Chapter 62: First Interview Failed

When classes resumed in the afternoon, Eric could clearly feel that Sophie's attention was entirely focused on him.

Although the ancient language they were currently studying was obscure and difficult, making it hard for him to maintain focus all the time, he was certain that the problem did not lie with the lesson.

Because she looked somewhat aggrieved.

When the drowsy ancient language class finally ended, before the etiquette class began, Eric asked her directly.

"Because Mother Superior Alana said that she is now following His Highness Eric and living with him." Sophie made no secret of it, answering straight away as soon as he asked.

So that was what it was about.

"That's because Alana has nowhere else to go now," Eric said. "Or does Sophie want me to drive her out?"

"No!"

Sophie immediately shook her head. "...I mean, I want to follow His Highness Eric as well."

"Follow me?"

Eric looked at her, intending to refuse outright, but then second-thoughted that the young girl probably wouldn't give up easily, so he needed to talk some sense into her.

"Then introduce yourself first—your educational background, abilities, strengths, and so forth, as well as why you want to join our com—our Saint-in-Training gang."

"Huh?" Sophie was dazed.

"Can't think of anything? Then let me analyze it for you."

Eric raised his thumb and tapped with his other hand. "Let's start with your educational background. Based on what I've recently learned, it's a dropout from private tutoring, followed by three years of studying abroad at a monastery. That is still quite a gap away from our average education level."

Sophie stared in bewilderment. "Your Highness, I don't understand..."

"Just listen to me."

Eric then raised his index finger and tapped twice more. "Moving on to abilities, what can you do, or do you have any unique advantages?"

Sophie rolled her eyes and extended a finger in front of him.

"What..." As Eric stared in a daze, her fingertip suddenly lit up.

"...Oh, it's a basic illumination spell."

Eric pressed a hand to his forehead. "Fine, let's say you know a few parlor-trick divine spells to amuse children. But unfortunately! Our team already has two illumination spell experts."

"I can do other things!" Sophie said immediately. "I've learned several divine spells!"

Ignoring her, Eric raised his third finger. "The next question, and also the most important one: Why do you want to follow me?"

This was the question he actually hoped she would answer seriously.

"Because Your Highness is the future Saint, and I was meant to follow Your Highness in the first place," Sophie replied.

"If it's just that level of following, then do as you please," Eric said.

"No..." Sophie quickly denied it, looking at him as she said, "I want to follow Your Highness the way Mother Superior Alana does."

"Don't say it so casually." Eric met her gaze. "Alana carries the remaining years of her teacher's life and chose to follow me because she had nowhere left to turn. Before that, she personally sought out the Saint and renounced her loyalty to her—she left herself zero way out."

It was from him that Sophie had learned these deep secrets about Alana. For a moment, her lips parted slightly, and she was left speechless.

"That is her affair; let's get back to you," Eric continued. "You said this morning that you want to stay in the monastery for a lifelong spiritual retreat. You probably don't yet understand the weight of those words. It means repeating the routine of waking up for dawn chants before my classes and praying before sleep tens of thousands of times, until you die."

Sophie could only remain silent once more, her gaze drooping down.

Stooping his psychological attacks, Eric shifted his perspective. "Do you really want to be separated from your parents forever?"

Sophie slowly shook her head.

"There you have it," Eric said.

Sophie took a breath and let it out, a little bit of vitality returning to her face. "But I don't want to go back and be married off..."

"Then you can leave your family and go do what you want to do."

"My father certainly wouldn't agree."

"Do you really think the resistance you'd face from deciding to stay in a monastery for lifelong devotion would be any smaller than the resistance against not getting married and doing something else?" Eric retorted.

It took Sophie quite a while to process this, and she cast her eyes aside. "I never thought about it..."

"Then think about it carefully," Eric said.

Unable to come up with anything else to keep her by his side for the time being, Sophie could only give a muffled acknowledgment.

