[Notre Dame de Paris] Papal Way

The atmosphere in the prison cell became extremely stagnant for a moment, and under the suppressed calm, there seemed to be an undercurrent when a storm was about to come.

Originally, Ace was a prisoner, and Claude was the one who had been on the sidelines and looked on coldly, but now the situation seemed to be different. Claude was forced to retreat on the narrow stairs, unable to move; He leaned forward cautiously, with flames shining in his eyes.

There was still burning pain in the chest and back, but the pain had weakened a lot compared to the beginning.The disappearance of that power confirmed one of Ace's guesses—it was a gift from Claude, not the emerald itself.Although the treatment method is very rough, it is really effective... I just don't know, does Claude know that his power has this characteristic?If he knew... then what kind of complicated emotions did he have to protect the self he hated?

The more I think about it... the more interesting it becomes.

Claude suddenly laughed, breaking the stagnant atmosphere.He raised the corners of his lips sarcastically, mockery flashed on his marble-like perfect and rigid face, and even those ice-blue eyes seemed to become surprised and ridiculous because of receiving the emotional fluctuations in his master's heart.

He stopped backing away, straightened his back, and looked at Ace with pity: "I thought I had a dream a month ago, but you told me that the dream was real."

... Seems like something is wrong?

Ace was keenly aware of his changes, and a trace of doubt flashed in his heart.Obviously, when they met for the first time, he made his words very clear. Although Claude's attitude was evasive, he indirectly acquiesced to his guess... And that night, when he went to Notre Dame incognito , Claude did not refute his guess, and became more certain of his thoughts... But now it seems that there is still something wrong?

——Where the hell is it...

"You haven't answered my question, Claude."

"If you ask a question that doesn't need to be answered." Claude replied with a sneer.

The hand on the edge of the hood moved to his neck, and Ace held Claude's nape, staring at his eyes hidden in the darkness: "So... what if I must ask you to answer?"

"You are dying."

"That's why you should tell me, Priest." Ace said softly, "Unless...you already hate me to this extent."

Claude trembled involuntarily.He retorted: "Where do you see that I hate you?"

"Looks, movements, language, hair, nails, toes." Every time he utters a word, Ace gets closer.He finally stood on the same narrow steps with Claude, body and body approaching infinitely, "Since I entered Paris, you have been watching me. Now I am dying, but you haven't told me yet..."

He paused intentionally, leaned close to Claude's ear, and whispered: "—Are you satisfied with what you see of me?"

Claude fell silent.

"Maybe I'm not satisfied... That's why I want to take this opportunity to destroy me completely." Ace grabbed his hand, and roughly pasted his wound, "Since you hate me so much... ...Then why don't you go to see the execution of the executioner?"

In an instant, like a venomous snake's letter licked his heart, a smooth and cold gaze with unspeakable malice suddenly appeared from Claude's eyes~.He stared into Ace's eyes, and laughed in a low voice, his strange voice seemed to be filled with madness, and every word he spit out between his lips and petals was like venom: "——I didn't look?"

Like sparks meeting hot oil, Ace's blood boiled instantly.The fingers holding Claude's wrist gradually tightened, Ace's voice was hoarse, and his tone was firm: "You hate me."

The hatred he once felt fell on him thousands of times from such a close distance: "Why should I not hate you?"

"Is there any reason, I can't think of it." Ace's tone was full of confusion, but his demeanor told Claude clearly that he didn't care why Claude hated him at all, "What is the reason, Will it make you hate me so much that you want to die? From birth until now, since I can remember, this is only the third time we have met."

He indirectly admitted that he was the one who touched Claude on the North Bell Tower that day, but he looked innocent like a child: "Of course, these three meetings are not counted as the many times you have treated me. Sneak~peep... Throw a child less than one year old into the hands of the legendary Egyptian who can eat people, and kill a person who is meeting for the first time and who can almost be said to have no intersection before and after... I will Is that disgusting to you?"

The more he got in touch with Claude, the more his existence confused Ace.He has a clean reputation, and everyone praised him as a pious priest. He sat on the position of deputy bishop at a young age, and it is said that he was well appreciated by the cardinal, and he had a promising future; To the point where he doesn't look like a 35-year-old person at all, but he has never aroused suspicion from others, and some people even regard him as the incarnation of an angel on earth; when he was young, he hated a baby to the point where he didn't want to see him at all. Knowing that the other party has been wronged for himself, he stands by and waits for the other party's death... All the above conditions are closely related to the person who appears in front of Ace, but these conditions seem to have no connection with each other—— Just like he didn't know whether the person in front of him was really a human being, it was so illusory that he couldn't fathom it!

——It’s just that if the other party keeps coming up to him unconsciously and letting him figure it out...then he doesn’t seem to have anything to do if he doesn’t try to figure it out.

He held Claude's hand, slid from the left collarbone to the right side, through the broken clothes, completely described the welt: "You hate me...but why do you hate me? Why do you hate me? ?”

