The next day, the clergymen of the Universal Church in Zans made a public announcement that a mural was going to be painted on the ceiling of the Holy Jade Cathedral, so the cathedral wouldn't be available for public access for the next half a month.

This was most likely something that Lia had instructed the clergymen to do the day before.

For the followers of the Universal Church, this was quite an interesting announcement. If no mention of the topic had been made, everyone would've already forgotten that the ceiling of the cathedral had been left blank this entire time.

Why was it that the church had suddenly decided to find someone to paint a mural on the ceiling? All of the followers of the Universal Church who were being kept out of the cathedral were feeling rather perplexed.

The young missionaries of the Universal Church wore apologetic expressions as they explained that their pastor had finally found a suitable painter for the job, and that was why the roof was finally being filled in. Over the next half a month, everyone would just have to go to the two smaller Universal Church cathedrals for their church services.

Thus, the followers could only depart with dampened spirits, but at the same time, they were very interested to see what the roof mural in the cathedral was going to look like.

Meanwhile, Erwin was busy at work inside the cathedral, making long and bold strokes on the ceiling to map out a sketch of his mural. In contrast with normal painters, there was no need for him to rely on any scaffolding to reach the ceiling. Instead, a simple levitation spell was enough for him to reach his work surface.

Onean was seated on a bench down below, looking at the smile on Erwin's face as he basked himself in his creative process, and she couldn't help but feel happy for him as well.

The two of them had come here very early in the morning, and she had practically been dragged here by Erwin. 

Thus, there was still a hint of weariness on her face, and she would occasionally yawn into her own hand.

"Ultramarine." Erwin's voice rang out from above as he called out the name of an oil paint.

Onean didn't even bother to raise her head as she pointed a finger forward, and a bucket of paint rose up from the ground, flying through the air in an arc before coming to a rest right beside Erwin.

As it turned out, she had been dragged here by Erwin to act as his assistant, so it was no wonder that she was looking so weary and sleepy. Even with her drooping eyelids and her tiresome expression, she was still looking more spectacular than any woman had the right to be.

The light of the morning sun shone down upon the cathedral, filtering through the colorful stained glass windows before basking Onean's head of silver hair in a warm, multi-colored glow. Her brows furrowed slightly as she raised a hand to keep the sunlight out of her eyes, and after looking around to make sure that there was no one around, she adopted a much more relaxed seating posture, leaning back against the bench while casually resting her elbows on the back of the bench. If it weren't for the fact that she was a woman, she would be looking very much like an uncouth nobleman who refused to follow standard etiquette, and that was very uncharacteristic of her.

She raised her head to look up at Erwin, who was busy at work beneath the ceiling, and she thought to herself, I've never seen him so focused and serious before.

For some reason, a hint of dejection and loneliness welled up in her heart, seemingly having sprung up out of nowhere.

Meanwhile, Erwin was hovering in mid-air with his brows tightly furrowed, and he wasn't in a hurry to begin applying paint to the rough sketch that he had just made. Instead, he lowered himself by about half a body length, then began to carefully inspect the sketch, examining the proportions over and over again. The ceiling of the cathedral was a very large canvas, and it was significantly larger than even the giant oil paintings in the royal palace.

For a piece of artwork of this scale, the aspect that was most prone to error was the scale. Thus, Erwin had dedicated a lot of time to making sure that the scale was correct, and this was a step that he didn't dare to cut any corners on. It had already been many years since he had painted in earnest, and it was rather daunting for him to receive such a large project upon his return. While it was true that he possessed a great deal of talent, all painters had to dedicate a lot of energy and effort when it came to constructing a piece, so he couldn't afford to slack off at all.

However, for someone like Erwin, the more stern the challenge that he faced, the more excited he would become, and the more focused on the task he would be.

Most artists were perhaps only contending with their own skills and inspiration, but for an artist like Erwin, he was constantly challenging his own upper limits. At the same time, he had to take into account his right hand, which he still hadn't recovered full use of.

After repeated examination, he determined that the proportions were all correct, and only then did he prepare to begin applying paint to the mural.

However, as soon as he cast his gaze toward the bucket of paint that was resting beside him, an exasperated look immediately appeared on his face.

As it turned out, the bucket of paint that Onean had casually tossed up toward him was actually a bucket of olive green paint.

Erwin was just about to look down and complain to Onean, but he was stunned by the sight of the gorgeous woman below him.

Even from so far away, he could see her brows glistening under the morning sun, and her soft and gentle voice was like a light breeze as she sang:

The world laughs at me for my naivety

I can't see through the complexities of the world around me

Everything is so fleeting and passes by so quickly

I'm yet to grow old, but I'm already reminiscing about my past

With a shrug of my shoulders, no sinister plots can touch me

But when I awaken from my dream, there are often tears in my eyes

My family and loved ones can only reunite with me in dreams

My family and loved ones can only reunite with me in dreams

I travel alone through the world, lonely yet free 

With no one to recognize me, carefree is the life I lead 

Worries can be swept away with a brush of my sleeve 

The so-called gods are far away in the heavens 

...

As she was singing the part about gods residing far away in the heavens, she raised a hand and pointed up at the ceiling behind Erwin with a cheeky smile on her face, seemingly deriding the very thought that deities could possibly exist.

Erwin cast his gaze toward her, and a smile appeared on his face as well. However, there was a hint of bitterness intermingled with the smile, and he couldn't help but heave an internal sigh. Her made-up song seemed to be one that carried carefree and joyful undertones, but there was a great deal of sorrow hidden beneath the surface.

He didn't think that she would make up a set of lyrics on the spot here and create a tune to go along with it. What surprised Erwin even more was the uncouth sitting posture that she had adopted. Looking at her as she laid back casually against the bench, he couldn't help but be recalled for the four lackadaisical young men back in Sarus. This was the exact sitting posture that he envisioned that they would've adopted had they ever attended a church service.

