, and solemnly put on the gloves for him.

An adult's hand is wider and larger than the boy's, but the glove is probably made of some special silk material with great elasticity. After shrinking, it wraps around the boy's palm without any gaps. The dark texture forms a sharp contrast with his slender white wrist.

After the high priest put the other side on the Holy Son, he was about to call the little cub over when someone knocked on the door, followed by a gentle female voice: "Master, may I come in?"

...Why are you joining in the fun now?

Tan Ning was unhappy.

After asking the Earl for his opinion, the butler opened the door for the maid.

Everyone in the room was dressed more warmly than the other. Even the Son of God's seemingly thin robe was tightly wrapped from below the neck to above the calves. Miao Ling, who was wearing a short skirt with large areas of skin exposed on her chest and thighs, was really out of place.

Xu Jiahang's eyes widened, but the Son of God and the high priest were beside him, and there was also a child in the room, so no matter how excited he was, he couldn't do anything.

Knowing what kind of trouble the girl actually was, Tan Ning just wanted to go blind temporarily. Where on earth did this guy get so many weird-shaped skirts?

Zizi was very happy to see "her". He curled his eyes and mouthed to Miaoling: "Brother!"

Miao Ling also responded with lip language: "Call me sister!"

The interrupted Son of God didn't care about the maid's appearance. He looked up at the high priest again. The latter knew that this was a silent urging and turned to look at the count: "Then we...?"

"Ah...ah? Oh...oh." Xu Jiahang reluctantly came back to his senses from the seductive glances cast at him by Miao Ling, and hurriedly said, "Please, please, Your Highness, please."

After Miaoling came in, she stood meekly beside Xu Jiahang and showed no intention of intervening.

Li Jue was obediently led by Tan Ning's hand and walked to the front of the Holy Son. She blinked her big eyes and looked at the young man so close to her with half shyness and half curiosity.

The Son looked at him for a few seconds, then extended his index finger and placed it very close to the child's nose.

Li Jue cooperated by wrinkling her little nose and sniffing. This brother had a faint fragrance on him, like candle wax, incense and ancient sacred trees, quiet and unattainable.

As if the cub had confirmed its scent and was sending out a signal of trust, the boy's movements became bolder. He lightly touched the child's soft cheek with his fingertips, and looked at the skin that was sunken with his touch, and his eyes widened slightly.

Li Jue stood there motionless, being groped by him like a doll.

The Son of God touched his face, hands, and then his hair with the rigor and gentleness of touching something fragile.

Both the big and the small have long hair, but the color and texture are completely different.

What Li Jue had was fluffy, curly light golden hair, like sweet cream melting in the sun.

The Son of God has smooth and flowing pure black straight hair, just like the silent snowy night spreading across the wilderness.

The texture of the gloves felt a little itchy when they touched the skin, but the little cub still restrained himself and didn't move.

He opened his eyes wide and looked at Shengzi's black hair, thinking of his father and Xixi; the two most important people in his life, both had black hair.

I miss them so much...

Compared to the lost little cub, the Son of Heaven was obviously in a good mood, especially fascinated by his cute little curly hair, touching it over and over again.

The high priest had been with him day and night for so many years, but this was the first time he saw him show interest in something. He asked curiously, "Do you like it?"

The boy stopped, and even though the cub's fingertips were jumping with joy, his expression remained as cold as ice and snow: "Can we keep him?"

It was still the same tone used to treat kittens and puppies.

To His Majesty the Supreme Son of God, Fialan, a little male servant who didn't even have a surname and was not favored by his master was indeed not much more valuable than a pet.

The high priest seemed to be laughing: "That depends on what the Earl means."

For a temple as wealthy as a country, adding one more person is no problem at all, let alone such a young child; let alone raising a cub, even if it is to pick a star from the sky, as long as it can make the Son of God happy, all the people in Fialan will rush to do it.

