CH-054

The day before the harvest festival, Father Aliss had nothing particular to do and helped Elder Yagg and the others make the festival offering—flatbreads.

Finnian deeply, deeply despised Leslie.

He felt this was the first time in his life he had despised someone this much.

Just seeing Leslie standing beside the priest made the vein at his temple throb and throb—he felt about to explode.

"Aaargh, Leslie, you're nothing but a thief! You actually tricked Father Aliss into taking you to the harvest festival."

After Father Aliss had tasked him with peeling two kilograms of potato skins and the priest had gone elsewhere, Finnian finally couldn't hold back his indignation now that just the two of them remained.

While he grumbled, his hands worked furiously at peeling, while out of the corner of his eye he watched Leslie—clumsily and wastefully hacking away entire chunks of potato flesh alongside the skin—and with his free hand he simply snatched the potato from Leslie's hand.

"Irritating! Can't even do this right, and he still wants to take what's mine!"

Leslie appeared entirely unperturbed by Finnian's fury, glanced down at his now-empty hands, and said slowly: "I was only curious about you."

"Curious about what?" Finnian felt he was about to transform into a full-scaled demon beast and eat Leslie alive. "Don't tell me you're curious about why I care about the church. You thief—you clearly want to steal my time alone with Father Aliss. You're going too far!"

Finnian kept scolding and muttering.

Seeing Leslie simply remain silent, Finnian grew even more furious. "You can see how angry I am, and you still won't say 'then I don't want to go anymore.' That's going too far!"

If he hadn't been right under Father Aliss's watchful eye, Finnian would have fought Leslie there and then.

In contrast to Finnian's explosiveness, Leslie appeared even calmer, saying flatly: "You act like two completely different people in front of Father Aliss."

Finnian narrowed his eyes: "Are you threatening me?"

Leslie replied: "No."

"Hmph!" Finnian gave a cold snort through his nose. "Let me tell you! Even if you want to report me, I'm not scared! Because Father Aliss likes me most—whatever I do, he forgives me. I've even told him all the bad things I've done and he still doesn't dislike me! Don't think a little thing like this is going to scare me—don't think you'll get your way."

Leslie didn't make much of Finnian's counter-attack and simply organized his thoughts before choosing his words: "The last time you promised me—if I found a way to get you into the church, you would show me what was so good about Father Aliss. You said at the time you couldn't explain it yourself, and told me to see for myself—you're the one who had me bring you in."

Finnian did feel a twinge of guilt—he had played a small trick.

But then, Finnian had noticed that Leslie was willing to take the bait and had wanted to see Father Aliss for himself too.

Leslie still hadn't finished, and continued: "I believe I still have many questions about you."

These words baffled Finnian momentarily. But he quickly recovered clarity in his gaze, his heart knowing exactly what was meant, and he said viciously: "You don't have questions about me at all! You just want to use me to get close to Father Aliss."

Leslie frowned. "I said I'm curious about you—what does that have to do with Father Aliss?"

Finnian just couldn't tell what was true and what was false in Leslie's words, yet felt as if he were being played.

Finnian shook his head, not wanting to deal with this anymore. He bluntly cut the topic off: "Then I'm not going to the harvest festival. And you're not allowed to go either!"

He wanted to take an indirect route—first trick Leslie into staying home, then sneak off with Father Aliss.

Leslie only paused for a moment, then continued, unmoved: "But I've already promised to attend the harvest festival—I can't go back on my word."

Leslie hopped right on every one of Finnian's nerves.

"And you still say you don't want to go to the harvest festival with Father Aliss? You're so annoying." It was the first time Finnian had come this close to being moved to tears by a child. Where was there such an unreasonable person? Finnian was furious.

The commotion the two were making soon reached Shu Li's ears as he studied the stone mill in the other room. Though he couldn't make out what they were saying, he could tell from the tone that they were both quite worked up—especially Finnian, whose voice was charged with excitement.

Peeling potatoes and still managing to make this much noise? Truly, children needed other children to play with.

Shu Li felt moved by this in his heart, and had even begun imagining the picture of the two of them going to school together, talking and laughing—they would surely be a beautiful sight at school.

In truth, Shu Li had a private motive of his own.

Though he couldn't lay out a future career path or plan for Finnian, and didn't know which road was best for him, Shu Li knew that in the original novel, everyone who was close to the male lead had gone on to greater futures than their pasts. Shu Li hoped Finnian would seize this excellent opportunity properly.

Just as he was lost in pleasant imaginings of the future, a voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Father Aliss!" The speaker was Cecilia. "Long time no see!!"

