Chapter 83 [Infiltrating the Church]
The night was quiet, with only the occasional stray cat peeking out from the eaves, its bright yellow eyes looking down at the groups of humans walking by below.
Since the news of Nurenger IX's death spread, the number of guards patrolling the royal city has visibly increased within just two days.
Listening to the orderly footsteps outside the door, the people inside the house found it hard to say whether they felt more safe or uneasy.
They hadn't seen such a spectacle in many years.
Who's there?
The guard at the end of the patrol team suddenly shouted.
This prompted the rest of the group to stop and look at the street they had just walked through.
"what happens?"
The guard at the very front, who was also the leader of the group, came over and asked.
"I think I just saw a dark figure dart into that alley."
Upon hearing this, the leader did not hesitate and immediately made a decision, "Let's go, let's go take a look."
It wouldn't matter under other circumstances, but right now, we can't let any unusual movement slip by.
After their eight-person team left, Mela and Erica walked out of the street they were originally going to take and quickly entered another alley.
Next, Mela peeked out, making sure another patrol team had passed by, then landed easily on a pile of boxes by the roadside and lightly leaped onto the second-floor balcony.
Erica followed closely behind, also going up to the balcony of another house.
A moment later, a white figure darted out from mid-air and landed on Mela's shoulder; it was Silas.
“Well done, Silas,” Mela whispered in praise.
Silas immediately hummed proudly twice.
In order to help Mela and Erica successfully infiltrate the church tonight, Silas didn't sleep a wink all day yesterday. He even memorized the guards' patrol routes from morning to night. Just now, when Mela and Erica were about to be discovered, he grabbed someone's clothes that were hanging outside the window and flew over to distract the guards.
Now Mela will finally realize how useful it is to have it with her, Silas thought with a touch of smugness.
When they first discussed infiltrating the church, Mela's plan was to have Silas stay with Yuriel, while she and Erica would go in.
Why should I stay?
Why should I stay?!
Yuriel and Silas spoke separately.
After saying that, they looked at each other and immediately turned their faces away, clearly not getting along.
“Because you can’t swim, right, Yuriel?” Mela replied calmly.
"We want to use the tunnel we found under the moat to re-enter the royal city, but how are we going to get you down there if you can't swim?"
“I…” Yuriel hesitated, after all, what Mela said was indeed true.
But after learning about her parents' past from Erica, how could Yuriel just sit outside the city and do nothing? At the very least, she wanted to do her part to avenge her mother.
"Alright, just stay outside the city and wait for us to come back. If even Mela and I can't do it, adding you won't make any difference," Erica said bluntly.
As expected of the person who raised Yuriel, Erica knows exactly what to say to make Yuriel shut up obediently.
“What about me? What about me? I don’t need to swim to go into town with you.” Silas interrupted eagerly. “Besides, Yuriel isn’t a child anymore, why do I have to stay here with her?”
“Besides, Mela, you are my master, so of course I will stay by your side at all times! I will protect you!” Silas said emphatically.
Those black bean-like eyes were filled with determination.
“Silas…” Mela gave up. “Okay, Erica said the tunnel exit is in the prison. Silas, you fly there first and wait for us.”
“Okay!” Silas readily agreed and happily jumped into Mela’s arms.
As night fell, under Yuriel's watchful gaze, Mela and Erica entered the moat one after the other.
Having learned from experience, Mela did not linger underwater but quickly found the entrance and entered the tunnel.
After entering the tunnel, the two did not rush forward, but took some time to wring out their clothes so that they wouldn't leave watermarks all the way.
Next, Erica went first, with Mela one step behind.
"Mera, I'm so sorry."
"It's dark," Erica suddenly said.
“I can’t bear to reject you the same way I rejected Yuriel. In the end, it’s because I’m too selfish. I don’t want her to come with me on this risk.”
To be honest, Erica felt relieved when she heard Mela say she would help her take revenge. Of course, it was easier to have a helper than to fight alone.
However, it is undeniable that this trip to the church will be fraught with danger. Erica's refusal to let Yuriel come along is ostensibly in agreement with Mela, but in reality, she does not want anything to happen to Irene's only child because of her decision.
"Fine, blame me if you want. I don't want to leave you with a grudge at this crucial moment," Erica said, trying to sound casual.
"However, I know that with your temperament, it's impossible for you to turn around and leave after hearing what I said, right?"
If you listen carefully, you can detect a hint of unease in Erika's voice.
