The Hypocritical Holy Knight 108 Part 1

"With pleasure," Ambrose said, turning his gaze back to him, his deep blue eyes falling on his calm face. "However, please allow me to make some final arrangements with the knights."

He loosened his grip on the knight's coat, his entire body shivering slightly from the cold as he retreated into the oversized coat, his pale lips parting slightly. "Please go ahead."

Ambrose turned and walked a few steps, briefly and quietly instructing a knight wearing a silver and white interwoven knight's uniform about some shift rotation matters. The knight had a very resolute and solemn face, and judging by his uniform, he should be one of the twelve Iron Cavalry Captains of the Holy Knights.

During Ambrose's conversation with him, the Iron Cavalry Captain's gaze inadvertently swept over his face.

It was by no means a gaze that could be called friendly.

— Actually, it was understandable.

With the relationship between the Church of Light and the Holy Knights being so cold, it was really presumptuous of him, a powerless Holy Son, to brazenly ask the Holy Knight Commander to escort him back to his bedchamber like a servant.

Because Cecil had always been devoted to serving the Goddess of Light like a zealous believer, his relationship with these Holy Knights could only be described as ordinary at best. Now that he had done something so "disrespectful", one could imagine how awkward his situation would be when he turned eighteen and chose his contract knight.

In the long-standing tradition of the Church of Light, the Holy Son would choose his contract knight at the coming-of-age ceremony and complete the contract with this knight. Of course, to avoid certain awkward situations, the Holy Son would usually reach an agreement in advance with the Holy Knight he had his eye on to ensure the smooth progress of the coming-of-age ceremony.

Under normal circumstances, each generation of Holy Sons could always find a Holy Knight willing to contract with them - even if it wasn't the one they originally intended. But there were occasional situations where the Holy Son's poor words and deeds brought the disdain of the entire Holy Knights, resulting in no Holy Knight being willing to be his contract knight, and the contract knight segment in the coming-of-age ceremony had to be forcibly cancelled.

The Holy Son who set that record was the first generation Holy Son after the bidirectional selection rule began to be implemented. At that time, the Church of Light was still accustomed to the unidirectional selection model and tried to ignore the new rules. It just so happened that the Holy Son himself had a very unpleasant temperament and was very contemptuous of the Holy Knights, so he was collectively slapped in the face by the Holy Knights, resulting in such an awkward situation.

Since then, the Holy Sons of each generation learned their lesson. Although they didn't go so far as to deliberately curry favor with the Holy Knights, they also tried their best to avoid making enemies with them.

However, He Yan didn't care much about these things. In the original trajectory, Cecil successfully had his own contract knight, but in the end, wasn't he still used to death by the Pope?

Although the strength of the Holy Knights was indeed very strong, the only one in the entire Holy Knights who could be compared to the Pope was Ambrose alone. The rest of the Holy Knights, no matter how many came, were just a drop in the bucket and couldn't provide any substantive help to his current predicament.

So his main task now was not to strive to gain the favor of the Holy Knights, but to win over Ambrose.

It would be best if this Knight Commander was his reincarnated lover. If not, he couldn't easily give up on Ambrose either.

The biggest chip he held now was knowing some things that hadn't happened in the future. If used properly, he could exchange these with the elves for a chance to purify in the Elven Holy Pool.

This was the most feasible method he could think of. Even if Ambrose's temperament was fickle and making a deal with him would likely cost him his life, he could only grit his teeth and do it.

After Ambrose finished giving instructions, he returned to his side and said to him in a low voice with the deep timbre unique to adult males, "Your Highness Cecil, sorry to keep you waiting. Please come with me."

The Holy Knight Commander's voice was low and charmingly hoarse, like a gentle and enticing feather, casually teasing the tip of one's heart. If it was a noble young lady full of girlish feelings standing in front of him now, she would have definitely blushed shyly, her heart fluttering for him.

However, the one in front of him now was a Holy Son of Light who was indifferent to everything except the Goddess of Light, so of course he couldn't be won over by Ambrose's charm. He Yan just maintained Cecil's frigid face and nodded reservedly at the Holy Knight Commander.

Ambrose was not a talkative person. On the way to escort him back to his bedchamber, he still adhered to the knight's code of conduct and remained silent throughout the journey.

After being scolded mercilessly by him, the attendants also tiptoed behind them with their heads lowered, not daring to make a sound.

For a moment, the atmosphere was very quiet.

To show respect to the Holy Son, even though Ambrose was slightly higher in rank than him, he still walked side by side with him.

The night breeze blew, carrying a small white flower to his shoulder, onto a thin white knight's inner garment.

It was a strange four-petaled flower, with one pair of petals short and pointed, and the other pair very slender and slightly upturned at the top, just like a pair of beautifully shaped wings. The overall shape was like a small, exquisite bird about to take flight. Coupled with its pure white sacred color, it resembled the immortal bird carrying the seed of light on the shoulder of the Goddess of Light in the mythical scrolls of the Delan Continent. Therefore, it was called the "Flower of Light" and also known as the "Flower of Immortality".

