They are all characters I control.

But now these church knights have actually barged in.

"I suspect you are informing the heretics hiding in the academy, and you are obstructing our trial. Now, on the grounds that you are suspected of being an accomplice of the heretics, I am taking you back to the Knights for questioning!"

The announcement by the leading church knight instantly stopped the academy professors, who had also wanted to step forward to stop him.

Being an accomplice of heretics—no one could bear such a charge.

However, the professors and students did not give up hope. They tried to maintain the status and prestige of the Royal Academy and were also assisting the royal family.

Right now, there happens to be a member of the royal family here, the only one besides His Majesty Darian, and the future heir to the throne of the empire.

"Prince Alvin! You must teach these church knights a lesson!"

"Indeed, these church knights are extremely rude!"

"You know, they used to just be gatekeepers for the Royal Academy, but now that they have a new bishop, they don't respect the royal family at all."

"As nobles, we will absolutely support and assist Prince Alvin. We cannot allow them to run rampant in our academy!"

"That's right! We support you, Prince Alvin!"

"..."

Amidst cheers, all eyes turned to Prince Alvin.

Seeing this, Lia and Anna both moved a few steps to create distance between themselves and Prince Alvin, who was following behind them.

Clearly, in everyone's eyes, Prince Alvin still holds absolute authority.

For the nobles, the royal family was undoubtedly their leader, and they were more trustworthy than the Church of Goddess.

No one knows the current relationship between the royal family and Bishop Augustine, or His Majesty Daryan's gradual concessions and even fawning over Bishop Augustine, choosing to sacrifice the interests of the nobility.

These were things that Lia wouldn't have known before, but now, thanks to the 'Guiding God,' she has been elevated to a higher level, beyond her status as the young lady of the Rost family, and is now someone trusted by the Acting Saintess Isabelle, or even someone who can be considered Isabelle's agent.

Lia knew everything about the situation and events that most nobles were unaware of.

Naturally, they were well aware of how ridiculous the words of these noble students were.

However, at this moment, Lia and her maid Anna were also eager to see Prince Alvin's attitude. This prince had always treated them with a firm hand, tolerating Elena's unreasonable behavior without question.

At this point, I naturally want to see how things will turn out.

Prince Alvin, who has always been concerned about his image and keen on maintaining the so-called royal image, now has the opportunity to stand up and uphold the status of the royal family.

“…Everyone, do not hinder the church’s work of arresting heretics.” Prince Alvin finally managed to utter these words after a long pause.

The students from the Royal Academy around were stunned for a few seconds.

They hadn't expected that Prince Alvin himself wouldn't uphold the dignity of the royal family, allowing these church knights to barge into the academy that trained loyal royal followers.

If even Prince Alvin doesn't uphold the honor of his royal family, then what reason do his followers have to step forward?

The students of the Royal Academy silently dispersed, each one remaining silent.

The church knights continued to pass through the crowd without hindrance, their steps unwavering, as if they had already decided on their destination and were heading towards the interior of the academy.

"I didn't expect Prince Alvin to not stand up and stop him. It's quite surprising," the maid Anna said softly, glancing at Prince Alvin, who was bowing his head and remaining silent.

After all, this prince's personality is too obvious; he's always been quite good at putting on an act.

At least that's how it seemed to Anna, the maid, who had even argued with this guy. Logically, with so many people watching, Prince Alvin should be able to step in.

The best course of action now is to stop the church knights, but this prince is actually backing down?

"Perhaps it's because of His Majesty Darion's teachings," Lia pondered for a moment.

After all, the prince had overheard their conversation and was aware of the current state of the empire.

At this point, they should be trying to maintain the image of the royal family, right?

Earl Orlando and the 'Guiding God' clearly wanted Prince Alvin to do this, but now it seems that Prince Alvin has not acted as expected?

It seems this prince has also grown up.

Chapter 156 The Bookkeeper is Arrested

"Young Miss, let's go back."

The maid Anna's voice made Lia turn her gaze away. She turned around, nodded, and walked towards the academy gate.

Ignoring all that, Lia left directly.

In any case, these church knights could not possibly be related to him, whether it was because Rosemary was his cousin or because Bishop Augustine was supported by his mother Nora's family.

It was also because of the existence of the 'Guiding God' and the presence of Count Orlando, who was disguised as a man as his aunt.

Not to mention the support of the intercessor saint Isabelle and the loyalty of Bishop Simon.

With so many people surrounding her, Lia had absolutely no need to feel any fear or threat about the great purge currently taking place in the Church of the Goddess.

Seeing that Lia and her maid Anna were leaving, Prince Alvin followed them.

The prince was also eager to leave.

The rest of the Royal Academy members watched as the group of knights stopped at the library entrance, two of them pushed open the door, and the rest filed in.

A few candlelight flickered in the library windows, then silence returned.

The entire process took less than half a cup of tea; no one stopped them, and no one asked any questions. The guards outside the gate seemed to have been notified in advance, and they stepped aside to make way for them.

A moment later, the sound of chairs being dragged could be heard from the library, accompanied by a few brief conversations.

The specific content was unclear, but one of the voices could be identified as Ronan, the librarian.

The students at the college all knew this disheveled man who always stayed in the library to some extent, but they didn't know why he was there.

But anyway, this person won't do anything or say anything.

Everyone treated this person as if he didn't exist, but what no one expected was that the church knights had actually come to capture Ronan.

Ronan was soon brought out.

His hair was somewhat disheveled, with gray strands hanging over his forehead, and the wrinkles on his face were particularly clear in the midday light. He didn't shout, didn't struggle, and didn't look back in the direction of the library.

