Farce

In the living room.

The mother, slumped to one side with an ashen face, heard Isa's words, and a glimmer of hope rose once more in her clouded eyes.

She turned to look at Isa, who was draped in an oversized black robe.

Unlike before, this time, she did not sense even the slightest chill from the priest.

Wallis silently stared at the priest before him, whose body was still trembling, and felt a trace of confusion rise within him.

Something seemed off.

Was this still the Isa he knew?

Suppressing the faint unease in his heart, he adjusted his phrasing slightly and spoke again. "What difference does it make?"

"Though there is no official order at present, Chen Fan will inevitably be stripped of his status as one of the God Chosen for privately reading a Forbidden Book."

"But you... I cannot understand why you would do this."

Seeing the conversation proceed exactly as Chen Fan had expected, Isa's anxious mood gradually calmed. "Chen Fan is a good man."

"I cannot bear to see, nor do I wish to see, a God Chosen personally selected by the Goddess slandered as a Sinner."

"If the church does this, the Lord will be disappointed."

Watching Isa answer so fluently, Wallis's unease deepened.

So he decided to pick up the pace and use his authority to suppress her.

"Priest Isha, whether you admit it or not, what you have done is a betrayal of the church."

Wallis paused, changing his original decision to pardon Isa. "You abandoned your post, made contact with a Sinner... with Chen Fan, one of the God Chosen, during your mission, and disclosed internal church matters to him."

"Now, I declare that you are stripped of your status as a priest. The church will judge the sins you have committed after the Divine Descent Ceremony."

The black hood trembled slightly. "Lord Wallis..."

"There is no need to say more." Having regained control of the conversation, Wallis secretly breathed a sigh of relief. "Isa, Chen Fan has already fled. Have you still not realized the problem?"

"If he had no guilty conscience, if he had nothing to hide, why would he escape through the window?"

"You need not stall for time on his behalf either."

"To tell you the truth, the church has already dispatched a large number of guards. They will likely bring him back soon."

"As for the good man you mentioned earlier..."

Wallis sighed and gently shook his head. "A little petty favor was all it took to win you over, Isa. You have disappointed me deeply."

"But..."

The black hood swayed a little more sharply, and a strand of silvery-white hair quietly slipped out from beneath it. "Chen Fan did not run away."

Isa paused before adding, "He is still in the room behind me."

"..."

"W-What?!"

Inside the room.

Chen Fan slowly rose from his chair and turned to glance at the open window and the noticeably oversized white-and-gold short robe left on the desk.

He took a deep sniff and wiped his swollen, reddened eyes.

His tear ducts, which had only just gotten some rest, began to well up again under the irritation of the dust.

The real show was about to begin.

With a miserable expression, he reached out, pulled open the half-closed door, and walked out.

"Bishop."

Chen Fan bowed and solemnly saluted Wallis, who was dressed in purple robes. "May the Lord be with you."

Seeing Chen Fan's swollen, reddened eyes, Wallis instinctively stepped back half a pace.

"You... why are you here?"

Chen Fan raised his head, revealing just the right amount of confusion. "Bishop, this is my home. Why can I not be here?"

"You..."

Beneath the purple robe, the Mechanical Prosthetics on Wallis's face trembled slightly. At that moment, he felt as though he had seen a ghost.

He turned around and barked quietly at the priest beside him, "Did you not say he had escaped through the window?"

The priest being questioned looked equally dumbfounded. "???"

Just as the atmosphere was growing awkward, a vigorous voice came from the stairwell.

"Let me go!"

"What are you trying to do?!"

"I am one of the God Chosen! How dare a few insignificant priests treat me like this? Have you all lost your minds?!"

"Just wait. I will go seek justice from Wallis Bishop later!"

As that familiar voice drew nearer, Wallis Bishop's feelings gradually became complicated.

Fuck.

Why was it that fool Gao Yuan?!

As for Chen Fan...

He was trying hard not to laugh.

He swore to heaven, he had only casually given him a few pointers.

He had never imagined Gao Yuan was so talented at this!!

"Bishop?!"

Gao Yuan's voice called out from behind him, filled with surprise and delight. "Why are you here?!"

"I was just looking for you. Do these priests have no sense of rank or order left?"

Gao Yuan's face carried a hint of anger. "The moment I arrived downstairs, they pinned me to the ground without asking any questions."

"Look at how filthy this short robe has become!"

"I just borrowed it from Chen Fan. How am I supposed to explain this to him?"

Only then did Gao Yuan "happen" to notice Chen Fan, who was surrounded by a group of priests. "And why are you all surrounding Chen Fan? Are you trying to lay hands on two of the God Chosen?!"

Wallis silently watched this "farce."

Yes, it was a farce.

From the moment he saw Chen Fan emerge from the room, he knew he had failed.

He extended his precise mechanical right arm from his ornate purple bishop's robe and gave it a light wave. "This ends here."

"Gao Yuan, I would like to ask you a few questions."

Hearing that dull mechanical synthesized voice, Gao Yuan quickly reined in his emotions. "Please ask."

"Why did you borrow clothes from Chen Fan? Why did you climb through the window?"

"My original God Chosen robe was dirty!" Gao Yuan looked at Wallis Bishop with a baffled expression. "Wearing a dirty God Chosen robe is deeply disrespectful to the Lord."

"As for climbing through the window..."

"Did you not notice that this God Chosen robe is too small for me? I did not want to embarrass myself in front of so many believers."

The confusion on Gao Yuan's face deepened. "...Does the church have a rule saying that the God Chosen cannot climb through windows?"

Wallis let out an almost imperceptible sigh, then turned to Chen Fan, who had remained silent all this time, attempting one last effort. "Chen Fan, do you have anything to say about Gao Yuan and Priest Isha's statements?"

"What was your purpose in reading that Forbidden Book?"

At this, Chen Fan breathed a sigh of relief. Fuck, after waiting so long, it was finally time for him to perform!

Under everyone's watchful eyes, he wore a sorrowful expression and wiped his unusually swollen, reddened eyes.

"Bishop, Priest Isha has already explained the matter to me."

"I can swear to the Lord that I only read that book out of curiosity."

As he spoke, he cautiously glanced at the Mechanical Prosthetic extending from Wallis's purple bishop's robe, his eyes shining with obvious longing. "I was merely curious about these gifts bestowed by the gods. Is that wrong too?"

"Besides..."

Chen Fan hesitated for a moment. "I did not see any prohibited information in that book."

"Could there have been some misunderstanding?"