She was wearing a clean and neat new dress—though the material was still linen, the whole person shone like a bright moon walking in.

"You look like you're doing well!" said Shu Li.

"Yes!!" Cecilia was genuinely grateful to Shu Li for giving her the chance to go work in Carson City.

In July, she had gone to work in Aunt Sona's bakery in Carson City.

Cecilia hadn't wanted to go at first. Having never traveled so far before, she was reluctant to leave home. She also knew that the cost of living in Carson City was steep, and was afraid she'd struggle; and if she gave up halfway and came back to the Savoie Parish, the travel costs would have been wasted.

Cecilia had many misgivings. She didn't feel it was necessary...

It was Shu Li who offered to cover the travel and accommodation costs.

And it was also Shu Li who gave her a letter for the church in Carson City, telling her that if she ran into trouble, she could take the letter to the church's clergy for help, or find Herrens as well.

Herrens had previously followed Shu Li around and often eaten at Elder Yagg's home.

And so in Carson City, Cecilia had a familiar and trusted person nearby.

"Just treat it as a trip to have a look at Carson City," Shu Li had told her.

Shu Li was the backbone of Elder Yagg's household. With the priest so enthusiastically in support, Elder Yagg's family supported her even more wholeheartedly.

And so Cecilia went to work at Sona's bakery on a trial basis.

The bakery was short-staffed, and Cecilia was hardworking and diligent, honest and even-tempered. Having often helped Shu Li and picked up the basics of baking—including how to cultivate a yeast starter—she was exactly the kind of person Sona wanted.

It was said Sona had asked her to stay after just one day on the job.

Cecilia was now living in Sona's home, and the two young women made for good company.

Whenever they had a moment free, they'd go to clothing shops or upscale restaurants for a meal. Carson City put great stock in church tradition, with rich church activities—for someone as devout as Cecilia, it was like a fish in water.

Moreover, the generous Sona combined with Cecilia's own frugality had resulted in her saving one hundred and twenty silver coins in two months—something unthinkable back in the Savoie Parish, where working at someone else's shop earned only twenty silver coins a month.

If the harvest festival season hadn't arrived, Cecilia would have completely forgotten she'd been away from home for nearly two months.

"I heard in Carson City that the Duke is vigorously promoting horse plowing across villages and towns, so I hurried back with my savings—but I didn't see anyone buying horses." Cecilia was puzzled. "Did I misunderstand?"

Shu Li said: "Who told you that? Herrens?"

"Yes, Herrens told me to buy a horse sooner rather than later." Cecilia answered.

It seemed Herrens was looking out for Cecilia in Carson City too—truly, good deeds yielded good returns.

"If he says to buy, buy." Father Corny beside Herrens still worked for the Duke and would certainly have first-hand information.

Cecilia said: "But Herrens also said to ask Father Aliss first. He said if you didn't recommend it, there was no rush."

Shu Li laughed despite himself. "...Alright, I think you should buy."

After this harvest festival, horse plowing would certainly be pushed through. Better to buy before the horse prices rose.

Seeing Cecilia acknowledge this but still not move away, Shu Li looked at her in puzzlement. "Is there something else? Do you have other matters to attend to?"

Cecilia's face immediately flushed crimson, looking quite embarrassed. She said: "I was just wondering—could Father Aliss walk through the fire gate ritual with me tonight?"

"Ah? Of course!" Shu Li agreed without a moment's hesitation, feeling there was nothing awkward about such an invitation. "Though Finnian has already claimed me first, and I've also invited another young friend, and I'll need to do another round... I might have to do several laps."

He paused, then smiled at her: "Can you wait for me at the back of the queue? Is that all right?"

Cecilia hadn't expected Shu Li to agree so readily, and was overjoyed: "Absolutely—I'll definitely wait for Father Aliss. Thank you, Father Aliss!"

"You're welcome."

Cecilia still hadn't finished—she quickly handed Shu Li a small gift box she had prepared, saying: "Then could I trouble Father Aliss to wear this brooch all evening?"

While presenting the box, her fingertip accidentally grazed the back of Shu Li's hand, startling Cecilia greatly.

But the Shu Li in front of her paid it little mind.

He simply opened the box as he looked down—inside lay a small silver brooch, with a motif of a rose twining around a cross.

While he was looking down, Cecilia carefully asked: "I'll be wearing an identical brooch—do you mind?"

Though a question mark briefly surfaced in Shu Li's mind, he also felt that Cecilia wouldn't harm him, and asking would only make it seem as though he didn't trust her.

"If this is what you need, then of course I'll cooperate." Shu Li set the box aside and asked: "When are you heading back to Carson City?"

