Anos erged from the guest room.
Elena was shocked, sowhat disbelieving her own eyes, wondering if she had seen wrongly.
"Elena, tell , what exactly happened to you?"
Princess Anos asked indifferently.
Her tone left no room for doubt, as if a monarch was issuing commands from on high.
"Pr, Princess Anos... Is this... Am I still trapped in an illusion?"
Elena stood rooted to the spot, unmoving.
"Illusion?"
Anos asked in confusion.
Mira also burst out, sniffing at the air and detecting a faint scent of blood from Elena.
Elena, feeling dizzy, sat down on the bench, and Stephanie hurried to support her.
The noble young lady was gasping for air heavily.
Anos stepped forward, gently resting her hand on Elena’s shoulder,
"Elena, what’s the matter? It really is , not an illusion."
"Is it really you? Didn’t you leave the Imperial City?"
"The story is long."
Anos said succinctly,
"Feeling better? I await your answer."
After a mont, Elena nodded.
Mira approached, capturing the pallor of Elena’s face in her eyes.
She detected a whiff of black mist.
"Elena, does everything that happened to you... have sothing to do with the Primordial Church?"
Mira asked directly.
On hearing those words, Elena’s eyes filled with panic.
"How, how do you know?"
After a while, Elena nodded with difficulty,
"Yes... My father kept repeating that word after he ca back from the Grand Cathedral..."
Anos’ hand rose involuntarily.
Before the princess could inquire, Mira asked first:
"What did your father encounter there? And... what do you an by ’illusion’?"
Seeing that Mira had asked what she herself wanted to know, the princess fell into silent contemplation, quietly awaiting an answer.
Elena wrung her hands as if bracing herself ntally.
After a long ti, she finally spoke:
"You know, my father... is a renowned church historian; that’s why he was summoned by the Great Shepherd.
It’s said... sothing was discovered beneath the Grand Cathedral, and the Great Shepherd hoped he could determine the age of the relic...
Oh Lord above, my father agreed; he shouldn’t have, but... it was the Shepherd, his Godfather."
Mira couldn’t help but ask:
"What... did your father encounter there?"
Elena began to tremble, as if confronting so terrible mory.
"I, I heard my father keep ntioning ’a new Prophet,’ ’another side of God,’ such blasphemous words, sothing malevolent... My father used to be so devout, not missing morning prayers for a whole ten years...
But then, but... that’s just what happened!
He kept reciting scriptures I’ve never heard of, as if he was brainwashed.
My mother couldn’t take it, they argued, and my father’s eyes were bloodshot as he cursed the Imperial Church as a whore, usurping the rightful place of the Primordial Church. God, forgive him."
Elena beca more agitated and urgent as she spoke, her neck flushing red.
Anos and Mira exchanged glances.
Then, Mira followed up:
"Elena, is there anything else? What specifically did your father encounter?"
Elena clutched her head, calming down a bit, and after a mont she said:
"He said he t a woman there, a woman in black robes, her face unseen by anyone."
Anos frowned.
She nibbled on her fingertip.
The person seen by Elena’s father in the Bone Church was different from the person the Stone Mason Guild master had described.
The master spoke of soone related to the Honest Pact.
But what Elena’s father encountered was a woman.
"Continue."
Anos prompted.
Elena nodded, whispering:
"That woman... claid to co from the future, telling my father that in this current age, she has not yet been born and her appearance now is rely an ethereal projection.
My father couldn’t see the woman’s face; she seed young, yet her voice held a magical power, ’like an angel...’ those were my father’s exact words, but surely it couldn’t have been an angel, or it would be too sacrilegious!
The woman proclaid she served the great suffering, she ca obeying her God, who also hailed from the future, a God from the Lord."
After recounting this, Elena spoke sowhat incoherently, uttering many things of little aning, mostly her own subjective impressions.
Elena brought more news to the princess and Mira, as well as more mysteries.
It seed that different people encountered different entities in the Bone Church.
After Elena had explained all this, Anos intended to settle Elena down.
Given that she and Mira were now concealing their whereabouts, naturally they couldn’t let Elena spread the news.
"Elena, we must confine you."
Anos declared in a steady voice.
Elena started, her eyes blinking like a deer caught in a net,
"Do you, do you an..."
The noble girl nervously suspected Anos was with the Primordial Church; she was on edge.
The princess chuckled lightly,
"Please listen to to the end, otherwise all will deviate from the proper course."
After saying this, Anos added:
"It’s for your protection, Elena. You must stay here until everything settles, and Stephanie will provide for your needs."
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