Chapter 1407: Chapter 886: The End of an Era

Bishop Wenster slightly bowed and respectfully saluted.

His movements were standard and elegant, held for a very long time.

The Empress’s voice granting him exemption from ceremony took time to arrive, and Bishop Wenster kept his head lowered for a long while.

After a prolonged silence between the two, Maria II finally sighed softly:

"Lord Bishop... please stand down."

The voice was aged, solemn, yet seemed to lack the tenderness it had when calling Bishop Wenster earlier.

Bishop Wenster paused slightly.

He slowly stood up, casting a somewhat complex and evasive glance at the aging Empress, only to find she no longer looked at him but continued to gaze out the window.

Maria II was half lying on the bed.

Golden sunlight fell upon her, casting a slanted and long shadow on the soft, luxurious Elf Carpet, making her already hunched and skinny figure appear even smaller.

It is hard to imagine that such a frail and slender body carried the entire grand Holy Mania Empire.

A gentle breeze blew in from outside the window, making Maria II’s somewhat disheveled hair even more unruly. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Her gaze rested on a solitary, tall, and lush Seven-leaf tree in the garden outside the window, staring at its flourishing leaves, at the birds joyfully hopping between the branches, momentarily lost in thought.

Bishop Wenster recognized it as the tree planted when the Empress was young and had not ascended the throne, planted together with him.

Back then, it was merely a frail sapling, but now, it had already grown a dense and majestic canopy.

Yet, the girl who used to giggle and run around the growing sapling, and the little kid who would always trail behind her like a shadow, crying and complaining, were never seen again.

"Lord Bishop, I wish to visit the Imperial Palace Tower, can you accompany me?"

After a long while, Maria II’s voice rang out again.

Her voice was hoarse and authoritative.

Yet beneath the authority, Bishop Wenster seemed to hear a plea steeped in solitude.

This blocked the prepared refusal of "Your Majesty’s weak health requires rest and is not suitable for movement" in his throat, unable to be uttered.

Sighing softly, Bishop Wenster slowly turned towards the door, intending to call the maid in, but was quickly stopped by the Empress:

"No need to call others, just the two of us, you support me, help me down..."

Bishop Wenster paused slightly again.

He hesitated for a moment but, facing Maria II’s determined gaze, ultimately sighed inwardly and approached.

Respectfully extending his hand, Bishop Wenster, using the most standard movements for clergy supporting an elderly monarch during a grand ritual, helped Maria II up.

The Empress’s body was even smaller than imagined, and her arms were already withered, like dry branches.

Supporting her, Bishop Wenster could scarcely feel much weight.

"Your Majesty! How did you get up?!"

Seeing the Empress being assisted by Wenster appear at the hall door, the maids and guards were startled.

They intended to step forward to assist Maria II but were stopped with a shake of her head:

"No need, I feel a bit energetic now, I want to visit the tower..."

"Your Majesty..."

Looking at Maria II trembling, with a worried look, the maids and guards watched.

Yet, facing the authoritative and indisputable gaze of the Empress, they could only bow their heads respectfully, trailing behind the two, following them to the tower in the Imperial Palace.

The tower of the Imperial Palace is the tallest building in the entire palace, where one can overlook the beautiful scenery of Maniya City.

Maria II always liked to ascend the tower, gazing afar at the capital’s view.

But since becoming seriously ill two years ago, she hadn’t gone anymore...

Bishop Wenster aided the aging Empress, heading towards the tower.

The journey that usually took at most five minutes took them twenty minutes, intermittently.

And as they began to climb the tower, Maria II’s weakened body showed its fatigue, each climb taking a few steps, leaving her breathless, resting for a long time...

"Your Majesty... perhaps... we should return?"

Looking at the Empress’s difficult and pained appearance, Bishop Wenster couldn’t help but speak.

Maria II did not answer but firmly shook her head.

Her withered arm tightly grasped the handrail, holding onto Bishop Wenster’s shoulder unaided.

The slightly trembling body stood unprecedentedly resolute.

Bishop Wenster sighed silently, quietly sending a blessing transformed from a trace of faith into Maria II’s body.

Maria II paused slightly.

In the next moment, her movements seemed to ease a lot.

Time passed unknowingly, and the two finally ascended the tower, the highest point of the Imperial Palace.

Struggling to stand on her own from Bishop Wenster’s support, refusing further assistance from the maid, Maria II gasped as she grasped the railing, moving to the tower’s viewing platform.

Standing on the platform, her gaze looked beyond the tower, towards this beautiful city renowned as the "Empire’s Light".

From here, the majestic scenery of Maniya City lay before her eyes, whether the outer city’s towering landmark buildings of Dorolia Castle Prison, or the inner city’s sacred and solemn Eternal Cathedral, could be seen clearly.

Here, one could see the crisscrossing streets of the city, the elegant and orderly buildings, and the sparse pedestrians on the streets...

Maria II’s gaze swept over Eternal Cathedral’s spires, across the Empire’s flags fluttering on the Holy Square, and past the main road’s end, the ominous and solemn Dorolia Castle, finally stopping at the fiery-like red clouds on the horizon...