Translator: Dj2203
Editor: Dj2203
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Although they said they were “going to visit Pearl,” Luo Mi and Reinhardt actually sat in another room, and neither of them intended to leave Anos at this time.
Luo Mi still remembered that Reinhardt had a lot of secrets and squinted as he looked him up and down.
He suspected that Reinhardt even knew about Anos’s origins.
Reinhardt became very wary under his gaze and clutched his chest: “Even if I’m handsome, don’t look at me like that. I don’t want to be fired by His Highness.”
“Narcissistic.” Luo Mi spat. “Let’s get down to business. Do you know what Anos and Bishop Thomas are talking about?”
Reinhardt smiled and said, “It must be the matter of His Highness’s background, right?”
“You know?” Luo Mi wasn’t surprised. “How much do you know?”
“I probably know less than you do,” Reinhardt said bluntly. “After all, His Highness isn’t going to tell me what he did with you last night.”
“That’s how it is, but the way you’re describing it is so strange…” Luo Mi muttered to herself, then said, “I thought you would know more about the Holy See.”
“I know a little bit, like that His Highness is Bishop Florian’s child.” Reinhardt rested his chin on his hand, glanced at the next room, and raised an eyebrow. “Bishop Thomas will probably explain this to His Highness.”
Luo Mi was surprised: “Bishop Thomas will be so frank?”
“Your Highness has the ‘eye of confession,’ and lies cannot be concealed. Since Your Highness has already begun to have doubts, rather than letting Your Highness investigate on his own and create uncontrollable misunderstandings, it is better to tell him the truth directly, or part of the truth, so as not to shake Your Highness’s faith in the Holy See.”
Luo Mi hadn’t considered this before, and said thoughtfully, “It seems the Vatican had already thought about what would happen if Anos’s true identity were exposed…”
Perhaps this was why the demon Anos sent him to guide Anos to discover his origins— letting Anos discover them on his own would be tantamount to handing over the subsequent developments to the Church to control, which was clearly not what the demon Anos wanted.
After pondering Reinhardt’s words for a moment, Luo Mi had a new doubt. “Uh, Reinhardt, I’m increasingly doubting whether you’re really a member of the Holy See.”
Reinhardt chuckled and said, “I’ve told you a hundred times already, I’m His Highness’s man, and I joined the Holy See for His Highness’s sake in the first place.”
Luo Mi looked at Reinhardt in surprise, her mind flashing through some tragic love stories about devoted lovers, only with the female lead’s face replaced by Anos and the male lead’s face replaced by Reinhardt.
—They’re not a good match. Luo Mi concluded in his heart.
Reinhardt rolled his eyes in a rather ungentlemanly manner. “What nonsense are you thinking? I only have loyalty and gratitude for His Highness. I won’t interfere with your marriage.”
Luo Mi’s face flushed red: “Anos and I are not… not in that kind of relationship…”
Although they slept together, and he wanted to sleep with Anos again, their relationship was completely innocent!
Reinhardt gave a haughty “heh” in a noble and aloof manner.
Luo Mi shook her head, feeling like she’d been led astray: “What does Anos have to do with alchemy?”
At this point, Reinhardt’s expression softened considerably: “I think you’ve probably guessed it, His Highness spent some time in that laboratory beneath the Duchy of Perde after his birth.”
Luo Mi muttered, “Actually, I initially thought Anos was synthesized there.”
Reinhardt waved his hand: “If the alchemy school were that powerful, they wouldn’t have been suppressed all these years. They might be able to synthesize [something], but creating a soul is the domain of gods, and the alchemy school hasn’t made a single clue or progress in all these years.”
Luo Mi was taken aback and looked at him with some suspicion: “What is your relationship with the alchemy school?”
Reinhardt blinked: “I was a member of the alchemy school.”
Luo Mi: “…”
He instinctively leaned back, then realized, “Do the Vatican and Anos know?”
“Your Majesty knows, but Your Highness does not.” Reinhardt spoke casually, as if chatting about everyday matters. “Years ago, in order to resurrect my mother, I was lured into joining the alchemy school. Some things happened that made me realize that the dead cannot be resurrected, so I left the alchemy school and later became Your Highness’s knight.”
Luo Mi felt this story sounded familiar: “How old were you back then?”
Reinhardt recalled for a moment: “Around ten years old?”
Luo Mi couldn’t help but look at Reinhardt’s arm, searching for clues that it was a fake arm: “…Do you have a younger brother whose soul is attached to the armor?”
“What?” Reinhardt didn’t understand. “I have a younger brother, but I cut ties with my family not long after I joined the alchemy school.”
Luo Mi glanced at Reinhardt’s expression, quickly recalling what he had talked about with him, and suddenly had a flash of inspiration. He then tentatively asked, “Where is your hometown?”
Reinhardt raised an eyebrow: “The Duchy of Terry.”
The Duchy of Terry, the “land of Arrival” in Anos’s propaganda… Luo Mi remembered Reinhard telling him that the “blessing” on Anos’s wings had caused the deaths of the Queen of the Duchy of Terry and others when he was young.
The reason Anos broke free from the seal on his wings was that the little prince of the Principality of Terry encountered danger while playing with him.
Luo Mi’s gaze fell on Reinhardt’s face.
Reinhardt ran his fingers through his hair: “Even if you guess it, don’t tell His Highness.”
Luo Mi nodded, but couldn’t help saying, “I thought you might hold some resentment towards Anos.”
