“Alright, after you finish eating breakfast, we’ll head to the Enrom Theocracy right away.”

Enrom Theocracy, a city-state in the Eastern part of the Daria Empire and the headquarters of the church. I would compare it to Vatican city in my world because it is located inside the Daria Empire yet, the one who governs it is the head priest.

They produce charms, protections, and many more. This place also became home to Irteus — our Empire’s Great God and founder.

5 hours of travel made me dizzy.

Though I hate carriages, we had to travel since they have this inconvenient protocol. The person who will give the charm must whisper his/ her wish or prayer to the person who will receive it. He/She must also be the one who will hand it to the intended receiver. If not, you nullified the protection spell cast by the priests.

“Do you also see the swirls?”

I nodded my head as a response. Though our carriage already stopped in front of the cathedral, we remained seated since the surrounding was spinning. Walking would make me stumble as if someone tripped me.

I kept on massaging my temples until the continuous knocks disturbed me.

A male teen with short black hair wearing a white Chinese hanfu who had a hospitable smile stood beside our carriage.

The smile on his face didn’t fade until we step out of our carriage. He introduced himself as Elben, the youngest priest.

What? Based on what I read in the library, you had to be ‘old enough’ (about 30 years old and above) to be a priest. Well, on special occasions, if you’re extremely talented, the church wouldn’t waste you.

“Before stepping inside, please remove your shoes and wash your feet and arms with the Holy Water provided. We will only allow people who would buy products. If you still feel dizzy, we would serve a proven special concoction.”

Ella whispered and commented on how meticulous they were.

“We do not have a choice, we are the visitors, we had to follow the rules.”

The young priest’s last instruction was to wait for him after washing our arms and feet.

We both gasped and hugged each other when the priest passed through the cathedral’s shut doors; a scene I only saw in horror movies.
“If we wanted to reach home before dinnertime, we had to wash ourselves up.”

Then I proceeded with getting the bucket of holy water and using the wooden dipper.

We were drying ourselves with the white cotton towel when we heard the knob clicked. When the sound faded, the cathedral welcomed us with open arms.

My shimmering eyes wandered around this magnificent chapel. It has tall ceilings, stained glass windows, and columns, which I could only see on the Internet.

“Welcome to Enrom Cathedral! How can we help these ladies?”

I put my left hand on my chest when the young priest appeared when we were about to walk past the Cathedral’s crossing.

Following my explanation, he asked if what color of thread do we want. A servant came with the thread we requested. He asked us to close our eyes and put our prayer.

Grasping the teal blue thread in my hand, I can’t help but ask this puzzling question:

Did the strongest man in the empire need such charms? He was also the type who would not believe in the effectiveness of these. Unlike Reyner, whom I have seen wearing products from the church, there was a high probability of him tossing these away.

“Maybe, he was skeptical... do you know why we put the protocol of giving these products in person? You’ll now later, My Lady.”
This priest is unnecessarily talkative.

A simple prayer would do. Besides, this could be a gift for everything he did for me.

“The process would take an hour to finish. You could visit the shops nearby. They sell great pastries. Remember to wash with Holy Water whenever you enter the chapel.”

Was his jaw made of steel? If I were him, I already sensed pain.

We stayed. Waiting in an exchange for an accomplishment was nothing for me.

“Ladies! Ladies! Wake up!”

I scratched my eyes when I heard a series of claps. Ella’s head was on my shoulder, so I restrained my movements while gently slapped her face.
The great thing was, it was easy to wake her up.

We paid the moment we saw him holding black boxes. We were ready to leave when...

“Lady Bethany, may I ask, what is your element?”
“None.”
“Were you sure?”

My eyebrows met when he asked me about my element. Did he want to charge me more? If so, he could tell me I was fine with it.

“Yes, Priest Elben, was there something wrong?”

He shook his head.

“Maybe my assessment was wrong.”

We wanted to reach home as soon as possible, so I shrugged my shoulders and left.

Before he closed the cathedral’s doors, Priest Elben instructed our chauffeur to follow the path to the west. According to him, it was the fastest route.

“I was about to whisper if we were in the wrong place because of his uncomfortable aura.”

Bingo! I had the intuition earlier. Although the empire and the church always clashed because of different ideals, these priests were the campaigners of peace.

**
“I’m sorry if I went without a notice.”

I turned blue when the Duchess opened the door for me. Not the butler, the Duchess itself!

“Oh no! You were welcome to visit your future house, my dear daughter!”

Her high-pitched laugh urged my body to escape this misery. My brain told me no pain, no gain.

She led me to the living room, asked me what I wanted for lunch, and poured jasmine tea into my teacup.

Oh, jasmine tea! The aromatic floral scent, its bittersweet taste, represented my life in this world.

“So, did you come here to discuss the marriage plan with my bastard son?”

I almost spit out the tea.

“No, Your Grace. I had to discuss business plans with the Duke.”

“Oh, do not worry, dear. I will tell my worthless child to hurry.”

She put her teacup to its corresponding saucer. She hunched her shoulder. And if I would compare Siri’s voice to her, you would say that the AI assistant’s voice was more humanistic.

“Mother, were you proposing to Dame Grimaldi again?”

“Is that how you address your Mom after I bore you inside my belly for nine months?”

She pulled the same white silk handkerchief when we first met at the Emperor’s ball.

“I’m sorry if I answered even though I was not being asked but, we only talked about the splendid interior of your house, Your Grace.”

Phew! I calmed down the sea with huge tidal waves!

“Dame Bethany was right! And I only complained to her how I wanted to retire as the Duchess of this house!”

The Duke grabbed my left hand and said, “Let’s go, Beth. Stay away from suspicious people.”

Were they connected by blood... or by hatred?