Chapter 343: Branch

Dol Street, near the Memorial Hall District in the Market District, is a street lined with green trees, clean road surfaces, and newer architectural styles. Jianna chose to meet the "Purifiers" here because the people who often come and go here have no intersection with her original life, and almost no one can recognize her.

At this time, she is wearing a white lady's blouse and a light brown skirt, slightly different from when she last saw the two "Purifiers," so as not to be noticed by the other party for her careful thoughts every time she wears the same outfit.

Of course, her overall style is still leaning toward clean, sunny, and refreshing. This is an image requirement she summarized from sentence after sentence of advocacy language when Jianna listened to the bishop's preaching and participated in certain activities of the church.

With a sun amulet hanging around her neck and her brownish-yellow hair simply tied up, she walked along the shadows created by the street trees toward the agreed-upon Apartment 17.

A brown four-wheeled carriage passed by her side, the window open, revealing a beautiful face that made people's eyes shine.

That was a lady wearing a black court dress. She wore a deep black veil hat with white feathers, her dark hair was coiled extremely exquisitely, her facial lines were soft, her chin arc was beautiful, her nose bridge was delicate and high, her red lips were plump and slightly curled, and her deep gray eyes were bright and seemed to be covered with faint sadness, making people feel heartache unconsciously.

So beautiful... After the carriage drove past, Jianna let out a heartfelt exclamation.

Although she could also be called beautiful, this didn't prevent her from appreciating others' charm. At the same time, she deeply felt that compared to Forsyth, who had become a "Pleasure Witch," and the lady just now, she was still far behind.

Jianna withdrew her gaze and walked all the way to the roof of the apartment building at No. 17 Dol Street.

She didn't wait long before Imre and Valentine arrived here.

"Did you obtain important information?" Valentine asked quite actively with a cold expression.

His gaze swept over Jianna's neck and saw the sun holy emblem, nodding satisfactorily and imperceptibly.

Jianna shook her head slowly:

"No."

Without waiting for Imre and Valentine to ask, she said from the bottom of her heart:

"I want to repent."

Repent? Imre couldn't help but look at Valentine.

Did something go wrong?

Jianna lowered her head slightly, looking at the ground, and smiled bitterly:

"I dreamed of my mother again, dreamed of her many times.

"And after dreaming of her, I always couldn't help but question the church: Why would they let someone like Hugues Artois participate in the election? Why didn't they arrest the people around him immediately after discovering the problem to prevent subsequent disasters?

"I, I want to repent. Pain is gnawing at my soul, shaking my faith, making me doubt whether God and the church are still protecting us."

This was her true feeling, just not as strong as expressed in her words.

Valentine felt ashamed and didn't know how to respond to Jianna.

Imre had experienced many similar things and sighed, skillfully comforting:

"Don't doubt. God is always watching over us, and the sun shines on the earth every day. But you also know that the alternation of light and darkness is the main keynote of the whole world. Just like the sun sets every day and the dark night is inevitable, because of this, we rejoice in the first ray of light in the morning and rejoice in the sun that rises again.

"Similarly, the church is not omnipotent. At least in Intis, we are still subject to the Church of the 'God of Steam and Machinery,' subject to all kinds of restrictions from the Parliament and the government, unable to do whatever we want or investigate whoever we want.

"Pain and disaster are important parts of our lives, perhaps many, perhaps few, but they will all pass, just like the sun will surely rise and shine on the earth again."

Jianna was silent for a few seconds, let out a breath slowly, and opened her arms slightly:

"Praise the sun!"

"Praise the sun!" Valentine and Imre responded at the same time.

With the performance just now full of true feelings, Jianna asked smoothly:

"Who exactly pushed Hugues Artois to the position of Member of Parliament, and who made him an agent of an evil god?"

"Still under investigation, there is no substantial gain for the time being." Imre deliberated on his language.

Jianna showed some impatience and concern:

"Why is there no substantial gain yet? Is it because of the restrictions just mentioned, unable to obtain key clues? Do you need my help? I am not subject to any restrictions and am not afraid of violating the law!"

Imre and Valentine didn't feel surprised at all that Jianna had such a reaction. This was consistent with the emotional state of rising up to assassinate Hugues Artois, just weakened a bit.

The two looked at each other, as if communicating with their eyes whether to hand over this aspect of things to the informant who signed the contract, so that more flexible and free methods could be adopted.

Jianna remembered Forsyth's instructions and didn't directly use the "Instigator" ability, just sensing the state of the two "Purifiers," purely using language to achieve her goal:

"The church can't do it itself, can't it be handed over to capable believers to do?

"Is the church's face more important, or are God's children more important?

