Be quiet.

There was silence.

When Charlotte looked at the old priest in front of her and said shyly that her heart belonged, the whole banquet fell into an eerie silence.

"You, you, you...... Castre! Do you know what you're talking about! ”

"That's a priest! Still a bad old man! ”

"Are you crazy!?"

A young male aristocrat's eyes widened and he couldn't help but shout.

Hearing his words, the girl's eyes also widened, her blue and pure blue eyes were full of doubt and incredulity, and her slightly red cheeks were faintly ashamed:

"Your Excellency Jordan...... What are you talking about? What a faux pas! ”

After speaking, Charlotte looked ahead again, her hands folded, her expression was pious and pure, and her soft and delicate voice was full of the most simple yearning and fanaticism:

"I mean, my heart already belongs to the great god, to the supreme holy......"

Seeing the girl cast her gaze at her again, Raoult's eyes twitched.

However, when his afterglow swept to the wall behind him, his heart suddenly moved slightly, and he hurriedly gave way to the side quietly.

Charlotte's gaze didn't change.

When the nobles followed the girl's line of sight carefully, they found that where she was looking at the old priest Raoult, it was clearly the mural behind Raoult!

More precisely, it is a religious ornament depicting Lord Harald creating a new world after the Flood of Destruction.

The young nobleman who drank the girl was stunned for a moment, and his face turned red instantly, and he was eager to find a crack in the ground to get into.

Charlotte, on the other hand, drew a standard ring cross on her chest, and recalled with a happy and reverent expression:

"I was really frightened and terrified when it happened to me that night...... and despair......"

"It was the knights of the Church who rescued me and brought light to me in the darkness."

"When I was in the mission hospital, Mistress Raoul and Mistress Lottie would talk to me every day."

"In the process of communicating with them, I was deeply aware of the greatness and sacredness of the Divine ......."

"I want to ...... The Castels must have committed so many unforgivable crimes that I, as the heir, must have suffered such terrible calamities. ”

"Yet, even so, God is still willing to forgive me, God is still willing to accept me, God is still willing to save me......"

"After I was discharged from the hospital, I had in-depth exchanges with the priests every day to discuss the teachings of my lord."

"And as I got deeper, I felt more and more the majesty of my Lord, and the vastness of the divine radiance......"

"Since then, the world of black and white has had new colors, I have seen the light, I have seen the future, I have seen my true home......"

"My heart ...... It has long been returned to the great sacred. ”

As she spoke, the girl leaned over slightly, and respectfully bowed to the god Harald on the mural, and her immature voice was extremely reverent, full of sincere gratitude:

"Praise...... Sacred! ”

The light of the crystal lamp shone on her body, dreamy.

The beautiful girl in the white dress has a reverent face, like an earthly angel saluting the gods.

Seeing this holy scene, the priests were also touched, and their faces reminisced, as if they remembered the first time they worshiped under the light of the gods, the kind of heartfelt yearning and awe, piety and fanaticism.

The old archpriest sighed slightly, and he also stretched out his hand and drew a ring cross on his chest:

"Praise...... Sacred. ”

The priests also sketched the holy emblem one after another, and their voices were pious and firm:

"Praise...... Sacred! ”

The nobles were silent.

Looking at the priest who showed his memories under the girl's touch, looking at the girl's pure and immaculate eyes and happy and satisfied smile, although he felt extremely ridiculous, many people still couldn't help but have a thought:

She...... Seriously!

And more nobles who have been paying attention to the girl who has experienced the blood demon case of Castel Manor are even more contemplative.

Because they did find a lot of details after recalling.

After being rescued, Charlotte has indeed been quite enthusiastic about the activities of the church, attending all kinds of services and various religious services throughout the church every day.

Even after returning home, she would still spend a lot of money to invite the priest to the manor......

These things are not secrets, as long as you have the heart, you can find out.

Duke Boulder frowned slightly.

He glanced at the nobles in the audience, and an old earl suddenly understood, stepped forward, and looked at the praying girl with a serious expression:

"Miss Castel, are you serious?"

"Please don't forget that you are the heir of Castel, and if you choose to join the church and become a priest, you will become a monk, and you will not be able to marry or inherit the land."

"That means you're going to give up your inheritance!"

Listening to the old earl's words, Charlotte smiled slightly and saluted gracefully:

"Lord Gaston, thank you for the reminder."

"It is true that I intend to join the Church, and it is true that I intend to give everything to the holy, but I have not forgotten my obligation to be a member of the Castel family."

The old earl frowned:

"You mean you want to be a noble priest who doesn't hold a substantive position in the church?"

"But with all due respect, noble priests can also get married, and that's not a reason for you to reject the Duke."

Listening to the Count's words, Charlotte apologized:

"I'm sorry, Lord Earl, but I didn't make it clear."

