radicalducati Chapter 190 Secret Gathering
Chapter 190 Secret Gathering
Chapter 190 Secret Gathering
Most of the children in the orphanage wore clothes covered in patches, and some didn't even have shoes.
However, they were not bothered by their poverty; they simply chased and played around in the yard.
Their laughter is enough to heal the heart of any adult.
Innocent and carefree, without any distractions in their hearts, and unconcerned about the opinions of others.
Looking at their thin figures, one can tell that they often go hungry.
That's why the three boys in the corner got into a fight over half a buckwheat bread.
Kendrick couldn't bear to see this.
These children are all orphans, and Kendrick has experienced loneliness his entire life, so he feels more sorry for them than most people do.
Therefore, Kendrick decisively went outside, bought some fried bread on the street, and then returned to the orphanage.
At that moment, he saw the tallest child finally grab the bread and sit in the corner, wolfing it down.
The other two boys stood to the side crying, one of them even had a cut on his face from which bright red blood was flowing.
Kendrick immediately went over and gave them the fried bread.
The two boys looked at Kendrick with suspicion, clearly wary of him.
Kendrick said, "Eat up, it's a gift from me."
The two looked at each other for a few seconds, considered for a few seconds, and then reached out to pick up the fried bread and stuffed it into their mouths.
After they swallowed their food, they remembered to say to Kendrick:
"Thanks."
Kendrick, such a sensible child, smiled with satisfaction and nodded to them.
Then, they went to the dean's room.
Kendrick wasn't well-off; all this money was what he had worked hard to earn these past few days.
But he didn't care about money; in his eyes, the children's smiles were far more precious than money.
He pushed open the door and went inside; the room was empty.
But when he walked deeper into the room and around the desk, Kendrick indeed saw a hidden tunnel door on the floor that had been opened.
Kendrick went inside and, as instructed, closed the hidden door from the inside after entering.
After walking in the dark for a while, a bright lamp flickered in front of Kendrick, clearly waiting for him.
The man holding the lamp handle said to Kendrick:
"Mr. Kendrick, you are so kind."
Kendrick didn't understand what the other person meant, so he asked:
"What did you say?"
"Bread, sir," the other man said, "I know you're not well-off. You worked as a porter at the dock for over ten days just to scrape together enough for the two of us to buy tickets."
Kendrick scratched his head: "The Duchy has fewer illiterate people than the Kingdom. Relying solely on the income from ghostwriting is probably not enough to support oneself."
"
"But you generously bought bread for those children," the other person said with a smile, "that's why I said you're kind."
Kendrick couldn't deny what he had done, but he was curious:
"How do you know? Your description sounds as if you saw it with your own eyes."
"I did see it, sir. There are peepholes everywhere in the entire orphanage."
"Hmm, another secret passage, another peephole," Kendrick thought. "I've really come to a place of trouble."
But the other person said, "You are truly the best man I have ever met, and I owe you my life. You can tell me what to do for you."
Kendrick felt unworthy of such praise and quickly shook his head, saying:
"Don't worry about it. I've already said I don't need anything in return from you."
"But that will only make it harder for me to let go of this matter, sir. Even if you want my body, I'm willing to give it to you. I'm even willing to renounce my vows and become your woman, provided, of course, that you allow me to uphold my beliefs."
Hearing such heartfelt words, Kendrick was flattered and deeply moved, and he gazed intently at the other person.
The woman in front of me was named Margaret, a nun who was a follower of the Biblical Church.
A month ago, Margaret was targeted by the Inquisitor, but Kendrick saved her.
This process is not easy.
Although with Kendrick's skills, killing his opponent would have been an easy task.
But he could not kill, both because the cost of killing a heretic examiner in the Principality of the Holy Envoy was too high, and also because he could not commit murder.
Kendrick had only one purpose in coming to the Principality of St. Envoy: to assassinate a patriarch.
