" Find what are they plotting and stop it before something terrible befalls us. I don't want to waste my remaining life in a political struggle between the nobles and the imperial family."
Innocent placed the letter on the table, looking at Gregory with a cold face. His old murky eyes were filled with contempt for the upper aristocrats, knowing they were inflicting serious problems on the people and the church.
" I understand. What about saintess?"
Gregory recalled the saintess being next to the pope in church power, she was an extraordinary girl with great vision and heart. Therefore, Innocent valued her highly, believing she would lead the church with the new pope into a new era after his demise.
" If they touched her single hair, we are going to have a big problem with them."
Innocent recalled the smile of the young girl who gave a flower to him when he was traveling across the country. He saw her as his child, trying to protect her from every harm, yet she wouldn't listen to him.
She was a kind girl who dreamed of changing the country for the greater good, so she left her nest for the broader world.
" Gregory, don't let any harm befall on that child. She is the last person whom I truly care."
Innocent said calmly, glancing at the embroidery on his table. His old hand could still tell this was a bad work but the heart and the soul in this item were priceless.
" Don't worry, your Holiness. I will personally bring her back to the headquarters before they move."
Gregory bowed his head, thinking he would bring her back to her home. Little did he know it was beyond too late.
Meanwhile in the town
Anna covered her face with a hood, tying her hair behind her head. She then smeared ash on her face, making it less visible to others while looking at her plain clothes.
" Anna, even if you try to hide your face, you look beautiful. Here, let me help you!"
Evangeline sighed at her attempt to disguise her face, knowing this would be impossible for her without the help of others since she was like a noble. Her skin was fair and her face was clean which was much different from a typical countryside girl.
Anna was a diligent person but one could say this was in the genes.
" Let's see, you have to mask here carefully with a little bit of ash and mud. Also, open your mouth. Most normal folks don't wash their mouth that much, so a little bit of charcoal should blacken your teeth. Moreover, the cow dung should conceal your smell."
Evangeline applied a little bit of dung on her clothes, hiding her smell with the smell of shit and grass from the countryside.
Furthermore, she added some on herself as well as on Lydia who was flabbergasted by her technique. She never thought Evangeline would know such things because she who came from the countryside, rarely paid attention to such details.
" When I was a child, I had to escape from my house because they were trying to sell me to some old man who paid 2 cows to my parents. Thus, I learned to hide myself in different situations since I was pursued by that person until I joined the church."
Evangeline had a rough early life because of her background. She was sold as a bride to a noble who saw her beauty but as a girl, she refused to be with such a person who saw women nothing as but mere entertainment.
Hence, she traveled across the countries, learning useful skills like this from the people before joining the church under the pope. The pope highly valued her skills and dedication to the church, giving her a chance to baptize her.
" Now listen to me. They must be already on our trail, so the best thing we should do now is to leave this place quickly."
Evangeline gestured for the priest to go while taking the reins from Lydia. She then observed the nearby building, making sure that nobody would notice them and fortunately, most of the people were either sleeping or going in another direction.
" Hya!"
She gently moved the reins, allowing horses to go forward while looking in the direction of the church with a calm face.