The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 75 Candlelight Chaos

Alena actually didn't have much interest in church history, especially since Her Highness the Saint-to-be was talking about secrets that didn't sound like something an ordinary nun should know. The more she knew, the more trouble she would have. But she still listened motionlessly, just listening.

Soon her attention shifted to their shoulders pressed against each other.

On a snowy night, on the top of a mountain like this, it was impossible not to be cold. Although she had a certain tolerance for the cold, once she felt the warmth, her body still unconsciously wanted to get closer.

The center of gravity of the body quietly shifted a little to the side, and with greater fit, the warmth became greater.

Alena raised her eyes and found that His Highness was also looking at her.

"..."

Did she cross the line?

...No, His Highness was just talking about the history that actually interested him, and was looking forward to her reaction.

Looking back at him, Alena easily showed that she was listening attentively, and His Highness's speech speed became a little faster as if encouraged.

The first emperor of the Teran Empire actually presided over the election ceremony of the new Pope... Is this the secret of the Church that Your Highness studies with Sophie every day?

Alena thought back to the past few months when the quasi-saint had occasionally looked worried and anxious, simply because the saint wanted to assess his learning of these contents.

She then thought of Sophie's increasing silence in her presence, which before was usually followed by her confession that she didn't want to go home...

All kinds of thoughts flashed through Alena's mind one after another, but no matter how much she thought, once she stopped, her attention would immediately return to the warmth coming from her arm.

The nights were growing colder.

As Alena became more and more dependent on the warmth beside her, she wondered whether she should activate the fire chip in her arms.

The candlelight flickered, gradually becoming shorter as it burned, and only Eric's voice continued to echo in the silent church.

"...The new Pope, Simachus I, ascended the throne with the Emperor's support. In the Cathedral of the Holy City, for the first time, a Pope knelt before the Emperor of the Empire and adored him, kissing his toes. And the first bull issued by Simachus I after his accession was to declare the Papal Bull issued by the previous Pope, Innocent II, invalid..."

At a certain moment, Alena suddenly became dazed.

In the blink of an eye, her eyelids on both sides became extremely heavy, and she didn't have the strength to open her eyes.

"For the next twenty years or so, under the leadership of Symmachus I, the entire church was very honest..."

His shoulders suddenly sank, and Eric turned his head, only to find Alena leaning completely against him.

Are you asleep?

Eric looked at her and couldn't help but feel sorry for her, because he was about to talk about the suicidal path that the next Pope, Innocent III, would lead the church on.

——How can church history be boring? It is very interesting.

He would never get tired of watching the Laiser Church, headed by successive popes, testing and tugging at secular power ten times over, and he could even gain insights from it:
It was precisely because of the repeated failures and severe beatings in the previous few hundred years that the Holy See became overly honest in the past hundred years. Even though the empire has now weakened significantly, the several popes who came to power have maintained a conservative attitude and rarely participated in continental affairs.

It was precisely because of this that when the demons once again moved south, the Church's first reaction was to retreat and protect itself...

Eric's brow slowly furrowed again.

Simply retreating will not drive away the demons. In the future when he becomes a saint, will he be able to change the overall negative attitude of the Holy See?
The head resting on his shoulder rubbed unconsciously, interrupting Eric's thoughts.

He moved slightly, preparing to wake Alena up and let her go to the back to rest, but this also broke the delicate balance that had been formed unintentionally, and she fell forward.

Eric subconsciously raised his hand to support it, but his palm sank in without any preparation.

"..."

His whole body was stiff.

Of course he knew what was pressing on his palm.

After being together for more than half a year, this was the first time he felt so clearly the maturity and grace of the person next to him.

Eric didn't move, and Alena also maintained a position about to fall, and didn't seem to wake up, forming a new balance.

A fragile and dangerous balance.

He used his left hand to support Alena on his right, who was half turned around at this time, and her body leaned forward and drooped, as if she had fallen into his arms.

As soon as he lowered his head, he could see her ears and half of her face heating up rapidly.

"..."

Embarrassment, nervousness, and helplessness, all kinds of emotions instantly flooded his face, and Eric felt his face getting hot.

The candle is almost burning out.

If it ended here, it would just be an accident. Although there are some awkward ambiguities, they can be exposed soon.

But the invisible desire was growing and rapidly expanding in her deliberate silence.

Even more dangerous, he found himself even considering giving in to this desire.

The supporting hand tried to move, from passively sinking deep into the air, to intentionally grasping it. He couldn't grasp it...

She had no other reaction except tensing her body.

Poof, the first candle that was replaced finally burned out and went out.

The intentional silence turned into silent encouragement, and his hands continued to exert force slowly, squeezing, kneading, still trying to fully grasp it while stretching.

One by one, the candles went out on both sides, and the light and warmth disappeared into the extremely cold night.

He lowered his head, and the air between them was heating up.

The closer they got, the hotter it got. Her ears and cheeks felt hot. A faint, almost imperceptible fragrance that always lingered around her became distinctly audible.

The slowly moving fingertips suddenly felt a little bulging resistance.

The touch and pressure made her tense even more.

Darkness gradually enveloped the two of them.

Puff, the last candle in front of the statue went out.

The church was finally plunged into complete darkness.

When nothing could be seen, the nun's clothes, which were specially thickened to protect against the cold, were finally seen as an obstacle.

He reached into her scarf and then into the nun's uniform through the collar, and his hand finally grasped her again without any hindrance.

The trembling in the stiffness became more obvious.

His other hand had already been used as support, holding her shoulder. Now he moved it up and slowly turned her face around.

They were both new and unfamiliar with each other, and the darkness was filled with panicked breathing.

Their intertwined breaths were getting closer and closer, intertwining with each other, and just as their lips were about to touch, a strong cold wind rushed in from the entrance of the church, freezing them to the bone.

The fallen nun quickly came to her senses.

"Your Highness..." She pulled his hand away in the darkness, stood up, and stepped back. "The candle is burned out. It's time to change it."

"..."

After a long silence, Eric took a deep breath of the cold air that was pouring into the church and silently said, "Yela, please give me light."

A white light lit up from his fingertips, quickly enlarged, and illuminated the two people in front of the statue.

"..."

As soon as their eyes met, Alena dodged and turned around to use illumination magic.

The ball of light floated up, the cold white light illuminated the entire church.

The two replaced all the candles in silence. Eric returned to the statue and knelt. Alena stood several meters behind him, her head bowed, and prayed to the goddess for a moment.

"Your Highness, I'm going to rest."

Eric closed his eyes and sighed silently, "Remember to keep warm."

"……Yes."

As she walked out of the church, Alena felt her steps still trembling.

I hurried back to the nuns' resting place at the back of the church. It was almost midnight and the nuns had already gone to bed.

Although she felt a little sorry for them, she could not return to the church tonight. She could only wake up one of the nuns as originally planned and ask her to change the candles later.

"Ah? Okay..." The nun yawned, looked at the other nuns who were lying down on both sides, and stared blankly.

Alena found a place in the corner to rest, but as soon as she sat down, the wet and cold stimulation made her almost stand up again.

"..."

It's all her fault.

She was asleep, but she woke up the moment her body fell. However, she did not break free from him immediately, but instead deliberately remained passive.

Even before the statue of Yela.

What a sin she committed...

Alena sat in the darkness and prayed silently until the nun who had been awakened earlier felt that it was almost time and prepared to go to the church to change the candles.

"Come back immediately after changing the candles...Do not linger near His Highness."

Has it been sent out?
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(End of this chapter)