They are all characters I control.

The reason, which was simply dissatisfaction with Knight Commander Fernando's indiscriminate killing of innocent people, has become a more rational consideration.

Especially after learning that the heretics were planning to annex the entire Northern Kingdom, her words were not entirely without reason.

Claire did not answer immediately.

He raised his hand and gently ran his thumb along the edge of the broken sword, feeling the thin layer of rust and the chill in the air.

Their gazes fell upon the civilians who were being gallowed, with nooses around their necks. Among them were children, women, and the elderly. The townspeople around them probably knew very well that these people were connected to the heretics, but at this moment, they still showed the same pity as Eleanor.

This is the most troublesome thing about people: even when you know the other person has done something wrong, you can still be swayed by their appearance.

This is clearly unrelated to so-called reason and rationality, but is entirely based on emotion.

Claire: Do you know why he did that?

Eleanor: ...because he's leaving.

Claire: Yes. After he left, there was no Knight Commander in this area. Will is still in a coma, headquarters is in chaos, and with Fernando gone, there will be no one to oversee this territory for at least several months to half a year. He has to suppress everything that could become a threat before he leaves. Even if it's done unscrupulously, it's better than being betrayed after he's gone.

[Eleanor: Why risk losing public support when we're about to be surrounded by the heretics' plan? I don't think that's a good idea.]

[Eleanor: We should make a better impression on the residents so that they will still trust the Knights even if we are captured by the heretics.]

[Eleanor: What about the children? Those children know nothing.]

Claire: Those children were seen. They were touched by infidels, recorded by church spies, and written into reports. If Fernando doesn't kill them, those children will be used by the infidels. One night they'll open the back door, let the people in, and then laugh and say, "I didn't know."

[Eleanor: ...Don't you think he went too far?]

Claire: You think that's going too far? Then tell me, if you were handling this, what would you do? Would you interrogate them one by one? Would you have the time? Can you guarantee that after you've finished interrogating them, they won't turn against you? Can you guarantee that after you leave, they will still trust you?

Eleanor: ...I can't.

Claire: That's right. What you said makes a lot of sense. If we treat these commoners well, they might be more supportive of the Church Knights.

Claire: It's certainly possible that these civilians will support us and be more likely to accept us when we fight our way back after losing our territory.

Claire: But that only applies after our Knights have returned. In other words, if we hadn't returned, or hadn't returned in time, things would have gotten much worse.

[Claire: What Knight Commander Fernando is doing is slowing down the heretics' advance, at least preventing them from immediately attacking the town and the city, thus avoiding the persecution of more good residents.]

Claire: Because once the heretics take over towns and villages, they brainwash people and conduct even stricter screenings than the church knights. If you don't become a heretic, you'll end up like the residents of that town we met before, innocent victims whose families are coerced into entanglement with the church knights.

[Claire: So what if the Knights of the Church return? Those people have already been brainwashed by the heretics, or have become heretics themselves. Will they still support the Knights then? Probably not.]

[Claire: No matter how grateful the fallen inhabitants may be to the church knights for driving away the heretics, their current tolerance is meaningless if they themselves become heretics.]

Aino did not send any more messages.

This guy has gotten the order wrong: preventing others from falling into depravity and showing gratitude to others.

[Claire: To reiterate my previous point, would you be willing to sacrifice a guilty person to give an innocent person a few more days or even ten days of peace?]

[Eleanor: I've got it...]

Claire knew that remembering and accepting were two different things.

Eleanor has only memorized it so far; she's far from accepting it.

But at least, she's listening.

Chapter 141 The Situation in the Northern Kingdom

He had confirmed that Knight Commander Fernando was on his side and that he had decided to return to the Order.

After meeting Knight Commander Will and learning about the plan to purge the traitors from within the 'Holy Lance Knights', there will be no more business for Claire.

Although Eleanor still couldn't stand the commoners who were executed by Knight Commander Fernando, it was something Eleanor needed to grow up and get used to.

Although the apostate Karl did not want Eleanor to be so free, he was clearly unable to stop Knight Commander Fernando.

Regardless of their status or the other church knights around them, no one dared to say much in Knight Commander Fernando's territory. Ultimately, their task was simply to persuade Knight Commander Fernando to return to the Knights' headquarters.

Knight Commander Fernando would always ignore letters, so he had no choice but to send a squad of church knights to deliver the message.

If Knight Commander Fernando changes his mind and suddenly decides not to go to the Knights' headquarters, it means their mission has failed.

