Even though Seraphiel’s offer was quite tempting, Lilith thought the Saintess must be completely insane to spout such nonsense.
“Wait, what? As a Saintess of your faith, you’re actually going to let me run wild in your jurisdiction?”
What about professional ethics?
Lilith felt like her eyes had truly been opened.
“Are you sure that by indulging me like this, the Elemental Lord won’t revoke the blessings bestowed upon you?”
“Hmph,” Cerville replied calmly, clearly having considered this question long ago.
“During the Coronation Ceremony, the chosen one temporarily unifies with the Elemental Lord, body and soul. Everything about us—our minds, bodies, and past—is laid bare before the deity. So, the Elemental Lord I serve knows all my thoughts.”
“Huh?” Lilith was bewildered.
“So… the Divine Lord agrees. She permits you to engage in normal interactions with the nuns and students in our temple, as long as there’s no coercion.”
The Creator’s Church wasn’t as strict with its subordinate priests.
Priests could marry, have children, and form families, but promiscuity was still forbidden.
What was permitted were normal marital relations.
If properly reported, the temple would even provide a wedding gift to newlywed priestly couples.
However, after marriage, they couldn’t enter the church’s core leadership.
Only those willing to dedicate their lives to the divine could truly have a say in the church.
For a religion, these were quite lenient rules.
Despite this, Cerville had been prepared for the Coronation Ceremony to fail.
After all, the request she made to the Divine Lord was, by all accounts, abnormal—even blasphemous.
But to her surprise, the Elemental Lord agreed.
Cerville thus emerged from among the many Saintess candidates and, over ten years, gained absolute authority in the Eastern Church.
However, Cerville always felt that whenever she prayed and communicated with the Divine Lord, and Lilith’s name came up, the Divine Lord’s state became very unusual.
She suspected more than once that the Elemental Lord knew Lilith.
Combining this with the information she could access from her current position, she believed it was indeed possible that a deity was acquainted with Lilith.
Otherwise, why would that deity show such favor to her, a priestess who wasn’t the most devout and whose body and mind weren’t pure, allowing her to become the Saintess?
After all, Lilith was a legend who had existed since the Age of Radiance.
Spanning several eras, even with history contaminated and interfered with by the Ideal Kingdom, the traces left by this Blood Ancestor over thousands of years couldn’t be erased.
It was not surprising that the Elemental Lord, who had existed since the creation of the world, would know her.
The problem was, Lilith clearly didn’t remember these things.
Fragments of Lore
- Eternal
- Blood Crown
- The Pioneer of the Age of Radiance
- The Eternal and Indestructible Monarch of the Night
- The Night Sky is Her Cloak
- The False Silver Moon Exists for Her
- The Supreme One Embraced by the Stars
- The Thirty-Two Pillars Supporting the World All Surrender Beneath Her Command
- The False Utopia Trembles at Her Presence
Cerville recalled those fragmented and broken records.
Most of the history from the Age of Radiance was difficult to trace due to the contamination of the Ideal Kingdom.
To prevent current beings from inheriting the legacies of the Age of Radiance, those fanatics of ideals had wantonly wreaked havoc across the world.
Despite all of this, Cerville was still confused.
Eight hundred years ago, the false Utopia that fed on everything in the world and brought endless calamities was driven to a dead end by the vampires led by Lilith.
During the two hundred years when even sunlight was usurped by the Ideal Kingdom, the vampires were the main force fighting against it.
But just as all beings were about to destroy the Ideal Kingdom—when the world was about to welcome a new dawn—the vampire kingdom collapsed in an instant.
On the Day of Falling Stars, countless vampires perished.
Of the thirteen Grand Dukes, besides the Blood Ancestor, only two were known to still be alive.
The number of vampires is now truly scarce.
Only fragments of that history remain.
All that’s known is that afterward, although the world saw the sun again, the Ideal Kingdom still stands at the world’s edge to this day.
Despite the elves’ seals, the Ideal Kingdom continues to erode the world’s foundations, causing various chaotic and insane phenomena, leading all beings to madness.
Cerville’s current summons from the Central Church were precisely to address the loosening seals of the Ideal Kingdom.
So…
Cerville looked at Lilith, who she was holding onto, her face a bewildered mess.
She truly couldn’t understand why this incredibly powerful, even great, Blood Ancestor had become like this—an aging, senile vampire who only thought about rolling around in bed all day, and was even so poor she often dreamed of being kept by a rich woman.
Had she really erased all her past memories?
But it didn’t matter.
Cerville didn’t care if Lilith was an old monster who had lived for thousands of years, nor did she care about Lilith’s past.
She only remembered the girl she spent those few years with, the one whose eyes often held a look of loneliness.
Sometimes, upon hearing news of a deceased friend, she would sit silently at home for an entire day.
Time lingering solely on her seemed like the most vicious curse.
It was as if no matter how she tried to build connections with others, she was ultimately left to walk this world alone.
The Cerville of the past couldn’t soothe Lilith’s seemingly carefree but actually parched soul.
But now…
At least this monastery was Cerville’s gift to Lilith.
She hoped that no matter how time changed or where Lilith might be in the future, she would be able to find traces of this monastery’s existence.
Here, students from all over the world formed bonds that would spread across the entire world in the future.
With each generation, Cerville believed that at least Lilith would never be alone wherever she went; she would always have a place to return to and old friends to reminisce with.
Of course, this was just Cerville’s wishful thinking.
Naturally, while she was still alive, she hoped Lilith would only look at her.
At the very least, she had to be the first priority!
“What are you hesitating for, Lilith?”
Cerville’s intense gaze was a bit too much for Lilith to handle; for the first time, she looked away.
“Lilith, what are you afraid of? I was a little out of line earlier… but that’s because I hadn’t seen you in so long… I was just too excited. If you’re worried I won’t keep my word and won’t let you find other girls in the future… I can swear to the divine. If I break my oath, the divine will strip me of my blessings. I’m not that little girl anymore; the Saintess receives a lot of offerings… I’m very rich now, so supporting you is absolutely no problem. Can you give me a chance… to start over with you?”
Oh my goodness… This overly mushy confession gave Lilith goosebumps.
But Cerville had gone this far… Lilith couldn’t find any reason to refuse.
This young girl had truly grown up after all.
Seduction combined with enticement… what kind of executive could withstand such a test?