Her gaze swept blankly across the crowd in the hall.
Their words...
Why couldn't she understand a single thing they were saying?
She looked at Sophie, who continued to stare back at her with those innocent, unfocused eyes.
Sophie even blinked once.
【Log: You have triggered [Acting]. Due to your brilliant performance, [Blood Queen Elizabeth] believes you are under her control; [Moon Bishop Modi], [New Moon Cultist A]... and others believe in your status as the Saintess; [Maid A] has seen through your acting.】
This trick was useful, certainly.
The only problem was that using it too much made her drool.
Sophie thought silently as she glanced at the maid standing beside Elizabeth.
Did a nameless maid actually see through her disguise?
It made sense. To Elizabeth, she was a lower-generation vampire under her control; to the cultists, she was the Saintess.
But to that maid, she wasn't playing any role at all, so the acting naturally didn't have the same effect.
Elizabeth was nearly exploding with rage.
How was this possible?
Had Modi put a spell on these people or something?
Elizabeth’s chest heaved violently.
Absurd.
Instead of reviling this drooling lunatic, these lowly commoners actually treated her as a vessel sent by the Goddess?
Elizabeth raised her head. She would never allow this pathetic farce to continue.
Since these people couldn't understand a subtle hint...
Then she would make it explicit.
“Since you all think she’s some untouchable Divine Chosen Saintess, I’ll show you right now exactly what kind of trash this so-called vessel really is!”
The noble majesty belonging to a Twelfth Generation Vampire was released in full.
“You.”
Elizabeth pointed directly at the tip of Sophie’s nose.
“Wretch. Get over here and kneel.”
She deliberately slowed her speech.
“Use your tongue to lick the dust off my shoes.”
The entire abandoned theater instantly fell into a deathly silence.
Modi’s face turned ashen. He instinctively gripped his staff, prepared to immediately put a stop to this humiliating act.
The cultists, even more so, glared with eyes wide in fury.
Sophie moved.
She lowered her head slightly, her smooth silver hair sliding off her shoulders and veiling her eyes, which remained calm behind the mask.
She stepped forward. One step, two steps. Her movements were wooden and stiff as she truly walked toward Elizabeth.
“Lady Saintess?!” Modi cried out in disbelief.
Elizabeth picked up her folding fan from the floor again.
A mere fledgling—even with Modi backing her—was nothing more than an obedient dog in the face of absolute bloodline suppression.
Three steps, two steps, one step.
Sophie stopped less than a meter in front of Elizabeth.
Then, she made a face at her.
“Bleh!”
Elizabeth: “?”
But Sophie wasn't looking at her anymore.
Her gaze bypassed the arrogant noblewoman’s face and locked directly onto the red-haired, sword-bearing maid standing behind Elizabeth.
Maid A.
【Log: You have used a skill on [Maid A]: Charm (Inverted)】
【Charm (Inverted) lv.Max: Once per day, you can force any humanoid creature to view you as a mortal enemy and attack you to the best of their ability. Duration: One day.】
An invisible mental wave instantly pierced through the stagnant air of the theater.
The red-haired maid’s body suddenly stiffened.
“Kill—”
The maid let out a low growl.
With a sharp clack, the sound of a sword being drawn rang out.
The steel longsword was unsheathed in an instant, its cold glint tracing a lethal crescent arc in the air.
The maid’s eyes were bloodshot. The power exploding from her legs shattered the wooden floorboards beneath her as she lunged at Sophie, her blade aiming straight for the girl's throat.
Elizabeth didn't even have time to react to what was happening.
The wind from the blade brushed past the noblewoman’s temple, shearing off a lock of her meticulously styled hair.
“What are you doing?!” Elizabeth shouted in disbelief.
First, her fledgling had suddenly resisted and made a face at her, and now her most loyal maid had suddenly gone mad.
No.
This woman hadn't been suppressed by her Bloodline Majesty from the very beginning!
And her maid had been charmed in reverse.
She was provoking her!
At that moment, the longsword arrived.
Crimson sword intent whipped up a scorching vortex in mid-air.
She was a master.
Modi’s pupils shrank. He wanted to cast a shield, but he was already half a beat too slow.
Oh no!
Sophie, however, was unhurried.
She simply raised a plain-looking Oil-paper Umbrella to meet the oncoming scarlet web of sword strikes.
The cultists were completely baffled by the sudden turn of events.
Had Elizabeth gone mad? How did she dare to strike openly in front of the Bishop?
Had the Saintess gone mad too? Did she really think she could block a sword strike of that level with just an umbrella?
The crimson sword intent gathered at the tip of the blade and slammed into the surface of the umbrella.
Into the [Indestructible] surface.
Screech—
A visible shockwave rippled outward from the point of impact.
That Crimson Lotus Death Slash, which combined the full life force of a High-tier Swordsman, was forced to a dead stop by an absolute power that defied all common logic the moment it touched the tip of the Oil-paper Umbrella.
The violent, crimson aura poured frantically down the sides of the umbrella, instantly shredding several chairs behind Sophie into sawdust, yet it could not advance even half an inch past the umbrella.
Using the massive force of the impact, Sophie’s feet lightly left the ground.
The Oil-paper Umbrella snapped open.
Her dark blue skirt bloomed in mid-air, and her silver hair danced in the wind.
Using that violent force, she became like a weightless feather, soaring backward through the air.
This flight took her over five meters high.
She glided for more than ten meters.
Only then did Sophie land gracefully on the steps at the very edge of the stage.
There was no sign of panic on her face, and she hadn't broken a single drop of sweat.
Aside from a slight scorch mark on the edge of her hem, she was completely unharmed.
A narrow defeat.
Having missed her strike, the red-haired maid fell into an even deeper frenzy.
Heedless of everything, she raised her sword again, preparing to charge toward Sophie.
But she wouldn't get the chance.
“Impudence!!!”
Modi’s roar shattered the air of the theater.
The Bishop slammed his iron staff down. Several pitch-black chains erupted from the cracks in the floor, binding the red-haired maid’s limbs tightly and pinning her to the spot.
The entire theater erupted in chaos at that moment.
No matter how much the factions squabbled, they were still members of the same sect.
Yet Elizabeth had instructed her subordinate to openly attack, to openly attempt an assassination.
Did she still have any respect for the sect?
Was she declaring war on the Goddess herself?
“Tear them apart!”
Dozens of people simultaneously drew their crude swords and unsheathed their scepters; some even began chanting for fireballs.
The noble subordinates Elizabeth had brought also drew their weapons, desperately shielding her.
The situation was on the verge of spiraling out of control.
“Bishop Modi.”
Sophie tilted her head while holding her umbrella.
She had already endured the pressure and provided the excuse.
This old geezer better start pulling his weight now.
“First, she spoke such arrogance as to demand I kneel, and then she ordered her subordinate to attempt a public assassination.”
“Is this how your New Moon Sect treats its Saintess?”
“Even the merciful Goddess would be displeased by this, wouldn't she?”
...
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