Even if they captured Eleanor, they wouldn't be able to complete the next crucial step in the 'Church of Life's' heretics' plan. Once that plan succeeded, even if Commander Will awakened, it would be useless.

Therefore, seeing Eleanor able to come and go freely, her handcuffs removed, and living in a house better than their own, the apostate Karl and his companions could only choose to endure it and pretend not to see it.

Soon, Knight Commander Fernando also began assigning tasks to his subordinates.

When Knight Commander Fernando returned to the Knights' headquarters, he naturally did not bring too many church knights with him. The vast majority of church knights would remain at the base, while only a small number would accompany Knight Commander Fernando.

The church knights who remain here will also be informed of what might happen next, and Knight Commander Fernando will need to prepare his men for how to deal with that situation.

By this time, darkness had fallen in the northern kingdom, but no one in any of the rooms could sleep peacefully.

Everyone is preparing and thinking about what will happen next that could change the future.

However, none of this concerned Claire anymore. After finishing what she needed to do and helping to resolve William's safety issues, she simply said hello and withdrew from Eleanor's body.

The female knight Eleanor was rather taciturn, not because she had become quiet.

Rather, she also had a lot to process, and this was the first time she had taken the initiative to ask Claire to control her body and help her resolve the crisis.

This made Eleanor realize her lack of power and understand her own weakness.

There's also the situation of being captured by the apostate Karl, the conversation with Knight Commander Fernando, and the plan to confront the heretics of the 'Church of Life'.

Even if Claire harbored deep resentment and dissatisfaction towards him for controlling his body, it all became meaningless.

Claire, who solved problem after problem and difficulty, was clearly the one more suited to control the body. Eleanor felt she was even superfluous, and only causing trouble.

Therefore, Eleanor needs to process a lot of things at this time.

Of course, Claire wasn't worried about Eleanor falling into depravity. Perhaps the most admirable quality about this female knight was her seemingly naive desire to achieve justice no matter what happened.

Claire didn't need to worry about what happened next.

After exiting Eleanor's body, his perspective gradually narrowed, pulling him back into reality.

When Claire opened her eyes, a face was right in front of her.

Ophelia was lying on her side on the bed, propping her head up with one hand, looking down at him.

Her long silver hair fell onto the pillow, and her deep purple eyes gleamed with a languid yet inquisitive light in the darkness. Her other hand was pinching his cheek, the pressure neither too light nor too heavy, as if she were kneading a lump of dough that wouldn't react.

Although Claire knew she was indeed cute as a little boy, she was still very uncomfortable being treated this way.

But if I try to avoid this crazy woman, I don't know what kind of trouble I'll get into.

Claire didn't flinch, she just looked at her for a moment before speaking, "What?"

“Nothing.” Ophelia pinched his cheek again. “I was just wondering if you did something interesting over there. You don’t usually sleep this quietly, but you barely even turned over just now.”

Claire did not respond.

"Is there some movement up north?" Ophelia shifted her position and pulled him closer to her.

"Or did you run into someone you knew over there?"

Claire let her hold her without struggling or answering.

This Acting Saint of Discipline may have spent too much time in the Inquisition, so she doesn't care about the distinction between men and women. Or perhaps Claire's little boy's body poses no threat to her?

Of course, for the Inquisition, using attraction to the opposite sex is also a method. However, there is no one in front of the Disciplined Saintess Ophelia who requires her to use such methods, except for Claire, who is the evil god emperor.

Claire was somewhat annoyed by the way the acting saintess was behaving in her manner.

If she gets excited, it will break the effects of the potion on her body. But every day she is either treated like a doll or forced to stay in the pool.

These days were far from pleasant; in the end, they became nothing more than toys for this madwoman.

If you even have a slight crush on her, you might get stabbed in the back at any time.

Compared to the emotionally stable Saintess Isabelle, Ophelia's personality is much more difficult to deal with, and it's impossible to guess what's going on in her mind.

He did not answer the question Ophelia had just asked.

Sometimes it's better not to answer questions. The more you say, the more you reveal, and Ophelia doesn't necessarily need to know anything from him anyway.

Ophelia looked down to meet his gaze, a slight smile playing on her lips. "You're getting better and better at playing dumb lately."

She didn't press him further, but simply let go of him and got out of bed.

The hem of her silk robe rustled softly on the carpet. She walked to the window, opened it, and the night breeze rushed in, ruffling her long silver hair.

"But it's okay. Even if you don't tell me, I know what you did."

Claire leaned against the headboard, watching her silhouette outlined in the moonlight. "Megan told you?"