The Church of Light was full of these flowering trees everywhere. It was now their blooming period, and the white flowers were like countless immortal birds singing towards the light, adorning the trees.

These flowers were always abundant and dense, yet extremely fragile, easily carried away by the breeze from the trees. Even though the servants of the church tirelessly swept again and again, white petals blown by the wind could still be seen everywhere on the ground.

Noticing He Yan's brief gaze on his shoulder, Ambrose took the initiative to break the silence.

He raised his left hand, which was wearing a white glove, brushing the white flower that had fallen on his shoulder to the ground. His deep blue eyes calmly glanced at him and stated in an extremely ordinary tone, "The Flowers of Light have bloomed."

He Yan fell silent for a moment, eventually nodding in agreement with a soft "hmm."

Then he noticed, perhaps by coincidence, that the flower of light had been knocked off and happened to be stepped on by Ambrose's knight boots, which emitted a cold, hard glow. When the boot moved away, one could clearly see that the originally vibrant and dazzling flower had been crushed into pieces by the sole, with transparent juice falling to the ground, emitting a faint glow under the illumination of low-level light magic.

It was like the dying afterglow of light struggling before the arrival of darkness.

Finally, Ambrose escorted him to the door of the bedchamber, then reached out to take the coat draped over him, politely bidding farewell, "Sweet dreams, Lord Cecil."

He Yan also politely returned the gesture, "Sweet dreams to you too, Lord Ambrose, and thank you for your escort tonight."

The corners of Ambrose's mouth curved slightly, revealing a faint smile that was not obvious. "It's my honor."

He wasn't sure if it was his illusion, but in the instant Ambrose turned to leave, he seemed to catch a fleeting glimpse of an ominous dark red glow in the man's pupils, like a ghostly fire.

*

The brief conversation that night on Advent Day seemed to have been forgotten by both parties simultaneously.

Due to the busy affairs of the Holy Knights' Commander, Ambrose actually did not appear frequently in the Holy See. Meanwhile, in order to maintain Cecil's persona, He Yan only quietly prayed in specific places within the Holy See. Even though he was a bit anxious, the two unfortunately never crossed paths again.

Before long, He Yan received a new mission from the Pope.

If nothing unexpected happened, this would be his last external mission before coming of age.

"My child," the Pope summoned him, his gaze falling upon him with a hint of loving kindness in those deep gray eyes. "This is not a very difficult mission. I believe with your abilities, you will surely resolve this matter before the 20th of next month and return to the Holy See in time for me to personally preside over your coming-of-age ceremony."

The Pope's words were indeed correct. Compared to previous missions, the one assigned to Cecil this time could indeed be considered quite simple.

In a small city on the outskirts of the Delan Empire, a rampaging demon beast had appeared, taking the lives of five innocent civilians and injuring over a dozen others.

He Yan's mission this time was to bring two Cardinals and three holy knights to cooperate with the local Church of Light in treating the injured civilians, then track down and slay the troublemaking beast.

According to intelligence from the local church, the beast's strength was not high, at least three levels lower than his own. If not for the low level and lack of manpower of the local Church of Light, they could have dealt with it themselves.

Truthfully, having him, the Holy Son of Light, take action against a beast of this level was indeed a bit of an overreaction.

However, He Yan understood the Pope's purpose in arranging it this way. Faith did not come easily with a casual wave of the hand. As the "image ambassador" of the Church of Light, he had to occasionally perform missions of "rescuing the people from peril" in order to win over the masses, deepen their goodwill towards the church, and thereby gain their devout faith.

The Church of Light had teleportation arrays set up in several major cities of the Delan Empire. They first used the array in Syphir to reach the nearest big city, then traveled by carriage. In the end, it only took them three days to arrive at the small town called "Simi" from Syphir.

News of the impending arrival of the Holy Son had reached here three days in advance. The residents of the small town, who had been plagued by the beast, were all overjoyed. On the day of He Yan's arrival, he was greeted with extreme enthusiasm.

Simi was an economically backward small town. Most of the people living here were the elderly, women, and children. The able-bodied men had all gone to more developed cities to earn a living, returning only a few times a year. The Church of Light built here was also of the lowest level, and the armed forces of the entire town ranked near the bottom nationwide.

This was why a low-level demon beast could so easily cause such great damage here.

When he stepped down from the carriage emblazoned with the glorious emblem of the central church, what he saw were faces etched with poverty, frailty, and hope.

To show respect for the central church and the Holy Son, except for the dozen or so wounded by the beast, all the people of Simi Town had gathered here today.

Seeing him descend from the carriage, the somewhat noisy crowd instantly fell silent, almost eerily quiet.

In the silence, a weak and childish voice abruptly spoke up.

"Mama, is that His Holiness the Holy Son?"

Before the person he asked could answer, the voice quickly continued, "He's so pretty..."

That statement was indeed correct.

This Holy Son, whom they had only heard of in legends, had skin as fair as the flower of light, with delicate and sacred features. His jet-black eyes evoked thoughts of precious black crystals, his lips a light color. Hair as black as his eyes smoothly draped down his back, falling upon his white and gold interwoven bishop's robe, displaying an inviolable nobility.