After being forced to step down, the once-annoying nun eloped with me.

"I never expected that in the end I would still have to deal with someone His Majesty knew before... But then again, she is, after all, the Holy Maiden of the God of Light—as the purest source of faith, it's normal for her to be targeted. But isn't Constantine a male name? How could a male deity want to become a woman? That's just too strange—oh dear?!"

As they were talking, Arthur was suddenly kicked by Dr. Joseph, causing him to fall to the ground. He let out a scream, clutching his buttocks and getting up while holding onto the chair. He and the rather serious Dr. Joseph stared at each other with wide eyes.

But that's enough—Elena now understands that Cecilia knows Yang Hao, and they were probably friends back then. But if that's all, did everyone really look so strange?

She still didn't understand... and just then, Lord Lalumia coughed twice:

"In reality, once they become gods, mortals no longer care whether they appear as men or women. After all, once they become gods, they have the ability to change their appearance; all they need is [that body]—even if that body is just a pile of rotten flesh."

"It's less about needing physical activity and more about needing the body as nourishment..."

"In a sense, this interpretation is also acceptable."

The gentle deity smiled and spread her hands, using her divine power to invigorate the people who were already somewhat tired during the meeting. Yang Hao, who was standing beside her, calmly said, "Let's discuss what to do."

"Now that we've found a place for the next body, it would be better if we discussed what to do next... So, everyone, think it over carefully. Take a moment to think, have some sugary drinks to boost your brainpower... and then come to a conclusion, that's it."

His words caused a commotion in the conference room. In Elena's view, of the three factions, aside from her own side which knew almost nothing and therefore had little to discuss, the other two were all preoccupied with some kind of discussion...

Alexander, standing to the side, watched Elena and conducted a communication using the magic network:

[Elena, let's remain still—after all, we don't know what Cecilia means to His Majesty Yang Hao. Silence is best.]

Alexander's words startled Elena for a moment. But upon reflection, she realized that this was the best course of action for her at the moment.

So she nodded and began to carefully observe everyone's expressions... especially the elves' expressions. Elves are the race least adept at hiding their emotions; they are very spontaneous, and because of this, they reveal more information through their expressions than others.

Fen's face showed such visible irritation.

After all, to put it bluntly, Finn is the one who least wants Yang Hao to have any connection with the people who abandoned him in the past—in the end, Finn now hates the Night Witch Priscilla, hates all the nobles of the Roman Empire, hates Prince Garsen, and naturally also hates the reclusive saint Cecilia who did nothing back then.

For the elves, Cecilia's actions were incomprehensible: after all, elves would either refuse a friend's request outright or do everything in their power to help. Cecilia, who gave an ambiguous choice and then retreated underground, actually hiding for several years... they simply couldn't understand her.

To put it bluntly, the elves don't need to understand—just as people don't need to understand the psychology of a gruesome murderer, Finn never thought he needed to understand them from the enemy's perspective.

After all, he was the victor, the one standing by Yang Hao's side—but now... hmph...

"It would be better to sever his ties with the past as soon as possible. So, can we just kill him? Create an 'accident'? That would save us trouble..."

The little elf muttered to himself, while the maid beside him looked at him strangely. Arthur and Dr. Joseph shrugged, thinking that the final decision still rested with His Majesty Yang Hao.

On the other hand, for Theresa, her feelings towards Cecilia... while her goals were similar to Finn's, her approach was more hesitant and sympathetic.

After experiencing the ordeal of becoming the Queen of Bayern, Theresa probably understood that Cecilia must have endured the same pressure she had back then.

She felt nauseous and wanted to vomit, but in the end, she had to swallow it all for the sake of others' attention and her lover's expectations... At least Teresa had the prophecy to back her up, and she had people and allies to rely on, but what about Cecilia?

She couldn't withstand the pressure and chose to sink into the ground, abandoning all thought. While the actual effect was truly speechless, at least she wasn't inherently bad—she was just foolish, unlike Theresa who was lucky enough to have someone share the burden, and emotionally fragile...

...After realizing this situation, no matter how much Teresa hated the saint Cecilia, at most she just hoped that Yang Hao could completely sever ties with Cecilia and that everyone could go their separate ways from now on.

However, it seems that Finn doesn't think so...

(Fen... seems to want to just kill her outright. Sigh... While I don't dislike elves' capriciousness, Fen had better reconsider. That silly woman isn't worth our ruthlessness. She's not that little witch.)

The young nun pursed her lips. Naruja, who was already a little sleepy, chose to rest on the table under Natalia's helpless gaze. At the door of the corridor, the panicked shouts of the maids trying to stop little Anna from coming in to join the fun could be faintly heard.

...Elena could roughly sense that the two women who were most important to Yang Hao shared the same goal but had conflicting core ideas.

But Elena couldn't understand it.

But it was the idea of ​​Lalumia, the god of light.

Under Elena's gaze, the loving mother goddess only sighed softly. Standing beside Yang Hao, he reached out to adjust the overlapping buttons of his hooded cloak collar, while gently touching his chest, which he couldn't shrink no matter how tightly he wrapped it with bandages, under the elf's suddenly dimmed gaze.