He asked Xu Jiahang, "My Lord, what do you think?"

The questioner was confused.

Xu Jiahang was very conflicted about whether Li Jue should stay or go.

Maybe the day before he didn't even want to look at Li Jue and was determined to throw him out; the next day he suddenly felt that keeping the child in Custer's house was the best proof that he had turned the tables and become the master - just for this reason, he really didn't want to let go.

But the words of the Son of God are the will of God, even if this request comes from his selfish motives.

"Just a servant." Xu Jiahang pulled the corners of his mouth stiffly. "As long as Your Highness wants, you can take anyone and anything away - it's Custer's honor."

After he said this generous word, he was a little worried that the Son of God would choose Miaoling, his favorite little canary; fortunately, the Son of God was not interested in anyone other than the little cubs.

The high priest said to the steward, "Then please prepare the child's belongings. We will take him with us after the ceremony."

This was a completely unexpected episode.

Tan Ning's face looked very ugly, and Miao Ling almost rushed forward.

The butler regained his composure, stretched out his hand to block the maid, and whispered sideways, "Calm down! This is your territory. Even if the Holy Son takes him away, he can't escape from your grasp, right?"

The maid looked at him angrily.

"You were the one who wanted to go for the immersive experience. You can't blame anyone else." The butler said with a sullen expression, "Do you want to reveal your identity now and ruin all the subsequent plot?"

Miaoling closed her mouth angrily and helplessly, as if she had eaten the Coptis chinensis that she had planted herself.

The kid, who had not been asked about his willingness at all, stood there blankly, not understanding what was happening.

...Huh?

*

As the "quasi" follower of the Son of God, Xiao Lijue was arranged to stay in the suite where the Son of God lived.

He is very small and doesn't take up much space. He can curl up and sleep with a soft cushion. If he has something delicious, he will smile sweetly with his dimples. He is more cute than a kitten and very easy to raise.

The Son has black hair and black eyes, and looks a bit like his father - only much younger.

Li Jue likes good-looking people, and especially likes people who are as good-looking as his father, and has a natural affinity for him.

In the room without outsiders, the Son of God did not need to act superior. He sat on the corner of the bed, bent his legs and hugged his knees, quietly watching the cub lying on the carpet, shaking his little feet and playing happily with himself.

After a while, he said, "What's your name?"

He almost never bypassed the high priest to talk directly to others.

But now the little guy is his cub to raise, not an outsider.

Zizi held his chin with both hands, his eyes curved into small crescents: "Pear!"

The boy blinked slowly, not thinking it sounded like a name. "Any other names?"

Zizi thought about it and told him the truth: "Li Jue."

This sounds more normal, the boy repeated it silently in his mind.

Exchanging names is a courtesy, and Li Jue also asked: "Is my brother called 'Son of God'?"

The young man looked at him, his dark blue eyes were like a frozen lake, but they became misty the moment he heard this question.

He opened his mouth as if to answer something, but was abruptly interrupted.

"Your Highness, please do not be disrespectful."

An adult came up from behind them and stopped him from revealing his real name to outsiders.

Of course he had a name. Before he was eight, he was an ordinary child, with a family, older brothers, school to attend, and friends to make.

However, after becoming the Son of God, he no longer belonged to himself and was no longer himself.

The high priest walked up to the Son of God, who raised his head, stared at him silently for a few seconds, then gave in and stretched out his arms consciously.

The man bent down, picked up the boy, and gently placed him on the bed. He then picked up the little cub and placed him on the sofa on the other side, while reminding the two, "The ground is cold."

He felt like sighing.

I was originally only taking care of one child, but now I have two.

The Holy Son looked at the little cub over there and said, "Can he sleep with me?"

"I'm sorry, Your Highness, this is not allowed," said the high priest. "Your status is special."

"But he's just a cub," the Son protested calmly.

