Blood Holy Scripture: True Ancestor Charlotte de Castel
Chapter 462: -4- Whirlpool of the Royal Capital

Chapter 462: -4- Whirlpool of the Royal Capital

As an active main area for the Blood Demon Church, sacrificial cases of evil rituals were not uncommon in the New Moon Kingdom, and each place would experience one or two such events every year.

Even the Church of Holy Royal Court was already accustomed to this.

There was no helping it.

The world was so vast that despite the Church’s strong control, it could never cover every corner; there was always someone who, for various reasons, chose to embrace the darkness; cultists were never-ending.

This was a consensus from the nobility to the Church.

Of course, though cultists could never be completely eradicated, strict crackdowns were necessary.

At the very least, the Church would not allow its controlled core areas to become hotbeds for cultists, and any emergence of cultists would undoubtedly face ferocious attacks from the Church.

The most recent case related to the Blood Demon Church in the Royal Capital Lutecia happened in the slums of the Outer City District.

Strictly speaking, it was not a severe Blood Demon incident, merely ordinary people being enticed by the Blood Demon Church, hoping to acquire transcendent powers through blood sacrifices.

One of the deluded members was an employee from a Castel shop, who willingly worshipped the Blood Demon Duke and participated in the blood sacrifice.

The blood sacrifice could be considered quite successful, at least the participating cultists indeed gained powers granted by the Evil God.

Of course, as a "Quasi-Evil God," Charlotte merely needed to hear Sebastian’s description to know that these so-called transcendent powers were probably just the granting of Bloodline Power by individuals of the Shedite Clan, transforming them into descendants or merely Blood Servants.

This sacrifice was soon exposed.

Although the Blood Demon Cultists chose the chaotic slums, it was still in the Royal Capital of New Moon, the place with the highest number and quality of Demon Hunting Knights.

The Church didn’t even need to deploy the Judgement Court; just the Demon Hunting Knight squad stationed on the corresponding streets of the Outer City District solved this Blood Demon case.

Its intensity and difficulty were comparable to last era’s Heavenly Dynasty’s rural "Emperor making," swiftly "dethroned" by the local police station in a single night.

And what shook the King and caused a storm across the city was mainly because the timing was too delicate.

This central meeting targeted the Third Prince Philip, who became almost the entire Noble Council’s attack target not only because of his blatant rule-breaking but also his dealings with the Blood Demon Church.

Not to mention how many noble families in New Moon could guarantee that their family had absolutely no contact with the Blood Demon Church, suppressing the Blood Demon Church was undoubtedly politically correct in the New Moon Kingdom.

Even Louis V, who detested the intervention of clerical authority in royal authority, was unequivocal and ruthless in his campaign against the Blood Demon Church.

Brought into the matter of the Third Prince, it just meant that if the central meeting ultimately confirmed the Third Prince’s involvement with the Blood Demon Church, he was utterly finished.

Of course, the moment the Bold-Castel War ended, the political life of the Third Prince Philip was already over.

But being over was one thing, and being adjudged associated with the Blood Demon Church was another.

The latter could easily be deemed as the Royal Family itself being involved with the Blood Demon Church, something the King absolutely could not tolerate as it almost shook the very foundations of the royal rule.

Charlotte could even imagine, the matter of the Third Prince must have truly infuriated Louis V.

No wonder it was not just handing a knife to the nobility, but practically giving a knife to both the nobility and the Church.

Strengthening central authority and weakening the power of the nobility and the Church was this King’s pursuit, something that wasn’t a secret among the nobility.

And the matter of the Third Prince was simply undermining him.

Charlotte didn’t even need to investigate to guess that this central meeting might just turn into a meeting where the nobility and the Church teamed up to pressure Louis V.

It was an easy thing to understand, now the King disliked the Church, and with the royal and clerical powers constantly clashing, with the King actually having the upper hand.

In such a circumstance, this central meeting was undoubtedly a good opportunity for the nobility and the Church to suppress royal authority, surely becoming the center of conflict.

And at such a critical juncture, the mischief stirred by the Blood Demon Church was very annoying for King Louis V, as distasteful as swallowing a fly.

It was only normal for the King to order a thorough investigation of the entire Royal Capital under such fury.

With this thought, Charlotte recalled her own experiences upon entering the city.

She turned to Sebastian and asked,

"So... you had originally arranged for Lutecia’s City Guard Team to meet us instead of you?"

