"I really didn't mean to call Archbishop Aishala by her full name. I just suddenly thought of Archbishop Aishala after I finished my shower!"
At ten o'clock in the evening, a laughable scene unfolded inside Syl's room.
Syl stood straight against the wall, balancing a scripture in each hand, with a thick holy bible of hope perched on her head, looking aggrievedly at Aishala, who was sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Two chances," Aishala said after swallowing the last bite of her bread, taking out a handkerchief to wipe her hands. "Gone."
"I was just worried that you, Archbishop, were always too bored being alone. Since I was bored by myself too, I thought I'd invite you over to chat, right..." Syl continued to quibble.
However, this part was actually true; Syl had almost never seen Archbishop Aishala speak with other bishops or members of the clergy. She seemed cold and distant to everyone.
But Syl could clearly sense that Aishala wasn't actually that kind of cold person.
"By the way, Divine Art," Aishala said, ignoring what Syl had said and looking at her seriously. "Time, wasted."
"Are you a devil..." Of course, Syl only dared to say this in her heart.
Syl still obediently followed Aishala's instructions, standing in punishment while balancing the holy bible of hope on her head, while both her hands began to glow with the light of the Hand of Redemption.
"Archbishop Aishala."
Just as Aishala lowered her head to look at the book in her hands, Syl suddenly called out to her, drawing her attention.
Seeing that Syl still had plenty of mental energy, Aishala said flatly, "Speaking, prohibited. Focus."
It looked like she was determined to make Syl stand in punishment and practice Divine Art until she fell asleep, just like training a student at the Monastery, with no sense that she was treating Syl as a Saintess at all.
However, Syl did not give up.
Syl looked at Aishala, parting her vermilion lips slightly. She stuck out her delicate pink tongue and licked her upper lip in a circle. The saliva remaining on her lips glistened under the candlelight, making them appear even more vibrant.
Aishala's brows furrowed slightly, and she tilted her head to the right, seemingly waiting for Syl to provide a reasonable explanation for her actions.
"Reoreoreoreoreoreo~" Syl began to nimbly lick her upper lip with her tongue.
Aishala: "?"
Aishala raised her hand, and pale golden runes appeared out of thin air in her palm, shining with a golden light.
"Don't silence me, don't silence me." Syl, clearly having suffered from the loss of speaking privileges earlier, quickly explained, "Archbishop Aishala, I just wanted to remind you that there is cream on your lips. Aren't you the one who told me not to speak..."
"...Hmm." Aishala was silent for a moment before taking out her handkerchief and wiping her mouth. Sure enough, there was a bit of white cream left on her lips.
Seeing that the cream on Aishala's lips was gone, Syl, who had mild OCD, finally felt comfortable. She let out a soft sigh of relief, then closed her eyes and began to focus on unleashing her Hand of Redemption.
Not long after, she seemed to hear soft footsteps. When she opened her eyes, she saw Archbishop Aishala closing the book in her hands and walking over to her.
She reached out her right hand, stood on tiptoes, leaned her body slightly forward, and stretched out her small hand to take the holy bible of hope off Syl's head. They were extremely close; Syl could even smell the faint milky scent on Aishala.
Feeling the weight on her head decrease, Syl felt warm inside and couldn't help but think.
"Archbishop Aishala really is a good person. As long as I help her, she will definitely give me a re..."
Before Syl could finish her mental fantasy, the weight on her head returned.
Syl saw her take the holy bible of hope off her head, then stand on tiptoes and place the book she had been reading onto Syl's head instead.
Syl: "?"
Are you using me as a bookshelf?
Watching Aishala return to the edge of the bed and piously flip through the holy bible of hope, Syl's mouth twitched. She felt like she had been outplayed.
"Nice move, though a bit rotten. Next time I'll come up with something better." Syl had already started thinking about her next plan.
The candlelight flickered, and the faint glow of the Hand of Redemption continued to shine. As time passed, Syl's mind gradually grew weary, and the scriptures in her hands began to wobble.
Just as Syl's hand trembled slightly, Aishala closed the holy bible of hope and walked to Syl's side: "End."
It seemed that Aishala was just using reading the holy bible of hope as a pretext, while actually observing Syl's physical condition the whole time.
Feeling relieved, Syl reached up to take the book off her head, placed it on the table to the side, and rubbed her sore arms.
I know I was wrong, but I'll do it again next time.
Aishala extended her right hand, cast a small golden shield on Syl again, and then said: "Rest, wake up early."
"Okay," Syl nodded. "Good night, Archbishop Aishala."
Watching Syl wobble to the edge of the bed and flop onto it, Aishala, who was watching from behind, pursed her lips and then turned and left.
After walking out of Syl's room and closing the door, Aishala leaned her back against it. For some reason, she felt a slight sense of emptiness in her heart.
Aishala extended her right hand and grasped at the void in front of her. The next instant, she appeared in her own room.
The dim candlelight flickered gently with the evening breeze, illuminating everything in the room.
The furnishings in the room looked older than those in Syl's room; the furniture seemed like antiques that had been kept for who knows how many years.
Aishala slowly walked to the desk and sat down. On the desk lay an unfinished letter.
After thinking for a moment, Aishala crumpled the letter into a ball, tossed it into the wastebasket, took out a fresh sheet of paper, and began to write on it.
"I won't go into too much detail about the matters at the border, Sister."
"I want to talk to you about something else more interesting, or rather, a rather interesting little girl."
"She looks serious on the outside, but she loves to make mischief on the inside. She wasted the [Divine Protection] I constructed twice, just because she was bored and wanted to play with me... She really is just a child."
When writing this, the corners of Aishala's mouth curled up just a tiny bit, a curve so slight that even Leeuwenhoek wouldn't be able to spot it.
"Even though she suddenly obtained supreme power, she still treats everyone equally. Anyone who spends time with her feels like they are surrounded by the fresh fragrance of the forest, quiet and comfortable."
"Just like you, Sister."
"Originally, I had lost all longing for my long life, and had even stayed in the frontier desert for so long that I forgot how to speak. But her appearance seemed to let me see hope, and gave me the courage to continue searching for a way to ascend, as if she were an angel sent by the goddess of hope from Her Divine Realm. By the way, she is the Saintess of Hope."
"Just like you, Sister."
Writing to this point, the fountain pen in Aishala's hand stopped, and the accumulated ink at the nib stained a pitch-black spot on the letter paper.
"I will find a way to ascend, become an angel by the goddess's side, and reunite with you in Her Divine Realm. May the goddess bless you."
After finishing, Aishala put the pen aside, performed the Greeting of the Church of the Goddess of Hope, then reached out to take the letter, held it into the candlelight, and watched it turn into ashes and scatter in the flames.