She was Heidi Frances, the youngest daughter of Duke Frances.
Being the youngest in the Frances, Heidi was adored from the moment she was born. As the only daughter born to the clan of Frances, her existence rocked the clan. Everyone in the clan doted on her, especially her brother, who pampered her like a princess.
Borne with a silver spoon, Heidi’s life was destined to be a bed of roses. Everyone around her would attend to her every whim and fancy. There was nothing in the world she wished for that was denied to her.
Therefore, nothing unpleasant ever happened to her before today. Perhaps that was the reason she grew up bold and unafraid, believing that the universe would work in her way. Even when she was being surrounded by the few hooligans today, she still believed that nothing bad would come to her.
It was proven true. Just as she was about to fall into a mishap, a Cardinal appeared at the entrance of the alley. Although she was surprised by his action, as long as he continued to stand at the entrance, the hooligans would never touch her.
Heidi cocked her head, her face filled with arrogance. She raised her leg, showing off her stiletto heels, and kicked the hooligan standing in front of her, hard.
A scream echoed in the alley.
The hooligan was wounded by the sharpness of the stiletto heels, but he dared not react against Heidi for fear of punishment from the Cardinal.
Heidi gracefully stepped towards Monn. She blinked her dazzling eyes at him and she studied him curiously.
She had never heard of an Orthodox Church having a system where a Cardinal could go off duty.
“Since when does Orthodox Church have a system where the Cardinal could go off duty?”
Monn ignored her question. He was instead staring at the hooligans in the alley, deep in thought, contemplating whether he should demand them to hand over their stolen monies.
The hooligans were still shivering in fear in the alley, having a chill running down their spines.
Used to being dotted everywhere she went in the Capital; Heidi was displeased at being ignored. How could a mere Cardinal ignore her?
Heidi placed her hands around her lips to form a hand trumpet and shouted into Monn’s ear, “Hey!”
A little startled by her shout, Monn turned to face Heidi and glanced at the red-haired lady. He then asked indifferently, “What’s the matter?”
Heidi’s face stiffened. She was immediately annoyed when she realized the Cardinal paid no attention to her at all.
How dare a Cardinal ignored her like that? She decided to teach him a lesson.
Heidi rolled her eyes. “I am a lady of the Frances family. I was still in shock from what happened earlier. I demand that you should escort me back to the land of the Frances.”
Monn stared at her blankly, wondering whether she was sick in the head. Although he had never heard of the Frances being a noble of any ranking, the Orthodox Church was not a vassal of the empire.
The Orthodox Church held an equal standing to the empire and perhaps was even stronger than the empire was.
Thus, he had no idea what was the noble thinking about, having the nerve to order an Orthodox church servant around.
A holy knight or someone of a relatively lower position might adhere to the orders of the nobles to please them.
But he was a Cardinal, a person who held the third-highest ranking in the Orthodox Church. He was not someone that the nobles of the empire should offend or provoke at their whim.
“Was my cardinal robe not obvious enough?” Monn thought to himself as he looked at his clothes from top to bottom.
He looked at Heidi and shook his head. She was childish, a mischievous one too. He could only choose to ignore her childish temper, given that she was a woman. He might have sent her flying with a kick if she was a man.
Monn looked at the time and shook his head. Little Elma should be home by now. He needed to find an empty corner to spacewalk to Saint Servant to bring Little Elma with him to the Capital.
Upset from being ignored, Heidi stamped her feet. But she had forgotten that she was wearing a high stiletto heel. She lost her balance and tumbled forward.
Monn heard a cry of surprise. Then, a rush of strong flowery fragrance, which smelled like fresh flowers blooming in the spring, rushed into his nose, followed by a mass of soft flesh crashing into him. He subconsciously pulled Heidi into his arms.
When he felt the mass pressed against him on his chest, and realized that the lady he thought to be a child had a body of a full-grown, mature woman.
At this very moment, they heard a piercing noise that sounded like a cat’s claws scratching on the glass coming from afar. The sound was extremely annoying.
Monn turned his head and glanced in the noise’s direction.
Ace, clad in a nun’s robe, was dragging the holy sword on the street. Trailing behind her was black smog which seemed to have no ends. Her eyes shone in blood-red.
When Monn saw Ace, he subconsciously asked, “You’re back so soon?”
The aura surrounding her became even more powerful when she heard these words from Monn. The black smog behind her that could cause hallucination seemed to cover the entire city as if she intended to cover the sky with her smog.
“Am I disturbing you?” Her voice laced with hidden bitterness, her tone was icy, although she was just asking him a question. Her chilly tone even sent chills down the spines of the residents on the street. They hurriedly scurried away.
“Is that… is that the Saintess of the Orthodox Church?” A passerby asked in disbelief.
His guess was immediately denied by others around him.
“Impossible! The Saintess is kind and soft-spoken, the holiest person you will ever see. How could she be this person?”
“That’s right! This must be a conspiracy. A conspiracy of the werewolves and the vampires.”
None of them wanted to believe that the bitter woman releasing else evil aura in front of them was the same Saintess of the Orthodox Church.
Heidi, who had fallen into Monn’s arm from her own mistake, was still too embarrassed to face Monn. She raised her head slightly to take a good look at the saintess everyone was talking about. When she saw the person they were all talking about, she confirmed that the woman was the same person she had been competing against for being ‘the fairest of all in the Capital’ for years.
She had no idea why the gentle and pretty Saintess Ace would allow her image ruined in the public like this today.
Heidi always knew of Ace’s true colors and had tried all kinds of means to expose her, but to no avail, as Ace foiled her every attempt. And today, Ace seemed to have chosen to self-destruct and exposed her hypocrisy on her own.
A sudden thought came to her. The Cardinal had just called out the name of the hypocrite. They were acquainted. And Ace seemed to be bitter over the situation because she was lying in the Cardinal’s arm.
A strange smile appears on her face.