This was a secret meeting. The heavy curtains had been pulled, and the room was illuminated entirely by oil lamps and gas lamps. Although the lighting was soft, the atmosphere felt somewhat oppressive.
“We will offer our greatest sincerity for cooperation. This is something we confirmed after the joint interrogation of Forte’s consciousness. My conversation with you this time represents not only the Judicator’s Court but also the voice of most high-ranking members within the Church of the Savior Goddess.”
Eleanor seemed to want to strongly secure Ciel’s help and continued, “If possible, I would like to invite you to attend the next Holy See meeting.”
Ciel said nothing more. After a light yawn, she merely nodded slightly.
But her nod wasn’t an indication of agreement. Instead, she looked as if she was about to fall asleep.
Eleanor didn’t directly answer the question Ciel had just asked. Ciel chose the most effortless method—responding with silence.
Silence was a powerful negotiation technique.
Timely silence would make the other party feel pressure, thereby forcing them to provide more information or make more favorable concessions.
Ciel knew that even if the Church of the Savior Goddess didn’t bring it up, Ciel herself would still have to deal with the matters concerning the Church of the God of Order, the Pharos Medical Association, and the Society of Merriment.
But these things were unknown to the Church of the Savior Goddess. Ciel intended to use this information gap to create more advantageous conditions for herself in the negotiation.
The atmosphere fell into silence. Avena, however, was very accustomed to such negotiation scenes. She simply rang the bell, calling for a maid to bring in refreshments and black tea.
The entry of an ordinary maid served as a break in the middle, preventing the entire negotiation atmosphere from becoming completely cold and damaging the goodwill.
The time taken to serve tea and refreshments also allowed the side under pressure sufficient time to think about how to offer new conditions.
After all, this was just a cooperative negotiation, not a high-pressure negotiation between adversaries. There was no need to apply such intense pressure.
Additionally, Avena also genuinely felt that Ciel was tired again. A cup of warm black tea would help her perk up.
Only after the maid had finished serving the refreshments and black tea and left the reception room did Eleanor, who had been hesitating about something, finally look up towards Ciel.
“Your Excellency, there is one thing I would like to confirm.” Eleanor said.
But Ciel didn’t respond. Eleanor also didn’t wait for Ciel’s reply. She said directly:
“Forte’s ability can rewind time… Earlier in the abandoned factory, you said you knew how he would rewind time. Forte’s ‘Uniqueness’ component cannot retain memories, but your ‘Uniqueness’ itself can retain memories…”
Ciel looked up slightly at Eleanor before her and said, “So?”
At this moment, Ciel could probably understand what Eleanor wanted to do.
Eleanor was from the Church of the Savior Goddess, serving in the Judicator’s Court of the Church of the Savior Goddess.
Compared to the Pope and other Cardinals of the Church of the Savior Goddess, the Judicator’s Court still held a certain degree of fundamentalist beliefs—after all, their path had been quite extreme since “Avenger.”
Specifically, this manifested in their continued original worship of the Grim Worm Saint, believing that the Judicator’s Court held a position within the Church of the Savior Goddess equivalent to that of the Grim Worm beside the Goddess.
At this moment, they were extremely devoted to the doctrines of the Church of the Savior Goddess, but the more extreme they were, the more readily they would accept classic doctrines, classic texts, and traditional beliefs.
That was why Eleanor in the previous simulation wasn’t overly resistant to the Divine Advent Church, which emphasized returning to the Mother Goddess faith. She even wanted to promote church reunification, precisely because they, like the Divine Advent Church, had a strong sense of identification with their faith system.
This was a sense of believing that their faith was the only correct faith—Tara was a prime example of this. Once she believed Ciel was the Mother Goddess, no matter what Ciel did, she could interpret and explain the rationality of Ciel’s actions through different doctrines.
Eleanor, the Judicator’s Court, or rather, most people who still retained faith in the Goddess, upon learning that divine servants, Holy Spirits, and even the Goddess could still appear, would, like in the simulation, directly align themselves with Ciel.
This was where they differed from the Church of the God of Order. The God of the Church of the God of Order was just an abstract concept of order, while the Goddess of the Church of the Savior Goddess was “factually existing.”
This difference would be specifically reflected in their attitude towards some clergy members—for example, Saintesses.
It was based on this point that Ciel guessed what Eleanor wanted to ask her.
She wanted to save the Saintess.
After Ciel asked, Eleanor said directly, “May I ask… in the time point that Forte rewound to, was Saintess Claudia… still alive?”
Looking at Eleanor, who was slightly leaning forward and seemed to be looking forward to the answer, Ciel slowly said, “Dead.”
As soon as Ciel’s words fell, Eleanor’s body stiffened slightly. Her shoulders slumped. It seemed the hope that had just risen in her heart was extinguished once again.
“Is that so…” Eleanor’s voice was somewhat hoarse.
“You want to save her?”
Ciel leaned back against the sofa behind her, squinting her eyes, and asked Eleanor, “Is this also the intention of the Church of the Savior Goddess?”
“Sort of… but…” Eleanor gently shook her head.
Even Forte’s heaven-defying “Uniqueness” ability to rewind time couldn’t go back to the time before the Saintess died. Eleanor no longer held any hope in her heart.
Ciel wasn’t lying either, because the rewind time Forte had locked onto was the day 100 days after her simulation, which was October 25th.
At that time, the Saintess had already died, and Forte would keep rewinding within those six hours of that day—his time was stuck there.
“Forte can’t,” Ciel said with a smile, “but I can.”