Escorted by Ernest, Phil Gray entered the Gray family mansion with a heavy heart.
Joshua was already standing at the door, waiting for His Holiness the Pope to arrive.
Phil Gray smiled and greeted him, then saw Patrick rushing out the door.
My cousin's hair has turned back to gray; I don't know if it was voluntary or forced.
"Cousin, you're here! My mother has made lots of delicious food. Come on in!"
Patrick winked at him excitedly, then quickly patted the cat on his cousin's shoulder, earning a vicious swipe of his claw in return.
"Oh, what a fierce little kitten!"
"No manners!"
Joshua glared at his son, then led the way for His Holiness the Pope.
Patrick then walked over to Phil Gray and made faces behind his father's back.
Phil Gray turned his head and asked softly, "Why did you dye your hair?"
"Hmph, it's the same one as before..." Patrick muttered under his breath.
"Speaking of which, how are your relationship problems going?"
“I… I don’t know. Eli just laughs at me and doesn’t offer any constructive advice.” Patrick said with a bitter face. “However, Edith, I mean the one in Kao City, she went back first. As for the Edith by the sea, I don’t plan to go see her for now. I want to think it over before making a decision.”
Phil Gray hadn't expected Patrick to choose a temporary escape, but there really wasn't any other choice if he were in a similar situation—no, he wouldn't be in such a situation.
Ignoring the whispers of the two young men behind him, Josh led them to the banquet hall.
Although it was called a banquet hall, it wasn't as big as I had imagined, and there was hardly anyone else there, except for a brown-haired noblewoman with bowls and chopsticks set out at the round table.
She looked extremely gentle, with a broad, full forehead adorned with a thumb-sized emerald. Her long, wavy hair was tied up with a light green ribbon, and she wore a white long dress. Her gaze towards them was full of tenderness and affection.
"Greetings, His Holiness the Pope!"
She smiled and bowed.
“Aunt Olive, no need for such formalities. It’s all my fault for being so busy lately that I forgot to come and visit you after I got back,” Phil Gray said with some guilt.
"Oh, we're all family, let's not talk about that. Come on, try this. I made your favorite red wine beef stew and vegetable pancakes from when you were little." Aunt Olive warmly pulled Phil Gray to sit down, even ignoring her own son standing next to her.
But Patrick was very happy. "Cousin, it's been so long since you've come to my house, almost more than ten years. Back then, Uncle often brought you over, but you always had a sour face, as if you didn't like playing with me. I was so sad."
"Who wants to play with you? Back then, you would secretly take off everyone's shoes and tickle their feet. If I hadn't been watching Phil when he was little, he would have been terrified by you!" Aunt Olive rolled her eyes at her son with a smile, but her movements remained incredibly elegant.
"Hahaha." Phil Gray laughed too, never expecting Patrick to do such a silly thing when he was a child.
“Impossible! I have absolutely no recollection of it!” Patrick retorted.
“I’ve heard that people sometimes forget some of their embarrassing moments; it’s called escapist amnesia. You probably know how stupid you were, so you can’t remember.” Olive covered her mouth with a handkerchief and laughed again.
The atmosphere at the table suddenly became cheerful, and even Uncle Gray smiled.
The cat Night also has a cute appearance, so Aunt Olive set up a special silver bowl for it and it can be fed by humans from time to time.
This deity is truly unpretentious; on the contrary, it enjoys the affection humans show it.
Phil Gray hadn't felt such a warm family dinner atmosphere in a long time, or perhaps he had never felt it before. In his previous life, he was an orphan who was raised by one of his parents' managers.
Although the manager took good care of him and even helped him inherit all the family property after he came of age, he was not his real family.
As they chatted and laughed, Josh Gray and Aunt Olive carefully served him and Patrick food, asking about their experiences and stories while they were wandering outside. A warm feeling gradually welled up in Phil Gray's heart, as if all his worries and burdens had been temporarily lifted.
When talking about his experiences traveling at sea, Phil Gray suddenly remembered the person who impersonated him and asked them if they knew the person's identity.
After all, that person was very likely also a member of the Gray family.
Joshua frowned, as if recalling something. "Now that you mention it, I know who he is."
"Who?" Phil Gray and Patrick both looked at him curiously.
"He was once one of the holy sons of the Church of Destiny, Victor Langdon."