As for Lalumia, being of the [Light] class, she was naturally aware of Cecilia's role on the side of the God of Light.

The saintess studied her own manual, gaining divine power in return, only to have it stolen by the god of light, Constantine, in a malicious manner—her foolishness was not her own fault, but rather the fault of the [Cult of Light]. In a sense, Cecilia was a village girl when she left Shkur village, and she remains a village girl with little education to this day.

After all, the Church of Light is against its followers learning knowledge—for Constantine, the faith provided by the ignorant masses is purer. Therefore, as a saint who "transforms faith," the more ignorant the better.

Even so, Cecilia still managed to become a literate woman who knew etiquette and was willing to try new things through self-study. Lalumia was genuinely happy for this adorably foolish child, but when she thought about Yang Hao's past experiences, that happiness eventually turned into a sigh.

A foolish, pitiful child cannot use "foolishness" as an excuse to shirk responsibility after making a mistake.

No matter how loving Lalumia may be, she is still a deity who can distinguish right from wrong—she knows that Yang Hao ended up in this predicament because of Cecilia's autism, and she also knows how many people died because of Cecilia's self-isolation.

Although the fundamental sin did not lie with her, she still committed an irreparable mistake in Lalumia's mind—but ultimately, the most troublesome thing was that this kind of unconscious mistake did not warrant death as an apology.

If Yang Hao knew what Lord Lalumia was thinking, he would immediately understand that this was actually the same problem that heavy truck drivers on Earth faced when pedestrians suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Either step on the gas and try to kill someone if you can't avoid it, then pay the insurance premium in one go to avoid future trouble.

Either you try to brake as hard as possible, but end up hitting someone and leaving them partially paralyzed, resulting in you having to pay more money than if the person had died, and you'll also be bothered by countless complaints—

So, what should we do?

The group exchanged bewildered glances, and finally, amidst Naruja's drowsy slurping of juice, they decided to hand over the decision-making power to Yang Hao.

"...Yang Hao, what do you think?"

"What do you think?"

What do you think, child?

"...Question: Yang Hao, what do you think?"

The man glanced at the corner of his mouth with a strange look at the four women's simultaneous questioning.

He picked up his water glass from the table, took a small sip of hot tea, then glared at Arthur and Dr. Joseph, who were completely unhelpful. He glanced at Natalia, who was stroking Naruja's hair, and then sighed heavily.

"Let's see what we should do first—after all, this is our first time slaying a god, and the first time we've encountered such a difficulty... We must handle this carefully. After all, no matter what we do, it means that the potential benefits of the opposite option will never be available again... So, let's share our thoughts?"

"...You really are vague, aren't you?" Fen pouted, looking somewhat annoyed, already planning what to do tonight.

“I call this thorough consideration—it’s like deciding whether to boil or roast a whole chicken. If we roast it, we can’t eat boiled chicken, and if we boil it, we can’t eat roasted chicken... What should we do if we don’t come to a conclusion?”

"Yes, yes, yes—so let's all share our opinions? If I were to speak first, my personal suggestion would be to kill both the God of Light, who is stuck in the body, and Cecilia when the God of Light takes over. Just to prevent future trouble. What do you all think?"

"Truly a free-spirited elf!"—At this moment, everyone except the elf had only this thought in mind when faced with Finn's bold statement. After all, to be honest, such statements from an elf, clearly controlled by their emotions and guaranteed to offend others, were difficult for ordinary humans to understand...

But here, everyone can only sigh a few times... Especially for Yang Hao and Theresa, who are already familiar with Fen's tone, they know very well that this is the way of life for elves. So, after they complained a few times about how elves really don't consider whether the other party has a way to save face, they began to seriously consider the possibility of Fen's idea.

Yang Hao looked at Lalumia beside him. After thinking for a while, Lalumia first gave good news, but then gave two pieces of bad news.

Let's start with the good news.

"The good news is that Finn's idea is feasible. For deities who become gods in the flesh, they will be very vulnerable during the process of changing bodies—especially in the middle of the body change. If the other party is struggling, then the deity will show a small flaw during the process."

If we can find an opening and kill the person who provided the body along with the deity, then even if we don't kill the God of Light, we can at least severely injure him...

But this is only good news. The risks we face are enormous.

Then came two pieces of bad news.

"The bad news is—just like a lizard shedding its tail, a deity can also cut off a part of itself when forcibly taking over a body to avoid greater damage... Of course, this will definitely harm the deity itself, but compared to the possibility of being killed by us, this damage is negligible, like breaking a few fingers."

Besides, the even worse news is that we might end up having the saint's body taken over before we can kill her. Even we take countless precautions when carrying out our plans, let alone the God of Light, Constantine?

Constantine, the God of Light, is a usurper who will stop at nothing to climb to a higher position—he cannot possibly put all his eggs in one basket with Cecilia, so naturally he would not leave the ritual site unprepared when he takes Cecilia’s body.