“Megan doesn’t need to tell me.” Ophelia changed into casual clothes for going out. Although her clothes were as light and airy as Isabelle’s, she was also bathed in holy light.

Only the acting saintesses and Claire, the evil god emperor, could see their clothing and bodies through the holy light.

"All I need to know is that the Inquisition is still with you."

She didn't say anything more, pushed open the door and walked out.

The door closed behind me, and the sound of footsteps gradually faded away along the corridor, disappearing into the sound of another door opening and closing.

Chapter 142 The Trial of the Nun

The door closed behind me with a soft slam.

Ophelia did not leave immediately.

She stood outside the door, moonlight streaming in through the arched window at the end of the corridor, casting a cold, white glow on her long silver hair.

It was late at night, and the corridor was quiet.

As the Holy Maiden who acts as the executor of the precepts, most of her activities take place late at night, as she needs to attend to both the Inquisition and the Holy Council.

However, there were no problems to deal with at the recent 'Holy Council' meeting, and Bishop Augustine, the candidate for archbishop, had already gone to the Empire.

The prayer agent saint Isabelle seemed to take this very seriously, which meant that Claire, the evil god emperor, had clearly said something to her.

Ophelia, who was acting as the saint in charge of upholding the precepts, did not intend to expose her.

After all, the Evil God Emperor had been in contact with Isabelle for much longer than she had. The new system suddenly promulgated by the 'Holy City' was clearly related to the Evil God Emperor, and any actions taken by the Goddess Church against the Evil God Emperor's empire would be conveyed to Claire by Isabelle, who was acting as the Holy Maiden.

This has clearly been verified; the collar around Claire's neck has been activated by Isabelle's magical communication more than once.

Therefore, Ophelia did not intend to spend much effort on the 'Holy Council'. The current discussions in the 'Holy Council' were focused on the selection of the Empire and the Archbishop, so she simply left that to Isabes.

That way, we can also observe how Claire plans to resolve the issues concerning the Empire and the Imperial Diocese Archbishops.

Of course, Ophelia wasn't going to do nothing.

Less than a moment after Ophelia struck, very light footsteps came from the end of the corridor.

Two figures emerged from the shadows, their slender figures clad in black leather armor. Their footsteps were silent, as if treading on silk. They stopped before Ophelia, knelt on one knee, and bowed their heads in silence.

“Speak.” Ophelia didn’t look at them. Her gaze fell on the door that had just closed, but her attention had already turned to something further away.

The judge's voice was deep and steady: "According to Sister Megan's direct report, Eleanor Redgrave and Claire's controlled entities have been subjected to multiple attacks in the past week, and the mastermind is Sister Martha, one of the three high priests of the Church of Life."

“Sister Martha set up an ambush on the outskirts of the town, attempting to forcibly control Eleanor’s body with the Philosopher’s Stone, but was repelled by Claire’s consciousness and failed.”

"Then the apostate Karl led a team to intervene under the pretext of eliminating heretics, and formally arrested Eleanor Redgrave on charges related to the case of Knight Commander Will's coma."

"During this period, Claire's consciousness briefly took over her body and confronted Sister Martha and her associates head-on, but ultimately failed to shake off the pursuit due to excessive power consumption."

"Karl then took the group to Knight Commander Fernando's residence as suspects, intending to use Fernando to convict Eleanor."

"Fernando did it?" Ophelia knew the name Fernando.

"Chancellor Fernando did not act as Karl expected."

The second nun took over, her voice colder and harsher than the first.

"He had a private conversation with Eleanor, who was controlled by Claire, inside the cabin. According to our observation, Claire successfully persuaded Fernando by using the existence of the broken sword 'Light of Faith' and clues from the letter left by Knight Commander Will before he fell into a coma."

"Both sides confirmed the following facts: First, Karl was suspected of betrayal in the attack on Knight Commander Will."

"Secondly, the Church of Life is systematically dividing up the defense zones of the Northern Kingdom. The eastern region, which Will is in charge of, has already fallen into chaos. Now it is just waiting for Fernando to leave, and the western region will also fall out of control."

"Third, Fernando himself is being recalled by Karl under the guise of a 'headquarters transfer order,' with the real intention of stripping him of his command and replacing him with a trusted confidant. Fernando has made it clear that he does not trust Karl and has privately decided to bring Eleanor back to headquarters under the pretense of being a 'prisoner,' in reality to cover her getting close to Will and trying to awaken his consciousness."

If Claire were here, she would be speechless with astonishment upon hearing such a detailed report.

"He's planning to do this? It seems our evil god emperor is also working hard?" Ophelia asked, as if it were commonplace.