Chapter 45 The Effect of a Letter

The cathedral, located in the central area of ​​York Harbor, is divided into two major areas.

One of the areas is open to the general public.

The other area is only accessible to extraordinary people.

After becoming a nun, this is where Lily works.

The work content is not complicated - praying, doing homework, following senior nuns to go out to help believers, preach, organize meetings and other activities.

And, the most important thing is cleaning.

Of course, it’s not that the church doesn’t have money to hire helpers, but because cleaning is also a part of their practice.

Generally speaking, after a period of time, if Lily performs well, she will be transferred to churches in other cities instead of staying in this regional headquarters all the time.

but……

The girl clenched her fist inside the sleeve of her nun's robe and had a premonition.

That is, it may be difficult for me to follow this normal process again.

"Excuse me, where is Bishop Norman?"

When she arrived at the spacious and bright main hall, she began to ask the church members passing by.

"In the confessional."

The other party replied, looked at her coldly, and turned away.

Lily then headed in the direction of the confessional.

Along the way, many people saw her, but almost no one greeted her, including her friends who had come with her to take the exam before.

After realizing her identity as a traitor, Lily began to distance herself from her former friends because she was afraid that she would implicate them one day.

However, her behavior was mistakenly thought to mean that she was arrogant and unwilling to pay attention to her former friends after getting second place in the assessment.

So gradually, others were no longer willing to pay attention to her.

This is exactly what the girl is thinking, but although she can always remain rational about everything, she still feels sad sometimes.

“But it’s all worth it.”

She thought as she came into the confessional, holding the letter in her hand, her eyes fixed on the partition in front of her, yet she hesitated.

The confessional here is small and divided into two parts. One part is for believers to confess their sins and express repentance.

The other part is for the bishop or priest to listen and respond, and there is a wooden patterned grid in the middle, making it difficult for them to see each other clearly.

At this time, sitting opposite the grid was the gray-haired Norman Bishop.

He is also the recipient of the letter in hand.

This is why the girl hesitated.

This person succumbed to the tyranny of the housekeeper and expelled Andy.

Now, Andy asked me to come find him again...

Is he really trustworthy? "Nothing said here will be heard by a third person."

Apparently noticing the girl's hesitation, a low but kind voice came from the other side.

"Kid, what do you want to say?"

"What do you think of Andy?"

At this point, there was no point in hesitating, so Lily finally spoke, "Do you think you did the right thing back then?"

The person on the other side was startled when he heard this.

Apparently he hadn't expected her to bring this up.

In fact, this matter has never been resolved during this period of time.

And Bishop Norman was like being in a whirlpool of public opinion, constantly being discussed and pointed at in the dark.

In a sense, the people who watched the test were just like him. They all succumbed to the butler, or succumbed to the intimidation of power, and then made the choice to ignore this injustice.

But they obviously don't think it's their own fault.

If it wasn't his fault, then whose fault was it? Of course it was Norman, the bishop who surrendered first.

If Andy hadn't given in and resisted the pressure, how could he have ended up in such an embarrassing situation? If Andy hadn't given in and resisted the pressure, why would the audience have to slap themselves in the face and make such an embarrassing choice that hurt their self-esteem?

Some people even thought that if the bishop had argued with reason, perhaps Andy, the rising star, would not have ended up in that situation.

Their initial admiration and support can also gain a good feedback...

In short, people did not dare to vent their pent-up emotions to the butler, but they were not so polite to the bishop Norman.

He is like a punching bag, giving others room to vent their anger.

So one can imagine what the old bishop went through during this period.

There were always people who ridiculed him, openly or covertly.

The fact that he gave gifts to the butler to get the position was brought up and ridiculed by others, who laughed at him for being "unworthy of the position."

If Father Matthew had been in power, such a thing would never have happened.

Some people even said such words.

The public opinion outside is already like this, so the situation inside the church where this incident occurred is naturally even more serious.