Cecilia smiled in response: "Once the harvest festival is done, I'll take several batches of butter and milk back for Miss Sona. The shop is very busy—the next time I'll probably come back is for the winter solstice festival."

"Are you feeling happy with life right now?"

Cecilia looked steadily at Shu Li. "Yes—thanks to the Lord's grace, and Father Aliss's grace, I'm living with a sense of fulfillment I've never felt before. The only flaw is that Carson City doesn't have Father Aliss."

Shu Li was tickled by this.

Cecilia was a little embarrassed. Noticing a bit of dust on Shu Li's cuff, she reached out instinctively to pat it clean.

When Shu Li noticed, he had just been about to say "it's fine, I'll take care of it myself"—when he felt a faint, prickling sensation at the back of his head. Turning around, he saw Finnian and Leslie staring at him expressionlessly. And Finnian was still holding a large basket of peeled potatoes.

Shu Li opened his mouth involuntarily, but before he could say anything, Finnian let out a loud wail: "Father Aliss, you're so unfair! I'm in there working so hard peeling potato skins, and you're out here laughing and playing with someone else! Do you have any consideration for me?"

Shu Li: "..."

Finnian saw Shu Li was still at a loss for words, grew even angrier thinking about it, and was nearly moved to tears: "Father Aliss doesn't care about me at all anymore..."

It was only later that afternoon, when Shu Li bought him a wooden puppet as a reward, that he barely managed to coax Finnian back into good spirits.

Even throughout this whole process, Leslie had been silently watching the entire scene from the sidelines.

Of course, none of that was the point right now. The point was that just as Shu Li was about to comfort Finnian, an old man appeared out of nowhere, and leaped forward with furrowed brows and blazing face—

"When a believer handed you an object and her fingertip touched yours, you allowed it. You also allowed her to touch the back of your hand again. Have you eaten every page of the Bible—?! This is utterly improper!"

It seemed he had truly been unable to hold back, because he repeated himself: "Utterly immoral! You are completely out of line!"

This outburst fell like a sudden thunderclap, sending tremors through the very air—and not only Shu Li was frozen stiff. Even Finnian's grumbling went quiet.

Everyone turned to stare at the raging old man.

He was an elder with a full head of salt-and-pepper hair, a face burning with fury—having just finished his outburst, he was gasping for breath, eyes practically bulging from their sockets, even his long goatlike beard quivering. His gray-white long robe flapped in the wind as if a tempest had swept past him.

It took Shu Li quite a while to recover, before he found his voice: "May I ask who you are?"

"Holm Ravenshade, Visiting Bishop." The old man drew himself upright, not the slightest hint of restraint in the self-announcement of his role as judge.

Cecilia immediately sucked in a sharp breath and bent into a bow, her heart seizing with anxiety—hadn't they said the Visiting Bishop wasn't coming until October? This was only mid-September—how had he arrived early?

While bowing, she stole a glance at Shu Li, who had still not reacted—and her heart rate spiked as she reminded him in a low voice: "Father Aliss?"

But Shu Li had sunk into his own associations, staring blankly at the gaunt old man, his mind occupied with matching the bishop's name against the characters of the original novel—

He had encountered this name before.

Wasn't Holm Ravenshade the teacher of Nero—that great antagonist from the original novel who met the protagonist?

How very interesting.

Shu Li's lips curved involuntarily, and a smile surfaced on his face—subtle yet inscrutable.

Bishop Holm stared at the young priest before him with displeasure written all over his features.

He had long grown accustomed to seeing the clergy he reprimanded react with guilt or reverence—even if it was feigned, he would accept it. But the young priest before him, said by Bishop Hugo to be the most pious of the young clergy, did nothing but look at him with a kind and genial smile.

"Holy Charter, Chapter Three, Article Eight, Clause Twenty-One," Shu Li smiled with composed confidence. "The Lord's sanctuary is a place of prayer for all people—commotion is a disturbance to the sacred space. The Holy Covenant also says that even the wind knows to slow its steps when passing by the stained glass windows."

Bishop Holm gave a slight start.

Shu Li took a step forward, his eyes still as deep water: "Even as the Visiting Bishop dispatched from the great capital, when you have criticism to offer, I ask that you lower your voice before the Lord's sanctuary. Ought we not show respect to God first—would you not agree?"

The entire atmosphere was left in a stifled, suffocating stillness.

Bishop Holm's lips twitched several times, as if choking on a mouthful of air, and he was nearly unable to speak.

His inner thought was only one—

No wonder Hugo was so satisfied with him. Their irritating qualities were simply the spitting image of each other.