Colin chuckled and said:
“Aren’t your news a bit outdated?”
“You already know?” Agani looked at Colin with surprise and doubt.
Realizing they were talking about different matters, Colin laughed and asked:
“I’m talking about Mr. Ji wanting to kill me. Who are you talking about?”
“Mr. Ji wants to kill you?” Agani’s shock seemed genuine.
Colin scrutinized Agani with a quiet gaze, seemingly trying to determine if she was lying.
Agani, recalling some information from White Dew City, seemed to understand and said:
“That big fire in White Dew City, was that a sacrifice ceremony planned by Mr. Ji? Did you disrupt it?”Seeing that Agani seemed genuinely unaware of Mr. Ji’s plan in White Dew City, Colin shook his head and said:
“No, before that, Mr. Ji already wanted to kill me. Is this how you treat your allies?”
Agani’s brows furrowed slightly, before shaking her head and saying, “Count Angler, I am me, and Mr. Ji is Mr. Ji, our relationship is not as close as you think.
As for why Mr. Ji wants to kill you… I suspect it’s because he feels threatened.
The North and East Territories, and even the Half-Elf Kingdom were all domains that Mr. Ji considered his own, but now they are all under your control. Perhaps that’s why Mr. Ji has turned hostile.
However, you don’t need to worry about me. I have no interest in worldly power, and my status would not allow me to control it.
My only aim is to cleanse this corrupt and decayed Church, so that the glory of our Lord is not tarnished. And you aim to keep the Church’s power confined within the realm of faith, in this respect, we have common ground.”
With arms folded across his chest, leaning against the door frame and a grim smile on his face, Colin said:
“Alright, Archbishop Agani, we don’t need to keep up this pretence of mutual trust. The truth is, I’ve never trusted you, nor do you truly consider me an ally.
Let’s call an end to this game. As for your grand ambitions to cleanse the Church, you’ll have to rely on your own efforts.”
Agani shook her head and said, “My Lord, if you truly don’t trust me at all, why would you have come to meet me in Black Thorn Village?”
Colin fell silent for a moment.
Of course, he wouldn’t tell Agani that he thought it was a trap she and Mr. Ji had set together, and he planned to use himself as bait to trap a Holy Knight.
“I was just passing by.” Colin said indifferently, “Archbishop Agani, do you know why I can’t truly trust you?”
“Why?”
“Because of our positions.
You claim you want to cleanse this corrupt and rotten Church, but the reason you give is that you don’t want the Lord of Glory’s reputation to be tarnished?
I apologize, not because I don’t believe there are selfless saints in this world, but because they are exceedingly rare.
In my eyes, most people are creatures driven by self-interest.
You, as the Archbishop of the North, deeply trusted by the Pope, with a limitless future ahead, I don’t believe you would do anything to harm the interests of the Church, because you yourself are a beneficiary of this Church system.”
After Colin finished speaking, Agani paused from her activity, and then slowly approached Colin.
At this time, she had just removed her rustic cotton outfit, leaving only a thin undergarment, revealing her perfect body curves as they moved in and out of sight.
“Deeply trusted by the Pope? Having unlimited prospects?” Agani sneered, faced Colin, turned around, and took off her last piece of clothing, exposing her bare back to him.
Just as Colin was in disbelief, he saw Agani’s back—
It was a back so gruesome it was hard to look at!
Gnarly whip marks crawled over her originally smooth, fair back, both old and new, crisscrossing with each other. Clearly, they were not the result of a single episode of violence, but accumulation from years of maltreatment.
“I’m just a tool through which he vents his anger,” Agani put her underwear back on, her eyes blazing with hatred as if she wanted to burn everything.
Unable to hide his surprise, Colin asked, “Did Pope Gregory do this?”
Agani nodded, gritting her teeth, “Yes, since he brought me to the Church when I was five, my nightmares have never ended!
Now, do you believe I sincerely want to bring down this damn Church?”
Colin was silent.
The scars on Agani’s back were undeniable. He just hadn’t expected this seemingly glamorous Archbishop of the North Territory to have been secretly abused by the Pope like this.
Then Colin noticed that this secret hideaway, which Agani had created for herself, was lavishly decorated, but it exuded a dark and gloomy ambiance at every corner.
The floor was covered with a white wool carpet, but emblazoned on it were large patterns of blue seductive roses, whose vibrant colors seemed to ooze purple fluid, looking exceptionally eerie.
The stone walls were filled with ferocious beasts baring their teeth and claws, hideously ugly.
The long table in the middle of the room held a ram’s skull — a symbol of the devil in the culture of the Glorious Empire!
Yet Agani seemed perfectly at ease in such an environment, putting on a purple corset dress, hiding the ghastly whip marks, she became again the Archbishop of the North Territory that people revered.
Her entire being emanated a sanctified aura, yet revealing a natural seductiveness.
A bewitching woman in an almost evil environment composed a dangerously alluring scene.
The more Colin watched, the more he felt that this Archbishop of the North Territory, who had suffered abuse since childhood, probably had some mental instability…
“Count Angler, don’t you want to know who is trying to kill you?”
Colin came to his senses and said, “Let’s hear it then. What’s this elaborate scheme to meet me about?”
Agani recounted the visit by Cardinal Turennes and the “divine sign” that occurred in White Dew City.
When she finished, she noticed the man in front of her radiating an intimidating terror.
“What exactly did Turennes do to Vera?” Colin’s cold voice sounded like a roar from hell.
Agani, however, was not frightened but pleased, she walked slowly up to him and said,
“I don’t know, but I’m sure it has to do with what the Pope did to the Duke in secret during the baptism. And, I suspect, your wife, she’s probably planning to kill you now!”
“Impossible!” Colin responded coldly.
“If the Duke was in her right mind, that would be true, but her will simply cannot beat the Pope’s god’s technique. In the history of the Glorious Empire, multiple unexplainable incidents have occurred which, in fact, were caused by the Pope behind the scenes.”
On hearing this, Colin instantly remembered the story of the fall of the St. Chapman Family that Lady Grace had told him.
Could it be that the St. Chapman who betrayed his own family also fell for the Pope’s god’s technique?
Seeing Colin furious, Agani had an almost crazed smile on her face.
She took a step closer, put her hand on Colin’s chest, felt his strong heartbeat, leaned in close to his ear, and in a bewitching voice, said,
“I can feel your pain, your rage—I share that same pain and anger.
Let’s join forces and burn this sinful world to ashes!”
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