The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

In the royal capital, Lilith, having finished a day of prayers, is being led by the nuns to meet the Pope.

Since the death of Augustine III, the entire capital has become as quiet as a stagnant pool.

Previously, the vizier Cordick, who had been constantly touting himself as a hero, had recently become unusually low-key, doing nothing except regularly reporting to the new king.

Lilith hasn't been in a good mood lately either; the storyline of this world has completely collapsed.

If the original plot was merely a bit abstract, the current plot can be described as going completely off the rails.

The old king died under suspicious circumstances, the Grand Duke of the North was killed by his own son, and the Lars family was completely torn apart.

Although Lilith only played the first game, she was a hardcore gamer and had seen news about the second game's plans on the creators' social media.

Based on the clues, shouldn't the second part be about a showdown between the Southern Territory and the Kingdom of Anjou? Why did the Northern Territory explode first?

Is it because the female lead went to the North?

For Lilith, the most unsettling thing was that the plot was completely beyond her comprehension.

Moreover, according to the latest news, the faction that the female lead and Lena belong to, the gray-collar worker, has just won an incredible war, and the leader is the NPC whose name sounds the same as his older brother's. The North is now in complete chaos.

These things may be unrelated to Lilith, but Cran, the male protagonist whom Lilith mainly pursued, has now ascended to the throne ahead of schedule.

Although the transfer of power was peaceful, the process was far from exciting. Augustine III's strange situation had become an open secret among the nobles. Now, Cran not only had to support the declining kingdom and balance the situation in the north, but also had to be wary of the Kingdom of Anjou, which had begun to take action ahead of time.

After ascending to the throne, Kran was under immense pressure. He often cried to Lilith late at night, sometimes asking about political matters and showing Lilith reform plans modeled after the Kingdom of Anjou. This even gave Lilith the illusion of being a mother.

Despite being a saint and future queen, Lilith showed no signs of the fairy tale or the original ending where the girl and prince lived happily ever after.

Sometimes Lilith even felt that she might not be the future queen, but the queen mother.

"His Holiness the Pope."

Lilith bowed to the old pope seated on the throne with the most standard etiquette.

The old pope nodded slightly, gesturing for Lilith to sit down.

Everyone around withdrew. Tonight, the Pope issued an order that he had something very important to discuss with the saint.

Despite being the Pope, the old Pope was dressed in simple clothes, some of which were even patched.

It was clear that the old pope was also very tired. The Church of the Goddess of Light was no longer as prosperous as it once was. Although it was still the main faith on the continent, it could only retreat to the Kingdom of Cape and become a figurehead of a vassal king.

Is the old king feeling better?

The old king here refers to Augustine III, but Lilith doesn't quite understand. Augustine III is practically dead, having become a vegetable who needs help to eat.

"No new information has emerged from the palace."

Lilith answered truthfully that if it were the real female lead, she might be able to discover some clues, but Lilith was just an imposter, and her becoming a saint was more due to political factors, which was completely different from the original female lead who became a saint through her own power.

Upon hearing this answer, the old pope hesitated for a moment before slowly rising and going to the coat rack where his papal crown was placed. He then slowly opened a hidden compartment and took out a small lantern that shone with a bright yellow light.

Seeing Lilith's puzzled expression as she looked at the lantern, the old pope felt relieved and sat down again beside him. Only then did Lilith realize that the lantern did not contain a wick, but a strange stone emitting light.

The light was not dazzling; you could even look directly at it. And just looking at the light gave you a sense of peace.

Instead of immediately introducing the lantern, the old pope said to Lilith, "Come, let us first pray to the goddess and thank her for allowing us to have another peaceful and stable day."

After Lilith's devout prayer, the old pope asked, "Saint Lilith, do you remember what the goddess's powers are?"

"Light, healing and purification, and the sun, moon and stars, day and night."

The first three answers Lilith gave were also the standard answers for church school exams, while the latter few were basically only known to clergy and devout believers.

The Goddess of Light has many other names: Mother of Salvation, Light of Punishment, Goddess of Healing, and Lord of the Sun, Moon, and Stars.

Therefore, the goddess has the most and most complicated powers. A scholar who studies theology and history once complained: "If you encounter something or a matter and don't know which god's authority it belongs to, then praying to the goddess is definitely the right thing to do."

It's a bit like how modern archaeologists unearth some strange object and throw it into the sacrificial category.

The old pope nodded and added, "People's belief in light originated from the sun, moon and stars in the sky. The goddess was initially a deity who governed the sun, moon and stars and the alternation of day and night. Later, she became a goddess who governs light."

"The goddess has many powers, and these powers are all closely related to our divine magic. But Saintess Lilith, do you know that dreams are also the goddess's powers?"

In an instant, Lilith thought of Augustine III lying in bed, half-dead, in the exact same state as if he were asleep.

Seeing Lilith's expression, the old pope pushed the lantern he had started with in front of Lilith.

"This lamp contains fragments of starlight bestowed by the goddess, and is also a divine message from her. It can guide people in their dreams and also enter the dreams of others. Use this lamp to protect His Majesty the new king."

Lilith did not immediately take the lantern, but asked, "Your Holiness, what would happen if someone entered someone else's dream and killed the dream's owner?"

"Haven't you already seen it?"

As expected, Lilith broke out in a cold sweat in an instant.

"There's no need to be so nervous."

The old pope comforted him, saying, "Entering someone else's dream is extremely difficult, and the conditions are very demanding. Without someone's help, it is very difficult for anyone to enter His Majesty the new king's dream."

"Is there a traitor among those who have access to the palace?"

Since it concerned Kran's safety, Lilith disregarded etiquette and asked directly.

"It's not impossible that there's a traitor in the palace."

The old pope gave the worst possible guess.

"Your Holiness, someone entered King Crane's dream and killed him. Does that mean the other person also possessed this lantern? Why would something so important be hidden in a secret compartment?"

Lilith abandoned her previous poise and intellect, and immediately began to eagerly inquire about useful information from the old pope.

"Do you remember the incident two hundred years ago when the saintess ran away?"

The old pope slowly began to speak: "The official story is that the saintess at the time came into contact with heretics, was corrupted by their doctrines, took away a large number of believers, spread distorted teachings, and thus broke with the papacy and began a war with other faiths."

"But the truth is that there were no heretics. The saint prayed under these two lanterns and then came to understand the heretical doctrines on her own. Moreover, the more devout the saints were at that time, the more they accepted the saint's doctrines, which eventually led to the division and war within the Papacy."

"The star fragments in these two lanterns were originally divine messages from the goddess, and also her last miracle. We made them into lanterns to symbolize that the goddess is like a guiding light, leading us forward."

"But we never expected that the more devout the believer, the more likely they were to become heretics when praying under a lantern. So after that saint became a heretic, we hid the lantern. Unfortunately, it was too late; one of the lanterns had already been stolen by the saint."

After saying this, the old Pope and Lilith looked at each other awkwardly.

Clearly, Lilith and the old Pope had already prayed around the lantern, but there seemed to be no reaction.

"Don't be nervous, Saintess Lilith. It might not be a bad thing to be able to look at the goddess objectively."

Neither of the two highest-ranking officials in the Vatican seems to be particularly devout.