Mr. Mosley had instructed that, apart from the target, no one else should be killed unless absolutely necessary.
Therefore, rescuing Margaret without killing her was an extremely difficult task.
Despite the numerous difficulties along the way, Hao Sui still managed to achieve her goal perfectly.
After Kendrick saved Margaret, she told him that she was willing to repay him with gratitude.
Such a promise nearly caused Kendrick to lose his mind due to desire.
He longed to kill Margaret slowly and deliberately, while listening to her words of gratitude.
Oh my God! If only she could describe to Kendrick in detail how she felt about being killed, or encourage him.
Kendrick thought that he would feel so good that he would faint.
In the end, he only voiced his inner desires, which terrified Margaret, but he never actually put them into practice.
Kendrick certainly wanted to take action, but he remembered Mr. Mosley's instructions.
Don't give up now—the patience you have now is for the ultimate pleasure you'll experience when you finally release it.
That night, Kendrick and Margaret, knowing they both planned to travel to the south of the Duchy, decided to go together so they could look out for each other.
After crossing the river, the two continued to walk together, and they still do to this day.
But he never expected that Margaret would say such a thing to him.
"Farewell to secular life and marry me?" Kendrick felt incredulous. "Am I hallucinating?"
Or perhaps Margaret was making fun of him.
But when he looked at Margaret's face by the dim candlelight, he saw a serious expression on her face and realized that Margaret was serious.
Margaret had a fair, long face and a head of straight, classic nun's hair.
Through the outline of the white holy robe, Kendrick seemed to see two plump jade rabbits, hopping merrily and full of life.
If she weren't a nun, but rather the daughter of some landowner in the kingdom, her suitors would definitely line up a whole league away.
Kendrick was already a middle-aged man and was unattractive.
The seeds of inferiority quickly took root and sprouted in his heart.
He shook his head and said, "I really don't need anything in return, and I've never had any improper thoughts about you. Besides, I'm not good enough for you."
"Why do I say that, sir? You are very powerful. I saw you take down an entire squad by yourself. Moreover, you are the kindest and most compassionate man I have ever met, to be honest—"
At this point, a slight blush rose on the face of the man in the white robe.
"If I weren't a nun, but just an ordinary girl, I'm afraid I would be completely captivated by you and in love with you by now."
Kindness, compassion
Only Kendrick himself and Mr. Mosley knew that he was the complete opposite of those two words.
He was not only a murderer, but also a psychopath.
Perhaps Kendrick's words that night sounded like a joke to Margaret, but at that moment, he genuinely wanted to kill her.
No, not then, but even now, his desire to kill Margaret still lingers.
The beautiful Margaret was a work of art, but Kendrick wanted to destroy her.
So when Kendrick heard Margaret's comments, he buried his head in shame.
"Sister Margaret, what you see is not the real me—"
"Then let me know the real you."
"You'd be so scared your legs would go weak," Kendrick thought, then prayed to his God to send him to hell soon.
“Stop talking, Sister Margaret,” Kendrick said. “We’re not on the same page.”
Margaret's eyes were filled with disappointment, while Kendrick guiltily looked away.
If one day he really does marry Margaret.
He was convinced that he would gently kill Margaret, who was dressed in a beautiful gown, on their wedding night.
Kendrick strode forward, decisively brushing past Margaret.
He walked along the passage, the candlelight flickering behind him.
Finally, he reached the end of the dark passage, where a wooden door appeared, damp, moldy, and rotten.
Inside was the secret meeting place of the First Birth Cult.
According to Margaret, this secret hideout had been considered decades ago, when the orphanage was first built.
At that time, the Firstborn Church was one of the mainstream denominations of the faith in God, not the heresy it is today.
Perhaps it was foresight that the ancients planned ahead, anticipating that such a day might come, and thus built a secluded location.
Kendrick therefore speculated that perhaps all the sects in the Principality of the Holy Envoy had taken precautions to prevent such an event from happening.
