Chapter 166

Chapter 138 – An Unexpected Turn of Events

Did I see that right?

The boy who tried to rob me but failed, standing in the crowd not far away, seemed to be the same one from Silgaya.

I remember he had a younger brother and three little sisters… Later, Carlos sent them all to an orphanage, but that was in Silgaya.

Could they also be the children selected and brought here?

It really is a coincidence…

“Oh! Sister, do you know him?” Ellie said with some surprise. She waved at Abel, “Abel! Come over quickly, your sister wants to say hello.”

Hmm? Abel?

Isn’t his name Abel the brother…?

Abel seemed hesitant, standing there for a moment before slowly walking over.

“Hello…”

He greeted me with his head down. It seems… he doesn’t remember me anymore?

Of course. So much time has passed since then. If I hadn’t seen him here, I might have forgotten about this person too.

“Do you still remember me? In Silgaya, you and—”

“I remember.” Abel said in a low voice, “I’m sorry.”

“Uh…” This caught me off guard.

He remembers me… Does he think I would hold a grudge over old matters?

I even gave them food.

“You must never do that again!”

“After you, I haven’t done anything bad ever since,” Abel lifted his head and gave me a slight smile, “We were sent to an orphanage. There we had food and clothes, so we didn’t starve, and there was no need to do those things.”

I looked at his face.

For some reason, this smile felt odd… very stiff, and his eyes looked lifeless.

This is completely different from the clumsy thief I remembered… Did I remember wrong?

“Why are you here?” I tilted my head and asked.

“I was chosen to come to Kartaloma like the others.”

“Abel came much earlier than Lucas and me!” Ellie chimed in.

“Mm-hm.”

It seemed they were quite fortunate.

The children of Kartaloma, as long as they work hard, will have the opportunity to serve the church in the future, becoming monks or nuns, or even priests or bishops. The church provides high salaries for clergy members and allocates housing within the diocese. With this, their lives are absolutely secured, and they never have to worry about going hungry.

As for these children here… they may lack everything else, but they don’t lack effort.

Thinking of this, I felt happy for them.

“That’s great.” I surveyed the area but saw no sign of the person I expected. Then I turned back to Abel and asked, “What about your brother and sisters?”

“They didn’t come,” Abel’s smile remained unchanged, “Only I and one sister came, the rest… stayed in Silgaya.”

“Is that so…”

To them in this world, separation often means farewell. Clearly, this isn’t something to be happy about, yet why… why are you smiling?

Something feels off.

I can’t put my finger on it, but Abel seems strange.

“It’s okay, Abel. We’ll see them again someday! Believe me!”

Lucas wrapped his arm around Abel’s shoulder, baring his teeth in a grin, which was neither comforting nor threatening.

Abel still smiled.

“Sister—” Ellie seemed to want to say more.

Ding-ding-ding—

The tall bell tower of Kartaloma suddenly rang out. The sound of the bell was solemn and deep, one after another, echoing through the sky.

“Oh, the holy bell is ringing,” Ellie’s face showed disappointment, “I wanted to talk more with you… but now the bell is ringing, we have to go pray immediately… We need to hurry to Father.”

I nodded at her, “Go ahead.”

“Sister, come again next time! Next time, I’ll give you a gift.”

“Okay.”

“Snow maiden…” next to me, Lucas

She called out to me, then immediately turned around, her back facing me as she said, “If you run into trouble in the Royal City… if possible, seek my help…”

Elly laughed and punched him lightly, “What can your sister ask you for help with?”

“…I can!”

After shouting that, Lucas walked away without looking back. Abel also bowed slightly to me before running off in the distance.

Elly smiled at me, “Sister, Lucas is a good person.”

“Haha—”

“What are you laughing at, Sister?”

“Nothing… It’s nothing…”

I felt a bit sorry for Lucas.

“You should also… go over there quickly.”

“Mm! Then I’ll be going.”

“Goodbye.”

Her small figure ran away with the other children.

“All of them are unfortunate children…” The gatekeeper who had been standing far away watching all this time finally came forward and spoke to me, “It’s their fortune to be able to come to Catoloma.”

“Mm.”

…………

The old man led me to a room on the third floor of the main building of Catoloma, opened the door at the end of the corridor, told me to wait here for a moment, then left.

Left alone, I began to idly inspect the headmaster’s office.

Old wooden long table and hard chairs, a row of cabinets in the corner, potted plants by the side, no set of sofas.

Very simple, but it did seem to be Teresa’s style.

The only thing in the room that could be considered a decoration was the long-handled double-sided battle axe hanging on the wall—if this thing could be considered a decoration.

The axe was pitch black, exquisitely crafted, over two meters in length, firmly embedded in the wall behind the desk by a mirror display case. Just looking at it, one could tell it wasn’t light… This should be one of Teresa’s collections. Does she like such things?

It’s hard to tell.

I stepped up to the cabinet and looked up at the medals displayed on top.

Apart from the most prominent Papal Knight badge, the others were… ones I didn’t recognize, but they were clearly awards from the Church. Beside them was a large golden trophy, with a line of small text engraved on its base:

[In June of the year 1179, the beloved Sister Teresa used a great miracle to quell the spread of the plague in northern Ethenbel. Her deeds deserve our praises.]

The signature read Cardinal George of the Holy Church.

It seemed that Teresa was not as ordinary as she claimed; she appeared to be quite impressive. Perhaps it was just her modesty.

On the other side of the cabinet were many books and documents, mostly miscellaneous materials related to the Church. I saw a book titled “The Sorrow of Love” in the corner and took it out, bringing it to a wooden table nearby to sit down and flip through it.

Sarah mentioned that this was a book written by Teacher Teresa herself.

My lower abdomen hurt more and more.

In the morning, it was still somewhat bearable, but now it had reached an unbearable degree.

How unlucky…

I held my stomach with one hand and opened the book with the other. The first page read: All the sufferings in this world are merely the result of human nature, nothing more.

Hmm… Would saying that be too extreme? One couldn’t attribute natural disasters and misfortunes to human nature alone…

Casually flipping to the next page, I continued reading since I had nothing better to do.

I thought I would have to wait for a while, but after reading less than thirty pages, footsteps could be heard outside the door.

They were urgent, and there were multiple people.

I closed the book and frowned as I stood up. Soon, the door creaked open, and Teresa entered, still dressed as a nun, her expression rather serious. Behind her followed seven or eight monks in black robes.

“Teresa Sister…”

“Sylvia, you’ve arrived just in time,” she quickly interrupted me, her tone somewhat hurried. “That batch of goods arrived early in the Royal City. The Gate of Truth has arrived.”