Eliana walked next to Gabriel, wondering how she could hold his hand. She could've just forced herself, but since she wasn't sure, that option wasn't the best. If she was wrong, then it could very well look as if she was attacking someone for no reason.
In the end, there was no better way than to be subtle about it, even if it was embarrassing. She slowly reached out her hand toward Gabriel, trying to hold hands as if she was a girl in love who wanted to be held by her lover.
Gabriel didn't glance at the young lady. If anything, it was impossible for him to see what the girl was trying to do. However, that was because Eliana didn't know the reality. Even though Gabriel wasn't looking at her, his entire attention was on the girl as she was focusing more on him.
He had a feeling that the girl had noticed something about him. When he saw her reaching out her hand closer to his hand, he understood what she was trying to do.
Eliana's hands were merely a few inches away from Gabriel's hands, just about to touch him.
"Senior, can you tell me what we have to do to be selected?"
Gabriel took a few steps forward right as Eliana was about to touch him. He acted as if it had nothing to do with Eliana and it was only because he wanted to ask the old man a question.
Eliana frowned at the failure. However she still wasn't sure if Gabriel's action of avoidance was intentional or a coincidence.
Gabriel walked closer to the old man, walking right next to him.
The old man didn't think much of it. He simply explained, "There is only one test. It'll be the aptitude test. We'll take you to a room. On the other side of the room will be the other Head Priests who will check your aptitude."
Eliana also fastened her pace. She took the left side of Gabriel, who was on the left of the old man. At the moment, Gabriel was in the middle of the Head Priest and Eliana.
Eliana once again reached out his hand as Gabriel was focused on the old man.
"Huh?"
Gabriel suddenly bent forward, touching his feet just as Eliana was about to touch him, once again avoiding her hand.
He picked up a small piece of stone that was lying in the middle of the hall. "Strange. Who placed a stone here?"
He pushed the stone to the corner before standing up again.
Along the way, Eliana tried many times to hold Gabriel's hand, but every time, he did something to avoid her hand while making it look coincidental. Even after Gabriel avoided her five times, Eliana still wasn't sure if it was intentional. She just couldn't confirm it.
'This guy! Just what kind of luck does he have? He always avoids my hand without even looking at me! Is it really a coincidence?' She grimaced. 'If that's the case, then I've had enough of being subtle! This time I'll forcefully hold his hand, no matter what the aftermath!'
Eliana had made up her mind this time. No matter what, she wasn't going to let Gabriel avoid it.
"We're here."
She stepped closer to Gabriel, only to hear the old man's words. Just as she was about to take action, the old man tapped her shoulders.
"That's the room. Go inside first!" The old man told Eliana who was monetarily in a daze.
"Go inside?" she asked.
"That's right. Enter the room and get tested. I was about to send Raziel first, but you're more talented from what I've seen throughout the years. You should get tested first."
The old man knew Eliana was as capable as them. At the same time, she was much younger. This was enough to show her talent. If anything the old man had more faith in her succeeding!
Eliana looked back and forth between Gabriel and the door on the other side of the hallway. In the end, she sighed and nodded.
She was here to test! She was here because of Izen and this investigation was her mission. As for Gabriel, she believed she could test him later as well. He wasn't running away anyway.
She pushed the door open and entered the secret room.
****
On the other end of the room, the other Head Priests of the Church were sitting comfortably. At the moment, they had already lost hope of someone being selected.
"I told you. This isn't going to work!" A dark haired Head Priest spoke, breaking the long silence. "This was a waste of time and resources!
A few of the Head Priests had already fallen asleep on the chairs, only to wake up as they heard the angry shout.
"Not like we had any choice." Another Head Priest sighed. "After a long time, the Holy Book has become active again! That means the Holy Book wants to select an heir."
" If it wants to select an heir, why did it reject us?"
"Exactly! Who could be more talented than us? Are you sure nothing is wrong with this Grimoire?"
"When it became active, we thought it would select one of us to lead the Church. Who knew that all of us were rejected! It doesn't even react to our presence as if we aren't worth its attention!"
"Let alone us, we've had all the Church members tested secretly and the Holy Book didn't select anyone! In the end, we had to invite outsiders!"
All the Head Priests were quite upset. If it were any normal times, they wouldn't have tried something like this. They already waited such a long time after all.
"Did we have any choice at all? We can't go on without a Holy Priest now. The World is in chaos. The Church of Darkness is making a return again. The Church of Flames have suffered heavy losses. We can't ignore this any longer. We need a Holy Priest, even if it's not one of us!"
They have hidden the information about the absence of a Lord of Light for so long. However, it was getting harder and harder with each passing second, especially now that all the Churches were getting more and more active. They couldn't sit idle.
Unfortunately, they couldn't openly declare that they were selecting a Holy Priest either. That's why they came up with this secret method to invite people and test them without having them realize.
In their initial plan, if they were to find someone, they were going to secretly train that person for a few months and then reveal that person as the old Holy Lord before the entire world!
"Wait. Isn't that Eliana? Isn't her position high enough? She came to be a Holy Child as well?"
All the Head Priests were lost in discussion when one of them noticed Eliana in the other room.
"Who cares why she's here. As long as she can win the favor of the Holy Book, I don't care. Moreover, if she's selected, it'll probably be good. She's already quite strong. With the Holy Book, she might directly reach the peak and lead our Church to great heights!"
The Head Priests were quite interested in the appearance of Eliana. They glanced at the Holy Book, expecting to see a reaction from it.
In the end, all of them sighed in disappointment. "As expected, the Holy Book pays no attention to her either. At this point, I don't even know what this Book is looking for! It keeps rejecting everyone!"
The Holy Grimoire was completely unreactive, filling every Head Priest with disappointment.
On the other side of the glass, Eliana was standing silently, wondering what she had to do. After a few minutes, she only heard a voice echoing in the room which told her that she failed. She was told to leave the room and send the next person in!
