Chapter 122 Mother
Following the professor's instructions, the students of Baita University would assist the local townspeople as best they could during their investigation. Gradually, Adrian and the other students clearly sensed that some townspeople were becoming more relaxed about their attitudes and were beginning to be willing to share some information with them.
"Actually, I recognized you the first day." Mrs. Mason, who had poured him tea, pulled him to a corner and whispered to him, "You are the student who gave a speech at the door of the Church of Light and was caught by those priests."
Adrian took a nervous step back. He suddenly worried that the frail, kind-looking woman in front of him might turn on him and report him to the Glorious Church.
They'd also encountered people threatening to report them to the Glorious Church these days, even though the students hadn't said anything blasphemous. The most dangerous incident involved an investigation into a priest on leave, and they'd just vaguely claimed it was an extracurricular assignment from White Tower University and quickly slipped away—at least for now, everything seemed fine.
"Don't be nervous." Mrs. Mason lowered her voice, a trace of disgust flashed across her face: "It's not your fault, children. Those priests are always like this..."
She suddenly realized that she seemed to have said something wrong and immediately shut her mouth, but Adrian was keenly aware of this.
He decided to take a gamble. "Let me tell you the truth. Not long ago, one of our commoner classmates was accused of heresy for no reason by the Inquisition. They also claimed that he had killed a noble student from the Saint Bartholomew School of Magic. Perhaps you have heard about this incident."
Adrian thought of Rabbi Mardel, that timid, gentle, kindhearted man, and his voice gradually lowered. He had originally just been trying to bring up the topic, but as he spoke, his heart began to flow. "He was a good boy, raised in White Tower. He never got angry with anyone. On the day of the murder, he was with his classmates... Everyone thought there was something fishy going on, but the Inquisition arrested him without a doubt—and then he died, under mysterious circumstances."
Mrs. Mason gazed at him sadly.
"At first, we just thought that if we could learn more about similar cases and obtain more unfavorable evidence against the Radiant Church, we might be able to force the Inquisition to reinvestigate the matter... But then we discovered more and more unbearable dirt within the Church, including the recent Black County coal embezzlement incident."
Adrian's expression looked extremely determined, and this kind of expression only appeared on the face of a young person, bright, fragile, but very attractive, like a diamond in the sun.
"We are students at the seminary, and there's a high probability that we'll work for the Vatican after graduation. This is absolutely not the future we want, nor is it the future any devout believer wants. It doesn't even align with the teachings of Zephyr, the God of Light and Glory!"
The young man grew increasingly agitated as he spoke. He looked at the woman, whose face was turning increasingly pale, and said angrily and seriously, "When priests do something wrong, we criticize them, but they don't tolerate criticism. Instead, they try to gag us, cover our eyes, and stop our ears."
"The power of us students alone is not enough. All those who have suffered from the persecution of the Church must stand up. Only in this way can—"
"Hush—kid, keep your voice down!" The other party suddenly interrupted him, looking around nervously: "Go away, don't tell these things to anyone anymore, you will die!"
Finally, he was driven out of the house by Mrs. Mason with extraordinary determination.
Adrian walked down the street feeling rather dejected. The sun was setting, and another fruitless day had passed. For a moment, he almost thought the other party was about to open up to him. Perhaps he should come back tomorrow.
He was a little distracted when he was suddenly blocked by a group of people. Adrian raised his head and his pupils suddenly shrank violently - they were a group of white-robed priests whose clothes were completely different from those of ordinary priests. They wore arm armor and breastplates, and two cross-shaped spears wrapped with chains were carved on their chests.
These people looked very familiar; they were the judges of the Inquisition who had come here for nothing because of the owl's appearance that day.
"Mr. Ivan Adrian?" the leading figure asked coldly, as the other judges gradually gathered around him. "Someone has reported you for suspected blasphemy and involvement with heresy—come with us."
--run!
Adrian's mind went blank, with only one thought remaining.
He turned and ran, and passersby on the street dodged in terror. Wherever he passed, there was a sudden chaos. The leading judge snorted coldly, stood still, and raised his hand in the direction of the fugitive's flight. Accompanied by the priests' chanting and the screams of passersby, several dazzling chains of light suddenly smashed directly into the crowd, without any regard for any accidental injuries.
The light chain plowed several deep furrows in the mud, but when the snow, mist and dust dissipated, the judge who had been sure of victory was shocked to find that the scene was only a mess. Passersby who were affected were lying on the ground groaning, overturned goods were scattered all over the ground, and the seemingly ordinary student was nowhere to be seen.
