They are all characters I control.

Putting aside the fact that he was admitting Ophelia's guess and revealing that he was indeed controlling Eleanor's body just as Ophelia thought, even though that was true, there was no need for him to cooperate with Ophelia.

Furthermore, Ophelia's attitude seems to be waiting for the situation in the Northern Kingdom to develop further before taking action.

"This situation is not quite right now. You know, William, this church knight, is a meritorious figure of the Goddess Church. He won't just abandon us, will he?"

"And what about Sister Martha, and what are these apostate knights trying to do by controlling this squad of knights?"

"Your Inquisition won't ignore this situation, will you?"

Megan remained silent for a moment after hearing Claire's words. "The message has been sent out, but even if the Inquisition nuns wanted to come and provide support, it would take three days."

Normally, the Inquisition would not intervene.

Once action is taken, it signifies a change in the nature of the matter.

However, just as Claire said, William was still alive and had been captured.

Even if they didn't want to rescue William, who knew a lot about Mother Martha, William himself was still extremely valuable to the Inquisition, for no other reason than the 'Philosopher's Stone'.

Just as the 'Church of Life' is using members of the Church of Goddess to create this power-enhancing product, the Church of Goddess is also trying to research something to counter the 'Church of Life'.

Until now, they have had difficulty capturing living, or valuable, people who have consumed the Philosopher's Stone, but William is different now.

William was a church knight who had consumed the Philosopher's Stone, which enhanced his power and altered his appearance.

This is extremely rare for the church; a case that survives and still has such a side effect is more valuable than the investigations of ordinary church knights.

Of course, the Inquisition itself is also constantly searching for the truth.

The Church of Life's plans for the Holy Lance Knights were naturally known to the Inquisition, but the Knights themselves were currently investigating the traitors, while the apostate knights were also lurking among them to eliminate dissidents.

This puts the Inquisition, which also conceals its identities, in an awkward position. They cannot be discovered by the Knights, because that would be tantamount to the Inquisition interfering with the Archbishop's Knights, which would cause trouble.

He didn't want to be exposed by the apostate knights, because if he did, he would be executed without any chance of escaping, on the grounds that everything was a lie told by heretics.

Therefore, even though Megan's current situation is indeed very troublesome.

However, we must wait, as the Inquisition's reaction and decision will be quite cautious.

If possible, Megan felt she had to find a way to escape on her own.

"That's pretty fast," Claire said nonchalantly.

Seeing Claire say it was pretty fast, Megan wanted to explain, but opened her mouth and then said nothing.

She didn't know that Claire didn't actually want the Inquisition to save her; she was simply satisfied that the Inquisition would act according to the circumstances.

This is crucial, because that way the Inquisition could also cooperate with him from within.

Claire turned around and looked at Megan again. "What's the current situation with the Holy Lance Knights?"

Compared to others, the Inquisition still held considerable authority.

Even though they were out of touch with the news and were still searching for traitors, the Sisters of Judgment still had some channels of information.

Instead of asking Ophelia about the possibility of her being stabbed at any moment, it would be better to ask Megan.

Megan looked up, her grey eyes gleaming coldly in the darkness.

"Knight Commander Will is still asleep. The Knights have already split."

“Carl arrested a lot of people under the pretext of ‘purging traitors’; some were real traitors, and some were people he framed.”

"Now everyone in the Knights is in danger, and the situation has become very bad. The bishop and the archbishop have not made any special intervention or adjustment."

This won't work either, Claire said, unsurprised.

The current order of knights is far weaker than when they fought against him.

Chapter 120 The Apostate Knight

Claire was currently assessing her own situation, as well as the situation of the Knights.

Now that she has been captured by the church knights, Eleanor is still suspected of apostasy, and because the apostate knight Karl and his men wanted to silence her further.

They not only pushed for Eleanor's execution, but also had the apostate knights assassinate her directly.

Therefore, Claire controlled Eleanor's body to escape, and obviously a lot happened to the Knights of the Church afterward, something we heard about when we were with Ophelia.