He simply kept his head down, being carried forward by the knights, his steps neither fast nor slow.

When Ronan was escorted out of the library, a large crowd had already gathered in the college's forecourt.

It wasn't just students; there were also several teachers passing by and church personnel on business at the college. They stood by the stone pillars on either side of the corridor, their gazes falling on the old man in the old gray robe, his hands chained behind his back, with considerable surprise.

Only whispers drifted from the crowd, like the sound of wind seeping in through a crack.

"Isn't that the librarian...? How did he get arrested?"

"I heard he's been guarding those banned books all along; they should have been investigated long ago."

"Banned books? What banned books?"

"I don't know, I just heard it from someone else..."

"Stop talking, he's gone."

Lia stood at the edge of the training ground, watching the line of knights pass by her.

Ronan walked in the middle of the line, head down, his pace neither fast nor slow, as if he had known this day would come.

He didn't look at her, nor did he cast any extra glances at the surrounding crowd. The chains jingled softly as he moved, sounding particularly clear in the quiet forecourt.

"Miss Liya."

Prince Alvin's voice came from beside her, not loud, but enough to bring her back to her senses. "You know him?"

Lia looked at the academy gate that had been closed again before saying, "I've seen it a few times."

Prince Alvin did not ask further questions, but he also did not look away.

He asked casually, only remembering that Lia used to go to the library often, so she might know the people in this library.

Lia and her maid Anna quickened their pace and boarded the carriage to return.

The carriage left the Royal Academy faster than it had come.

The wheels rolled over the stone pavement, and the carriage was quiet except for the rhythmic sounds of the horse moving.

Leah leaned back in her chair, her gaze fixed on her clasped hands. She lowered her head, as if replaying the scene she had just witnessed in her mind.

“Miss.” Anna’s voice came from beside her. She could tell that Lia was nervous. “That person… is he the librarian? He’s seen you before when you went to the library.”

Anna hadn't always been with Lia; the maid wasn't present when Lia met with Ronan, the Keeper of the Books.

However, judging from Lia's reaction, Anna realized that her young mistress probably knew the person who had been captured by the church knights.

“Mm.” Lia nodded.

“Then what if he…” Anna didn’t finish her sentence, but her meaning was clear.

Having been by Lia's side for so long, she has learned to stop halfway through a sentence and let the other person decide for themselves whether to continue.

Lia knew what she was worried about.

She had met Ronan a few times, though not often, but each time it was in the library.

Those contacts, if investigated carefully by someone with ulterior motives, might very well become a clue. After all, Knight Commander Karl had previously suspected her and even knew that she had learned forbidden magic.

Now that Ronan, who was guarding those forbidden books, has been arrested, it's likely that it will be exposed that Leah herself learned magic from those forbidden books that Ronan was guarding.

It's impossible not to worry about something like this, and Liya couldn't help but feel nervous.

“He didn’t say anything.” Leah calmed down a bit, her voice more steady than before. “He didn’t say anything when he was being taken away, I think he’s already expressed his attitude towards me.”

Anna paused for a moment, as if processing the meaning of those words. "It's alright, we can ask Earl Orlando?"

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

Leah walked through the front hall without changing her clothes and went straight to the study where Earl Orlando usually stayed.

The door was ajar, and Earl Orlando was sitting behind his desk, holding a letter that he hadn't opened yet.

Seeing Leah come in, she put down the letter. "You're back earlier than expected."

"People from the Royal Academy have come and arrested the library keeper."

Countess Orlando paused, not asking "who captured him," but instead asking another question directly: "Was it Augustine's men, or Karl's men?"

“A man of Bishop Augustine,” Lia said. “His emblem is on his armor.”

Earl Orlando pushed the unopened letter aside, as if he didn't need to look at it for the time being. "They're moving faster than I expected."

Lia stood by the table for a moment, seeing how calm her aunt was. "So what should we do now?"

“Do nothing.” Count Orlando’s voice was calmer than she had expected.

“You’ve already been to the academy and seen him being taken away. You don’t need to plead for him or speak up for him. Just pretend you didn’t see it.”

Lia was silent for a moment, then nodded.

Thinking about it carefully, I am also a member of the Nolan family, so even if Ronan is captured and asked about me, I will still be able to understand.

Rosemary and Bishop Augustine probably won't make it public either.

Chapter 157 The Prison Breakers

The interrogation room on the church's basement level was colder than Rosemary had imagined.

The stone wall had no windows, only the iron lampstand in the corner emitted a dim yellow light.

There was a smell of dust and old wood in the air, as if people didn't come in often.

As Bishop Augustine's representative, Rosemary sat behind a square table near the door, with an unfinished interrogation record spread out in front of her.

She glanced down at the paper, then looked up, her gaze falling on the person in the iron chair.

Ronan, the Keeper of the Books, is the guy who has been guarding the forbidden books left behind by the evil god emperor Claire. Those forbidden books are also very valuable to the Nora family.

Even though the Nora family provided cover, the bookkeeper remained unmoved.

He neither allowed members of the Nora family to read those forbidden books, nor did he provide the Nolan family with any information about the Evil Emperor.

This behavior left Earl Orlando, who was originally in charge of him, helpless.

After all, they wouldn't kill him; that would be completely unnecessary. Even if they covered up the deal between him and the Nolan family, represented by Earl Orlando, there was no need to worry that Ronan would tell the New Empire royal family and the Church of Goddess, whom he hated most.

Therefore, even if Ronan, the Keeper of the Books, was unwilling to cooperate with the Nolan family, there was no need to take action against him.