They are all characters I control.

If he doesn't go, Elena will only suffer worse treatment.

During the time Elena was detained by the church, it was thanks to Prince Alvin's visits to her several times a day that Elena was not subjected to any severe treatment.

Unexpectedly, Elena had only been out for a short time when, instead of questioning Lia, she kicked Rosemary.

Prince Alvin, who had attended the welcoming ceremony and banquet for Bishop Augustine, was well aware of Rosemary's position; she was entirely Bishop Augustine's representative.

Prince Alvin, who rushed to look after Elena, also regretted not interrupting her earlier to explain Rosemary's identity.

However, it was too late now; Rosemary had already been offended.

In this situation, we can only wait and find another opportunity to apologize to the bishop's representative.

“Now I know why you left the Rost family; that family is truly beyond redemption.” Rosemary calmed herself and sat back in the carriage.

Claire leaned against the car window, watching the two figures disappear around the street corner, a slight smile playing on her lips.

He turned his gaze away and looked at Rosemary.

She looked at the bishop's representative with great interest; her attitude clearly indicated that the Nolan family no longer held any hope for the Rost family as they had before.

"Are you trying to help me?"

Rosemary sat back in the carriage, straightened her cuffs, and her grey-blue eyes remained calm as still water. "I'm not helping you, I'm helping myself."

"Oh?" Claire deliberately feigned surprise.

“That woman was too noisy, and…” Rosemary paused. “She insulted me.”

Others may have forgotten, Claire didn't care, and Rosemary didn't say it outright at this point.

However, Earl Orlando was well aware of one thing.

"Besides, although Your Majesty is not a member of the Nolan family, Claire is, and what kind of nobody is that Elena?"

Elena and Prince Alvin were completely unaware that Lydia was actually a relative of Rosemary. This mere stepmother's daughter dared to mock Lydia, the eldest daughter of the Nolan family, right in front of Rosemary.

Regardless of whether Lia is favored or not, the fact that Lia's mother was a commoner yet became his first wife, and that Lia is also the eldest daughter of a marquis's family, demonstrates the strength of the Nolan family.

Although they appear to be commoners, they actually wield more power and influence than most nobles.

Even during the time of the second Marquis of Rost, when the family had not yet fallen into such decline, they could not resist the Nolan family. The reckless Elena did something that even the previous two Marquises of Rost dared not do.

Beating Elena a beating would be too lenient; for someone like Rosemary who is completely obedient to and loyal to the Nolan family, killing her would be acceptable.

Claire laughed. "She called you a lackey of Bishop Simon, which is certainly right. She also insulted the Nolan family and deserved to be taught a lesson, but it seems you've helped me in some ways?"

Rosemary knew Claire was teasing her, but she didn't care.

Elena's imprisonment was both her own doing and Rosemary's deliberate act. An annoying problem like that should be dealt with sooner rather than later, to avoid future trouble.

The reason, of course, is not simply to vent one's anger.

“I’m not doing this for you,” Rosemary corrected. “I’m doing it for myself. Besides, Prince Alvin’s attention will be on you now that he doesn’t have Elena. How you deal with him is your business.”

"You even created conditions for me?"

“I told you, I’m not helping you.” Rosemary looked out the window. “I’m just doing what’s in the Nolan family’s best interest.”

Earl Orlando sat to the side, holding a cup of red tea, watching the two bicker with a smile.

"Is that so? Then perhaps I should do something to prevent things from developing in a way that benefits the Nolan family." Claire calmly looked at Rosemary beside her.

"...Really, are you that afraid of the Nolan family?"

Rosemary looked at Ronan with displeasure.

"That depends on whether your Nolan family still remembers what I did to you. Can you completely forget that past? And can you relinquish your current power?" Claire said bluntly.

He didn't need to hide it; even while controlling Lia's body, he still maintained the air of a high and mighty emperor.

Such arrogance and confidence, coupled with Claire's immortality and the fact that she can still influence the affairs of the Goddess Church even while imprisoned there, are all signs of her arrogance and confidence.

All of this is enough to give Claire support, and Claire certainly has the authority to say such things.

