Gospel of Blood

Charlotte was somewhat surprised.

It wasn’t the Harcos Clan’s Prophet’s friendly attitude toward her that surprised her, but rather the title they addressed her with.

Since her arrival, Charlotte had accumulated numerous titles, and the title that could be placed at the forefront was undoubtedly the one with the highest status.

“Saintess of the Creator God”…

Evidently, among Charlotte’s many identities, the Prophet of the Harcos Clan valued her identity within the Holy Court the most.

This was thought-provoking.

Although the world saw Charlotte as the Saintess of the Creator God, Charlotte knew the truth: her saintess identity was entirely fabricated, with many miracles being staged effects created through the divine ritual counter.

She might indeed have known “Harald”, but the “miracles” she had caused up to now were not under “Harald’s” protection.

While others might not be aware of this, the Harcos Clan, being bloodbornes, certainly knew she wasn’t a true saintess.

Charlotte knew this because, from Sigurd’s memories, she had learned that the Harcos Clan members had obtained intelligence about her before leaving the Sanctuary. This intelligence clearly identified her as a God’s favored one, not a true saintess.

But now…

Was this an intentional reminder of her false identity, or was there another meaning behind it?

“Your Excellency the Prophet, you must be joking. I’m merely a fortunate one under the Creator God’s favor, not a saintess. The so-called saintess title is merely a rumor.”

Charlotte replied.

Despite everything, the Bloodborne and the Holy Court were enemies.

Even if she deliberately let the saintess identity rumor spread outside, she needed to distance herself from the Holy Court when facing bloodbornes.

Look at those bloodbornes standing guard around the palace.

The moment the Prophet called her the “Saintess of the Creator God”, their expressions changed, becoming highly vigilant.

The Prophet didn’t refute Charlotte’s denial.

She looked at Charlotte meaningfully and smiled.

“Your Majesty Charlotte, Sophia has informed me of your assistance to our clan along the way. To express our gratitude, our clan has prepared a banquet in the Queen’s Palace.”

A bloodborne banquet?

Charlotte raised an eyebrow slightly.

In Myria, banquets were the main social method for nobles. If one wanted to establish connections with local nobles quickly, the best way was to attend a banquet hosted by the local lord.

The same was true for bloodbornes.

There was even a saying that the origin of banquets as a social tool among Myria nobles came from bloodbornes.

“The banquet in the Queen’s Palace will likely gather the high-ranking members of the Harcos Clan. This is also an opportunity for me to learn about the Harcos Clan and the Crimson Queen.”

Charlotte thought to herself.

After a brief consideration, she nodded and accepted the invitation.

Led by the Prophet of the Harcos Clan, Charlotte entered the side hall of the Queen’s Palace.

Upon entering the palace, Charlotte noticeably felt her mental probe being further suppressed, almost unable to leave her body.

At the same time, her bloodline’s throbbing grew stronger, and the Gospel of Blood deep within her consciousness shone brightly.

If Charlotte were not already the master of the Gospel of Blood, she might have doubted whether it would fly out and ravenously absorb the pervasive bloodline power in the palace.

Especially in the main hall of the Queen’s Palace, Charlotte felt the strongest attraction emanating from there.

Charlotte made a mental note of the main hall’s location without showing any change in her expression.

Simultaneously, she quietly circulated her blood divine power within her body, calming the restless Gospel of Blood, and used the divine power to enhance her mental strength, making it easier to sense and probe within the palace.

Like the Nez Clan, the Harcos Clan continued the luxurious lifestyle of bloodbornes.

Inside the palace, exquisite decorations and priceless jewels and artifacts were everywhere, surpassing even the Crescent Palace in extravagance.

When Charlotte arrived at the banquet hall, over a thousand bloodbornes were already waiting.

They wore splendid garments, adorned with ancient crests, and stood in the brightly lit palace, bowing to the Prophet and Charlotte in unison, making quite a grand scene.

This scene was far more impressive than what Charlotte had seen at the Nez Clan’s stronghold.