"Every time a disaster is prevented, many families and living people can be saved, and they all believe in the sun devoutly.

"Hugues Artois is backed by an evil god!"

Valentine was moved. Seeing that Imre didn't object, he solemnly asked Cheria Bellot:

"Are you sure you want to help us investigate this matter? This is very dangerous and has a non-negligible probability of making you pay with your life."

Jianna answered with a complex smile:

"I am afraid of death, but I am even more afraid of becoming a victim of evil god followers for no reason like my mother."

She didn't hide her hatred at all.

Only then did Imre say:

"Through our tracking, we discovered that Hugues Artois had a very close relationship with General Philip. Some things he did in secret could be traced back to him, but General Philip passed away due to illness early last year, so all clues were broken.

"Other supporters and sponsors of Hugues Artois were either arranged by General Philip or felt he had cultivation value and took the initiative to provide help, none of which involved evil god faith and secret organizations."

Jianna blurted out:

"What about Philip's family? What about the evil god followers around Hugues Artois?"

"Philip's family has no problems." Valentine answered with some annoyance. "The evil god followers in Hugues Artois's campaign team were only caught two, belonging to the less important kind. The one who knew the most chose to commit suicide directly when he couldn't escape. He was very fanatical, making us unable to obtain the clues we wanted, only eradicating two branches of the secret organization 'Life Destruction Society'."

"Life Destruction Society"... Jianna remembered this secret organization that believed in evil gods.

Imre added:

"The one who knew the most was Cassandra with red hair. She is a member of the branch of the Solon family of the former former royal family, both a Beyonder and an evil god follower who has received gifts."

"Does the Solon family have problems?" Jianna asked further.

Imre shook his head:

"The current conclusion is no. Several noble families who supported Hugues Artois had ordinary relationships with the Solon family. Cassandra chose to be an adventurer because she wasn't valued in the Solon family, later became a Beyonder, and joined Hugues Artois's team last year."

…………

Opera District, Lomba Street, Mechanical Coffee Shop.

The King Cake, with a crust like a brown-bottomed black-patterned giant flower, was sent to the members of the "Black Cat" organization such as Puifu Solon by a mechanical device.

Puifu looked around and said to Lu Mi, Anoli, and others:

"I propose that this King Cake game be offered to a great ancestor of mine. He was the first Count of Arden and also the twenty-seventh Count of Champagne."

Puifu Solon usually called himself the Count of Arden.

"The Count of Champagne who wanted Roselle's butt?" Novelist Anoli smiled.

In the past year, the hottest banned book in the Trier underground book market was "Secret Records of Emperor Roselle," which not only included various rumors about Emperor Roselle that already existed but also added many new contents that looked very absurd and hot.

Puifu sighed:

"That was the thirtieth Count of Champagne, the great-grandson of my great ancestor, in another branch of the Solon family."

"I have no opinion." The painter Ma Lun, with flaxen hair and brown eyes, pulled the topic back to the right track.

This was just a game, and others didn't force who the extra King Cake should be offered to, quickly reaching a consensus.

With Lu Mi's style of doing things, he should have opposed it to irritate Count Puifu, but he kept in mind that he was now playing the role of Gardner Martin's friend, a rich businessman's son who liked art, a fool who spent money to buy contempt, so he forcibly controlled himself.

Puifu turned his head to the relatively quiet literary critic Anyong:

"You are responsible for cutting the cake."

The black-curly-haired Anyong laughed self-deprecatingly:

"What I dislike most is that the Mechanical Coffee Shop has no waiters, which makes me feel like I've become a waiter."

"Isn't this a very good thing? This means there are no spies." Novelist Anoli muttered.

Poet Ilet, who was smoking a cherry wood pipe, responded "hehe":

"Maybe spies are among us."

At this time, Anyong had already picked up the table knife and divided the King Cake into seven pieces evenly.

Puifu forked one of the King Cakes to the edge of the plate, clasped his hands together, placed them on his chest, and chanted in a low voice:

"Offered to you, great member of the Solon family, great Vumunda Champagne Solon."

Puifu repeated this sentence three times. Lu Mi suddenly felt that the Mechanical Coffee Shop, which originally had no waiters, became increasingly quiet, very similar to the state when bishops began to preach.

After offering the extra King Cake to Vumunda Solon, Puifu raised his head, looked at Lu Mi, and said with a smile:

"You are a guest, you choose first."

Lu Mi didn't observe and reached out directly to the King Cake closest to him.

Just at this moment, Termiboros's magnificent and layered voice rang in his ears:

"Change to another one."

ps: Last two days, asking for monthly votes~

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 344 =====