Iris Crest

The lamplight flickered, and the remnant candle was nearly spent.

The dim candlelight struggled to force open a sliver of brightness in the cramped, dark underground of Francis Church, illuminating three lonely figures.

Princess Valentine lowered her brows and eyes, her expression serene. Her slender fingers held a sealed bottle marked with a ring of teeth, within which a wisp of blue smoke swayed and rippled.

"Your Highness, it is time to consume the characteristic."

Standing behind Princess Valentine was a gaunt old man dressed in an elaborate courtly earl's robe of deep yellow.

His attitude was humble, and his etiquette impeccable, yet beneath those flawless manners lay an endless coldness.

Before the two of them, Bishop Byron stood in a red robe, his chin slightly raised and his face expressionless.

A self-mocking smile appeared at the corners of Princess Valentine's lips.

With one hand gripping the bottle's neck and the other supporting its base, she drank it all in one go under the gaunt old man's unwavering stare, as though drinking a potion of forgetfulness.

As the characteristic entered her throat, the spiritual imprint of its former owner made Princess Valentine raise a hand to her forehead and close her eyes, her face deathly pale as she endured the mental impact.

Only after quite some time did she slowly open her eyes. Pain remained impossible to conceal between her brows.

"Thanks for the effort, Bishop Byron!" She lowered her brows and eyes and performed the Dawn Rite.

"All for Dawn!" Bishop Byron replied indifferently.

"Since Her Highness has already consumed the extraordinary characteristic, we won't disturb you any further!" The gaunt old man said his farewells, his whole body finally relaxing, excitement impossible to conceal between his brows.

Bishop Byron said nothing and gestured for them to leave.

After leaving the Church's underground storeroom, Bishop Byron saw them into an expensive black car bearing the Iris Crest. Only after watching them drive away did he leisurely return to his office.

"The Church never interferes in changes of royal power. Why did it suddenly intervene this time?" a faint voice echoed through the office.

"This is not something you or I should concern ourselves with. Guarding Francis is our proper duty." Bishop Byron sat before his desk and picked up a stick of sealing wax, holding it over the candle flame to heat it.

On the desk, a knight's fountain pen wrote a report by itself. A ghost was acting as the scribe.

"The Old King grows weaker by the day, yet Princess Valentine, the first heir to the throne, consumed Beast Listener and won't be able to leave the forest for at least two years. Hah, I truly cannot understand His Eminence the Pope's decision."

The Harrington Kingdom was nominally ruled by the Harrington family.

In reality, the true master of the Copeland region, including the Harrington Kingdom, had always been the Church of Dawn.

Every king had to be crowned by the Pope before gaining the legitimate right to rule.

Yet despite this, the Church rarely interfered in changes of royal power. To extraordinary beings, secular power was like malt sugar in a child's hand—sweet and within easy reach, but ultimately dispensable.

Thus, such intervention was truly rare.

"What concerns me more is that Lynn was killed by the royal family..."

"Enough!" Bishop Byron abruptly cut off the faint voice. "Every extraordinary characteristic we consume comes from a fellow or predecessor. Could it be that every extraordinary characteristic carries a conspiracy and bloodshed?"

"I have already summoned Lynn's residual spirit and questioned him. This was merely an accidental loss-of-control incident. Stop making reckless conjectures through the lens of conspiracy."

"Hah!" The faint voice sighed. "I was only reminding you."

Reminding him of what?

That the royal family might have infiltrated the Church?

Or that His Eminence the Pope might already have been corrupted?

Bishop Byron pressed his thin lips together and remained silent. The office instantly fell quiet.

By then, the sealing wax had heated and melted.

Expressionless, Bishop Byron placed the Ghostly Proxy Letter inside the envelope, coated it with sealing wax, stamped it with his private seal, and set a spiritual seal upon it. Only then did he summon the Hell Bronze Gate and hand the letter to the Undead Messenger.

At that moment, Princess Valentine's black car had not yet left Francis City, but news of her consuming Beast Listener had already spread throughout the kingdom.

Under the dusk sky, an owl swept across the night. Its round eyeballs suddenly transformed into Horizontal Pupils.

The Iris Crest? That was the symbol of the royal family!

Through the owl's eyes, Ning Xiuyuan watched the car gradually disappear into the distance, his expression shifting between dark and light.

Heart of the Beast had come from Lynn's gift.

In essence, it was an ability stripped from the extraordinary characteristic Beast Listener.

Once Lynn's spiritual imprint had been completely worn away, it would mean that the current owner had finished fusing with Beast Listener.

By then, she would certainly notice the missing ability, sense his presence, and reclaim the power she had gifted him.

That was something Ning Xiuyuan could never accept!

Because losing Heart of the Beast would also mean losing control over Horizontal-Pupiled Sheep Eyes!

What would that mean? It needed no explanation.

"Lynn, could this be your intention? Do you want me to watch whether your successor is the murderer?"

Ning Xiuyuan exhaled, his eyes flickering as a cruel thought lingered and took shape in his heart.

The next morning, Ning Xiuyuan inspected the church as usual. After breakfast, he immediately headed for the Church Hospital.

With a reminder from the Pigeon Sentinel, he happened to encounter Angela halfway there.

"Good morning, Ms. Angela!"

"Good morning!"

The two exchanged greetings and walked side by side.

"I heard you successfully delivered a sow yesterday. Is that true?" Angela asked with intense curiosity.

"Mm, that happened."

"Wow, that's amazing!" Angela's eyes lit up. "Is there some trick to it? I've helped many sows before, but sometimes I could struggle until midnight and still be helpless."

"Haha, it was just luck. It was my first time doing something like that too, so I still need to study and experiment. If I get any results, I promise I'll share them with you first." Ning Xiuyuan smiled.

"Really? That's wonderful." Angela was overjoyed.

"By the way, I have some medical research that may require certain special materials. Does Francis have a market for such things?" Ning Xiuyuan asked openly.

"What materials do you need? You can simply commission other priests to help collect them," Angela said.

Generally speaking, special materials worth an extraordinary being's effort to find were most likely materials produced in other worlds.

Only those who had consumed special extraordinary characteristics possessed the ability to enter those places and search for them.

Others could enter with the help of certain extraordinary items, but the risks would undoubtedly increase greatly.

For example:

Hell, the Abyss, the Dreamlands... and so on.

"That might not be convenient. You should understand that my appearance puts me at a great disadvantage, so commissioning something like this could be difficult for me," Ning Xiuyuan said.

"I'm sorry!" Angela suddenly understood and said apologetically, "Tell me what materials you need, and I'll help you find someone to take the commission."

"Actually, I'd rather see the wonders of the extraordinary world for myself," Ning Xiuyuan said.

"Well..." Angela hesitated briefly. "It's not that I don't want to tell you. Francis does have an underground exchange, but I've only been there once. To be honest, I don't recommend that you go."

"Why not?"

"It's extremely chaotic there. Negligent police inspectors, wandering extraordinary beings, followers of outer gods, occult enthusiasts... They all gather there. To be honest, sometimes I can't understand why the Church hasn't eradicated it." A trace of apprehension appeared in Angela's eyes.

"You've been there?"

"Mm. Not long after I became an extraordinary being, I was curious about Flower of Dreams and begged Priest Bulwo to take me there once." Angela nodded.

"Where is that place?" Ning Xiuyuan asked seriously.

"In a dream."

"What?"