After roughly half a month, Eli and his crew reached a city far from the capital, a lone lantern on the frontier where the Holy Court Church kept its highest authority in the Miter Empire.
They found, out in the suburbs, a house barely better than a farm, leaning like a tired scarecrow in a windy field.
Eli lifted a brow like a drawn bow. “This is the place, right?”
Liqianyu nodded and pointed at the plaque like a signboard in mist. “Look, the emblem of the Holy Court Church.”
The plaque bore two large characters—Holy Sanctuary—beside an icon: a white disc cradling a thin crescent, like a cool moon on a plate.
“Guests from afar, do you need help?” An old man in a white robe slipped through the half-open door like a cautious eyelid, hands folded, smiling like winter sunlight.
Eli glanced at Li Gongxuan; Li Gongxuan glanced back; their eyes struck sparks like flint, then both gave a small nod.
This elder… Sacred Rank, a mountain hidden under cloth, his breath pressing like deep snow.
“Sir, we need the bishop,” Eli said, voice light as a leaf drifting toward a gate.
The old man’s smile stayed warm, like a hearth’s ember. “Heh. We don’t have any bishop-level clergy here.”
“No bishop?” Eli’s surprise lifted like a ripple across still water.
The old man bowed, then sighed, the sound thin as smoke. “Yes. People in the Miter Empire aren’t eager to accept the Holy Sanctuary’s teachings, so the authority here doesn’t need to be that high.”
Eli nodded, the motion steady as a pendulum. “Then who holds the highest authority right now?”
The old man pointed to himself with a calm finger, like a reed in a pond. “That would be me.”
“And you are…?”
Still smiling, he kept it simple, like clear tea. “Just a priest. With your status, you don’t need to use honorifics with me.”
Eli’s brow ticked up, a small hook in the air. “Oh.”
Hilriad led the horse to Eli’s side, reins creaking like dry vines, then leaned close and whispered, worry fluttering like moth-wings. “Mr. Eli, is this really reliable? Feels like going to the Church is a losing play.”
Eli held his silence like a covered flame, then gave Hilriad a nod that settled like a stone—trust me.
From the look of it, the Holy Court Church’s growth in Miter was worse than expected, a river run shallow; but if they gained its backing, the bishopric would send help downstream, and today’s rocks wouldn’t block tomorrow’s boat.
“Honored guests, come in for water,” the old man said, voice soft as rain on tiles. Then he called into the house, words ringing like a bell. “Mulia, lead the horses to the stable, and tell Erikson to serve tea.”
A nun’s reply rose from inside, smooth as silk. “Understood.”
The old man gestured, palm open like a path. “Please, follow me.”
Eli lifted his brow again, a quick arc like a gull’s wing. “Let’s go.”
“Master, everything is ready.” Crown Prince Regan Osborne, dressed in rich cloth that gleamed like lacquer, half-knelt before Era with his gaze lowered like a blade in its sheath.
Era opened her eyes, and an oppressive force poured through the room like a storm breaking glass. “Half a month, and only now?”
Iven stepped forward, words rushing like a brook in flood. “Master, my big brother had just started serving the Demon Race then, and he wasn’t used to it—he’s a fool—please don’t get angry, your health matters most.”
Iven’s eyes rolled once, sly as a cat under a bench. “If you don’t trust him, move all his men under me, and I’ll handle it instead.”
Regan shot Iven a look, sharp as a thorn, then forced a vow, stiff as armor. “Master, no. I’ll do better. It’s only that our third brother’s preparations were too thorough, so it’s dragged till now.”
Era’s brows drew tight, a fan snapping shut. “Enough. Both of you, shut up.”
“Yes.” Iven lowered his head, the motion heavy as a stone.
“Understood.” Regan swallowed the word, dry as dust.
For half a month, they had bickered like flies trapped in a jar, and the joy of her restored Divinity had faded like ink in rain.
Era rose and kicked both princes aside, her steps flowing to the window like cold water. “If you babble in front of me again, I’ll let you taste bone and flesh parting.”
“Yes, my master.” The reply trembled like a drumskin in wind.
“Understood.” The second echoed, a thin string pulled taut.
“Hm.” Era narrowed her eyes toward the palace blazing like a crown of fire. “Soon, this empire will be ours.”
Her right hand curled, and the air warped like heat above a kiln; she drew the twisted elements into her palm and kneaded a black sphere, a new moon cupped by night. “Hah. The power of Divinity—glorious.”
Kait Osborne no longer wore that look of everything held in his palm; he squinted at the report like a hawk seeing smoke instead of prey.
“Impossible. They were trained by me. How could they vanish without a trace?” He stared at the missing list, and cold unease rose like water up a well.
Those were spies embedded under the Crown Prince and the Fourth Prince on his orders, and now every line was silent, a string cut in the dark.
No signs of battle had rippled through the capital, and his network spread through the city like roots had heard nothing, not a whisper of steel.
It felt like a haunting: agents in both sectors gone like breath in frost.
Kait locked his brows, plans flickering like lanterns in wind. “If big brother has some hidden expert, how do I explain fourth brother’s side? Even his servants are mine—impossible.”
Suddenly his chest clenched, pain sharp as a hook; he grabbed his collar and leaned on the wall like a felled tree.
Perry pushed the door open and rushed in with medicine, footsteps quick as beads on a tray. “Your Highness! I told you to take the pills on time, or how do we suppress the poison?”
Kait swallowed the pill in one bite, breath heavy as a bellows, then opened his eyes slow as dawn. He tore his shirt open, and eerie green stripes locked around his heart like vines on stone; any moment, this handsome man might drop like a statue shattered.
Perry saw it and clenched his fists, knuckles pale as bone.
Kait sighed, the sound thin as a reed flute. “No matter what’s happening with big brother or fourth brother, we start the plan now. Otherwise… otherwise there won’t be a chance.”
“Yes… Your Highness.” Perry bit down hard, then withdrew, his shadow long as a spear on the floor.
