The ones paying the most attention to Sophia were not the residents of Alansmu or the police, nor were they the Xia people. It was the Church.
But the Church could not decide on the best way to approach Sophia. Judging from her past attitude, she did not seem to identify much with the Church either—at the very least, she had decisively killed Saint Arbiter David.
But declaring her an "apostate"? That was impossible as well. No one could prove that she had committed any blasphemous act.
It was rather ridiculous. David had secretly absorbed the Golden Sunflower's power, yet in the Church's propaganda, he was a hero.
Sophia had been declared an apostate merely because she had briefly possessed the Golden Sunflower.
Later facts proved that she had absorbed the Golden Sunflower's power as well—otherwise, she would not have possessed such bizarre supernatural abilities.
But when she had been condemned, she had not displayed any abnormalities or resisted. She had simply slipped away without a sound.
So here was the question: David had been right to secretly absorb the Golden Sunflower's power, but Sophia had been wrong?
After all, it was said that Sophia had snatched the Golden Sunflower from Keane. Even in terms of merit alone, she had done far more than David.
Many things in this world simply could not be reasoned out.
Yet now Sophia had the means to reason with others. How the Church should approach her had become a problem.
In fact, the police coming to her door had been instigated by the Church. The Mairui Country government's influence was not powerful enough for such speed, and the timing alone made that impossible. The Church had merely fanned the flames—pressure from government departments was the best way to test someone's ability to withstand pressure.