Dear, Time to Take Your Medicine!

Although the Hero's identity was extremely important, Wadsworth and Saint Monica both wanted to draw Qin Chu into their camps. Yet they were mindful of their status and standing; even if they wished to recruit him, they would not go overboard.

Only Augustus was different. His enthusiasm was so intense that even Qin Chu felt a chill crawl down his spine.

Upon seeing the Hero again, a gleam suddenly flashed through Augustus's eyes.

Qin Chu's strength had increased by a great deal.

The aura of the first layer of Starflame Battle Aura still seemed beyond his full control, perhaps because he had only just broken through. Strands of his hair occasionally shed tiny sparks.

In Augustus's eyes, Qin Chu was roughly level ten. Compared with Augustus, he was as weak as a toad; Augustus could easily poke him to death with one finger.

But once he considered that Qin Chu had only arrived in this world a few days ago, and had only truly begun cultivating Battle Qi under Ekaterina yesterday afternoon... To break through the first layer in such a short time, that talent was simply terrifying.

As expected of a Hero.

Even Augustus himself could absolutely be called a peerless genius blessed by heaven, yet his progress had never been as absurdly fast as Qin Chu's. Even the First-Generation Hero had been far less gifted than Qin Chu.

Qin Chu's exceptional talent and strength delighted Augustus, but also left him uneasy.

What delighted him was that if he could control Qin Chu, he would gain another bargaining chip against the gods who stood high above.

What worried him was that someone with such outrageous talent and strength would likely not be easy to manipulate.

If Augustus had known that the strength Qin Chu displayed was merely the tip of the iceberg, he would probably have felt not merely delight and concern, but fear.

After a brief moment of thought, Augustus quickly suppressed the thoughts in his heart. Smiling warmly, he invited Qin Chu into the Holy Church and arranged for a beautiful nun to serve tea.

Only then did he speak with an easy smile. "Hero, what brings you to see me?"

A few thoughts flashed through Qin Chu's mind. After pondering for a moment, he said, "It is like this, Your Holiness. If possible, I hope you can remove the restraint around Angelica's neck."

As expected!

Augustus seemed to have already guessed this, and did not show much surprise.

"Hero, I'm afraid that would be inappropriate."

Augustus had not answered, but a voice came from outside the door.

It was Rosweisse.

As soon as Qin Chu appeared at the Holy Church, someone had immediately notified Rosweisse. The Saintess's influence within the Holy Church was astonishing.

Rosweisse likewise did not wish to see Angelica unsealed. It would bring considerable trouble to many of her plans.

"Angelica was once a sinner. It was only because the Hero was magnanimous that he was willing to keep her by his side..." Rosweisse said slowly. In truth, it was because the Hero had a maid fetish, but that excuse did not sound very good, so Rosweisse replaced it with a more pleasant reason.

"She once planted curses on other Saintess candidates. A woman like this is extremely dangerous. If she is unsealed, I fear she may harm the Hero," Rosweisse said.

Angelica merely listened in silence.

She could not even be bothered to refute the filthy water Rosweisse was splashing over her.

As long as her master believed in her, Angelica no longer cared how others viewed her. So long as she knew there would always be a place for her in her master's heart, that was enough.

From the corner of her eye, she glanced at Rosweisse. To Angelica, that beautiful shell looked like a clown, and her lips even curved into a mocking smile.

Hiss...

Noticing Angelica's gaze, Rosweisse's body shuddered sharply, and a blaze of fury instantly surged in her chest.

That damned bitch, was that little slut laughing? She actually dared look down on her?

Who had given her the courage?

Someone she had once casually ordered around, tortured, and humiliated now had the right to look down on her?

Two beautiful women, two equally beautiful pairs of golden eyes, their gazes collided.

Arcs of electricity seemed to crackle between them.

Anyone could sense the stifling atmosphere, like a storm poised to break.

The surrounding nuns looked at one another, too nervous to speak.

Augustus watched the scene with a genial smile. The more strained the relationship between Angelica and Rosweisse became, the better.

He also did not particularly want to see Rosweisse getting too close to Qin Chu. After all, filthy, polluted blood flowed through her veins.

Only Qin Chu seemed completely unaware of the tense atmosphere around him. His fingers lightly tapped the armrest. "Hmm. I don't understand what happened in the past, nor do I particularly want to."

