After leaving the Royal Palace, Mulan did not head straight back or take a carriage. Instead, he left on foot.
Passing along roads and sparsely populated streets, Mulan finally stopped outside Digo Grand Cathedral, where quite a few devout believers were already waiting to enter and pray.
Mulan lowered the brim of his hat and waited patiently like an ordinary believer, making use of none of his privileges. When a priest opened the cathedral doors, he filed inside with everyone else.
There had been a choral performance of hymns inside the cathedral the previous night. To someone with senses as keen as Mulan's, the echoes of the pipe organ and hymns still seemed faintly audible as he entered the hall.
"What a beautiful melody."
Mulan murmured to himself and chose a seat in a corner at random. As the believers took their seats, a priest at the front of the hall was already leading the prayers. None of that concerned Mulan. He simply clasped his hands over his cane, lowered his head slightly, and rested his chin on them.
Amid the low murmurs of prayer in the Great Cathedral, Mulan drifted into peaceful sleep. Apart from his steady breathing growing softer, he did not so much as sway, his posture remaining entirely unchanged.
Of course, Mulan could never again be called a devout believer. He had come only for a relatively peaceful moment of rest. Here, the aura of the Evil God above the cathedral overwhelmed the other chaotic presences, granting him peace instead. In that stillness, his guilt toward his friends, his students, and the Queen accompanied him into sleep.
That inner peace of Mulan's seemed to influence his surroundings as well. None of the believers passing him disturbed him; at most, they glanced at him a few times.