As if hearing something ridiculous, Claude raised his head.He took off the hood from the top of his head, and the flames in his cold blue eyes were soaring.With a weird and crazy smile on his face, he murmured: "Hate? You don't even know... you don't even know how much I love you!"

With a sound of "pacha", the wind lamp fell to the ground, rolled down the steps, and the light dimmed.

If Ace had to describe his mood at this time, he would definitely use this kind of rhetoric to form a sentence: I feel as if I have been used by a hundred and eight thousand lightning magicians, ranging from zero-level lightning spells to forbidden spells. Lei Pu Mie Shi greeted each of them one by one.

——In short, he felt as if he had been struck by lightning. From the blood to the soul, from the heart to the ends of the hair, every nerve was trembling, every cell was frantically dance.His brain was blank, he had no reason at all, and only a foolish instinct was left to answer: "...what is love?"

"It's like a burden you've imposed on me."

"...What kind of love is this?"

"The love of a man who deserves hell!"

Ace gradually regained his sanity, and his blank brain gradually woke up.He still kept staring at Claude, but found that the other party was also staring at him.Judging by the look of that lost mind, it is obvious that all reason has flown... That handsome and pale face was rarely flushed because of being too excited. Adams caught it straight.With a bang, all sanity was thrown into the Forbidden Sea again, and Ace grabbed the back of Claude's head and printed his lips on it.

It is cold and sweet, and the throat seems to have eaten the snow and ice of the Alps. It is the substantive ambition and aloofness, and the illusory enthusiasm and temptation.Flames intertwine with flames, ice and snow blend with each other, muffled, gasping, struggling, embracing...the sound is loud, and every movement is distorted into blurred and strange images in the puddle along with the water droplets falling from the dome.Unable to tell whose head hit the cover by accident, the guard's footsteps gradually approached, and a suspicious question sounded above his head: "My lord?"

Claude woke up suddenly and pushed Ace away.Ace staggered a few steps back, but stood on the steps below and pulled him into his arms again.The flame has not been extinguished and then ignited again, the drums and horns are playing a triumphant song, fingers curled into the sleeves, touching the cold skin...

With a "squeak", the cover was lifted a crack.The jailer knelt above and knocked on the ground: "My lord?"

Claude pushed Ace away again.This time, he staggered back and fell directly on the bed｜.His robe has been half untied, and he seemed to have caught something in his hand, so he put it on casually, lest people would see his current appearance: "...for God's sake, let me have a good talk with him talk."

His voice was trembling and his tone was vague. The jailer was full of doubts, and he couldn't help but asked with certainty: "How long will you have?"

"Go away!" Claude roared with an arm wrapped around his waist | limbs.The jailer's voice disappeared, the cover was closed again, and the footsteps moved away—but the owner of that arm stepped forward, getting closer, and the fiery breath almost directly filled the neck.

"Claude..." Ace's voice was hoarse and his eyes were dark, "Is this father's love?"

That weird expression appeared on Claude's face again.He smiled as if he was panting: "Father's love?"

Ace stared at him.Claude's mockery froze on his face.He stared at Ace, and asked in disbelief: "Until now, you thought I was your father?"

...What does this mean?

A sense of foreboding rose in Ace's heart.Why did Claude ask such a question?Could it be that he wants to say... that he is not Emerald's father?

But it's impossible... Bashir's description, age verification, and the following eyes from the moment he entered Paris... If he wasn't his father——

But suddenly he discovered that apart from these, he couldn't seem to find any evidence that Claude was his father.That power has been proven not to come from blood, so the only thing that can quickly detect the relationship between the two is magic...

...But although he can use magic to determine that the two are related by blood, how can he explain it to Claude?Moreover, blood magic does not belong to the light system, but is essentially dark. Claude has special powers. If he notices something...

No matter how much he loves him, the hatred in Claude's eyes has never faded.Even though he is in such pain now, when he looks at Ace, he mostly hates it—he is determined to send Ace to the gallows.

With his sanity back, Ace thought about what other evidence could prove that he and Claude were related by blood.In the Maris Continent where magic elements are very active, everyone's hair and eye color are determined according to the affinity of magic elements, but in this world where the element activity is not high, people's eye color and hair color Most of the color is based on blood relationship... But he is not similar to Claude at all, even the hair color and eye color are very different...

He suddenly thought of John—doesn't John have the same blond hair as Claude and green eyes that are very similar to him!And when facing John, he always has an inexplicable sense of tolerance, and somehow endures the other party's offense...

Thinking of this, a smile appeared on his face again: "If you are not my father, what is going on with John?"

He has a chance to win, and he said that just to deliberately deceive Claude.Although he is about the same age as Emerald, John is Claude's younger brother. He knows that there are many ways to test blood in this world. Claude is not clear about his relationship with John, so he mistakenly thinks that he and John have already If the blood relationship is confirmed, it must be easy to set the tone.

The look on Claude's face became even weirder.

"John?" He asked softly, a malicious mockery gradually appeared in his eyes, "Have you tested the blood relationship with him? But the two of you... are brothers!"