Chapter 347
A sudden sound of footsteps pulled Xia'er’s attention back. She turned to the open front door and saw a familiar figure with silver-gray hair.
“Hello, are you...?”
Yulisi’s lifeless gray-white eyes gazed in Xia'er’s direction, hesitantly asking.
Just moments ago, a nun had approached her, saying that a noble claiming to be a friend of Adele had come to see her... accompanied by a maid.
The recent disappearance of Adele had left her troubled, and the busy church work had prevented her from searching for Adele. Now, hearing news of Adele, she immediately stepped out.
“January 17, 739 of the Holy Era.”
Without any small talk, Xia'er launched straight into it, saying, “We’ve met in a dream, Yulisi…”
At the mention of that date, Yulisi’s eyes widened slightly.
How did she know that date...? It was a secret even Adele was unaware of...
Unless she had spoken it herself, there was no way the other party could know this information.
“Please, follow me.”
Yulisi quickly responded, stepping aside slightly to let them enter the priest’s residence.
After instructing the nun not to let anyone disturb them, Yulisi led Xia'er and Tara into the reception room.
Once Xia'er was seated, Yulisi turned to her and asked, “Are you here regarding Adele?”
The visitor had come under the pretense of being a friend of Adele, so it was highly likely that this was about Adele.
Yulisi was also aware that Adele had become embroiled in a major incident related to the explosion at the Royal Medical Academy. The person before her might very well be one of Adele’s friends from Beren City.
“Rest assured, Adele is in a very safe place,” Xia'er said, looking at Yulisi. “I’m here for something else.”
“Please, go on.”
Finally hearing news of Adele eased the weight in Yulisi’s heart a little, and the tension in her voice dissipated somewhat.
She could sense that the other party had not told a single lie from the beginning.
“What I’m about to say, I hope you won’t interrupt. Listen carefully and then consider it.”
Xia'er raised her hand, gently waving it toward the back.
Tara stepped forward and handed Yulisi an object.
Yulisi reached out to take it, but as her fingers brushed against it, a hint of confusion crossed her face.
“What is this...?”
Yulisi, who was blind, had a keen sense of touch. Just by feeling it once, she could usually form a rough image of the object in her mind.
And the item just handed to her was something she recognized immediately.
It was a standard faceless goddess pendant from the Church of the Savior. Even though its surface was polished and rounded, Yulisi could identify it at once.
After all, she prayed with her own pendant every night before sleep.
What did this mean, receiving this from them?
But soon, as Yulisi’s fingers traced the figure of the goddess, the uneven carvings felt different from the smooth texture she remembered, causing her expression to change dramatically.
She almost flung the necklace away in shock, but Tara caught it deftly, preventing it from falling onto the carpet.
“You are desecrating the goddess!”
Yulisi suppressed her anger and glared at Xia'er, scolding, “How dare you add anything to the statue of the goddess?!”
“Desecration?”
Tara couldn’t hold back any longer and retorted coldly, “Your action of throwing the goddess statue away is the true desecration.”
“Mother Goddess?!”
Yulisi instantly sensed something was off. She quickly stood up, and four white shadows swiftly emerged from behind her. Gritting her teeth, she glared at Tara and said, “You are from the Holy Dawn Sect…”
The words for “goddess” and “mother goddess” in Ansu language are different, and the term “mother goddess” was clearly not one used by the Church of the Savior.
Thus, she was certain that the other party belonged to the Holy Dawn Sect.
The atmosphere in the reception room grew tense. Yulisi was unsure of their strength and dared not act rashly, searching for an opportunity to escape or strike.
“Relax, Yulisi.”
Xia'er’s calm voice broke the silence in the room. “This is the very center of Ansu. Whatever we do will be noticed... you know that.”
Yulisi remained silent, not responding, but silently positioned two white shadows in front of her.
Xia'er stood up, took the necklace from Tara’s hand, and walked around the round table toward Yulisi.
The slow, deliberate footsteps made Yulisi almost jump. She quickly stepped back, even knocking over an antique wooden chair behind her.
“Don’t come any closer!”
Yulisi warned.
“Sometimes I really feel helpless, Yulisi... We’ve met so many times in dreams, yet you have no memory of it,” Xia'er said, slowly cornering Yulisi against the wall, offering the pendant to her. “Perhaps, your way of communicating is the problem…”
Another truth... Who is she? Why does the “lie detector” have no effect on her?!
“Don’t you want to see it one more time?”
Xia'er raised the necklace in front of Yulisi. “The cute creation I made that you saw in Beren City…”
Snap—
With a sound of fingers snapping, the darkness before Yulisi quickly faded, revealing colors before her eyes.
A beautiful red-haired girl holding the pendant, a green-haired girl watching her coldly from behind, and the goddess statue in the girl’s hand, gently swaying, with strange symbols etched on its face.
This symbol was strikingly similar to those of both the Church of the Savior and the Holy Dawn Sect, also bearing symbols representing the sun and moon, but with different engravings.
This was a character taken from the upper half of the word “Xia” in ancient script... After multiple tests in the basement, Xia'er found that this character corresponded perfectly to herself and bore a resemblance to the church symbols of the Church of the Savior.
It was the perfect symbol for deception.
But now, lost in a vision, Yulisi was astonished to “see” the colors before her. She turned her head left and right, and with just a slight delay, she could “see” everything around her.
This was an illusion created in Yulisi’s mind using the ability of the “Subverter,” effectively modeling everything around her and overlaying it in Yulisi’s consciousness.
—This could only be done for those who became blind later in life; those who were born blind could not imagine “colors” or objects. Even if the “Subverter” dragged them into an illusion, they would likely only perceive a swirling mass of gray mist.
“Give it a try.”
Xia'er softly coaxed, “Pray... to me.”
To... her?
Yulisi snapped back to reality, looking at Xia'er in shock.
No, no, no... This could just be a trick of the Holy Dawn Sect; they want to corrupt me!
Yulisi glanced at Tara behind Xia'er.
Even if Xia'er wasn’t from the Holy Dawn Sect, her attendant surely was... perhaps the girl before her was merely being manipulated by the Holy Dawn Sect...
“Don’t look at me like that.”
Seeing Yulisi’s wary gaze, Tara said flatly, “I’m a high priestess of the Holy Dawn Sect. If I wanted to kill you, you would have died in Beren City without me lifting a finger.”
A high priestess... with that physique...
Yulisi quickly recalled someone from her memory who matched.
That was a senior from the Church of the Savior, obsessed with studying ancient texts and scriptures, who had gone mad over a decade ago, defecting to the Holy Dawn Sect with her manuscripts, receiving the highest honors from them...
This incident was often recounted by the nuns in the convent as a cautionary tale, reminding them to critically examine the unreasonable parts of ancient texts, which were merely errors in recording.
The appearance of a high priestess here meant that the area was surely filled with the Holy Dawn Sect’s eyes... she absolutely couldn’t escape.
Moreover...
Why did the words of the red-haired girl before her make her want to believe so much...?
Yulisi didn’t even notice that she had slowly raised her hand and taken the necklace.
Just a prayer... I’m just praying to the goddess; nothing unexpected will happen...
Oh goddess...
Yulisi trembled as she accepted the pendant, slowly closing her eyes.
The surrounding scene cooperated perfectly; as she closed her eyes and fell into darkness, she returned once more to the familiar void she knew so well.
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