Chapter 235

Chapter Twenty-Two The Existence of Deities

“Mmm!”

I widened my eyes, urgently swallowing the food in my mouth, and exclaimed in shock and alarm: “Abyss! Uh…”

Damn, I swallowed too fast and choked…

The food was stuck in my throat, making me feel like I was going to die. I pounded my chest, “Bang bang,” and threw the remaining egg custard on the teacup table, scrambling off the sofa. Without even caring about the expressions on the two women’s faces, I lowered my head and rushed toward the kitchen for some water.

So uncomfortable…

“The dumbest Papal Knight ever.”

I heard Victoria scolding me from behind.

But it’s not like I wanted this…

After running into the kitchen, I leaned over the small earthenware water reservoir, buried my head, and drank several big gulps.

The underground drainage system in the royal city was very complex; it was a forward-thinking design compared to this era, even more convenient than the Winter City. Drinking water was diverted from a spring forty kilometers outside the city, which was clean and clear with no odor. In Rondale Street, it directly reached each residence, so there was no need to go out specifically to fetch water. After drinking these few sips, my chest instantly felt better, and I wiped my mouth contentedly.

“Huu—”

I let out a long sigh.

Then I quickly ran back, pretending nothing had happened, and didn’t dare look at Victoria’s face. Instead, I sat down beside Margaret and asked her, “What did you say about the new abyss…”

It has been so long, finally that damned monster is coming?

Margaret looked at me with a complicated expression. She didn’t immediately answer my question but suddenly asked an unrelated one instead.

“Miss Silvera, do you often feel hungry? Whenever you see food, do you always want to eat it?”

While she spoke, her crystal-clear eyes stared straight at me, making me feel strange. My eyes involuntarily rolled to the side, looking at the green wall.

Why is she being so direct…

“Well, not really.”

“But since just now, I’ve been thinking… I think you seem to have an unusual obsession with eating.”

“I don’t.”

“You do.”

“… I don’t.”

“You’re lying.” Margaret frowned, looking somewhat dissatisfied, “Knights cannot lie.”

“…”

What’s wrong with this woman?

Who would directly force someone to answer such a question? What’s the point? Since you know I’m lying, what do you want me to say!

I’m a lady, no, I’m a tough guy. A tough guy needs his dignity.

But what troubles me is that Margaret seems very serious, not like something I can easily brush off.

So I slowly turned my face away: “No, Margaret. Why are you asking this… Let’s talk about this properly.”

She is not Carlos, I can’t act recklessly towards her or speak harshly, I can only hum and haw to change the subject.

Then Margaret shook her head.

“Your physical condition is equally important to me.”

Oh, now I finally understand what she means.

Margaret is worried about me as the abyss, afraid that I might show any abnormal state. After meeting me this time, she probably needs to report something to Angel… Thinking this way, her questions were quite subtle.

“I, quite like eating. Before…”

I wanted to say that before I became the abyss, I was like this. But after thinking, I gently shook my head: “No. This is how I am, never changed.”

The real changes, I won’t tell Margaret here.

It seemed Margaret wanted to ask further, but her mouth opened slightly when Victoria interrupted her.

“Princess Saint, why are you suddenly concerned about her health?”

This sounds odd…

I turned my head and saw Victoria with her arms crossed, raising her eyebrows at us. Her slightly puzzled gaze seemed to contain some… something I couldn’t understand.

“We have limited time, don’t waste it.” She added.

Margaret fell silent for a moment.

“Indeed.”

Bowing her head gracefully yet sincerely, she said, “I apologize to Your Majesty the Queen, I was out of line.”

With that, Margaret’s face brightened in a smile, and she ended the bizarre topic about what I had eaten. Next, she turned serious and began to explain the specifics about the abyss to me.

It turned out that several months ago, the Holy Church received reports from the public. In the north of Ethanbel, a large canyon called Raberelle experienced intense tremors, and a massive chasm suddenly appeared across the Wisteria River. The depths of this chasm were filled with black muck that was churning.

The local bishop was the first to receive these reports. After inspecting the situation with a group of church knights, he immediately realized it was a new abyss and wrote a letter to Pope Angel that very night. This happened several months ago.

Because the canyon was treacherous and uninhabited for hundreds of kilometers around, the Church did not make this news public but continued to observe it silently. Not long ago, the muck in the abyss started boiling. Upon learning this, Margaret knew that the time for the abyss to hatch was near and immediately set out, which is why she was here in the Order City.

The Raberelle Canyon was quite close to the city. If one traveled by horned horse-drawn carriage, it would take about three days to reach the entrance. Margaret came to find me in a hurry today, mainly because of this matter. She planned to lead a few clerics there soon for an investigation, and I wanted to go with her, but she refused without hesitation.

“There are nearly two thousand Church knights stationed there now, and more clerics will arrive in the coming days. Among them are some… well, difficult people,” Margaret paused, seemingly choosing her words carefully. “There are some difficult individuals as well, and they will all be present. Miss Sylvie, you’d better stay in the city for now. Leave the rest to me. Once another papal knight arrives, you can go with him.”

…Another papal knight?

I furrowed my brows immediately.

Isn’t it Victoria?

So I turned to ask her, “You’re not going?”

Before Victoria could speak, Margaret answered on her behalf.

“The Queen has other matters to attend to.”

“What matters?”

This answer only deepened my confusion. With the abyss so close to our doorstep, what could be more important than this?

Then Victoria winked at me.

“The Clive family, the Gate of Truth,” she said.

…

The matter was settled.

As Margaret was about to leave, I suddenly remembered something else.

“Margaret.”

“Hmm?”

“Have you ever seen… the deity…?”

With a sense of experimentation, I asked this question I had been curious about for a long time.

Hearing this, the saint who had already stepped out of the courtyard turned back, her curly hair shimmering in the sunlight.

“I have seen It.”

Her response was decisive and without hesitation.

!!!

I widened my eyes in disbelief, staring blankly at her silhouette in the sun.

I hadn’t expected her to give a definite answer. Up until now, no one had been able to provide me with a definite answer, and I had once doubted that “the deity” was merely a fabrication by the Church.

But Margaret just told me… she had seen It.

She didn’t seem like she was lying.

In fact, it was hard for me to imagine Margaret lying. She was indeed someone who spoke the truth. Having received confirmation from her, I believed it instantly.

There are truly deities in this world, and Margaret had seen them.

I immediately asked, “What do they look like?!”

“Sorry, I cannot say,” Margaret smiled gently. “How can insignificant humans describe the appearance of the deities? It would be a sacrilege against the great existence, and it would bring heavenly retribution upon us. Therefore, the Church considers it taboo, please understand.”

I stood there, dazed, watching her step out of the house and onto the carriage waiting at the door.

“But I think… someday, Miss Sylvie will have the opportunity to see Them.”

Even after the carriage turned the corner and disappeared from sight, Margaret’s words still lingered in my mind, refusing to fade away.