Ratlan Palace, Cardinal Council Meeting.

If the previous pause in support for the Saxon Family could be blamed on the whims of the Holy Daughter, then this joint questioning edict initiated by the Holy Roman Emperor and the Helensing Empire's two great emperors cannot be taken lightly.

In fact, some cardinals have expressed dissatisfaction with the Holy Daughter's indolence over the years, but since she's an extremely powerful demigod with a Pope for a brother and backed by the influential Lixini Family, ordinary criticism doesn't affect her standing.

Now, seizing a rare opportunity from her mistakes, these people are eager to give the Holy Daughter a hard time.

"That's right." Facing the cardinals' questioning, Nora calmly said, "He is indeed with me. By the way, I consider Princess Sofie's marriage to be invalid, so her accusing the Church of taking her husband is unreasonable."

"Currently, the issue isn't about reasonability," a cardinal said, "We can sanction the Divine Luo Empire or the Helensing Empire, but we cannot risk losing both empires' dioceses simultaneously. In fact, simply sanctioning either side often relies on the other to comply."

Other cardinals nodded in agreement. Aligning with Helensing to challenge the Divine Luo, or vice versa, has become a basic maneuver for the Church.

But you can't offend both at the same time! If you do, how are we supposed to play this game?

Honestly, although everyone assesses that at most, the other side will exert diplomatic pressure, but what if the two empires really unite to attack the Church...

The Church would be doomed, not due to military invasion, but due to an economic crisis caused by export embargoes and trade cessation, leading to financial collapse.

After all, Italy has been bleeding the continent's economy dry for years, living in this resource-rich and lavish lifestyle; a sudden stop would mean disaster. Even if the church internally agrees to push forward unilaterally, it's likely that the Lixini and Medici families of Italy would rebel.

The cardinals turned their attention to Pope Valian, asking how your sister, Lady Kapaxilin plans to respond. The Lixini Family's military products mainly sell to the Divine Luo Empire, right?

Now that your sister has wrecked the Divine Luo market, what does the Lixini Family intend?

Valian remained expressionless, merely holding his forehead, revealing a subtle expression.

This expression didn't escape the cardinals' eyes, and everyone instantly understood:

Of course, His Majesty the Holy Throne must have already spoken with the Holy Daughter, only to be directly rebuffed.

The Holy Daughter's stubbornness and self-will in these matters have long been public knowledge.

Like this time, everyone knows that if Aske is returned, the Church's crisis would be resolved, and the opposing alliance would immediately fracture as they fight over him, allowing the Church to profit from it...

The problem is, if the Holy Daughter doesn't nod, who has the capability to touch her man arbitrarily?

By the way, the fact that the Church's Holy Daughter privately keeps a man and the two empires openly expose it, with the Church among others in Italy choosing to turn a blind eye is quite an oddity.

The prime disadvantage of the high tide of Magical Power is this: no matter the political, economic, technological, or cultural advantages of your power, when faced with demigod-crushing strength, you have to bow.

Power rules.

Thus, while the cardinals grumbled, because of Nora's firm stance, the cardinal meeting abruptly ended on an unsatisfying note.

Nora returned angrily to the Lysine Building, only to find Aske sitting by the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing out with boredom.

The resolute Holy Daughter who just confronted the cardinals fiercely now seemed worried upon seeing the squad leader, showing an anxious expression.

Hence, she rushed over with big strides, wrapping her arms around Aske's neck to plant a sweet kiss, then seriously said:

"Darling, let's elope!"

Aske: ???

"Don't overthink it." He laughed while embracing Nora, "I just thought, it was only recently that the entire team was here, and now it's just you and me, a bit nostalgic."

"I see." Nora rested her head on his shoulder, "Actually, I have all their contacts. Should I invite them over for a reunion, have a meal, and keep you company at night?"

Aske was about to agree, but upon hearing her last sentence and spotting her playful expression, he immediately realized this was a dangerous question, and chuckled:

"Never mind. Everyone's a demigod; there'll be opportunities to meet again."

This answer was satisfactory, yet Nora still felt somewhat jealous, pouting as she said:

"Humph! So you planned this from the start? Get me and Ellie first, then target the remaining girls one by one, finally getting everyone on your bed?"

"Cough, what are you saying!" Aske hastily defended, "Don't make it seem like I'm acting like a stallion!"

"Before you clarify you're not a stallion, can you remove your hand from inside my clothes?" Nora said with a sly smile.

"Ahem, habit, my hands are cold." Aske replied with a forced smile.

"Sigh." Nora hugged him again, whispering, "I really want to trust you, Aske. But you're too unreliable. Ellie treated you so well, willing to become the world's enemy for you and abandon everything, yet you let me snatch you away so easily... I really can't trust you."

Aske: ???

Wait, Ellie and I agreed to meet you for a while! You're the one who disguised a helicopter as a house to trick me in, then forcibly flew away! Ultimately, aren't you too cunning?

Of course, with the sweet-scented and soft Nora in his arms now, he wasn't foolish enough to explain he was "just meeting her," only laughed awkwardly, skillfully diverting her attention with his massage technique to stop her dwelling on this matter.

Nora, body softening, couldn't maintain normal thought processes as Aske seized the chance to block her mouth, preventing any nonsense from being said.

Aachen.

Having received no response from the Church, Eleanor knew her friend wasn't planning to release him.

Sigrdrifa worriedly suggested Aske might be too severely tormented by her, such as having his limbs cut off, making it impossible to send him out.

Eleanor angrily rebuked Sigrdrifa's wicked thoughts, believing Nora was not such a brutal person... then she anxiously wished to fly straight to Solomon City.

Thus, the three demigods sent envoys, submitting entry requests to the Church.

Not waiting for any response, they began preparing to head south.

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