"Go back and wait for the notice... No, wait."

Eric quickly realized he couldn't leave any room for ambiguity here. "You didn't pass the initial interview; this is the final notice. Don't think about this anymore."

"...Understood."

After chatting for so long, the nun teaching court etiquette had already arrived.

When the class ended, the two parted ways. Eric returned to his annex and spoke to Alana, who had just returned, about the matter.

After listening quietly for a moment, Alana looked at Eric and said, "What Sophie meant by following Your Highness probably wasn't just following Your Highness in spiritual practice."

「I know, but I'm a Saint-in-Training now. How could I possibly respond to her feelings?」

Seeing that he truly understood Sophie's genuine intentions, Alana felt a momentary sense of relief, followed by an indescribable feeling deep in her heart.

"Still, the plan for a lifelong spiritual retreat is probably just a child's temporary impulse and won't last long," Eric remarked.

Alana first nodded, then looked at him.

His tone of dismissing Sophie as a child was far too casual and natural... even though they were clearly the same age.

Was it because he had a younger sister he always needed to look after?

"Is there a problem?" Eric noticed her gaze.

"No..." Alana paused, thought for a moment, and then said, "I was just thinking about some things I heard at the Saint's Residence today."

"What kind of things? Tell me about them."

Nominally, she was now Eric's assistant for familiarizing herself with the affairs of the Saint's Residence. Reporting the happenings at the Saint's Residence to him daily and conveying various movements was part of her duties.

Furthermore, Eric had given her an additional instruction: to pay closer attention to the intelligence gathered from all over the continent by the Saint's Residence and report the key points to him.

Thus, Alana recounted the few matters she had specifically memorized. As Eric listened, he found almost nothing that required special attention.

"Also, in the afternoon, Grand Prelate Cinmagu arrived in the Outer City."

Eric was startled, his body straightening up instantly. "Cinmagu has arrived?"

Alana was taken aback as well; she had assumed this matter wasn't very important, which was why she had saved it for last.

"Yes, he arrived in the afternoon. He is currently staying in the Outer City, in the residence where Your Highness previously stayed."

Eric was somewhat surprised. "A Grand Prelate has to wait outside even when returning to the Holy See?"

"It seems to be the Cardinals' decision," Alana said, sharing the news she had heard from the Saint's Residence. "And His Holiness the Pope has not expressed a stance."

Surely His Holiness the Pope wouldn't be like the Saint, sneaking out of the city after dark to meet his student, would he? Eric thought to himself inwardly.

Just as he was thinking of the Saint, the elderly woman thought of him as well and summoned him.

"Tomorrow, you should go to the Apostolic Palace to pay your respects to His Holiness the Pope and the College of Cardinals," the Saint said thoughtfully. "Don't rush over—come with me."

Eric certainly had no objections. "Yes."

"Cinmagu has already arrived in the Outer City. Tomorrow morning, His Holiness will see him first," the Saint continued. "Once he leaves, we will go see His Holiness."

Eric raised his eyes. "Should we avoid the Grand Prelate?"

"Yes." The Saint made no effort to conceal her disgust for that Grand Prelate. "In front of His Holiness, he wouldn't dare disrespect me, but I have no wish to give him any face. Yet doing so would only make His Holiness sad, so it's simply better not to cross paths."

Grand Prelate Cinmagu would eventually turn to the dark side and even defect to the Demon Race later on. The Cardinals of the Holy See bore an inescapable responsibility for that, one and all... Eric inwardly criticized.

"Are you pitying him?" The Saint seemed to have seen through his thoughts. "If there were just a few more people like Cinmagu in the Holy See, not only me as the Saint, but the entire Church would be finished along with him."

Cinmagu indeed possessed that kind of destructive power. As someone who had "been through it," Eric understood this deeply, yet he couldn't push all the blame onto him entirely.

"I am always standing by Your Highness's side," Eric said.