Now, even apostate knights like Karl are going on missions.

Claire had some thoughts and speculations about this, but in any case, she still needed to confirm the current situation.

If things go well, they'll be captured and taken back to the Knights. If they're back with the Knights, they can try to see Commander Will, and that might help save William.

But if things don't go well, then we should think about what they will encounter. The knights in front of us are obviously going to carry out a mission, so what will happen at their destination?

These are all things Claire is planning right now.

"What about Karl's identity? Does no one suspect him?" Claire asked.

Previously, they had been using Eleanor's body, but Eleanor's body couldn't overpower Karl.

This annoyed Claire, who now planned to ask Carl more questions.

“Some people have doubts, but with Will in a coma and Carl second only to Will, no one dares to openly question him.” Megan paused. “Besides, he is indeed arresting heretics.”

“Among those arrested, many were genuine apostates, so he appeared to be ‘doing his duty’.”

Claire paused for a moment. "He's purging heretics, and he's purging disobedient people too. Killing two birds with one stone, right? Dorothy, you've lost quite a few men, haven't you?"

Dorothy pouted when she heard Claire say her name.

"Yes, those two stinky women, Martha and Mel, were secretly cleaning up my people. It's just a pity I don't have any as persuasive subordinates as they do."

Dorothy leaned against the wall, pursing her lips in annoyance.

Who doesn't know how to infiltrate the 'Holy Lance Knights'? Who doesn't know how to do it? Dorothy naturally had people she could plant in the Holy Lance Knights.

However, Dorothy did not do as well as Martha and Mel, who used her attack on Knight Commander Will and some ambushes to completely subdue him.

This can be considered as Martha and Mel taking the peach that originally belonged to Dorothy, and taking advantage of the fact that Knight Commander Will was unconscious, Karl, as Knight Commander Will's second-in-command, thus gained a lot of authority.

Taking advantage of her status as someone who fought alongside Knight Commander Will and witnessed the murderers who attacked him, she eliminated many of Dorothy's men.

This is also why Dorothy's situation is worse and more awkward than Claire's and Megan's at this moment.

Undoubtedly, this was also a product of internal strife within the 'Church of Life'.

However, compared to her own losses, Dorothy knew there were others even more unfortunate than herself, and she grinned. "Leaving aside me, your church's knightly order is finished."

"Even though many of my traitors were purged, even more of the Church Knights' own people were purged."

"This is getting a bit crazy. Using the name of Knight Commander Will to investigate apostates is something the Knights Order shouldn't be doing at all, right? And they're doing it so openly."

"Under these circumstances, it's only a matter of time before the Knights of the Church splits up and they inevitably end up fighting amongst themselves."

Claire didn't argue; Dorothy was right.

If a heretic like Karl were in charge of purging the Knights, then the Knights were truly doomed.

It wasn't because he would kill everyone, but because he would make everyone who lived live in fear. Of course, Claire wasn't a member of the Church Knights, so it didn't really matter to her.

Megan is a trial nun in the Inquisition, acting as a substitute saint in accordance with the precepts, and belongs to the Sisters of the Saints faction, not the Archbishop's faction, which doesn't matter at this point.

Dorothy's taunts were directed at Eleanor, who also witnessed the scene in the system space.

[Eleanor: What about William? He's badly wounded, where is he being held? Will the Knights still execute William after they learn his true identity?]

Claire: Don't overthink it, William is definitely around here.

Claire: Carl won't take him too far, because he still needs him as bait to prevent us from doing anything else. If we resist, he'll have William threaten us.

Claire: Besides, the situation is quite clear: Karl, this apostate knight, doesn't completely control this squad, and he wasn't always hiding at the back.

[Claire: I think there are intelligent people within the Knights, so having Karl, this apostate knight, with these knights who aren't apostates is obviously for the purpose of surveillance and control.]

[Eleanor: How can I rescue William? William's condition is terrible, isn't it? He's still that monster. Whether you call him a heretic or an apostate, it's perfectly reasonable.]