“That tragedy was caused by me, not by Your Highness.” Reinhardt shook his head, speaking as casually as if he were talking about someone else. “If it weren’t for me, my mother wouldn’t have died, and Your Highness wouldn’t have been traumatized by it and deliberately kept his distance from everyone for so many years.”
Luo Mi opened her mouth as if to say something, but in the end he just sighed.
“Back to alchemy…” Reinhardt tapped the table. “When I joined the alchemy school, there weren’t many people left, otherwise they wouldn’t have lured me in with the financial support. I didn’t stay in the alchemy school for long, but from some of their conversations, I could tell that something had caused a major blow to the alchemy school, leading to the interruption of their most important ‘project’.”
Luo Mi’s attention was immediately drawn: “What project?”
Reinhardt shook his head: “I don’t know. The alchemists believe the main reason for that attack was betrayal.”
Betrayal… Luo Mi silently chewed over the word.
He had quickly gathered several pieces of information into his mind:
There were arrangements here in the Sig Palace that appeared to be related to alchemy, which may be used to block the Vatican’s surveillance.
After Caroline II secretly gave birth to Anos, she did not bring him back to the palace;
As an infant, Anos appeared in the alchemical laboratory beneath the Perde Palace, where he underwent unknown research and modification, which may have been the cause of his split personality.
The alchemists were betrayed and fled to the capital of Sig. Some were purified by Bishop Eugen, while others were taken in by Queen Caroline II.
Anos appeared at the Papacy and was raised as the Papacy’s Holy Son;
A few years later, the few remaining alchemical schools tried to attract Reinhardt to join them for financial support— alchemists at this time were clearly struggling financially.
Luo Mi swallowed hard, the gentle and beautiful face of Caroline II appearing in her mind.
Was this the empress’s plan?
Using alchemy, she transformed her child into an artificial angel, placed him on the papacy, and thus firmly grasped the supreme power of the Papacy, which held sway over the empire…
Caroline II had been on the throne for over twenty years, and her political career had been filled with blood and fire. To have reached this point, her shrewdness and cunning far surpass those of ordinary people. It was not surprising that she would be ruthless enough to use her own child as a bargaining chip.
But… Luo Mi thought of Anos, whom he had met so far, that lonely soul isolated by a sacred and ethereal halo— perhaps Anos didn’t even know what loneliness was, because he was born alone, caught in all sorts of schemes.
His mother, his godfather, and his Pope all wanted to use him to gain something or achieve something.
Thinking of this, Luo Mi suddenly felt a slight sting in his heart and thought with a touch of self-mockery: Even I, wasn’t my purpose in getting close to Anos to complete the mission?
He wasn’t much better than them; he was just as despicable and indifferent.
Anos, however, regarded him as his best “friend,” and happily and openly opened his heart to him, offered him help, and trusted him wholeheartedly.
Even the demonic version of Anos, no matter what he said, actually helped and tolerated him every time.
Luo Mi’s lips gradually pressed into a line, and his fingers unconsciously clenched into a fist.
Something was surging within him, like waves crashing against the rocks on the shore, trying to break through those dark, solid cliffs.
….
Just as Luo Mi remained silent, Reinhardt suddenly stood up: “Your Highness and Bishop Thomas have finished their conversation.”
Luo Mi snapped out of her daze and rushed over faster than he could think.
Anos sat on the sofa with a somewhat bewildered expression; but Bishop Thomas was nowhere to be seen.
Luo Mi walked through the door, his initial impulsive steps gradually slowing down until he finally came to a stop.
What could he say to Anos?
Before he could figure out the answer to the question, Anos had already turned to look at him.
When their eyes met, most of the confusion and dejection on Anos’s face faded and the dark clouds in his azure eyes dissipated, revealing a bright and clear light, and the corners of his lips curved into a beautiful smile: “Lian? Come and sit down.”
Seeing Anos’s joy at just seeing him, Luo Mi silently clenched his fist and slowly walked over to sit down next to Anos.
Anos pushed a cup of tea toward him: “My father told me that I was indeed the child of Bishop Florian, born against the rules of the Vatican. Bishop Florian was deeply ashamed afterward and voluntarily chose to end his life. He didn’t tell me because he didn’t want me to be troubled by these things.”
Luo Mi forced a smile: “And what about your mother?”
Anos’s expression became more complicated: “Father— let’s call him Bishop Thomas for now. Bishop Thomas told me that my mother has her own family and children, and it wouldn’t be good for either of us if we went to acknowledge her prematurely.”
Luo Mi felt that this line of reasoning was somewhat familiar— wasn’t this just a copy of the “tell the truth but not the whole truth” approach he used to get away with it before?
In the past, Luo Mi might have mentally complained that “everyone has mastered the method of fooling Anos,” but now he didn’t have that thought.
But Anos’s azure eyes shifted slightly, regaining their warm light: “That’s fine too. Some identities bring more trouble than glory. And let me tell you a secret, Bishop Thomas and I are really related by blood, which is why he adopted me as his godson and has taken care of me all these years.”
Luo Mi was taken aback: “What blood relation?”
“My mother is Bishop Thomas’s sister.” Anos lowered his voice. “Back then, something happened in his family that caused him to be seriously injured. After seeking help from the Vatican, he stayed there to recuperate and converted to the faith after recovering.”
At this point, Anos’s expression softened considerably. “Bishop Thomas told me that my birth mother has recovered from the ordeal and is now living a happy life.”
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