In this situation, it would have been very easy for Constantine to escape. Moreover, while a god might briefly reveal his weaknesses, killing him during that time is not impossible, but the probability is as extremely low as a vegetative state patient regaining consciousness...

Although Finn was somewhat disappointed by Lord Lalumia's words, which were presented with facts and arguments, he ultimately chose to accept them.

Theresa then explained her own thoughts—she believed it was unnecessary to kill Cecilia directly, but rather to take the opportunity to sabotage Cecilia and bring some "surprises" to the God of Light through intrigue and trickery.

But Teresa was also at a loss as to what to do—after all, it was the first time anyone had ever confronted a god, and it was perfectly normal to have no experience.

At this moment, the meeting fell silent once again. But then, Elena suddenly spoke:

"Confused: Why can't everyone choose a more efficient way to let that saintess directly rebel against the God of Light she worships? After all, Lord Lalumia said that she became the source of the God of Light's faith by absorbing your divine power, right? Why not let her simply use your power?"

She tilted her head, saying "everyone" aloud, but was actually looking at Yang Hao. At a crucial moment, she mechanically proposed the most efficient method, but the problem was...

At least two people present did not want Cecilia to actually find an opportunity... In other words, Elena's plan was indeed very efficient—but the problem was, no one liked it?

Especially Fen.

For Finn, having Cecilia actively portray herself as "resistant to God" and "opposing God" in front of Yang Hao makes it hard not to suspect that this saintess might take advantage of the period of increased favorability to do something to Yang Hao later.

She knew perfectly well that this was the most efficient and seemingly most successful approach, but she was reluctant to give Cecilia another chance...

What about Theresa?

She was right to sympathize with Cecilia.

But morally and logically, she couldn't give those who had hurt Yang Hao another chance... If making amends could save the lives lost in the past and his past pain, that would be one thing. But now, Cecilia's amends could only achieve what they already had in mind, and it was even possible to kill Cecilia.

Under these circumstances, Theresa was even less likely to give Cecilia a chance to shine.

and so--

Both of them expressed their opposition to Elena's proposal without prior agreement. Faced with their opposition, Elena simply tilted her head innocently and looked at Yang Hao, who held the dominant position, with an extremely puzzled expression—let them resist if they want, since it's Yang Hao who makes the decision, not them.

Yang Hao simply sighed heavily. At this moment, everyone's eyes were on him, and he truly needed to carefully consider his next move.

Firstly, killing Cecilia carries high risk but also high reward. They could potentially inflict severe damage or even death on the God of Light while killing Cecilia, thus achieving their goal in one fell swoop and simultaneously reclaiming the holy city of Saint Petersburg from Bayezid with almost no risk.

But the chances are very low, and they only have one chance, so it may not be suitable for them to take the risk.

Secondly, we can use a scheme to set a trap for Cecilia, so that when the God of Light possesses her, he experiences the surprise and also feels the warmth and hospitality of humankind. This way, we avoid killing Cecilia, and even our contact with her is limited to a single, clandestine encounter. The only question is, how do we do it? What should we use? That's a good question...

The risks are moderate, and the returns are also moderate, so should we choose this one?

Finally, there's the most efficient method Elena mentioned... making Cecilia rebel against her own god, letting her use the power of "light" to fight against the God of Light. It's a low-risk, high-reward plan, fitting Elena's concept of "efficiency," but the problem is... it's very difficult to resist on a human level.

Leaving aside Yang Hao himself, his two wives and two subordinates all showed visible resistance. After all, we are not machines; we are emotional beings, and as emotional beings, we inevitably feel aversion to certain things... And when we can no longer hide our disgust, directly ignoring the benefits and choosing "rejection" becomes the norm for everyone.

Leaving aside those good men on Earth who know that betrayal would be better but still choose loyalty, Yang Hao at the time almost refused to believe Naruja and Dr. Joseph due to his morbid resistance. If it weren't for Teresa's care, he might be in a different situation now. So he understands everyone's resistance... And to put it bluntly, even he himself hasn't recovered from what happened back then, so accepting Cecilia is even more impossible.

...

So, of the three options, only the second one is correct, right? But how exactly do you do it?

Yang Hao sighed in frustration. Just then, as if sensing Yang Hao's inner thoughts, Lady Lalumia casually took a handkerchief from her clothes and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Then, smiling, she offered a suggestion to the two empresses who were staring blankly at her:

"If you, child, are planning to choose [scheming], I can help you—although I am not a deity of the concept of conspiracy, I can help with [poisoning]."

"...[Poisoning]?"

The crowd looked bewildered: You poisoned Cecilia's body? A poison that can harm even a god, is that really okay? Won't Cecilia die before the God of Light possesses her?

Faced with the crowd's confusion and doubt, the gentle deity simply smiled and nodded, explaining to them the usefulness of faith to the divine...

It is common knowledge that for those who believe in God, the stronger their faith, the stronger their faith in God. Conversely, what if someone deliberately poisons one's faith?

Mortals cannot do it, but gods can—by corrupting the source of someone's faith, by mixing poison into the faith upon which they rely for survival, they can severely damage or even kill their target... This is something every god can do.