The gods are inviolable, but they do not seem to be eternal.
Kendrick also believes in God, but he is not bound by any particular denomination.
Perhaps it was because he was not a citizen of the principality and was unfamiliar with the local religious culture.
Kendrick's presence here at this moment was at Margaret's request.
She seemed to want to introduce Kendrick to the cult members.
Kendrick could sense that Margaret seemed to want him to join the Firstborn Cult.
He wasn't particularly opposed to it, but he also didn't especially want to join. He knew he couldn't conform to the sect's specific beliefs.
And give your body and soul.
At this moment, Margaret was already standing next to Kendrick: "Sir, we've arrived."
Kendrick nodded, and Margaret pushed open the blackened door.
The two went inside, where the room was filled with wall-mounted candlesticks, allowing Kendrick to take in the bright layout of the room at a glance.
A long table was placed in the center of the room, with more than a dozen chairs around it for visitors.
There was also a mulberry wood table on the side, piled high with papers and books, with several snow-white quill pens on top of the pile.
In addition, there were various bottles and jars, but the most eye-catching was the black cross flag.
Margaret had shown Kendrick that it was the emblem of the Firstborn Cult, called the Primordial Rebirth.
At this moment, many people had already entered the room, eight in total. Five of them sat at the long table, while the remaining three stood scattered elsewhere.
With Kendrick and Margaret added, there are now exactly ten people here.
Among them was a bald monk whose black monastic robes were the most ornate. Kendrick could tell that this man must hold the highest rank among the group.
He was at least a priest, and possibly even a regional bishop.
The man said, "Margaret, is this the person you were talking about?"
“Yes,” Margaret nodded, “he saved me from the Inquisitors, he is trustworthy, and I’m willing to vouch for him.”
"If I didn't trust you, he would never have been able to get in here."
The man then turned to Kendrick and said, "Thank you for your help. God will remember your good deed. My name is Simpson Fernandez, and I am a bishop."
"Greetings, Your Excellency. My name is Kendrick Bates."
"It's a pleasure to meet you," said Bishop Simpson. "But I'm ashamed to say that I'm actually just a former bishop, and my priesthood has now been revoked by the Vatican."
Kendrick nodded: "I heard it from Sister Margaret; it's because of the cardinal's death."
"Yes, His Excellency Lars St. Strauss was not only a cardinal, but also a pioneer and leader of the First Nations."
Simpson extended his hand, inviting Kendrick to sit down.
"That was a great holy messenger. The sect was founded only two hundred years ago. It was born thanks to the advanced astronomy that came from the Far East."
"It is no exaggeration to say that the reason why this sect was able to grow so rapidly is entirely due to Lord Lars. You must know that before he became a cardinal, the Newborn Church was just a little-known small sect."
"But there must be many conflicts with the ideas of other sects," Kendrick speculated. "Otherwise, it wouldn't have been defined as heresy so quickly. The Cardinal is still alive and well."
"To completely define a mainstream sect as heresy and to spread it so quickly throughout the entire Duchy of the Holy Envoy is something that cannot be accomplished by the power of one or two sects. Clearly, your sect has long been the target of everyone's criticism."
"Sir is right," Simpson exhaled heavily, "Compared to other sects that have been passed down for thousands of years, the First Birth Sect can only be considered a small sect."
"But our theory is indeed subversive, and therefore conflicts with the ideas of almost all sects, so they are irreconcilable."
"Lord Lars had long anticipated that once he met with misfortune, other sects would take advantage of his predicament and launch a joint attack. However, he did not expect it to happen so quickly, and the plans he left behind could not even be implemented in time."
"Presumably, other sects have long held a deep-seated hatred for the Newborn. But this precisely demonstrates the merits of our theory."
They're afraid we'll overturn their theories!
Kendrick listened and sat down, only to find that everyone in the room was already seated around the long table.
It seemed as if they were discussing and deciding on the sect's future strategy.