Isabella’s voice pulled Gabriella out of her thoughts.
When she came back to herself, her heart was pounding wildly and the chaotic world had disappeared.
“Miss Silver-White Sword Empress? Gabriella?”
Ornate ceilings, stained-glass windows, nuns, the Heavenly Oracle Envoys who had just been fighting inside the barrier, and Isabella.
Gabriella looked left and right and discovered she had already left the barrier.
Everyone’s faces were pale. Clearly they all still remembered what had just happened.
The scenes, and that scarlet tree. The God of Holy Feathers, the stone guardians, the Holy Church Sanctum, and the world-ending Evil Tree.
At that moment the nun who had come to receive them tilted her head and looked at everyone with a puzzled expression.
“Lady Silver-White Sword Empress, may I ask… what happened to all of you?”
Clearly they had already left the barrier, and everything had returned to normal.
What shocked everyone even more was that behind the nuns, several Royal Knights and Holy Queen Simona slowly approached.
Simona smiled with pleasant surprise.
“Miss Letitia, Lady Silver-White Sword Empress, you’ve arrived so early~”
Everyone was stunned.
Creis stepped forward and asked, “You should have arrived two hours earlier than us. Why are you so late, Your Majesty?”
“What?”
Shock appeared on Holy Queen Simona’s face.
“Huh…?”
Everyone looked at her with wary eyes. The atmosphere grew tense for a moment.
Olivia also walked in front of the group and said seriously, “Your Majesty, if I remember correctly, we deliberately staggered our movements. You left the mansion exactly two hours earlier than us. The journey takes three hours, yet it is only nine o’clock now.”
Simona’s expression also turned unusually pale. Clearly she had noticed the discrepancy as well.
“I left a little before six. In other words, all of you actually departed even earlier than I did. Yet I clearly remember that the Lady Silver-White Sword Empress was still sleeping, and Miss Isabella and Miss Creis were also in their rooms.”
The scene fell into complete silence.
But you arrived before me… this is…
Suddenly the young attendant girl strode forward, drew a dagger from her bosom, and pointed it at the nun’s neck.
“What do you know? Who is the God of Holy Feathers? Why did you attack us?!”
“Roselyn, let her go. She is only a human. Miss, please calm down.”
Letitia ordered the girl called Roselyn, who then withdrew the dagger and slowly walked back.
Creis also asked, “Where are the bishops and Miss Pope? They were not inside the Holy Church Sanctum, and there is no other human presence here either.”
“Lady Creis, have you forgotten? The meeting has already ended. We did not meet Miss Pope. Instead we were pulled into a barrier—the kind only demons have the opportunity to release.”
“Is that so?”
The gentle smile on the nun’s face at that moment became extremely eerie.
She made a praying gesture, and every nun behind her dropped to both knees.
“Since something difficult to understand has occurred, please remain calm as well. It means that a [Miracle] and the gospel have already descended. This is recognition from the great gods toward you… Holy Feathers above.”
No one spoke further.
Gabriella sank into thought.
It was indeed nine o’clock right now.
Yet the time when everyone had arrived at the Holy Church Sanctum had been eleven-thirty.
In other words, if no one had fallen into an illusion, time had simply been pushed backward by two and a half hours for no reason.
Time had flowed in reverse.
At that moment Gabriella looked toward Hertitz beside her.
“Flame Saint, did you feel anything just now?”
“No. What was changed about me was not time, but something else.”
Hertitz’s voice carried a slight tremor. Only after Gabriella’s reminder did she come back to herself.
“I… I feel very tired. Of course, because you are seeing the God of Holy Feathers for the first time, you were not ‘marked’ by her.”
Gabriella swept her gaze around and discovered that everyone was looking at her.
“Miss Isabella and I stayed inside the barrier a little longer—about three minutes. In other words, the flow of time inside that barrier was faster. Those who escaped from the barrier… but we did so at the same time… that isn’t important.”
Gabriella looked at her.
“What did you all see?” Creis asked.
“What Lady Gabriella means is that from the moment we met inside the temple, we were already marked by the God of Holy Feathers. After we boarded the carriage we had already entered the barrier,” Isabella said.
Gabriella gave an affirmative answer.
“Of course. But Your Majesty the Holy King and Miss Hertitz are exceptions.
In other words, it was not that time flowed backward. Rather, they had already been targeted by the God of Holy Feathers.”
Creis nodded.
“Indeed. She could not act inside the mansion under my protection, so she chose a better opportunity. The moment we left the estate, she sent us into the barrier.”
Seeing that the truth had already been unraveled, Letitia asked, “Then why didn’t she simply kill us? Wouldn’t that have been more convenient?”
“She probably doesn’t have that kind of strength.”
Gabriella smiled.
“When several of the strongest individuals in the world gather together, it is not something a single god can casually subdue.
At the very least, with Celestial God Creis as a final safeguard, the God of Holy Feathers cannot do much.”
Letitia said nothing more. She nodded, acknowledging Gabriella’s words.
A thin paper window existed between everyone, as if it would tear at a single poke, yet no one took the initiative to open that window.
After leaving the Holy Church Sanctum, Holy Queen Simona immediately hurried toward the Holy King Palace. She had to find a way to deal with this crisis.
The rest of them stopped in front of the carriages by unspoken agreement. Not a single person spoke.
In the end it was Letitia who broke the silence.
“Miss Gabriella.”
“Mm, is there something you need?”
“I would like to ask for your help.”
Letitia’s gaze did not shift onto her, as if she were hiding some emotion.
“If possible, please first accept my goodwill.”
She gave Roselyn a look. The latter understood at once and walked up to Gabriella.
“I would like to invite you, and everyone you know—whether friends or family—to live in Monastar. It is safer there, a pure land that evil gods cannot reach.
In exchange, until you make your decision… no, forever, I will have Roselyn serve as your personal guard and stay by your side. She is one of Monastar’s strongest warriors and is normally responsible for my safety. Please trust her.”
“Thank you for your kindness.”
Gabriella also gave a slight nod while glancing at the attendant girl Roselyn out of the corner of her eye.
Clearly she was a Heavenly Oracle Envoy.
“And you? Do you not intend to stay?”
“I must inform my trusted subordinates in Monastar of this crisis.”
Letitia gave Gabriella an apologetic expression.