49: Chapter 49 The Priest's Heart Shattered! Speculation on the Ice Lake City Massacre!

Gino City, Dawn Cathedral.

After the visit to Snow Velvet Manor, Aria returned to the cathedral, her mood unable to settle for a long time.

What happened in that bedroom replayed in her mind, leaving her feeling inexplicably dazed.

"Legal partner..." The term surfaced in her heart with unprecedented clarity for the first time.

It was not a prayer from a believer to a priestess, but a connection between equal individuals.

The doctrines of the Church of Dawn allowed, and even encouraged to a certain extent, clergy to have devoted marriages, viewing them as a testament to the Goddess's blessing.

Although her family had expectations for her marriage, it was not entirely impossible to negotiate...

Once this thought took root, it began to twine and grow like a vine.

She pondered for a long time, and in her ice-blue eyes, the confusion gradually turned into a clear, resolute chill.

She needed to know more—everything about Rowan.

Thus, Aria exercised her authority as a core member of the Windsor Family.

Instructions were sent through hidden channels, targeting the most detailed information possible on Baron Rowan of the White Cliff Territory, especially regarding his family situation.

During the wait, her mood was subtly unprecedented.

She was occasionally distracted while handling church affairs, and even during prayers, it seemed difficult to fully immerse herself as usual.

Various images and feelings kept intruding into her mind inadvertently.

Soon, a compiled parchment dossier was silently placed on her desk.

Aria felt a rare trace of nervousness.

She held her breath, picked up the dossier, and slowly unfolded it.

Her gaze quickly swept over the beginning:

The basic situation of the White Cliff Territory, the time when Rowan inherited his title, the barrenness and remoteness of the territory...

These largely matched what she had guessed.

However, when her gaze fell on the "Family Members and Main Relationships" column,

An invisible ice pick pierced her heart unexpectedly...

"Seven existing children, all residing at White Cliff Castle."

"Eldest daughter Mia, second son Aidan, third son Finn, aged about three; fourth daughter Maeve, fifth son Kaelen, sixth daughter Aileen, seventh daughter Vera, aged about one..."

"It is reported that the mother of the children is suspected to be a mage with a mysterious identity who lived with Rowan at White Cliff Castle for three years and left about a year ago, destination unknown."

"Buzz—" Aria felt a roar in her mind, and her fingers gripping the dossier tightened abruptly.

She stared fixedly at those lines, as if wanting to freeze them.

Seven children...

A wife who was a mysterious mage...

So... that was it...

He was already a father of seven children and had lived with another woman...

A wave of shock, absurdity, loss, and even a sting of being fooled instantly crushed all the softness and palpitations that had been growing in her heart these days.

The color drained from Aria's face.

She should have thought of it earlier!

How could such a handsome and outstanding young nobleman have no past? She just didn't know why she had subconsciously ignored this possibility...

"Even if... the doctrines of the Church of Dawn allow it, the Windsor Family... absolutely would not!"

She whispered to herself with a hint of self-mocking coldness.

Her family might tolerate her choosing a young nobleman with a slightly inferior background but good potential.

But they would never accept a frontier baron who already had seven offspring and a mother of mysterious identity as her partner.

This was not about feelings; it was about bloodlines, interests, and face.

More importantly... what about herself?

Could she accept it?

She didn't know...

Aria's bright eyes slowly closed, and her long, dense eyelashes cast fragile shadows on her soft cheeks.

After a long while, she opened her eyes again, all the ripples in her eyes having been forcibly suppressed, frozen, and turned into a pool of bottomless cold ice.

Out of sight, out of mind.

She closed the dossier, didn't look at it again, put it into the bottom drawer of her desk, and locked it.

Since she didn't know how to face it, she would no longer face it!

She needed to finish the priestess's work and devote all her attention to the pending church affairs.

Aria regained her composure and began to think about and deal with more realistic problems.

First and foremost was the bloody case from a month ago.

The priests of three town churches near Ice Lake City were brutally murdered, and the churches were desecrated.

The Church's response was swift.

Under Aria's personal supervision and the powerful crackdown of the Temple Knight Order, over twenty members of the Crimson Fallen Knights directly related to the attack had been captured or killed over the past month.

However, as the investigation deepened, Aria's mood grew heavier.

Most of those captured and executed were peripheral members or poor wretches who had just been coerced.

The effective information they could provide was pitifully scarce.

They only knew that they had suddenly received orders from superiors before the attack, were gathered, assigned tasks, and then quickly dispersed and hid afterward.

As for the specific purpose of the attack, the identities of the high-level planners, and subsequent plans, they knew nothing.

The truly core figures, such as the important leader codenamed "Pale Knight," as well as several other key members with Knight-level strength, had vanished into thin air, leaving no effective traces to track.

The cleanup of the entire operation was unsettlingly clean, as if a pair of invisible hands had quickly wiped away all possible clues after the attack occurred.

"This is irrational." Aria looked at the map of Ice Lake City on the table.

The Crimson Knights were certainly crazy, but they were not an unorganized mob.

Such a large-scale coordinated attack, handled so professionally afterward, was definitely not just about angering the Church and creating panic. They must have had deeper motives.

Was it to cover up other operations?

Was it to test the Church's response and force deployment?

Or was it to achieve certain specific sacrificial or ritual conditions?

But what was the purpose? There were no answers in the dossiers and testimonies.

Before this case occurred, her investigation direction into the Crimson Knights was to suspect that local noble forces were secretly providing them with shelter or assistance.

Otherwise, it would be difficult to explain how the Crimson Knights had such precise intelligence on their targets in several previous noble attack cases, as well as the smoothness of their subsequent retreats.

She had even locked onto several suspicious noble families and was preparing to investigate further.

However, just at this critical juncture, the Ice Lake City church massacre occurred.

Everyone's attention was diverted to this vicious incident that openly provoked the Church.

She also had to shift her main energy to pursuing the perpetrators.

And the in-depth investigation into those suspicious noble families also encountered unimaginable resistance.

It was not a direct confrontation, but various procedural delays... as if there was an impenetrable web locally, secretly protecting something.

The Crimson Knights jumped out themselves to attract all the firepower, while possible clues took the opportunity to hide deeper.

"Distract the tiger to leave the mountain? Feint to the east and attack in the west?" Aria furrowed her brows, light flickering in her eyes.

She walked to the window, her gaze piercing through the cathedral courtyard, remotely casting toward the magnificent complex of buildings in the southeast of the city.

Golden Flame Earl Manor, the power center of the Farrell Family.

"Could it be you? Count Farrell..." She whispered, her voice so soft that only she could hear it.

Knight Shadow, the uncrowned king among the nobles of Gino County, Great Knight, core vassal of Duke Witton...

He had the ability, but did he have the motive?

If it really was Count Farrell, then did Duke Witton know, or even...

The gradually chaotic Northern Territory might be a good time for some ambitious people to fish in troubled waters.

But, there was no evidence.

Even if her inner suspicion had sprouted, without evidence as solid as a mountain, enough to nail an Imperial Count, the Church of Dawn could not act rashly.

Especially since the actual ruler of the Will Province, Duke Witton, stood behind the other party.

Acting rashly might not only alert the enemy but also trigger a violent conflict between local noble forces and the Church, which would be a turmoil neither side could afford.

Aria fell into deep thought.

The sky outside the window gradually darkened, and the church bells rang from afar, echoing over the twilight-filled Gino City.