"Who is trying to harm me?!"
At this moment, Moselle thought to himself, gritting his teeth in his heart.
Looking at the furious mob before him, he realized that he was at a crossroads that would decide his future.
It was certain that everything that happened tonight would spread like wildfire throughout the entire city... no, even the Southern Province, and even to the distant Imperial Capital.
If he couldn't handle the crisis he was currently facing well, then he would truly be done for.
Moselle's legs went slightly weak.
However, having experienced countless storms over the years, his mentality was naturally far superior to that of ordinary people.
So, although his thoughts were chaotic, his face only showed a slight stiffness, and he didn't appear panicked.
If he himself lost his composure, then the situation would be completely irretrievable.
Thinking thus, Moselle took a deep breath.
Feeling the various gazes in front of him, he suddenly shouted, "Silence!!!"
His voice, laced with extraordinary power, filled the entire room.
It seemed that the people, sensing that Bishop Moselle was not displaying too much composure at the moment and still harbored a glimmer of hope, looked at each other briefly and then decided to listen to what he had to say.
The previously noisy scene gradually quieted down.
Seeing this, Moselle let out a slight sigh of relief.
"You must be thinking right now that Moselle is a greedy man, with so much money. He must have pocketed all the charitable donations and offerings to the Lord for himself, am I right?"
"Is that the image of me, Moselle, that you cannot trust?" Moselle said coldly.
Looking at Bishop Moselle, who was usually kind and friendly but now extremely serious and angry, some believers subconsciously dared not meet his gaze and looked away.
Indeed, could Mr. Moselle, who was charitable and cared for his followers, really be a greedy and sinister person?
Many people felt a twinge of confusion.
The public is so easily deceived.
In the face of authority and credible speech, no matter how outrageous and illogical the actions taken, they could still justify themselves.
After all, Moselle represented the Heavenly Principle Church.
In the minds of these believers, the Bishop, who was visible and tangible, was more concrete and able to elicit real feelings than the Lord of Billion Stars, whom they had never witnessed performing miracles.
They believed in the Church's rightful god, but their belief was not solely in Him.
For a large church is essentially a whole made up of countless intricacies of people and events.
As part of this whole, Moselle became the object of deep trust in the hearts of the people of Orn City.
This trust relationship is actually a means of sustaining faith.
Looking at the silent crowd, Moselle's heart relaxed.
The most difficult hurdle was over.
He continued, "Since you are all curious as to why the Heavenly Principle Church has not participated in the fundraising for the disabled soldiers from the beginning, I'll take this opportunity to answer you."
"The Lord once taught us to be good and do good deeds, and not to ignore the suffering of others."
"To follow His teachings, since we learned of the news, we have been thinking about how we might do our part for those soldiers who protect our country and homes."
"This period of silence was not due to the Church's indifference, but rather we were utilizing all connections to secretly raise funds."
"As you can see," Moselle pointed to the Gold Coins scattered on the ground, "these, and those, including all in the box behind me."
"All of these are intended as charitable donations in the name of the Heavenly Principle Church, and are certainly not my personal property as you imagined."
"Do you understand?" Moselle spoke sternly, word by word.
Of course, this was a lie.
If he really had to all that money, he would definitely not see tomorrow's sun.
This move was just an unavoidable stalling tactic.
In his view, the public were creatures without memory.
He only needed a few hot news items to erupt over the next few days in Orn City to easily divert their attention from this matter.
"So that's how it is?"
"That's a million Gold Coins, more than all the other churches combined!"
"Does that include the portion I d?"
"The Heavenly Principle Church is truly commendable!"
Watching the excited discussions among the public, Moselle bishop breathed a sigh of relief.
He thought he had just barely managed to scrape through this obstacle.
However, the very next second, a discordant voice suddenly came from outside the crowd.
"Oh? Does the bishop mean to say that these one million Gold Coins behind you are all meant to be d to the disabled soldiers of the Empire?" The owner of the voice spoke while parting the crowd, "If so, I'll thank you and the church for your generosity on behalf of Duke Bartleion."
The moment he heard this voice, Moselle felt goosebumps all over his body.
He instinctively looked up and saw a handsome young man with a coat, black hair, and blue eyes, striding towards him, escorted by several guards.
Recalling their initial encounter at a charity dinner a few days ago, Moselle couldn't help but clench his teeth.
It was because of this little madman, who had shot and killed the heir of the Mosgla family on the spot, that he had been severely reprimanded by the Second Prince.
Who would have thought that this man was also behind this incident?
No, maybe from that night onwards, he and the Third Imperial Princess had already brought Duke Tierus on board and planned that fundraising event.
So, this was an enemy who would not rest until one of them was dead!
A chilling intent surfaced in Moselle's eyes.
"Good evening, Bishop."
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he pulled out a gun from his pocket and fired a shot into the air.
"Everyone, go back to your homes! Don't you see that the bishop is busy dealing with matters? Such lack of discernment!"
Lynn said impatiently, watching the crowd that could be easily manipulated and deceived by those above them.
After some commotion, the people dispersed in a bit of a panic.
Feeling some quiet returning to his ears, Lynn's expression returned to normal, "Now that everyone has scattered and the fire is more or less out... Bishop, shall we now discuss the matter of this donation?"
"Were you waiting here for me all along?!"
Moselle looked at Lynn with a dark expression.
At this moment, how could he not guess that everything that happened tonight was this youngster's doing?!
First, he planted seeds of discontent and doubt in the believers' hearts using public opinion, then meticulously set up the wildfire, outing the location where he had stashed the tax revenue.
In the end, he detonated those seeds in the believers' hearts right before their eyes.
Truly... cunning and shameless!!!
Lynn shrugged, "Don't answer a question with a question, Bishop."
Hearing this, Bishop Moselle gave a cold smile, "Do you think you've got me cornered? That you can use public opinion to coerce the church and put me on the pyre?"
"We'll see, you little bastard of the Bartleion family!"
With that, he turned to leave.
But then, a light and drifting sentence reached him again.
"The Second Prince should be almost here, according to my calculations."