The power the Nolan family wields today is absolutely not to be underestimated. Not only do they have infiltrators like Earl Orlando within their ranks, but they have also planted their own people in the Church.

The most foolish thing to do is to let such a family develop without targeting them.

"..." Rosemary also fell silent at this point.

She naturally understood Claire's words, and even though she was dissatisfied with Claire's attitude, she knew that this was an unavoidable fact.

Seeing that the atmosphere was getting a bit tense, Countess Orlando put down her teacup to ease the tension.

"We're all smart people, let's not play dumb. At this stage, nobody wants to break off relations."

She looked at Claire, a hint of womanly coquettishness in her eyes. "Your Majesty, please don't be so direct. Let's all maintain a tacit understanding and deal with our common enemy first."

Claire raised an eyebrow. "A common enemy?"

“The royal family,” Rosemary said on behalf of Earl Orlando.

Claire was silent for a moment, then smiled. "I understand. Everyone's just waiting for the right moment to hand over the knife, waiting for the other person to fall first, right?"

Rosemary did not deny it.

This is the reality for them: if the evil god emperor fights against them, it will only benefit the goddess church and the royal family.

Therefore, they could not reveal any weaknesses to each other before the perfect opportunity arrived, and they both set their sights on the royal family.

Chapter 85 Liya is still being nurtured

The carriage stopped in front of the Earl's mansion in Orlando.

Claire got out of the car, Rosemary followed behind him, and Earl Orlando walked at the very back.

The sunlight was lovely, casting a soft glow on the stone steps of the mansion. We had all arrived early that morning to attend the meeting between Bishop Augustine and His Majesty Daryan; everyone was dressed formally.

There was nothing more work to do, and they no longer needed to wear their formal attire. The three of them went back to their rooms to change.

After entering the room, Claire and Leah tacitly switched body control.

Lia regained control of her body and changed her clothes.

Although she knew Claire could still see her, controlling her body still provided some psychological comfort, and she did this every day when she changed clothes.

However, being overly sensitive and too concerned about Claire's gaze will only make things worse.

So, to ease the tension and shift the focus, Leah took the initiative to speak, revealing what she had witnessed about Claire controlling her body.

[Lia: Is it really okay to lock Elena up? She was just released...]

[Claire: You don't like it?]

[Lia: It's not that... it's just... didn't the Marquis just become Knight Commander Karl's second-in-command? If he's arrested now, he'll be out quickly, right...?]

Claire: What's there to worry about? You see, Carl is investigating everyone.

Claire: It's not just you, it's the Nolan family, Bishop Simon, and His Majesty Darian.

[Claire: That Knight Commander Karl is notoriously strict. Marquis Rost wouldn't dare release him easily. He knows the difference between having his whole family imprisoned again on suspicion and having a troublemaker locked up.]

[Lia: Oh, I see.]

[Claire: What? I thought you were going to say something like pleading with Rosemary to release Elena.]

[Lia: ...I wouldn't think that way. I know the situation. I'm not stupid.]

Claire: Oh? You're not an idiot?

[Lia: I used to tolerate Elena because I wanted peace and quiet in the Marquis's household, not constant fighting. Now that I'm no longer with the Marquis, but Elena still bothers me, I've had enough.]

Claire: Should we just kill them?

[Lia: ...This, this can't be that bad, can it?]

Claire: What you're saying is pointless. As long as those kinds of people don't die, they'll keep bothering you for life. They'll blame you for anything they've wronged you with, pushing all the responsibility onto you.

[Lia: I...I don't know...]

Claire: Well, take your time to hesitate. There's still some time.

[Lia: So, is it true that the 'God of Guidance' mentioned wanting to use Prince Alvin to attack the royal family?]

Claire: What? You don't believe me?

[Lia: I... I just feel it's not good to have Prince Alvin around. I don't want my mood to be ruined.]

Claire: So you want to kill him? I don't care. Killing that prince will only create more chaos in the royal family.

[Lia: ...Why are we killing them again? That's not a good idea.]

Claire: Then just bear with it. Even if it's uncomfortable, just bear with it. I do have ways to solve Prince Alvin's problem.

[Lia: Really? That's good!]