Amidst the chaos, an unnoticed black shadow quietly left the place.
Adrian felt like he had never run so fast before. He heard a series of terrified screams coming from behind him, but he didn't dare look back. He just aimed at any alley that looked hidden and ran into it.
He didn't know how long he had been running until he was out of breath and his steps became heavier and heavier - a hand suddenly grabbed his arm and pulled him into a hidden corner.
He almost kicked and punched and screamed, but someone covered his mouth tightly.
"Shh, it's me!"
Adrian stared at her in shock. After she let go, he screamed, "-Mrs. Mason?!"
Seeing that he had calmed down, Mrs. Mason motioned him to follow her, and she took him back to her home through the streets and alleys.
Adrian whispered uneasily, "I'll bring trouble to your whole family."
"I have something to show you." Mrs. Mason shook her head. She looked incredibly calm now, not at all like a cowardly, ignorant peasant woman. She simply opened a hidden door in the floor and crawled into the basement with a bewildered Adrian.
"This is……"
Mrs. Mason lit the oil lamp, and Adrian looked at everything in front of him in shock: children's clothes and toys were carefully arranged in the basement. They were made of poor quality and had crude shapes, but they were obviously carefully selected, but they were so old that they seemed to be forgotten in memory.
"I once had a son."
The woman held up an oil lamp and spoke calmly, the flames casting deep shadows on her face.
"My little Luke was only five years old when he died. He went to church school that morning and kissed me on the cheek before leaving. He said goodbye to me cheerfully. But I waited and waited. Noon passed, afternoon passed, and he never came back."
Mrs. Mason's voice began to tremble. "I looked for him everywhere, but the priests said my son was dead and wouldn't even let me see his body. I took out all the money I had and knelt on the ground, begging them to have mercy, to tell me what was going on, and to give me back my little Luke."
"Finally, a young priest took pity on me. After receiving my money, he secretly told me that the Inquisition had accidentally injured little Luke while arresting heretics that afternoon." Tears suddenly welled up in the woman's eyes. "I went berserk, asking them why they did this and if they could at least let me see the child's body. But the priests suddenly changed their tune, claiming they suspected little Luke was also a heretic. Otherwise, why would he associate with a heretic? If the situation continued, they'd arrest me too."
Her voice was hoarse, and her throat seemed to have been corroded by salt water and shattered. "--I would rather they do this! How could my five-year-old son be a heretic? Why wasn't I the one who died?!"
Adrian stared at her blankly, his lips moving, but he didn't know how to comfort the heartbroken mother in front of him.
Mrs. Mason seemed to have calmed down a little. She wiped her tears and continued, "The heretic they are talking about is the widow Irene who sells candles in town. The priests say she has an affair with the devil in her dreams - but I know the truth."
She sneered with mocking disgust. "It was just that the unfortunate pretty woman didn't want to be the priest's lover and threatened to complain to the bishop of the diocese—and then they bribed the Inquisition to declare her a heretic and kill her in public."
"But what about my little Luke? My little Luke is very sensible. He knew that the family had run out of candles. That day he just went to buy some candles after class—"
Adrian thought she was going to collapse again, but the woman didn't. She just stared at her son's toys and clothes numbly: "My little Luke is dead, and I don't want to live anymore. I have thought about him every minute of every day for so many years..."
"...My husband was afraid I would commit suicide, so he urged me to have another child and treat it as just a nightmare."
The fire of revenge burned brightly in a mother's eyes, and she seemed to have made some kind of determination.
"I don't. If I don't remember little Luke, soon no one in this world will remember him anymore. I want to avenge my son, but who should I take revenge on? The judge who accidentally killed him, or the priest who framed Irene? What can an ordinary peasant woman like me do to those gentlemen?"
Mrs. Mason slowly bent down and pulled out a thick stack of papers from an abandoned cabinet, covered in clumsy, ugly handwriting. She handed them to Adrian and said, "I've written down everything I've overheard and learned over the years, including quite a few scandals involving priests... I think this will be of some use to you."
The young man felt his fingers trembling as he stammered, "You, you just trust us..."
"You are all good children." Mrs. Mason shook her head gently. She seemed to collapse suddenly, leaning against the wall quietly, touching the small clothes with her hands.
"…and I have nothing to lose."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
