Chapter 251

Chapter 38 An Unexpected Gain

I was slightly stunned.

“Everything has been… recovered?”

“Everything.”

“Not even one left behind?”

“Mm-hm.” The lady administrator nodded at me. “The leading priest said that Sister Teresa spent her entire life thinking about the people, and that after the recovery of her work ‘The Sorrow of Love,’ scholars would rewrite and recompile it before including it in the Gospel of the Holy Church, so that the monks could spread it to the world… He also said that this was a direct order from the Holy Lady herself. Now, even if you search through all the libraries in the royal city, you won’t find that book!”

An order from Margaret?

I raised my eyebrows and tilted my head to the right, my dark eyes rolling upward as I stared at the ceiling, pondering for a moment.

Mmm…

It’s not hard to understand.

After all, when you come down to it, a “book” is essentially the author’s way of conveying and communicating their thoughts to the reader. If Margaret knew that Teresa was a heretic, of course she wouldn’t let her ideas continue to spread among the people; who knows what kind of hints or metaphors might be contained within.

But there is another possibility.

Margaret might have discovered some secrets in the book that she can’t reveal to the public…

In either case, I must read that book.

But it’s already gone, and staying here would be pointless.

“Thank you.”

I gave the administrator a sweet smile and turned to leave the library.

As I stepped out the door, I noticed that the sun was high overhead.

It was only early March, but the royal city was already showing signs of summer. The sky was dazzlingly bright, and the sunlight shone on my bare arms, making them feel dry and slightly burning.

I walked slowly under the shade of the trees, biting my nails as I thought.

I felt a bit regretful. Back in Teresa’s office, I had the chance to read the book thoroughly… But now, it’s probably gone for good.

What should I do now?

Why not just go straight to Margaret and ask for a copy? As the most informed person, she has no reason not to give it to me.

But she’s not in the royal city right now… It takes at least six days to get back and forth to that canyon. She wouldn’t return immediately, would she? Should I just wait for her like this…

When I returned to the tower dormitory, I found Sarah and the others had come back.

“Peyelo!”

They seemed to have just returned and looked somewhat tired. Their uniforms were damp and stuck to their bodies, and Daisi’s nose was dotted with tiny sweat beads. When I opened the door, Sarah had half her upper clothing off, exposing her white belly, and she cried out in surprise upon seeing me.

“Quickly close the door! I’m going to be exposed!”

I glanced at her flat chest and pursed my lips.

“Who would look at you?”

Although I said this, I still closed the door properly.

“Tch.” Sarah snorted.

“Where did you run off to?” Sophia, who was sitting at the dressing table tying up her hair, frowned. “What’s going on? You actually skipped class openly. I was going to challenge you to a riding competition!”

Her gentle tone carried a hint of dissatisfaction, as if she felt I hadn’t given her face.

“I’m sorry, I went to the… library.”

As I spoke, I walked behind her and leaned over to check myself in the mirror, casually adjusting the bangs on my forehead.

I haven’t done any nice hairstyles lately… Maybe I should learn how to braid hair?

“The library? What did you go there for?”

Sophia continued to press me. Just as I was about to answer, Sarah, who had changed into clean casual clothes, ran over excitedly and slapped my right shoulder hard.

“Peyelo, you’re amazing! You actually managed to escape right under Mr. Lamb’s nose! How did you do it!? Do you know that everyone went crazy after you ran away!”

“Sarah, you’re hurting me!”

I impatiently swatted her rough hand off my shoulder and turned to glare at her. “What’s with the craziness?”

I meant it as a scolding, but Sarah probably thought I was responding to her earlier comment, and her eyes curved into a crescent moon in excitement.

“You made everyone think Mr. Lamb is easy to deal with, so many people challenged him! They got beaten up badly, it was such a spectacle… Hahaha…”

Sarah laughed so hard she could hardly breathe, and I couldn’t help but laugh along with her.

“Mr. Lamb, hahaha, Mr. Lamb must have felt extremely humiliated. His whole class was just… black as night… Those guys really don’t know how to read the atmosphere; they deserved to be made into punching bags… That’s Giant Lamb! I can’t figure out what they were thinking. One guy even got his eye swollen from the fight, oh it’s so funny…”

After laughing for a while, she turned to me again and asked, “How did you do that? Your movements were too fast. Before I could even see clearly, Mr. Lamb shouted, and you ran away like a four-eared rabbit, ‘whoosh,’ and disappeared.”

“…Was it really that exaggerated?”

“Yes! Anyway, I didn’t see clearly. Did you two see it clearly?”

Sarah turned to ask the two girls, but Sophia ignored her, only Daisy mumbled, “No, we didn’t…”

“See? None of us saw clearly.”

She spread her hands at me, then suddenly her eyes looked evasive. She lowered her head slightly, no longer looking into my eyes, and brought her feet together. After a moment, as if carelessly, she asked, “Paillot, you’re actually… very amazing, right…”

“Very amazing,” I replied casually.

“No, I mean… You are more amazing than we imagined… You’re not like an ordinary person…”

Sarah spoke hesitantly, her voice getting smaller and smaller, her two fingers fidgeting nonstop, looking somewhat nervous.

I watched her quietly, guessing what she might be thinking in her mind. After a while, when she lifted her head, I pretended to be mischievous and winked at her.

“What are you talking about!”

I pretended to be clueless.

Sarah was simple and easy to understand. Of course, I knew what she wanted to ask, but I didn’t want to answer her directly right now.

Because suddenly, I felt that perhaps for me, the Royal Academy was like a safe haven. There were no heretics here, no life-or-death struggles, and no terrifying abyss… Well, this one actually exists.

But I am harmless…

In short, this place is a paradise. Everyone in 1504 is a good girl, I like them, and I want to continue to get along with them peacefully… The troublesome things outside don’t need to be brought here.

“Yeah, what am I talking about… hehe.”

Sarah scratched her head and looked at me with a childlike, straightforward smile.

“Don’t ask such strange questions all day, silly.”

Sophia finally tied up her long hair, stood up, and inserted herself between Sarah and me, breaking the slightly awkward atmosphere at this moment.

“Paillot. You still haven’t told me why you skipped class to go to the library, that boring place.”

I wonder if she noticed that I didn’t want to continue this conversation, so she deliberately changed the subject… Sophia is a smart girl.

“I was looking for a book.”

I naturally followed her words.

“Looking for a book?”

“Love’s Sorrow. The one by Teresa. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find it.”

“…It probably can’t be found anymore, right? I heard the church collected it.”

“That’s right.”

“Paillot, you really are something. Riding practice is so much fun! Running around looking for a book… Although I can understand your thoughts.”

Sarah suddenly interjected.

She shook her head and walked to her bed, rummaging under her pillow for a while, then took out a… huh?

“Here, I bought it a long time ago. Because of Mrs. Teresa’s incident, I just finished reading it again a few days ago.”

She walked over with the book and handed it to me.

“You could have told me earlier if you wanted to read it, I would have lent it to you… But you have to return it! The church has ordered it to be turned in. I’ll take it to the church to give to the monks on my next rest day, maybe I can even get a blessing from the gods… It’s also nice to get a blessing from a priest…”

I didn’t listen to anything else Sarah said after that, I just stared blankly at the book in my hands.

The cover of the book was somewhat worn, the corners of the pages were torn and curled, showing that it was an old book. Clearly, the owner didn’t take good care of it. The four big characters “Love’s Sorrow” printed on the cover had faded, and the portrait on the cover was barely recognizable, except for the gold-lettered inscription at the bottom, “Written by Teresa Anthony.” It was clearly visible.