"Who? Father, you're saying he's that Son of Langdon from back then? How could he possibly be a member of our Gray family? I've never heard of him before."
It seems Patrick knows this person; this person is quite famous within the Church of Destiny.
Phil Gray narrowed his eyes. He wasn't sure if the original owner of this body knew about this Holy Son, so he cautiously asked, "How could he be a member of our Gray family?"
“You really don’t know this, but back then, the late Pope and I had a sister. She was the second child, my second sister, and your aunt.”
Joshua sighed.
“What? I have an aunt!” Patrick exclaimed incredulously. In the past twenty years or so of his life, he had never heard of this relative.
Compared to Patrick, Phil Gray had heard about this aunt's identity from Elder Nancy, so he figured the aunt's son she was referring to was this Son of Langdon.
"Yes, when she was young, she was a holy child of the Church of Destiny, just like your father. She was very ambitious, and her obsession with becoming the Pope even surpassed her affection for us. She competed with your father at every turn. Later, your father broke through to the Divine Descendant level, becoming the first Divine Descendant in a hundred years. Therefore, he naturally became the Pope, while she remained at the Divine Revelation level. After your father ascended to the position of Pope, she left the Church of Destiny."
"And then what? How did her son become the Holy Son?" Patrick asked, his mouth greasy as he ate his food, as if listening to a story.
"Later, during the selection of the Holy Son, a little boy who was only eight years old and had become a Listener appeared in the Vatican. He called himself Victor Langdon and came from a remote village in the territory of the Church of Destiny. The priest there recommended him to attend the church college and receive education related to the chosen ones.
"He was only eight years old when he became a chosen one of God. Although there may be many such geniuses in other churches, it is rare for them to fall into decline. So he joined the selection of the Son of God, entered the church academy to study, and after passing the academy's examination, he, along with you and two other children, were canonized as the Son of God."
“Yes, I know that. Back then, you loved playing with him, cousin. I always felt like he stole you away, which is why you never came to see me again,” Patrick said resentfully.
I never expected that the original owner of this body and that Victor actually knew each other!
Phil Gray felt a moment of panic, but he quickly masked it and carefully hinted, "But I didn't recognize him on the ship; he seemed different from before."
“Perhaps he was in disguise. After all, in other people’s eyes, he had already died at your father’s hands along with the other two Holy Sons,” Joshua continued with a sigh. “As he grew older, his features became more and more like those of the young Grey children, except for his blond hair. Your father and I became suspicious.”
“Until your aunt returned to the Papacy, she refused to acknowledge her Gray family identity and was unwilling to share her kinship with us. She only showed us her most prized work, proving that her son would be the most outstanding chosen one even without the Gray family. At that time, it was already a foregone conclusion that Victor would become the next pope, and only then did we realize that she wanted to support her son to regain the papacy to make up for her regrets from years ago.” Joshua sighed again. His sister had been bound by the papacy her whole life, and even her own son had become her tool.
"Ah? But later, didn't Uncle kill those holy sons? And what about Aunt..." Patrick covered his mouth in alarm.
“There’s more to this than meets the eye, and you can’t know it yet. Victor is still alive, but the other two are indeed dead,” Joshua suddenly stopped talking and didn’t bring up the topic again. “You’ve probably encountered Victor. He might just be playing a trick on you. Just be more careful in the future.”
"Okay." Patrick's curiosity was extinguished, and he sullenly buried his head in his rice, but the more he ate, the more he enjoyed it.
He had never realized his mother was such a good cook, but unfortunately she didn't cook much.
Phil Gray was somewhat dazed. If Victor hadn't been disguised and he hadn't recognized him, Victor would probably have doubted his true identity.
Perhaps he already knows he's not the real "Phil Gray"?
Was the crown incident a provocation against him?
Was his impersonation of the pope a genuine obsession with the title, or a self-deprecating jab at himself, a fellow imposter?
After finishing his meal, Phil Gray took his leave in a hurry.
After he left, Patrick went back inside to rest. Olive looked at her husband, who was standing silently in the yard, and gently draped a cloak over him.
“Thank you.” Joshua took her hand.
"Do you know something?"
Why do you say that?
“Patrick’s favorite foods are beef stew in red wine and vegetable patties. He hated beef when he was little,” Olive said coldly.
“You don’t need to worry about these things; fate will take care of it.” Joshua pulled her into his arms and sighed deeply.
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