Considering that Norman was the bishop and everyone's superior, no one dared to say anything openly.

But the old bishop himself can forget about having any prestige.

With the support of the butler, his position as bishop is very secure. No matter what others say, no one can hurt his interests.

but……

"I repent every day and confess my sins."

The old man's deep voice answered the girl's question indirectly, "I am also praying all day long, hoping that the child can live a smooth life."

"What about actual action?"

Lily asked again, "If you had the opportunity to atone for your choices with actions instead of verbal confession, would you still be willing to do it?"

These words made the old bishop's eyelids jump, and he immediately understood what was going on.

It is no secret now that after Andy left the church, he was hunted by the hyenas in the secular world, but he suddenly escaped in the desperate situation.

Of course he had heard about it.

Therefore, the Norman Bishop was very clear that there was a group of people in the country who were secretly opposing the steward and even the royal family.

Who were these people? He didn't know. The housekeeper was investigating vigorously, making a lot of noise, but he didn't get any useful clues.

Except for one police chief.

But the director was obviously a discarded pawn, and the information revealed during the torture was either wrong or no longer effective.

The investigation therefore came to a standstill.

This matter was somewhat embarrassing, so the butler issued a large reward and was collecting evidence.

Many people were interested and many offered clues, but no key point emerged.

The Norman bishop remained a bystander.

But he didn't expect that this key clue would appear right under his nose...

Looking at the hazy face of the girl across the partition, Bishop Norman felt mixed emotions.

He couldn't understand why the girl from the Kozia family ignored her bright future and instead joined the rebel camp like a rat in a sewer.

Could it be that the Kezia family she belonged to was not simple either? "Leave here, child, and I will forget what you just said."

There was a wave of turmoil in his heart, but on the surface, Bishop Norman's attitude became cold.

However, after hearing this, Lily felt relieved.

"Andy said that even if you didn't choose to help us, you wouldn't report us to the housekeeper. It seems he was right."

“Andy?”

The old bishop's expression changed when he heard this. The coldness that had just appeared on his face disappeared, and he couldn't help but ask, "How is the child now?"

To be honest, he admired Andy very much. He was smart, calm and talented. If he could grow up smoothly, he would definitely become the backbone of the Gospel Church.

It's a pity that Andy's fate is so miserable. He could have ended up anywhere else, but here.

So much so that from the moment it appeared, the result of being suppressed was already inevitable.

The old bishop tried his best to stop it, but to no avail. In the end, he had no choice but to compromise and stood against Andy.

But as he had said before, he had been praying for the boy sincerely these days.

I hope he has broken free from his constraints and gone to another peaceful place, which will allow him to swim freely like a fish in the sea.

"He's still hiding. The housekeepers are keeping a close watch on him and don't dare let him leave the country."

Lily replied, "He has become a semi-transcendent. His life is not in danger for the time being."

"God bless."

There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!

The old bishop secretly breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this, and then he was no longer willing to talk to the little traitor in front of him.

So he waved his hand and said, "Go away, don't come to me again. I'm just an old loser and can't help you with anything."

"I didn't come to you for help."

But the girl refused to give up, "I came to help you instead."

"help me?"

The bishop laughed when he heard this. "What can I need help with? It's true that I haven't had a good time lately, but I'm already this old, why would I care about that?"

"Perhaps you don't care about what others say."

The girl said, "But don't you care that you are being sidelined?"

"As a bishop of a place, you should be in a high position and have great power. But what happened? Your authority has been completely eroded by just a few words from the butler."

"The people in the church are still following your orders, but are they listening to you or the steward behind you?"

"They don't respect you at all, and they don't really regard you as a bishop, as their leader and elder in the church."

"In their eyes, you are nothing more than a puppet, a puppet controlled by the butler!"

"There's nothing wrong with being a puppet."

