After taking a little time to grasp the situation, Morris sat on the edge of the bed and held his forehead, sighing to himself.

“I, Morris, a Pope of my generation, actually fell for something like this. Human hearts really are impossible to predict...”

Beside him, tied up tight, was that Madam Qiaobilo from earlier.

A turtle-shell tie usually looked pretty erotic, but in truth, it was one of the sturdiest bindings of its kind. Morris had learned that utterly useless bit of trivia from the church library. Even he had no idea why there was a book in some dusty corner that described bondage methods with illustrated explanations. On the inside of the title page, there were even a few small words written there: Alex.

His teacher... probably wouldn’t read this kind of book, right?

“Mmph, mmph—”

Just as a crisis of trust was about to erupt between the old and new generations of Popes, the bound Madam Qiaobilo suddenly started making exaggerated faces at him. Morris hesitated for a moment, then reached out and removed the towel stuffed in her mouth.

In his imagination, even if she didn’t start by cursing him out, she should at least cry out in shock—

[Who are you?! How do you have this kind of power?!]

Something like that.

Morris was feeling rather smug about it, but after spitting a little, the woman let a few miserable strands of saliva hang from the corner of her mouth. Her expression only grew more excited.

“Y-you like this kind of play? I can do it too. I can do anything. But in exchange, you have to wear that outfit!”

Her gaze pointed blatantly at the white clergy robe hanging on the wall, the one that bared the chest and back.

Morris thought for a moment, then silently took the towel and stuffed it back into her mouth.

He was a dignified Pope, and now he was being forced to hide out in a brothel. The only one keeping him company was a middle-aged woman drooling over his body.

What the hell is this situation?!

Yieta, what exactly are you trying to do?!

Morris slapped his thigh hard and couldn’t help complaining.

“At a time like this, the one walking through that door should obviously be a beautiful girl!”

“Mmph, mmph—”

The woman seemed like she still wanted to say something. After Morris pulled the towel out again, she hurriedly took a few breaths of fresh air, then finally shouted in anger,

“Listen here, you little punk. Don’t get all arrogant just because you’ve got a pretty face. Our customers have dignity too, you know. You keep me tied up like this—what, you think we’re fat pigs raised in a pen? Untie me already. If you do, I can still save your job. Otherwise, one complaint from me or your manager, and a useless brat like you will be out on the street on the spot!”

At that point, the woman couldn’t help licking her lips, as if she had thought of something delightful.

“And when that happens, you’ll have no choice but to come home with me obediently...”

Damn, was he about to get kept by a rich woman?

Morris quickly pressed a hand to his poor little heart. After hearing her say that, he suddenly found this auntie’s face a little easier on the eyes.

Really, what man didn’t dream of being kept by a rich woman until death, living as useless trash for the rest of his life?

He suppressed his excitement, adjusted his expression, and put on a serious face.

“No, Auntie, listen to me. I’m the type who sells talent, not my body. If you want to hear hymns, I can give you two songs on the spot. Whether it’s il vento d’oro or Fighting Gold, I can do both! So, may I ask if you like Golden Experience?”

Only then did the woman finally realize something seemed off. She looked Morris over a few times, then carefully examined what he was wearing before asking hesitantly,

“Who are you?”

“Me? Just a passing Stand— no, wait, a masked— ah, no... just a lodger!” Morris answered righteously.

“You mean you’re not an employee of this place?”

The woman froze, swallowed, and her expression gradually turned horrified.

“What are you trying to do?!”

Even if I wanted to do something, there’s no way I’d do anything to you!

Of course, that was only something he could complain about in his heart. As a well-educated believer of Lunhai, Morris naturally couldn’t say something like that out loud.

Thinking about it now, Yieta had only lied to him about this being a normal inn. According to the plan, as long as he got through tonight, Yieta had a way to send him out of the city. But if the crime of deceiving the Pope landed on Yieta’s head, she could forget about continuing her carefree life as an idle noble lady.

Thinking about it, it really was rather emotional.

As Morris thought that, he simply lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. After quietly reminiscing for a while, he realized this was probably the only night in the past three years that he hadn’t shared a bed with that Holy Maiden.

Looking back carefully, everything he had gone through with her had been so dramatic.

That year, when he was fifteen, he entered the Demon Realm Gate for training. A few days after it ended, he unexpectedly saw a carriage transporting slaves for sale in a place like that. Locked inside the cage on that carriage was the girl he had brought back back then, and who was now the Holy Maiden within the church.

From the moment she was rescued, she pushed Morris down, kissed him, and declared that she belonged to him. Since then, that girl had revolved around him constantly.

Every day. Every night.

Sneaking into his bed and barging in while he bathed were small things. On Morris’s seventeenth birthday, she had even lain naked in his room and told him that she herself was his birthday present.

If Morris hadn’t studied the doctrine thoroughly since childhood and built up enough self-control, then when facing that man tonight, he probably would’ve proudly slapped his chest and declared—

“This young master stopped being a virgin a year ago!”

He had already been in this world for nearly eighteen years. Time flew. In another half month, it would be his coming-of-age ceremony. Who knew what kind of trouble the Holy Maiden would stir up then?

Just thinking about it gave Morris a headache.

“Hey? Did you hear me?”

When it came to this sort of thing, the woman’s instincts were surprisingly sharp. The moment she realized the man in front of her was thinking about another woman while talking to her, she actually grew anxious.

“Hey! Brat, say something!”

“Wasn’t thinking of doing anything,” Morris replied to her listlessly. “I was just thinking about how those two women are going to compensate me for my emotional damages.”

“Compensate you? What do you mean? Are you threatening me?”

The woman gave a cold snort. Though with the way she was sprawled on the bed like some crawling creature, there wasn’t much menace to be seen.