"But now, Angelica is my woman. Understand?"

Angelica is my woman!

The moment those words left his mouth, a look of understanding immediately appeared on Augustus's face.

He understood. They all understood!

Men, after all. If Qin Chu had still not touched Angelica after all this time, Augustus would instead have wondered whether there was something wrong with the Hero in that regard. For someone with a maid fetish, Angelica was absolutely irresistible.

In truth, Qin Chu really had not touched Angelica...

As for Angelica, her face was instantly covered in rosy clouds. Her once-sharp gaze immediately turned tender as water, and she directly lost their staring contest with Rosweisse.

Yet Rosweisse, who had won, did not feel even the slightest joy of victory. She somehow felt that she was the one who had lost—and lost utterly and completely.

That bastard Qin Chu had kept saying she was charming and that he liked her, but that he did not dare confess because he felt unworthy of her. Then he turned around and devoured Angelica clean, leaving nothing behind...

Heh... men...

Other than Lord Jello, all men were probably that sort of thing, weren't they?

A smile hung on Qin Chu's lips, but another matter occupied his thoughts.

Ekaterina should be awake by now, right?

What a pity he could not see Ekaterina's Ruin firsthand. That would surely have been a delight.

The reason he had chosen to come to the Holy Church and find Augustus today was, on one hand, to remove the restraint around Angelica's neck.

On the other hand, it was to avoid disaster!

Qin Chu understood Ekaterina's personality very well. When she woke and saw herself lying naked on the floor, with little red stains dotting the bedsheet, anyone who was not an idiot would know exactly what had happened.

Although the Love That Topples Cities potion would make Ekaterina feel favorably toward Qin Chu, such intense stimulation would definitely suppress that budding affection. That woman's fiery temper would surely explode on the spot. She might even blow the entire palace into the sky, then come charging over with the Flamebreaker Greatsword in hand.

She absolutely would not listen to any of his explanations. She would definitely just slash at him with her sword.

Although his strength was constantly rising, and he was absolutely no weakling if he unleashed all his power, first, his hidden strength might be completely exposed. That was Qin Chu's trump card, and if possible, he did not want to reveal it.

Second, even if he went all out, he was still no match for Ekaterina.

Thus, Qin Chu needed someone who could suppress Ekaterina. The exceptionally warm and hospitable Augustus was a fine tool... ah, a fine candidate.

Augustus would not just stand by and watch the Hero get killed inside the Holy Church, would he?

Qin Chu did not know why Augustus was so enthusiastic toward him, but it was nothing more than wanting to use him. Qin Chu did not mind using the other man in return.

If he had not planned this from the start, Qin Chu would never have laid even a finger on Ekaterina.

Augustus did not know what Qin Chu was thinking. He merely considered for a moment before saying slowly:

"Hero, it is not that I refuse to show you respect. It is simply that Angelica's case was judged and convicted by the Inquisition. There has never been a precedent for overturning an Inquisition verdict. If you wish to remove Angelica's restraint, the Inquisition must review the case again. The difficulty is far from ordinary..."

Though Augustus was the Pope, matters within the Holy Church were not decided by him alone.

Certain people shared power with Augustus.

The chief of the Heresy Inquisition was the Holy Church's second most powerful figure, Cardinal Douglas. He was immensely powerful and ruthless by nature, and had once been Augustus's strongest rival for the papal seat.

Even if Augustus spoke, Douglas would most likely refuse.

It was not that Augustus did not want to help. The matter simply involved too much.

"Without a suitable reason, it would be difficult for me to help Miss Angelica remove the seal."

Old fox!

They were all monsters who had lived for a thousand years, so Qin Chu naturally understood the meaning beneath Augustus's words. He needed a reason, one that would allow Augustus to directly remove Angelica's restraint without going through the Heresy Inquisition.

And naturally, Qin Chu had already prepared that reason.

"Yesterday afternoon, my most beloved maid was kidnapped."

"The ones who abducted Angelica were two women wearing bright red nun's robes. Aside from the color, those robes were almost identical in style to those of the Holy Church..." Qin Chu deliberately changed the color of the nuns' robes from black to red.

"That is impossible..." Before Qin Chu could finish, Rosweisse instinctively refuted him.

"Why is it impossible?" Qin Chu seemed somewhat puzzled.

