Chapter 206 A Tricky Situation
Josephine felt a tingling warmth flow from his hand into her body.
Lowering her head, she mumbled in a barely audible voice, “W-What do you think you’re doing? There are too many people here!”
“What did you say?” Jared asked.
She ducked her head lower and whispered in an even softer voice, “I said, don’t do that here! There are too many people around! Let’s go among the trees!”
Jared let go of her hand. “Why should we do that? Come on. Let’s get moving. Otherwise, we won’t be able to catch up to the others.”
Stunned, Josephine gazed up at Jared and saw that he was looking at her with a mischievous grin.
She shot him a death stare and rushed at him. “I’m going to kill you!”
However, Josephine had only taken a few steps before she realized she was not as tired as before. Her legs were also not aching anymore. In fact, she felt refreshed and energetic, just as when she first started the climb!
“Why are you spacing out? Hurry up!” Jared called out when he saw her standing motionless.
“Oh. Right.”
Coming to her senses, Josephine quickly hurried after Jared.
They soon caught up with Walter and the others, who were surprised by Jared’s and Josephine’s speed.
“Josephine, didn’t you say that you were tired?”
William studied Josephine carefully, but she did not appear the least bit exhausted!
“I don’t know what happened either. Anyway, I’m not tired anymore. I feel quite refreshed,” Josephine replied, also looking puzzled.
As soon as the others heard her response, their gazes fell on Jared. They guessed that he must have had something to do with it.
“Let’s get going. It’ll be dark soon,” Jared said, hastening his pace.
After an hour, they finally reached the summit. However, it was so crowded that the monastery had closed its doors, and everyone could only wait outside.
Jared and the others pushed their way to the front of the crowd. Two monks were standing guard at the entrance, and they stopped them at once.
“Please don’t try to force your way into the monastery. We won’t be allowing anyone else in today,” said one of the monks.
Walter’s face crinkled up in a smile as he said politely, “Excuse me, but we’re friends of Abbot Erasmus. Could you please let him know that Walter Grange from Horington is here?”
“We’ve been told not to let anyone in. Master Leonidas is in the middle of treating our master’s daughter and must not be disturbed,” the monk responded airily with a dismissive wave of his hand.
Walter did not appear to be angered by the monk’s response. He reached into his pocket, took out some money, and slipped it into the monk’s hand. “I’ve also brought someone to treat her illness. Your master knows about it, so you only need to let him know we’ve arrived.”
The monk broke into a grin when he saw the money in his hand. He stuffed it into his pocket and said, “Ah, so you’re our master’s friends! Please wait here for a while. I’ll go and announce your arrival.”
Walter watched the monk run into the monastery with a smile. This is a prime example of a situation where it’s trickier to deal with the lower ranks than the higher-ups.
Jared sneered, “A monastery with an attitude like this will never have the ability to cure the girl.”
The group exchanged exasperated looks. Such was the world now where even places like a monastery were money-minded. Instead of calling it a monastery, it would be more accurate to refer to it as a tourist attraction.
Soon, the monk ran back up to Walter and bowed respectfully. “Sir, our master has allowed you to enter.”
Walter nodded, then led Jared and the others into the monastery.
Other tourists had purchased incense sticks and lit them while praying for good fortune. Hence, a thin veil of smoke from the burning incense sticks surrounded the monastery.