“I, Neldori, have been around Macedon for so many years. You’re the first one who’s dared threaten me!”

“Neldori?”

Morris paused. Only then did he remember that he had tied her up without even asking her name. Still, he had no impression of it. From her tone, though, it sounded like the name carried some weight in Macedon City.

The Pope had too much official business to handle every day. Even the time he spent drinking with Yieta today had been something he’d squeezed out with difficulty. Even a Pope couldn’t possibly memorize every famous citizen in Macedon, much less people from underground gangs like this.

“I can give you a chance to confess,” Neldori said, doing her best to turn over on the bed. “Untie me now, then kowtow a few times, and I can still let you leave safely.”

“What’s with those villain lines?” Morris smiled helplessly.

If they were really comparing power, then aside from the reigning emperor, who in this world was worthy of making him bow his head?

“I really am the villain,” Neldori licked the corner of her lips. “Looking at your soft skin and tender flesh, I’m guessing you’ve never seen what us rich women can do.”

“The rich-lady happy ball? The rich-lady happy fire?”

Morris blinked.

“Wait, are there new tricks in this world too?”

“Just wait,” Neldori sneered. “While you weren’t paying attention, I already sent a signal outside. In a moment, three big black men will come in, hoist you onto their shoulders, and do unspeakable things to you...”

“Holy shit!” Morris cried out. “A live-action GV?!”

Looks like this rich woman really did have some methods.

Morris panicked a little, swallowed, and said to her,

“Um, could you have them go back? I just want to sleep here for one night. If I stay at another inn, someone will come looking for me. So, you see...”

He really didn’t want to have to tie up every person who came in!

If Yieta pushed open the door tomorrow morning and found the new Pope sleeping together with a middle-aged woman in a turtle-shell tie and three bound black bodybuilders, then if that scene got out, forget how he’d ever face the world again. The entire Lunhai Holy Church might as well disband on the spot.

And if Alex found out, he definitely wouldn’t spare him either. The former emperor had left before finishing the great work and run off to slack around, so all the aftermath was obviously meant to be dumped on the later emperor. If this grand empire got ruined in the hands of the later emperor, then even getting hung up and beaten by the former emperor would probably be getting off lightly.

“Someone will come looking for you?”

The auntie—no, this rich woman—hesitated, then asked,

“Are you some young master from a great family who ran away from home in the middle of the night?”

She burst out laughing.

“Then I definitely can’t let you go!”

At that moment, the door was smashed open with force.

Morris turned his head and saw that three heavily muscled black men had already squeezed into the room, standing before him with overwhelming pressure.

After seeing the rich woman’s current state, their gazes moved back and forth between the tied-up rich woman and the soft, delicate-looking Morris. At once, all three looked at Morris as if he were some kind of monster.

“W-wait, wait!” Morris’s face went pale, but he still tried to explain. “I-I can explain, brothers, I’m really not—”

“Explain it in hell!”

“You think you can play this kind of game with our mistress and still walk away in one piece?!”

“Oh my, now that I look closely, this young man’s butt is pretty round, and his face is so handsome too...”

There’s obviously something wrong with the last one!

The woman lay on the bed and laughed wildly as she shouted,

“Charge, boys! Train him into a little lapdog that sticks out its tongue and wags its tail whenever it sees money!”

Stop making things worse!!

Just as Morris, left with no choice, was about to reveal the Pope’s battle power once more, a gale suddenly swept past his ear along with the sound of shattering glass.

Morris froze.

His first thought was, What the hell? Don’t tell me Kaito Kid is here?

Of course not.

He turned his head and saw that beside him, the beautifully crafted main window had shattered in the raging wind. Countless transparent fragments swirled in the air and scattered across the room like a shower of fine rain, making a shrill and terrifying sound as they descended.

The pink curtains were severed clean through by a cold flash.

A light and graceful figure stood quietly on the edge of the windowsill.

The newcomer was dressed all in white. Her long boots rose past her knees. White stockings stretched beneath her short skirt. A fitted dress wrapped around her slender waist. Her fair, tender chest was softly half-exposed beneath the moonlight. Silver hair danced in the gale. Those crystal-violet eyes were bright and clear.

She was dignified and pure, yet she gave off a soul-stirring allure.

“Who are you?!” The rich woman, whose fun had been interrupted, saw how pure and beautiful the girl was, and jealousy instantly flared.

“Who the hell are you? Why do you dare break into a private home?!”

“Do you have no brain? Can’t you see what we’re doing? Is this something a kid should be watching?!”

“Oh my, this young lady is very pretty, but I still think this young man is even better...”

So there really is something wrong with you, isn’t there?!

“Neldori Sharodes, one of the leaders of Macedon’s underground child trafficking ring.”

The girl did not answer them. Instead, she lightly leaped down onto the floor covered in glass shards.

“Today, you will be brought to justice.”

The woman’s face changed at once when she heard that.

“Quick, deal with her first!”

The three men immediately gave up on Morris as their target and turned toward the girl.

The girl, however, ignored the three of them. Her gaze went straight to the rich woman.

“You just asked me who I am, didn’t you?”

With slow, graceful movements, she sheathed the Rapier in her hand and smiled slightly.

Even the woman couldn’t help being captivated by that smile.

“I am death. I am the Church’s sword-bearer, the one who punishes evil. I am the blade that guards the Pope and justice.”

She spoke those terrifying words, and even Morris felt a chill run down his spine. The burly men instinctively took several steps back. Around the girl, a surge of magic slowly rose, calm on the surface, yet carrying a faint hint of madness. The sweet, lovely smile from moments ago gradually turned into an abyss-like coldness. She looked at the three, whose faces had suddenly twisted in terror, and murmured like one speaking in a dream—

“I am the Lunhai Holy Maiden.”