Claire: But right now, the other guys are a bigger problem than Prince Alvin.

[Lia: Who is the guiding god referring to? Rosemary? You guys were talking about backstabbing each other before.]

[Claire: It's not her. She's plausible, though. Even if she's my enemy, I'm controlling your body, and you're very useful to the Nolan family.]

Claire: Besides, even if I supported Bishop Simon, she wouldn't dare say anything.

[Claire: Because they don't know how many resources the Church of Goddess has under my control. Since I was able to get Isabelle, the Prayer Agent, to know you, Lia, wouldn't I know other people too?]

[Claire: The Nolan family hasn't infiltrated the Church of Goddess very deeply yet; they've only managed to reach Bishop Augustine and Archbishop Grove, but they can't touch the Acting Saints.]

Claire: With Bishop Augustine, whom the Nolan family fully supports, about to be promoted to archbishop, they wouldn't be foolish enough to provoke me and cause trouble for the bishop they support.

[Claire: If things go wrong and Bishop Augustine fails to become archbishop, then the Nolan family will be unable to gain further access to the Church.]

Leah was a little confused and looked at Claire's explanations with great surprise.

Clearly, the guiding god did not rely on guesswork or simply believe Rosemary to conclude that the biggest problem was not Rosemary, but rather the words of Knight Commander Karl.

The cooperation between the two parties was entirely based on the fact that Krall had a thorough understanding of the other party.

[Lia: That Knight Commander Karl is indeed very dangerous, so what should we do? I even went to the library to look at those forbidden books, and Knight Commander Karl knows that I'm studying forbidden books.]

[Lia: But I don't regret it. If I didn't know those forbidden spellbooks, I wouldn't be able to use magic.]

[Lia: But that knight commander has been watching me. If Knight Commander Karl carries out such a large-scale purge, won't they be after us again?]

[Claire: You've finally started to use your brain, but the Nolan family is also colluding with those who are resisting the new empire. Isn't Earl Orlando with Ronan, the librarian?]

[Lia: Oh, so that means Rosemary and Bishop Augustine would actually help cover up those people connected to us, and also to them? Like Ronan, the librarian of the Royal Academy?]

[Claire: That's right. The royal family is naturally happy to accept it and pleased that the Church is helping to deal with those who rebel against the new empire. Bishop Augustine also needs to use this legitimate pretext to gain some credit for himself.]

[Lia: And then Father came along too. The royal family was happy to see the rebels eliminated, and they probably wanted to give Father some so-called honor and let him know what was going on...]

[Claire: Yes, so this great purge of the church is ostensibly targeting us, but in reality, it's a gradual power struggle between us, Rosemary, and Bishop Augustine.]

[Lia: But what if Knight Commander Karl really does find out something?]

Claire: That's alright. This was started by the Church of Goddess, so the conviction and other decisions are up to the Church. They can interrogate me however they want. Whatever the crime, the final verdict depends on Bishop Augustine's judgment.

[Lia: I see...]

Next, there will definitely be a turmoil in the capital.

Claire doesn't need to do anything extra; she just needs to nurture Leah during this time.

Chapter 86 The Rost Family's Struggle

A side chapel on the east side of the church has been converted into a temporary office.

Sunlight streamed in through the arched windows, illuminating the desk piled high with documents and casting a yellowish glow on the parchment covers. The Marquis of Rost sat behind the desk, a cup of hot tea in his hand.

In such a tranquil atmosphere, looking out at the courtyard, the Marquis was filled with mixed emotions.

Just before this, he was squatting in the church's cell, eating moldy bread and listening to the rats scurrying in the corner.

At that time, he thought he was finished, and the Rost family was finished.

I'm afraid he won't be able to keep his marquis title, his family property will be confiscated, and his whole family will end up on the streets.

He even considered suicide, but every time he picked up that rusty iron spoon, he put it down again; he was afraid of dying.

But now he knows that being afraid of death isn't a bad thing, otherwise he wouldn't have survived until now. He survived to be released, survived to be appointed as the second-in-command of Knight Commander Karl, and survived to stand in the sunlight again.

This is all thanks to my perseverance.