"Yes, Master, I needed to cooperate with the inspection of the shop and couldn’t free myself, so I asked them to meet you, but... it seems they didn’t manage to."

Sebastian said.

Charlotte chuckled lightly and said,

"Heh, it’s not just that they didn’t manage..."

"Hmm? Master, did something else happen?"

Sebastian was slightly perturbed.

Charlotte nodded slightly and briefly recounted the encounter when her caravan entered the city, causing Sebastian’s brows to quickly furrow:

"They didn’t recognize your identity? That’s impossible! I had already reported the information to the Royal Capital authorities, the City Gate Guards couldn’t possibly fail to recognize your crest!"

Saying so, he couldn’t help but ask further,

"Master, are you sure that the City Guard Team really didn’t recognize your identity when you entered the city and weren’t just giving you trouble intentionally?"

Charlotte recalled the details of the incident and shook her head:\\

"They probably really didn’t recognize us."

"If that’s the case, it’s likely that they temporarily changed the City Gate Guard specifically to target us."

Sebastian furrowed his brows as he spoke.

After finishing, he expressed his confusion,

"It’s strange... What good does this do them? Besides making us feel embarrassed..."

Charlotte clicked her tongue and said,

"Well, they eventually let us in. If they had continued to deny our identity from the beginning, who knows how things might have developed? Conspiracies are interconnected; it could even affect the upcoming central conference."

Hearing her words, an idea struck Sebastian:

"Master, are you saying that someone eventually helped us?"

Charlotte slightly nodded:

"Perhaps."

While speaking, she looked at Sebastian again:

"Sebastian, how much do you know about Duke Gaston’s family?"

"Duke Gaston? I only know that they are one of the Kingdom’s nine duchess families and a well-known Neutral Party noble," Sebastian said.

After he spoke, an idea came to him:

"Master, was it the Gaston family that helped?"

Charlotte slightly nodded, an implicit confirmation.

She was sure that the change in attitude of the guards when entering the city was due to the Gaston family’s carriage procession.

Although the Gaston family’s carriage passed by quickly, Charlotte had noticed with her exceptional Spiritual Sense that at the moment they passed the guard, a young noble threw a pouch of bounty to the guard.

Later, the guard recognized the Castel family’s identity by something that was in that pouch.

Although Charlotte did not know what was inside, after some thought, she understood that it must have reminded the City Gate Guard of the Castel family’s identity.

In other words, without the Gaston family’s covert assistance, entering the city might not have been so simple.

However, Charlotte did not pay too much attention to it.

As a main attendee of the central conference, it was improbable that she would actually be denied entry to the Royal Capital.

Some turmoil was, at most, just a farce.

Of course, one should not underestimate a farce, as conflicts sometimes accumulate through them.

A single argument could potentially shape lasting enemies, especially for nobles who highly value their honor.

Nevertheless, one thing Charlotte was certain of:

Even though she had no such intentions, from the moment she stepped through the Royal Capital’s gates, she had substantively entered the whirlwind of power struggles in the New Moon Kingdom.

"Master, do we need to change our plans going forward?" Sebastian asked.

"Change the plans? Why change them? Proceed as originally planned. Our attendance at the conference is to show loyalty, expand our business, and extend our connections. We might as well add some soil to the Third Prince’s grave as long as no one offends us, we won’t offend anyone. If it’s not too overboard, we don’t need to worry about anything else," Charlotte shook her head and said.

Sebastian thought for a moment:

"Do you mean... to stay neutral in the central conference?"

Charlotte smiled:

"More accurately, to maintain neutrality between the nobles, Royal Family, and Church, based on stomping down the Third Prince. I’m not planning to wade into the muddy waters of New Moon, at least not for now."

"Master, forgive my frankness... but this won’t be easy to achieve. The moment we plan to stomp down the Third Prince, it’s likely we’ll be noted by the King, not to mention your public affiliation with the Church..."

"Why not try and see?"

Charlotte said with a smile.

After speaking, she glanced at the sky,

"Alright, it’s about time. Make arrangements, I want to rest early tonight."

"There are four more days to the conference, and our arrival in the Royal Capital must have already spread; I expect we’ll start getting busy tomorrow..."

...

However, Charlotte had miscalculated this time.

On her second day staying in the Royal Capital, no visitors came to the manor.

It seemed... everyone had forgotten about the Castel family.