The bishop said, "At least my welfare benefits are very good. No matter how much those people look down on me, they can't compare to me in this respect."

"But when you competed for the position of bishop, was it really just for the benefits?"

The girl was not discouraged. "Can high welfare benefits earn respect from others? Can it make all the affairs in your parish run smoothly? Can it stop the weak from being bullied?"

"You may not care about these things, but you must care about your family. After what happened with Andy, what do your family think of you?"

"I heard that you have a granddaughter. She used to respect you very much."

"And now?"

Now?

The old bishop felt helpless when he heard this.

The children were not worried at all. They were very understanding about this matter and were very angry about the negative comments outside.

But granddaughter.

His little granddaughter is still young, but she doesn't agree with what adults mean by compromise.

All she could see was that her reputation as a grandfather was bad because she had done something disgusting that was unbecoming of her status.

Of course this did not affect the relationship between the grandparents and granddaughter, and the granddaughter also claimed that she could understand.

But the occasional strangeness in her eyes, and even her sensible attitude of avoiding certain topics, still pierced Bishop Norman's heart like thorns, making him feel even more bitter.

Yes, he doesn’t care much about what others think, but he cares about his family, and how the younger generations whom he has taught for many years think of him! He cares a lot!

It wasn't my fault. I was the only one among everyone present who stood up to help Andy.

Why did I end up like this? He could understand the problem, but he didn't want to accept it.

However, no matter how unwilling you are, you still have to accept it.

I'm old now, and I've suffered similar grievances before.

In the end, what else can you do except let it become an injustice that you think about from time to time in your mind and curse about it in private?

…

Seeing that the old bishop remained silent and his expression showed no sign of relaxation, the young girl on the other side of the confessional couldn't help but feel discouraged.

Andy said yesterday morning that once we find the target, there is no need to say anything else and just hand over the letter.

She didn't believe that this could make Bishop Norman make up his mind immediately, so she used the words she had thought about for a long time last night to stimulate the old man in front of her.

But she found out that this person was so stubborn. No matter what she said, his attitude did not change! "Andy said that you are one of the few people here who have the spirit of resistance and can put it into action."

Lily decided not to say any more, lest it have a counterproductive effect.

"This letter was written by Andy. The content inside is very important. I hope you can take a look at it. If you disagree, please don't report us afterwards."

After saying that, she turned around and left the confessional without paying attention to the other party's reaction.

He seemed to trust the Norman bishop, but this was of course an act.

She was skeptical about Bishop Norman's character.

But Andy seemed to trust him very much, and said that as long as the letter was given to the old bishop, he would definitely be more active than you.

But judging from the other party's attitude just now, it doesn't seem like he will be very positive.

Like a turtle, it shrinks its neck when touched...

If that doesn't work, find someone else.

She thought to herself instead.

The Norman bishop was the best recipient, but not the only possible recipient.

In the wooden house by the sea, Andy listed several candidates.

But those people were all strangers and had never even spoken a word to Andy. Lily doubted whether they could do it.

So she still hoped that the relatively familiar Norman Bishop would change his attitude and position after reading the letter.

But would this really happen? Would Andy's method work? She wasn't sure.

Even though she had already put it into action, as it was her first time doing something big, she was still nervous as a rookie.

However, she didn't worry for long.

The answer came quietly an hour later.

"It's the fifth utility room from the left in the east section of the cathedral. I'll wait for you there."

After a mass, the old bishop was the first to leave. When he passed by her, he whispered a word!

The nervous girl suddenly realized what was going on and was very surprised.

But on the surface she remained calm.

After following the crowd and other church members to disperse, she pretended to be passing by, arrived at the destination and rushed in.

Then, the girl saw Bishop Norman staring at her with a serious expression, yet seemed a little excited.

"How did he know that?"

"What?" Lily was a little confused by the question.

“Those people!”

The old bishop couldn't wait to ask, "How did he know the names of those people!?"

(End of this chapter)