Saint Rita's Cathedral

Thinking back to those unpleasant times, Carlos pouted.

He rubbed his nose with his free hand and puffed up his cheeks in frustration.

Right now, the boy was trying his hardest to paint Fei's portrait. He was using an assortment of crayons and color pencils, trying to mimic what those famous artists did from the videos that he saw online.

The two people were in the second-floor lounge.

The mutant was by the window, bathed in the warm sunlight that spilled over her like a golden veil. It made her look like an angel incarnate.

Fei was an expert at staying still, so she was the perfect model for this aspiring artist called Carlos.

However, just because the model was good didn't mean that the portrait would come out good as well.

It's been an hour, and the drawing that the young boy was working on still looked like a pile of gibberish. You could barely tell that the Fei in the picture was a person…

Looking at his bodyguard's expectant gaze, he couldn't possibly gift her such trash after drawing for an entire hour, right?

But the more that he tried to fix the drawing, the more awful it looked.

You know what? I give up! He slammed the pencil in his hand onto the delicate glass table with a thump, startling Fei.

"What's wrong, master?" She furrowed her eyebrows.

Carlos gulped. "Umm… Fei… I-uh, I…"

"Carlos! Fei! I'm back! ~"

The door to the lounge was flung open, revealing a girl in her early twenties fully dressed in winter attire.

Fei immediately stood up and bowed. "Good afternoon, Miss Eyrie."

Placing her hands on her hips, Eyrie sighed in exasperation. "Fei, I told you. You don't need to be so formal."

"Formalities are needed."

The young woman harrumphed and turned towards her younger brother. "Carlos, you'll comfort me, right? You're different from that cold Fei. Give me a hug!" She opened her arms.

Carlos puffed up his cheeks and reluctantly jumped into his sister's waiting arms. He secretly breathed out in relief and embraced Eyrie tighter.

Since I was saved by your arrival, I shall bless you with my heavenly hug. He snuggled his head in the warmth.

Eyrie chuckled. "Alright, alright! That's enough."

Finally, she announced the reason for her excitement. "I got permission from Father to bring you guys outside, to The Saint Rita's Cathedral."

Hearing those words, Fei, who had been calmly standing by the window, widened her eyes.

Saint Rita's Cathedral!

In the city, there were only two places that were not painted in shades of black and silver. One of them was the Rochester mansion, and the other was The Saint Rita's Cathedral.

Whilst the Rochester mansion was pure white; the cathedral was the most magnificent place one can ever see; it had an abundance of flying buttresses, pointed arches, and stained-glass windows.

The cathedral was made using Gothic architecture, a style of architecture developed in northern Country D that spread throughout the entire north between the 12th and 16th centuries; characterized by slender vertical piers and counterbalancing buttresses and by vaulting and pointed arches.

Alas, that was many centuries ago. Even the placing of Country D had changed multiple times since then.

Although it used to be popular, it is now sporadic to find such architecture as not many people put their faith in the church anymore. The Saint Rita's Cathedral is one of the few gothic churches that still exist in the current time.

Fei had thought that she would never be able to see such a wonder in her lifetime, or at least so soon since her awakening.

With this thought in mind, she tried to figure out why Eyrie wanted to take them there.

Could it be… because it was Christmas? In this world, going to church on Christmas seems to be a tradition for those that still believe in the bible.

Carlos seemed to come to a similar conclusion as his eyes sparkled with excitement. "Is there going to be some event?!"

"Yep. There's one every year." Eyrie paused and looked thoughtfully at the two figures in the room. "This will be the first time I attend church in 8 years, and it's the first time that any of you attend church in your lives."

She smiled. "Isn't this a special year?"

Without waiting for an answer, the young lady continued. "Come on! Wear something warm; we'll be leaving in 10 minutes."

"I'll be waiting downstairs." After saying so, she strode away, humming a Christmas carol, leaving the master and bodyguard pair by themselves.

I should see if Carol wants to go too, Eyrie thought to herself. That girl hadn't left the house in weeks!

As she walked, Eyrie suddenly chuckled at the pun that came to her head.

She's humming a carol while looking for Carol!

…

"Fei, Fei! Did you hear sis Eyrie?? We're going to a cathedral!" Carlos beamed, his eyes lively and full of excitement.

"You know, I've seen that church before in 3d tours and books before. It looked suupppeerrrr cool and fancy! And that design was of when the church was on a NORMAL day. But today... it's Christmas!

"There's an event going on during Christmas! Do n'tcha think they're gonna decorate it and make it even prettier?! I heard that apparently, Christmas is a pretty big deal in the catholic church. Like it's the birthday of their god or something! Ain't that cool? Aren'tcha excited? Fei?"

Listening to her master's nonstop chatter, the bodyguard absentmindedly nodded her head.

It would be the first time she would go outside since her arrival at the mansion…

How would the outside world look and feel like?