NOVPUBThe doors of the Governor’s Office stretched on both sides, meticulously carved from old maple wood felled three hundred years ago. The doorframe was inlaid with delicate silver ornaments, dignified and replete with historical sediment.
The office was eerily quiet, even Anello’s previous screaming had ceased, no longer echoing in the expansive three-story mansion.
"Loren…!!"
Anello, whose whole body was bound by the Anti-Magic Ice Spikes, started to feel intermittent stabbing pain from being moved. But compared to the terror in his mind, the physical pain was negligible.
Seeing Loren again, Anello’s breaths became rapid. Every inhale was accompanied by a faint choking sound, as if the air solidified in his throat.
The surrounding noises gradually blurred, and Anello’s ears fell into an empty silence, echoing only with his own heartbeat—a rapid, chaotic rhythm. He couldn’t move his hands or feet, and the distance between him and Loren became an insurmountable abyss.
The terror in his eyes, the fear that penetrated his marrow, bound him like an invisible chain.
On the sofa were two figures, Lanci and Sigrid, each sitting there with remarkable calmness and ease.
Lanci sat on the left side of the sofa, elegant like a chess piece, stroking a small black cat in his hand.
On the other side, Sigrid leaned back on the chair, supporting her chin with one hand. The power exuded from each knuckle suggested that a mere wave of her hand could make the whole empire tremble. She glanced at Anello who was lying on the ground, looking upon him with a lofty gaze.
The two had distinct demeanours and postures—one was as gentle and elegant as a poet, the other was as dominant as an empress, but they got along surprisingly well together.
Looking at the harmonious atmosphere, Anello’s eyes revealed his fury, despair, and disbelief.
He had originally thought that after his departure, High Priest Loren would first take control of the frail Bishop of Hegemony.
Unexpectedly, this woman seemed to have always trusted the High Priest.
Could it be that the Bishop of Hegemony had already betrayed the Protoss Empire in advance and formed an unspeakable alliance with High Priest Loren…?
Anello was gradually unable to understand the scene before him, with mixed emotions rushing through his heart like a tide.
The feeling of losing everything and falling into an abyss was unbearable for him.
His breathing became incredibly erratic, looking frantically for an escape route. However, each shred of rationality left in him suggested that there was nowhere to hide.
He suddenly shouted out: "Loren!! You hypocritical man!! Didn’t you promise to let me go?!"
Anello’s voice cried out mournfully, a mix of resentment and unwillingness.
"…"
Lanci maintained his slightly upturned lips. His smile, under these circumstances, made Anello feel even chillier.
"I did indeed say I wouldn’t kill you. Aren’t you alive and well now?"
He spoke as if all of this was just natural, as if everything was supposed to happen in this way.
This brief response further stabbed into Anello’s heart, causing him to tremble violently again.
He couldn’t understand why the High Priest Loren, who was rumored to be noble, could be so cruel, hypocritical, manipulative, even toying with people’s feelings to a greater extent than some of the twisted Cardinal Bishops of the Rebirth Church.
Anello took a deep breath with his last strength.
He looked at Viscount Chinston and said with splintered bitterness and struggle in his voice, "You have been deceived!! He is Loren, the High Priest of the Church of the Goddess of Destiny on the South Continent. He’s the Empire’s greatest enemy! By doing this, you are becoming sinners of the Empire!! You… You have no idea what disaster you’ve caused!!"
However.
None of the guards or Viscount Chinston stood up or acknowledged Anello’s words. It was as if they didn’t care at all; they just stared coldly at Anello, utterly unswayed.
Perhaps, they were even more sure about something.
Their gaze was like looking at a mad, irrational man who had completely lost his mind.
Viscount Chinston shook his head and chuckled, and he casually walked next to Lanci’s sofa. Bowing respectfully, he said, "Governor, you really have a divine insight. Everything you said was right."
At this moment, Anello completely broke down.
That despair, like ice, encompassed his entire body, even more so than his frozen body.
The scant hope left in his eyes shattered. He felt like he was about to lose everything.
"He’s a big liar! You’ve all been deceived by this fraud!!"
Anello cried and laughed at the same time, as if finally driven mad by the absurd circumstances.
His gut-wrenching wails of unwillingness, every word was like the final sound of despair.
Nobody in the room paid any attention, no one showed a hint of sympathy or understanding, let alone defended him.
They just watched quietly as Anello’s madness and delusion played out before them. His antics were like a far-off desert landscape to them, distant and indifferent.
Finally, Lanci sighed.