"...Erica, don't you feel that you've become less like a witch since you started following Elia around?"
Mela's voice came softly from behind.
"At least no witch would deliberately use such methods to manipulate people's hearts, would she?"
Erica's words just now seemed like she was opening her heart to Mela, but in reality, she said them on purpose because she was afraid that Mela would realize what she meant and develop resentment towards her.
Think about it, Erica could have kept her little thoughts to herself, but she took the initiative to confess to Mela. Shouldn't Mela be touched by her honesty?
However, "True honesty isn't like this; you're just trying to take advantage of my soft heart," Mela bluntly pointed out.
"..."
Erica fell silent, because Mela had indeed guessed exactly what she was thinking.
She never imagined that one day she would become the very person she used to hate the most, someone full of scheming and backstabbing.
"Looks like I really went to all this trouble," Erica said helplessly.
If she hadn't said those words, Mela wouldn't have had the chance to make such a fuss.
Now that Mela had revealed her secret thoughts, Erica's face stung with shame; she genuinely felt a pang of embarrassment.
*
"Alright, we've reached the exit. Now you have no chance to back out."
Erica stopped and turned to look at Mela.
"Mera, thank you for helping me this time."
"I'll accept this thanks since you helped me before."
With a smile on her lips, Mela casually stepped past Erica and climbed up first.
The legs were her own, and she had never regretted her decision to follow Erica.
However, Erica picked up her paranoia from Elijah and insisted on testing her, just like Lex had done back then.
Is this a common problem among nobles?
Mela was momentarily distracted.
She doesn't really miss the days when Lex was around, but occasionally, she does think about things related to him.
“Based on the route Silas wrote down yesterday, we should go this way later.”
After Erica and Mela discussed how to get to the church, the two easily evaded the lax guards outside the prison and successfully took their first step.
Silas was already waiting on the roof of a house next to the prison. When he saw Mela and Erica come out, he flapped his wings and followed them on their heads.
The two people and the bird made their way into the church without any major incidents.
“I’ve come here several times before, disguised as Elijah’s maid. Just follow me.”
Erica said, pulling Mela behind a stone pillar large enough to hide both of them. They watched from afar as a young priest turned around the next corner and disappeared from sight before continuing to walk forward with Mela.
"Let's go find two sets of nun's clothes to change into, so that even if we're accidentally seen, we'll have a chance to fool them."
Of course, the actual situation was that Erica found two nuns, knocked them unconscious when they weren't paying attention, and then quickly swapped their clothes with her own.
After changing her clothes, Mela followed Erica along the corridor for a while, and in the distance they saw a garden.
"Next, we'll probably have to go our separate ways. As a lady-in-waiting who accompanied the Queen to church, I only went as far as the garden."
Erica suddenly stopped, took a deep breath, and said to Mela.
In exchange for helping Elijah control Nurenger IX's illness, Elijah agreed to help Erica get rid of Laod.
However, the old pope was still alive at that time, and he only had Laod as his sole son. Laod stayed by his bedside every day, making it impossible for Elijah to make any rash moves.
“Erica, wait a little longer. Once that old bastard Alonso breathes his last, and the archbishops start fighting over the papacy, it will be a piece of cake for us to get rid of Laod, who has lost his backer.”
At that time, Elijah was afraid that Erica would lose her temper, so she kept trying to comfort her.
Now, Erica is very glad that she did not put all her hopes on Elijah, but instead went into the church herself several times. Otherwise, she would not have been able to lead Mela so smoothly all the way.
But now, if she and Mela want to find Laod's room among the many rooms behind the garden, they obviously have to search separately.
“We must leave here before dawn at the latest. Whether we find Laod or not, we will meet in the garden.” Erica said slowly, as if she had made a decision.
Mela knew what Erica was worried about. Due to the increased security in the royal city, the guards inside the church had become somewhat lax. If they missed such a good opportunity tonight, it would be several times more difficult for them to infiltrate the church like this next time.
Even so, Erica decided to leave with Mela if she couldn't find anyone.
For Erika, this was a huge compromise; she hadn't let the flames of revenge completely destroy her reason.
“Don’t worry, we’ll definitely find him,” Mela pointed to the sky and comforted Erica with a smile, “After all, the stars are very bright tonight.”
This is the first time Mela has ever seen such a bright starry sky in so long. Even if there are some twists and turns along the way, the ending will probably be the way they want.
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