Claire was silent for a moment. Eleanor was right.

The reason for worrying about William at this time was indeed because his situation was the most dangerous, and even explaining that he was a church knight who had made great contributions to defeating the evil god emperor a hundred years ago would not help.

Instead, people might mistakenly believe that this church knight must have colluded with the evil god emperor Claire at that time.

Otherwise, how could he still be alive now? And even turn into a monster?

This would further humiliate and belittle William, and revealing William's identity would be of no use.

If there's anything that can still prove William's innocence, it's just one thing: Claire pulled out the rusty, broken sword from his pocket.

This is the original weapon, "Light of Faith," which is now cold and devoid of any light in Claire's hands.

However, William had used it once before, and the fact that this weapon could unite the friendship and hope of his companions proved that William's heart was still filled with light.

Therefore, William still has a chance, but he needs the right opportunity.

Claire: Let's wait, it's not the right time yet.

[Eleanor: What are you waiting for?]

Claire: Wait for Knight Will to awaken.

[Eleanor: Wasn't he unconscious?]

Claire did not answer; he naturally knew that Commander Will was not truly unconscious.

The fact that the 'Light of Faith' fell from the sky when he escaped from prison proved that Knight Commander Will was not truly unconscious.

Knight Commander Will is the one who entrusted the light of faith to Eleanor.

"Hehehe, what are you doing touching that broken sword? Are you trying to attack me? Or are you trying to cut the chains and escape?"

With an arrogant voice, the door was pushed open.

Karl entered, his silver armor gleaming coldly in the candlelight. He stood in the doorway, looking at Eleanor, a faint, enigmatic smile playing on his lips.

Chapter 121 I've never seen such an arrogant apostate.

The apostate walked in; Karl, who had once been Knight Commander Will's second-in-command, was now standing in opposition to Claire.

As he stepped past the simple wooden hut, he looked at Claire with a smug expression.

The phrase "a petty person who has achieved success" best describes Karl at this moment.

“Eleanor Redgrave. Long time no see.”

"You're such an idiot."

Claire didn't respond politely either.

Dorothy whistled, and Megan kept her head down and didn't move.

Carl was clearly dissatisfied with Claire's response; his previously smug expression instantly turned malicious. "Your old father is still bleeding. If you had cooperated sooner, I could have made his death quicker."

"Hehehe, how do you know that's my father? I didn't have any contact with the church during that time. Only the pagans knew that he was my father."

It is extremely rare for Claire to use such an interrogative tone while handcuffed and shackled.

At least most people wouldn't do what he did, maintaining such confidence and arrogance even when he was being captured and imprisoned.

Not to mention Karl, who was being treated this way. The apostate knight Karl felt that he was the one who had been caught and was about to be interrogated.

“You can still talk to me like this now, but you won’t be able to next. You will be subjected to even harsher punishment and trial.”

"The reason you were able to escape last time was because of these two guys around you, right? One is a nun from the Inquisition, and the other is a high priest of the Church of Life."

"Their identities can't help you at all now; on the contrary, they'll only make you more guilty! It's all thanks to the stupid things you've done that I can stand here with all these accolades."

He reached out, grabbed Claire by the collar, and pulled him over.

Before anyone could react, Claire had already grabbed his neck, her fingertips digging deep into the sides of his Adam's apple.

Karl's face flushed instantly, and his pupils contracted sharply. He opened his mouth to speak, but could only manage a series of hoarse, escaping sounds.

"Fool, do you think I'd just stand here doing nothing? So what if you catch me? Killing you is still just as easy."

Carl never expected that 'Eleanor' would suddenly launch such an attack.

What shocked him even more was that 'Eleanor' was gripping him very tightly, and for a moment he couldn't even break free.

Compared to the Eleanor he had framed and imprisoned before, the current Eleanor was clearly much stronger. However, Karl also knew very well that he couldn't back down now.

"If you kill me, you'll have even less chance of returning to the Knights. Everyone will see you as a traitor, and then you won't just be a scapegoat, hehehehehe..."