"One, my Lord. Humans cannot be counted in 'pieces.'" The high priest said calmly, "Not even a bird can share your bed. You are holy and must not be vulgar."

The young man looked up at him and asked, "What does it mean?"

"All seven emotions and six desires," the man replied. "You should understand that love is a vulgar thing."

Even if you fall in love with a goldfish or a butterfly, it is love.

Love is a bottomless abyss, and the Son of God can never fall into the mortal world.

Xiaolijue on the sofa was confused and couldn't understand their profound philosophical conversation.

He watched how the two of them interacted, filled with curiosity.

The true appearance of the Son of God needs to be seen by all the residents of Fialan, without any obstruction, and with the childishness of youth.

On the contrary, the high priest's face is never fully revealed, and the part above the bridge of the nose is very mysterious, but he is always an adult.

Judging from their age and way of getting along, the relationship between the Son of God and the High Priest should be considered as that of ward and guardian, which is similar to the relationship between Li Jue and the parents of the child world.

The difference is that the parents dote on Li Jue to a certain extent. As long as they can see the baby's smile, they are willing to give the whole world to him.

The high priest was very strict in disciplining the Son of God, and every move he made was subject to strict calibration; there was no other way around it, as the status of the Holy See and the Son of God in Fialan was too high to tolerate any mistakes.

But not only was the boy not afraid of him, he was even a little arrogant in front of him in private.

The high priest must personally take care of everything for the Son of God, from food, clothing, housing, transportation to prayers and recitations. Other believers and ordinary priests are not allowed to do it on his behalf.

Raised by hand, the relationship is always different.

At this time, someone knocked on the door.

The Son of God's room is a restricted area for the servants of the Caster family. Only the believers who come from the temple can approach it - and only approach it.

The high priest walked over and opened the door. The believers did not dare to enter the Son of God's room. They stood by the threshold, lowered their heads and whispered.

A moment later, the high priest returned. His deep eyes beneath his hood held a hint of interest invisible to others. He picked up the golden wreath on the table and placed it on the young man's head. "The young master of Count Custer's family has returned. Your Highness, go and meet him."

Young master?

Li Jue, who was used to being called that in the ocean world, raised his head reflexively. Was he talking about himself?

But Uncle Hat didn't mean to call him.

"Is he coming with you?" The Holy Son looked at Li Jue.

The little cub was like his new toy, he couldn't let it go and wanted to take it with him wherever he went.

"If you want."

Even though his requirements were strict, the high priest was also very indulgent in some unimportant aspects.

The adult looked at the youngest child and waved: "Your name is Pear, right?"

The sofa was a little high for the kid who was only one or two years old. It took him some effort to climb down backwards. He glanced at the Son of God before answering.

The latter pursed his lips, and there was a strange pause in his eyes, as if he didn't want to tell the real answer.

So the little cub nodded to the adult and said, "Pear!"

He still remembered that this uncle stopped Brother Shengzi from revealing his real name, so he should not tell his real name to this uncle either!

The high priest didn't mind the child's childish annoyance and handed him something: "Put this on."

They were a pair of small white gloves, made of fragile and expensive silk, very comfortable to wear, and embroidered with delicate lace.

Zizi tried it on and found it was the perfect size, and it matched his little boy servant outfit very well.

Although tailor-made, this wasn't really a gift, but more of a distribution tool.

The gloves are made by believers using items that have been washed in the temple. When Li Jue wears them, it is equivalent to isolating himself from the filth of the world.

In this way, he can hold the hem of the Son's garment.

The Son of God had already gotten out of bed. The high priest walked over to help him smooth out the wrinkles on his robe. They both looked at Li Jue, waiting for Zizi to come over.

Li Jue ran over happily, and with her little hands she caught the edge of the boy's clothes that fluttered when he turned around, like a flower girl picking up the long white veil of a bride.

Now, he is no longer a devout believer, a respectful follower, or a pet of the Son of God.

He is a cute little decoration.