The Nez Clan, exhausted by the Star-Moon War, had a central castle that seemed rather shabby compared to the Harcos’ Queen’s Palace. Though there were more bloodbornes, their clothing was much simpler and “shabbier.”

The Harcos Clan, however, was completely different.

Such a lavish and grand scene far exceeded even the state banquets of the Crescent Kingdom.

However, despite the grandeur of the Harcos’ welcoming banquet, Charlotte noticed some subtle details.

The first point was the aura of the bloodbornes in the hall.

If Charlotte’s senses were still suppressed, that would be one thing. The restrictions in the Queen’s Palace were clearly at a Legendary level, making it difficult for even a Legendary to probe the states of others.

But Charlotte was a Demigod.

By quietly circulating her blood divine power, she could resist the suppression of the palace’s restrictions to a certain extent, maintaining her perception of the surroundings.

In her perception, although the thousand bloodbornes in the hall were dressed magnificently and had an air of nobility, their strength was… very underwhelming.

Apart from the Prophet being a Legendary, the entire palace had less than ten Bloodborne Counts, only two to three hundred Viscounts, and even only five to six hundred Barons. The rest were mere squire-level bloodbornes, there just to make up the numbers.

This level of strength, while formidable in the Starfall Kingdom as a major power, seemed too weak for one of the five major blood clans…

No, not just seemed.

It was indeed weak, even weaker than the Nez Clan!

Even without using the True Ancestor’s power, Charlotte could take down all the bloodbornes here, except the Prophet, with her own strength.

Were these the high-ranking members of the Harcos Clan? Their core strength?

Too weak!

Unconvinced, Charlotte focused her awareness, summoning the Crimson Star Sea for further confirmation, and was surprised to find that these bloodbornes corresponded to the stronger stars symbolizing the Harcos Clan within the Crimson Star Sea.

Evidently, the Harcos Clan… was genuinely weak.

Not only that, Charlotte also keenly sensed a faint hint of murderous intent from the majority of the bloodbornes.

Although they made an effort to conceal it, Charlotte could vaguely perceive that many of them were injured.

This piqued Charlotte’s curiosity even more.

She carefully observed the bloodbornes in the hall and quickly noticed more details.

How should she put it?

Even though these bloodbornes were dressed like nobles, when they started to move, Charlotte noticed that they seemed quite uncomfortable in their noble attire.

It seemed like they had only put on these clothes at the last minute.

Moreover, if one closely observed their expressions and movements, they appeared rather restrained, unlike the bloodbornes of the Nez Clan who were accustomed to frequenting banquets.

These bloodbornes… probably weren’t the ancient bloodbornes they appeared to be. Most of them seemed to be relatively young bloodbornes pretending to be ancient ones.

Charlotte made this judgment.

The more she observed, the more intrigued she became. However, she did not reveal this insight or probe further.

Charlotte took her seat, and the banquet soon began.

As usual, the Prophet spoke first, expressing gratitude to Charlotte.

Music started to play, and the hall was filled with clinking glasses and lively conversation.

As Charlotte looked at the array of dishes at the banquet, she once again fell into deep thought.

There was no other reason: the food at the Harcos banquet was different from that of the Nez Clan.

During her time subduing the Nez Clan, Charlotte had attended several of their banquets to stabilize morale under the guise of a “True Ancestor.”

At the Nez Clan’s banquets, drinks and food made from various extraordinary blood were everywhere, with blood being the main ingredient.

But the Harcos Clan…

If Charlotte didn’t know she was attending a bloodborne banquet, she might have thought it was a human noble’s banquet.

In the large banquet hall, apart from the low-concentration blood wine, there were no blood products in the dishes.

There were some extraordinary blood dishes prepared specifically for Charlotte, but they seemed to have been made in haste, likely just for her.

Clearly, as Charlotte had read in the memories, the Harcos Clan seemed to avoid drinking blood, apart from the blood wine they brewed.

This made Charlotte even more curious about the Harcos Clan.

She wanted to have further conversations with the bloodbornes at the banquet, to subtly gather some information. But what puzzled her even more was that, despite the social nature of the banquet, no bloodborne initiated a conversation with her.

