In an instant, the young nun lost her composure.
It seemed like an instinctive fear of a witch’s identity.
The moment she saw the chains had been removed, her body shuddered with primal dread.
Those chains were not only capable of suppressing a witch’s mana, but they were also a means of binding them.
Now that the chains were gone, the nun realized the girl should have just been an unawakened witch.
She shouldn’t have had the power to remove them herself.
Terrified, the nun took two steps back and frantically pulled a Sacred Tool from behind her back.
A Sacred Tool was a weapon formed through a blessing, and it was the only weapon capable of resisting a witch’s mana.
While it wasn’t particularly useful for those of a High Order, it gave ordinary people or Low Order nuns a means of self-defense.
At that moment, the young nun was trembling as she aimed the Sacred Tool at Bai Shuang, looking as if she might unleash its power at any second.
Bai Shuang looked at the pale gold candlestick in the other woman’s hand and tilted her head in confusion.
In some ways, the appearance of a Sacred Tool didn’t look like a weapon at all.
They often resembled everyday items, but one would suffer greatly for looking down on a Sacred Tool just because of its appearance.
“My Lady, please step back! This witch… I’ll… I…”
Even with the Sacred Tool in hand, the young nun’s body continued to tremble slightly in the face of a witch.
Bai Shuang wasn’t surprised by the hostility.
After all, the gentle way the nun had treated her earlier was what had actually been abnormal.
“It’s alright. There’s no need to panic. I’m the one who unlocked the chains, and I’m perfectly fine, aren’t I?”
The Sacred Tool was already aimed at Bai Shuang, but a pale black figure stepped in front of her, blocking the space between the two.
The young nun had been on the verge of activating the Sacred Tool’s power, but seeing the other woman block her path, she forcibly suppressed the energy within her body.
With a hint of confusion, she asked Zhou Qingqing why she was doing this.
She couldn’t understand why a Central Nun would stop her from taking down the witch in front of them.
“My… My Lady, are you protecting this witch?!”
Central Nuns held the highest authority beneath the twelve Bishops.
They were typically assigned to human territories governed by the Holy See to preside over specific cathedrals.
Every cathedral would have a Central Nun stationed there, and almost every Central Nun belonged to a Middle Order existence.
Order could be divided into nine ranks.
However, it could also be divided into three levels: the first to third Order were High Order, and the fourth to sixth Order were Middle Order.
While every Central Nun was supposed to be a Middle Order existence, Zhou Qingqing had attained the position despite being only a Low Order.
Although it was hard to believe, no one ever questioned the Saintess’s decision.
Facing the young nun’s doubt and questioning, Zhou Qingqing didn’t panic at all.
With a slight smile, she reached out and slowly pressed her finger against the young nun’s soft lips.
“Shhh. There’s no need to panic. I’m just doing something quite ordinary.”
“Eh?!”
The young nun didn’t react much to the words themselves.
Instead, the moment she felt the finger touch her, her entire body reacted as if she’d been struck by lightning.
The finger of the Central Nun had actually touched her lips.
Her face turned bright red instantly, and her body began to tremble even more violently than before.
‘Oh! She… she actually touched me! Master Central Nun’s finger touched my lips!’
The young nun had been terrified of the witch’s presence just a moment ago, but the moment she was touched, her face flushed crimson.
She became incoherent as her mind raced, and her heart began to beat uncontrollably.
“Don’t worry, I’m not doing this to make things difficult for you. You can report today’s events exactly as they happened.”
“Moreover, I will also be writing a report of my own. When that time comes…”
Zhou Qingqing continued to explain patiently, wanting to give her reasons.
Finding an excuse wasn’t difficult, even though the Holy See was extremely hostile toward witches.
There was still room to maneuver.
Since Bai Shuang was an unawakened witch, they had only detected a flow of mana.
The Holy See had no way of being one hundred percent certain that she would turn into a witch.
As a Central Nun, she naturally held some authority.
Zhou Qingqing wanted to continue speaking, but when she turned her head, she was surprised by what she saw.
The young nun who had been standing before her just moments ago was now slumped weakly on the floor.
Her face wore a mysterious blush, and she had dropped the Sacred Tool to the side.
She was covering her mouth like a shy young girl.
Seeing this, Zhou Qingqing was stunned.
She hadn’t realized what had happened.
The explanation she had prepared died in her throat, replaced by a concerned inquiry.
“Um, are you alright?”
“Ngh…”
Zhou Qingqing squatted down out of concern, reaching out to help her up.
However, the young nun shrank back toward the corner like a startled cat.
“Wait! Wait, My Lady! My Lady, please don’t touch me!!”
“Huh?!”
Hearing those words, Zhou Qingqing’s hand froze in midair.
As the young nun leaned against the wall behind her, a thin trail of bright red blood began to flow slowly from her nose.
Zhou Qingqing stared blankly at her. She hadn’t done anything, so why was the girl having a nosebleed?
“Master Nun… whatever you intend to do… I have no right to question it…”
“To avoid looking directly at you, I’ve already covered my eyes. If you touch me again… I won’t be able to take it…”
Hearing this and seeing the girl huddled in the corner with a red face, Zhou Qingqing felt it was rather novel.
The young nun was wearing a black eye veil.
At first, she thought it was just a unique decoration, but now that she thought about it, the nun who had come to report the witch’s arrival earlier had also been wearing a similar veil.
In her memory, there was no such accessory in the game.
There was a character among the twelve Bishops who kept her eyes covered, but that was because of a divine technique that made her eyes unsightly.
Her white veil wasn’t for decoration, but to hide her soulless eyes.
Yet, ever since she had transmigrated here, it seemed all the nuns in her cathedral wore eye veils.
‘Is it because of me?’
Though curious about the issue, Zhou Qingqing had more important matters to handle.
The young nun sat to the side and patted her cheeks, letting the blush fade before letting out a long sigh to calm her racing heart.
Seeing this, Zhou Qingqing spoke up again.
“Although Miss Bai Shuang has shown traces of mana flow, she cannot be considered a witch in the true sense of the word yet.”
“Therefore, I want to conduct an experiment. An experiment on the controllability of a witch.”
As she spoke, Zhou Qingqing slowly stood up.
Under the young nun’s watchful gaze, she walked over to Bai Shuang, who had been branded with the title of a witch.
She placed her hands on the girl’s shoulders and offered a gentle smile.
Upon hearing those words, the young nun looked confused.
She didn’t seem to understand what Zhou Qingqing meant by a “controllability experiment.”
“My Lady, you…”
“What I mean is… what kind of results would we get if we controlled a witch before she fully becomes one?”