I didn't think there was such a carefree and easygoing side to her, Erwin thought to himself.

Perhaps even Onean was surprised at just how little she cared about how she was seen by others when she was expressing herself with full freedom.

By others, she was referring to Lia, who was standing at the doorway of the cathedral's side entrance with a young man standing behind them. The two of them had already been standing there for some time.

A magician of Onean's caliber was naturally able to sense them as soon as they arrived, but she didn't want to allow her own inspiration to be interrupted by anyone.

Perhaps it was out of politeness or perhaps they were entranced by Onean's song, but Lia and the young man remained standing at the side entrance this entire time, refraining from disturbing her.

Onean wasn't singing seriously to begin with, but her voice was very gentle and captivating, and it also gave off a sense of buoyant freedom. In addition to that, the cathedral was very spacious and empty, so any sound that was made in it would echo throughout the entire building. Thus, once her voice traveled to Lia, it sounded completely different, almost like a unique monologue delivered by a skillful poet.

Onean's past life experience was encapsulated within the song, and given the unpredictable and oscillating nature of life, it was impossible to tell what the overall tone of the song was. There seemed to be some sorrow, anger, disdain, and reminiscence, but there were also more joyful elements to it as well.

The complexity of the emotions imbued within the song made it so that the listener couldn't help but be deeply immersed in it, even though it was very short.

Listening to her song, one couldn't help but wonder what she had to have experienced for these lyrics to spring to her mind.

Following the song's conclusion, Erwin could see that Lia wanted to approach him for a conversation, so he descended from the ceiling.

As for Onean, she returned to her usual restrained and refined demeanor in the blink of an eye, rising to her feet in an unhurried manner with a calm smile on her face, as if she weren't the one who had sung the song from earlier.

She was the only one who knew that the glistening tears in her eyes weren't just from her sleepy yawns.

Lia and the young man were actually able to see Onean from the back as they stood at the doorway of the side entrance, but after listening to her song, both of them reflexively forgot the uncouth posture that she had been sitting in earlier.

"My apologies for interrupting your work, Mr. Erwin," Lia said with an apologetic expression, then gestured to the man beside him as he said, "This is Master Lucidy."

"Please don't refer to me as Master, Mr. Lia. As I'm sure you're already aware, I'm not a fan of such titles," the young man interjected with an amicable smile, then turned toward Erwin and Onean to give an official self-introduction. "My name is Lucidy Farody. It's an honor to make your acquaintance."

"I'm Erwin Friar." Erwin returned Lucidy's courteous smile with a smile of his own, then gestured toward Onean as he introduced, "This is my wife."

Lucidy took a close glance at Erwin and Onean, and a surprised look appeared on his face as asked in a disbelieving voice, "Mr. Erwin, you are an... artist, is that correct?"

After that, Lucidy turned toward Lia with an inquisitive look in his eyes, silently posing the same question to Lia as well.

It was clear that in Lucidy's eyes, a man with Erwin's looks and disposition couldn't possibly just be an artist. Furthermore, there was no way that the average artist could have such a beautiful and refined wife.

Lia was also aware that Erwin was definitely not just some traveling artist, but at the moment, Erwin's current identity was an artist who had been hired by the Universal Church. As such, Lia was at a slight loss for how to reply to Lucidy's question.

Lia took a glance at Erwin and pondered the situation momentarily before replying, "At the moment, Mr. Erwin is helping our Universal Church complete the mural for this cathedral's ceiling."

After receiving confirmation from Lia, Lucidy could only reluctantly accept this answer.

Meanwhile, Erwin and Onean exchanged a knowing smile, as if they were sharing an inside joke.

However, given how observant Erwin was, he was still able to see the moisture clinging to her eyelashes, but in the presence of others, it felt inappropriate to wipe the tears from her eyes, so he could only refrain from doing so.

The subtle and silent exchange between the two didn't escape Lucidy's notice. Just like most men would've done in his situation, he had taken advantage of this opportunity to steal quite a few glances at Onean. After all, he had never seen such a gorgeous and captivating woman before.

The sound of her singing voice had already filled him with intrigue and curiosity, and if it weren't for the fact that he was accompanied by Lia, he would've already approached Onean to strike up a conversation with her.

Upon hearing Erwin introduce Onean as his wife, Lucidy couldn't help but feel a hint of disappointment, but the flames of desire in his heart weren't so easy to snuff out. However, as he watched the silent exchange of looks taking place between Erwin and Onean, he was struck by a sense of inferiority.

Erwin had naturally noticed the additional attention that Lucidy was paying to Onean, but he was already accustomed to other men taking extra glances at Onean. If he really wanted to hunt down everyone who would feel a sense of attraction toward Onean, then he would have to kill most of the men in the world. At the moment, he didn't have the ability nor the energy to accomplish this, so he could only allow them to look at her with their lustful eyes. At the very least, Lucidy was exercising a lot of restraint, only stealing a few glances at Onean from the side.

Lucidy Farody... Farody... He must be from the Farody Family of Tellier that Chahan mentioned to me, Erwin thought to himself.

In Erwin's eyes, the fact that this young man was being welcomed by someone of Lia's status had to be an indication that he was quite an important figure. Thus, it was reasonable to deduce that Lucidy had to be a figure of considerably lofty status in the Farody Family.

In any case, Erwin was convinced that Lia was of a far higher status in the Universal Church than all of the incumbent pastors.

As for Lia himself, both Erwin and Lucidy were people who he considered to be very important. Otherwise, he wouldn't have intentionally set up this meeting between the two of them.

Even after hearing that enigmatic yet captivating song from Onean, Lia still seemed to be more interested in Erwin.