"I say that I will give everything I have to my great lord, not only myself, but also the territory I am about to inherit."

"As we all know, although the Grand Duchy of the North has successfully expelled the orc tribes, the whole country is still in a state of confusion and needs our lord to bring light to them."

"But in the north, our lord has always lacked sufficient strength."

"I want to contribute to my lord."

"I'm a member of Castel, so I have to take on the responsibility of inheriting the family."

"But in the same way, in order to be able to give everything to my master, I will not choose to marry in the future."

"I will live for my lords in my limited life, be loyal to my lord, be a loyal vassal, and fulfill the duties and obligations of Castel."

"At the same time, I will also fulfill the responsibility of a holy believer to spread the glory of my Lord to the north as much as possible!"

"I promise that when I return to the kingdom of my Lord in the future, I will give everything to the Lord, and the holy banner will replace the eagle banner and fly over Castre!"

Listening to the girl's words, the nobles in the hall changed their faces in unison.

"What do you mean...... You're going to dedicate Castel's domain to the Church?! ”

"Impossible! It's absolutely impossible! Public...... His Majesty will never agree! This is contrary to the Holy Law! ”

The old earl said angrily.

The other nobles also chimed in, either scolding, or insulting, or accusing, and they all said the same thing, that is, what the girl wanted to do was illegal and unacceptable.

It wasn't until an old voice sounded that everyone quieted down:

"Why...... Can't be? ”

It was the High Priest who spoke.

The old man, who had always had a kind smile and was the highest priest of the Duchy of Boulder, put away his smile for the first time.

He glanced lightly at the angry nobleman, and said slowly:

"The Holy Law does stipulate that the Church cannot encroach on the land of the nobility."

"But there is no rule that devout believers cannot give their land to the church."

"What's more, that is a matter of the future, even if the church obtains the land, it is only to establish a theocratic domain, and it is not to be taken into the center of the royal court and become part of the clerical state."

"The theocracy is still loyal to the lord, and it is still part of the principality, and even part of the kingdom."

"Have you forgotten? Of the twelve principalities under the jurisdiction of the Crescent Kingdom, three are theocratic dukes. ”

The Grand Priest's voice was soft and calm.

The angry aristocrats, on the other hand, fell into silence en masse.

Moreover, as a pole of the secular world of Miria, the Church naturally owns land.

Perhaps the gods don't care about the earthly land, only the faith, but the priests who spread the light of the gods do.

The priest also has to eat, the priest's preaching also has to have funds, the priest is also a human being, and a human being has his own desires.

It was in this environment that the clerical state and the theocracy were born.

Among them, the clerical state is located in the east of West Yunette, and was established under the support of Charlemagne I, the founding emperor of the First Empire of Yunet, and the entire country is ruled entirely by the Holy Court from top to bottom, with the Chief High Priest of the Holy Court as the leader of the state.

At the same time, it is also the center of the Sacred Court.

Theocracy, on the other hand, is a special form of vassalage, also known as religious vassalage by the nobility, and is mostly set up by state rulers to gain the support of the church.

The lords of the theocracy are not nobles, but priests, and depending on the size of the territory, they are often called the priests or parish priests, and are mostly appointed by the church.

In the world of Miria, it is not uncommon for theocracies to be located in secular countries, and the rulers are almost always priests appointed by the Holy Court, but at the same time they are loyal to the secular lords.

Except that the ruler was a priest, half of the indentured tax was handed over to the clergy, and the conscription limit for the liege was halved, they were not much different from other noble vassals, and because of the provisions of the Holy Code, the theocracy would not participate in the wars of the secular lords, nor would they actively expand.

Incidentally, there were also nobility under the theocracy.

However, unless they were given the power to appoint religious vassals, the vast majority of rulers in secular states did not like theocracy, not only because the theocracy paid half less taxes and provided half the conscripts, but also because the theocracy's command was controlled by the clerical state, resulting in the monarch lacking sufficient control over the theocracy, let alone by conventional means like recovering the noble fiefdoms.

The struggle between the kingship and the divine power in the Miria world is often fought around the divine power.

It is precisely because of this that when it comes to the affairs of the divine power, the sacred royal court, which has always been salted fish, will immediately rise up and not give an inch.

At this moment, the nobles were completely silent.

Their eyes fell on the holy maiden, and for a moment they were not sure whether the other party had really become a fanatical saint or had just used the church as a shield......

"Okay, let's continue the banquet, these are all things for later, today's protagonists are our Duke and Lord Leno, and the old man has not given a sacrament to Lord Leno."

The Grand Priest smiled slightly and said gently.

The sacrament is a sacred ritual that every nobleman must go through when he or she becomes an adult, representing the recognition of the nobility by the gods.

For illegitimate children, it also represents the legalization of official status.

Looking at the smiling archpriest, the old duke's face became ugly for the first time.