All the bloodbornes who made eye contact with her first respectfully greeted her, and then… nothing more.

Weird.

Really weird.

If it were just one or two bloodbornes, it wouldn’t be notable.

But since all the Harcos Clan members were behaving this way, it was likely they had received orders not to engage with Charlotte.

Charlotte’s gaze eventually returned to the Prophet of the Harcos Clan.

“Your Excellency the Prophet, with the Divinity Descent Day approaching, I wish to visit Her Majesty the Crimson Queen, Rowena. Could you introduce me?”

She probed.

The Prophet sighed and, with a hint of apology, said,

“Your Majesty Charlotte, Her Majesty the Queen is in deep meditation and cannot receive visitors at the moment.”

“Could you tell me which Kirali lord your divine patron follows, so that I may convey your intentions to Her Majesty the Queen?”

Hmm?

Hmm—hmm hmm?!

A Kilari lord following the Creator God?!

What the heck!

Hearing the Prophet’s words, Charlotte was stunned, her mind going blank for a moment.

She never expected the Prophet of the Harcos Clan to link the Creator God with the Blood Royal Clan and speak of a royal bloodborne following the Creator God!

However, she quickly caught on and recalled many texts she had read.

Although there was no concrete evidence, and no bloodborne could confirm it, some texts did suggest that the Holy Court seemed entangled with the Royal Blood Clan.

For instance, in the “Song of the Blood Moon” Charlotte had read, the Creator God was even depicted as the Progenitor of the Royal Blood Clan!

At the time, Charlotte had been skeptical and had asked Albrecht and Yurst about it, but they had dismissed it.

Not long after, even Charlotte had put it out of her mind.

But now, hearing the Prophet of the Harcos Clan say this, she couldn’t help but entertain a seemingly absurd yet strangely plausible thought—

Could it be… that Harald really was the Progenitor of the Royal Blood Clan?

Could it be… that some elders of the Royal Blood Clan had indeed once joined the Holy Court?

And because of this, as a “Saintess” of the Creator God and a member of the “Royal Blood Clan”, she was referred to in such a manner by the Prophet of the Harcos Clan?

Charlotte felt she might have uncovered the truth.

But she still found it very odd.

If this were true, why didn’t Albrecht and the Nez bloodbornes know about it?

Or could it be… that this was a secret only known to the Harcos Clan?

Charlotte pondered for a moment, planning to probe further, when she suddenly sensed some energy fluctuations from the depths of the castle complex.

And then… she saw the Prophet of the Harcos Clan suddenly pause.

The elderly female Prophet furrowed her brow slightly, looked in a certain direction, and after a brief consideration, bowed to Charlotte.

“Your Majesty Charlotte, I apologize, but it seems there’s an urgent matter. Please allow me to leave for a moment to handle it.”

Charlotte’s heart stirred, and she said,

“Do you need… help?”

The Prophet smiled and shook her head.

“No need, please continue to enjoy your meal here. Sophia will accompany you in my stead.”

With that, she bowed to Charlotte and hurriedly left the banquet hall.

Charlotte keenly noticed that after the Prophet left, many bloodbornes in the hall also quietly followed.

She carefully sensed and then raised an eyebrow.

The bloodbornes leaving were all those in the hall who were of Viscount rank or higher, including all the Counts.

Charlotte quietly activated her blood divine power, spreading a wisp of her mental power and attaching it to one of the departing Blood Viscounts.

She “saw” these bloodbornes catching up with the Prophet of the Harcos Clan, forming a neat line, and heading towards the depths of the castle complex.

A dark red glow emanated from their bodies, and their luxurious clothes quickly disappeared, replaced by fully armed armor and black robes.

Charlotte paused slightly.

These bloodbornes were indeed not the ancient high-ranking bloodbornes.

They… should be the extraordinary army of the Harcos Clan.

In Charlotte’s perception, the Prophet led these most powerful bloodborne warriors toward the source of the agitation.

And as the wisp of mental power Charlotte attached to the bloodborne warrior approached the source of the agitation, she once again felt that familiar feeling—

It was the feeling of bloodline corruption, the same as when Sigurd mutated.