Only then did Rosweisse realize she seemed to have let something slip. Her pearly teeth bit down on her lip, and she barely came up with a reason in the short time available. "Red is worn only by the nuns of the Heresy Inquisition, and they usually remain within the Holy Church. They never go out..."

Because there had been too little time, Rosweisse was ultimately still too inexperienced. She did not question whether Angelica had been attacked, but instead questioned the red nuns' robes.

Although Qin Chu had long known that Rosweisse had orchestrated this matter, her words had completely exposed her.

"Can Your Saintess truly guarantee that every one of them remains within the Holy Church?" Qin Chu raised an eyebrow and retorted.

Rosweisse was left speechless. She was certain the Heresy Inquisition had nothing to do with this, because Maggie and Sana were expendable agents she and Douglas had secretly trained.

But she simply could not tell Qin Chu that reason.

Augustus's gaze casually swept over Rosweisse. He had basically reached a conclusion in his heart, but did not pierce that thin window paper. Instead, he appeared somewhat surprised. "Such a thing happened? What came after?"

"The two nuns took out a pink potion and wanted Angelica to add it to my food. They seemed to want to use that potion to manipulate my mind."

"Though she suffered cruel torture at their hands, Angelica still refused. Left with no choice, they brought out a magical scroll for spiritual Mind Manipulation, intending to turn Angelica into their puppet as well."

Rosweisse lowered her eyes and said nothing.

"Angelica was unwilling to become their tool for controlling me, so she intended to kill herself..."

"Then why did Miss Angelica survive?" Augustus asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Because a mysterious person appeared and saved Angelica."

"A mysterious person?" Rosweisse's eyes narrowed slightly. "What kind of mysterious person? We must certainly thank him properly. If not for him, the Hero's maid would have been killed."

Qin Chu spread his hands. "Angelica did not see his face clearly. That person wore a hooded robe, after all. But judging from his voice, he seemed to be an elderly man. His class should have been warrior, since he relied purely on his fists to easily kill the two nuns."

Qin Chu deliberately provided several chaotic clues. He was driving a wedge between Rosweisse and Augustus.

He was certain Rosweisse would fill in the gaps herself based on those jumbled clues.

Sure enough, Rosweisse did not speak again. She merely furrowed her brows, her expression grave.

The person who killed the two nuns could not have been Qin Chu. After all, Qin Chu had not left the palace, and Qin Chu's strength could not possibly surpass Maggie and Sana's.

The other party had worn a hooded robe, clearly to conceal his true identity.

An aged voice... an old man?

An old man... Augustus fit that description, didn't he?

Though Augustus was only fifty, perhaps because he had studied magic too deeply, his body had suffered damage. He looked as though he were already in his sixties or seventies.

But Augustus was a mage, while the murderer of Sana and Maggie had used physical means...

With Augustus's level and strength, even a staff would have been enough to smash Sana and Maggie to death with ease.

This was very likely just Augustus's disguise!

People were like this. Once they became convinced of something, every subconscious thought they had would gravitate in that direction, making them believe their own conjecture more and more.

Augustus must have done all of this.

That Pope had not only looted every treasure from her room, he had even killed Maggie and Sana.

And his purpose was obvious: he did not want her to control Qin Chu.

He even wanted to use Angelica to replace her as Saintess.

Angelica calling the black-robed nuns red-robed ones must also have been Augustus's instruction. Next, Augustus would definitely use the condition that the Hero keep this secret to smoothly remove the restraint around Angelica's neck...

Augustus's expression became solemn. "My apologies, Hero, but those two red-robed nuns may not necessarily have belonged to the Holy Church. They may very well have been someone else in disguise. Still, I ask that you do not publicize this matter..."

After all, if such things got out, it would damage the Holy Church's reputation. Qin Chu nodded readily.

"Miss Angelica would rather have killed herself than harm the Hero. That is enough to prove her absolute loyalty to you. Since that is the case, I shall remove Miss Angelica's restraint..." Augustus said.

See? She had said so!

Rosweisse sneered inwardly. Sure enough, everything had gone exactly as she predicted.

Augustus's next move would likely be to restore Angelica's reputation, expose Rosweisse's dirty secrets, and drag her down from the position of Saintess. That damned bastard would absolutely not be allowed to succeed.

At this point, Rosweisse no longer had the slightest doubt. Augustus was the mastermind behind it all!