He looked down at Anello. His compassionate eyes seemed as if they could penetrate everything, leaving Anello’s soul exposed.
But he didn’t seem as overbearing as when Anello had seen him in the snowfield before.
There wasn’t the slightest bit of cat-and-mouse tease.
Only pity and regret, like a compassionate headmaster looking at a student who is about to be expelled.
Anello steadied his trembling body with his hands on the ground, trying to control both his body and emotions.
His eyes were filled with extreme confusion and terror, staring unblinkingly at Lanci, trying to find a modicum of truth or s sliver of hope from those unfathomable eyes.
No matter what, he was captured by High Priest Loren, a faithful follower of the Goddess of Destiny, who should be a very compassionate person, right?
He had promised to enlighten him with love and assured him that he wouldn’t kill him!
"Loren, spare me. Someone of your stature shouldn’t be attacking me."
Anello’s voice grew louder, and tears rolled down his cheeks. They streaked down his pale and determined face, exhibiting an acceptance of his fate with regret, seemingly pleading for Loren’s sympathy.
At that moment, he seemed like a misunderstood child, unclear why everything around him had become so strange and indifferent.
"Saint Heir, don’t believe his..."
Sigrid seemed to want to challenge with anger but was stopped by Lanci’s raised hand. He signaled trust in him and left the matter to him.
Lanci stared at the Saint of Nirvana. The Mother’s willingness to forgive remained unaffected.
"What do you think is the purpose of rules and laws, prevention, or retribution?"
He asked.
"Prevention! Prevention, I swear to the Goddess of Destiny that I will never be an enemy of the Church of the Goddess of Destiny again!"
Anello, like a drowning man clutching at a straw, answered Lanci.
However, Lanci only smiled, his smile filled with a touch of regret and bitterness, and shook his head.
"It’s retribution. Deterrence and reforming the criminal are secondary, but those who do evil should be punished, and those who do no evil should not be. This is the foundation of punishment and justice, and retribution is its most important function."
Lanci’s expression was unusually serious as he enlightened Anello to the right answer.
Hearing Lanci’s words and seeing his attitude, Anello’s trembling lips and hollow pupils seemed to foresee his future.
His body was even colder. Everything around became blurry and his existence felt vacant.
"Spare me, or Lord Asksan will not let go of the innocent Priests of the Church of the Goddess of Destiny..."
Anello kept repeating these words over and over again. His cries seemed to be his only support. But with each repetition, his voice weakened.
"Why? I’m not from the Church of the Goddess of Destiny."
Lanci was stunned and asked perplexedly.
"...?"
Suddenly, Anello froze too.
He didn’t understand what Loren meant.
Was Loren still pretending to be ignorant?
"I’m Lanci McCarthy."
Lanci raised his hands and stated clearly.
"No!!! You are Loren, you killed me, Asksan will eventually know that you did it!"
Anello seemed to fear a fact and screamed in alarm. Since he stepped into this office, everything in this world felt like a palpable nightmare.
But the only thing he had to believe, and his remaining hope, was that the other person was High Priest Loren!
"Ah——"
Lanci sighed helplessly,
"Why don’t you believe it, each word I’ve been telling you is the truth."
Lanci displayed the [Fake Stone Tablet-Wind] and his Empire Identification card to Anello.
It clearly stated on the document: Lanci McCarthy.
"See, I was joking with you in the snowfield before."
Lanci smiled sheepishly; no one knew whether he was genuinely apologetic or whether he could no longer contain his laughter.
Sikder from the side broke into laughter while holding her stomach and resting on the couch. Seeing Anello’s dumbfounded expression, she couldn’t help but laugh and kept slapping Lanci on his side.
At this moment, Anello’s eyes widened, and everything began to make sense.
"Ah... Ah..."
Only after he became a prisoner did he realize that he could have killed the Bishop of Hegemony and the Saint of Hegemony back then.
However, he had been fooled because of fear.
Step by step, he was deceived from the gates of heaven into this inescapable abyss.
His eyes slowly turned bloodshot, like two jewels soaked in fresh blood that looked like they would shatter at any time. It was like a flame of fury that had been extinguished was simmering within them, threatening to jump out and destroy everything.
Every cell, every inch of his skin was trembling. Anello’s mouth twitched, and his teeth clattered. Drops of dark red liquid slid down his eyes. They weren’t tears, but blood; a testament to the extreme hatred that almost tore him apart.
"Lanci——!!!"
The sharp voice of the Saint of Nirvana indicated his complete despair.
