Chapter 9 · The Year-End Grand Prayer Meeting (1)

Hundreds of ornate carriages filed into the wide grounds behind the temple. The meeting hadn’t been held for three years because of the war, so even minor nobles from the provinces had dragged themselves here.

“Lady ○○○, it’s been so long. How many years has it been? Is your father, Lord ○○, well?”

“Oh my, Lord ○○. Father is in good health. He’s away in the southern region for a short rest cure at the moment. I heard you’ve started a perfume business lately—is it going well?”

“It’s hard to judge yet, since it hasn’t been long since the war ended, but once it gains momentum, the returns shouldn’t be low. If your ladyship is interested as well, I could arrange a sample of the scent—”

The sound of nobles and knights reunited after so long, complimenting one another’s finery and laughing and chattering, made the temple’s usual quietude impossible to find.

When the bell rang ten times at three in the afternoon to announce the start of the prayer meeting, the people who had been deep in conversation poured into the great hall.

I was seated in the royal family’s section to the right of the dais in the great hall. Yes—right next to Aquila and Stella!

Today I was wearing a white dress dripping with jewels that Sierra had gone to great lengths to procure over several days. My hair, calmed with scented oil, was pinned up with a white lace ribbon, making me look like a little lady of noble birth to anyone’s eyes.

But having grown used to loose priestess robes, it was terribly uncomfortable. No—the biggest reason for my discomfort was, of course, the people beside me.

Stella sat with a chilly expression, hands clenched tightly on her knees, eyes cast down. Aquila asked me in a perfunctory way how I was finding temple life and whether I had any difficulties, then soon fell silent. Well, as far as I was concerned, people-watching was far more comfortable than carrying on awkward conversation with the sworn enemies of my past lives.

Being seated high on the dais made it easy to observe people. In the center of the great hall burned a blue flame (symbolizing Lux’s protection) on a great brazier that would not go out for the entire prayer meeting, and countless seats were arranged on either side of it. The closer to the front, the more noble the person assigned to it.

The very front row was a place of tremendous honor, where the heads of the knight orders that protected Santra and the royal mages sat. I could find Paeon easily, too; he was wearing a splendid ceremonial uniform of white cloth embroidered with gold, his chest laden with every kind of medal.

He didn’t seem especially close with the person beside him either, for he sat with his mouth set firmly, glaring at the statue of the god Lux as if he might bore a hole through it.

“We will now begin the opening ceremony. Everyone seated, please rise.”

High Priest Belus ascended the dais. Seeing his voice ring out, he must have used a sound amplification spell. Lively music flowed from the choir section on the right side of the hall, and after the people sang Santra’s national anthem and a hymn offered to the god Lux, the opening ceremony ended.

“Before the main ceremony,”

Belus turned his head toward where Paeon was seated.

“His Majesty the King will now take a moment to commend the shining heroes of Santra who achieved brilliant merits in this war. First, Sir Paeon Parsiel, Commander of the Holy Veritas Knight Order, please come forward on behalf of your members.”

He strode up onto the dais and offered a knight’s salute to the king.

“Sir Parsiel has engaged in battle at the forefront for the past three years, holding the defensive line to protect the capital, Salus, and crushing the enemy forces at the Battle of the Nigel Plains, bringing victory to Santra. In recognition of these merits, I hereby commend him.”

As the king pinned a new medal to his chest, thunderous applause and cheers erupted.

Most of the noblewomen were gazing at him with dreamy expressions. Well, with a graceful, beautiful face as if sculpted by a god himself and a firm, slender, muscular physique set off by his handsome ceremonial uniform, it was enough to stir the hearts of countless women.

But I was startled to see that no small number of nobles were looking at him with hostile eyes. In my past lives I hadn’t paid him close attention, so I hadn’t known—there were nobles who were so openly antagonistic?

‘They look like they could shoot mana from their eyes, honestly.’

In particular, the people of the four marquis houses of Santra and several men of count rank were frowning as if looking at something unpleasant. Naturally, they weren’t clapping either.

‘How did he come to earn their enmity?’

It was true that nobles and the temple often clashed… Had he perhaps been rude even in front of great nobles like those? While I was making this and that guess, the medal ceremony passed.

“Next, we will observe a moment of silence for the souls sacrificed for Santra.”

Quiet music played, and sounds of weeping came from here and there. A considerable number of nobles had been conscripted as knights and auxiliary mages for the war, so the families and acquaintances of the victims must not yet have escaped the sorrow of losing precious ones.

“We were able to achieve victory through Lord Lux’s protection, but the damage was not small. The royal family and the temple will devote all their efforts to postwar recovery for the time being. If those gathered here join their strength as well, we—the ‘chosen people’—will enjoy even greater prosperity than before.”

The king declared in a resolute tone.

“The royal family lost Princess Beatrice during the war.”

In the king’s voice, who had lost his most cherished child, there was a trace of grief.

“But the princess left us a new life and departed. I am pleased to introduce her daughter to you all here today.”

The great hall stirred greatly. The veiled princess who had only existed in rumor was finally being presented by the royal family. Belus approached to escort me. I took his hand, rose, and walked to the center of the dais.

“I present Princess Anastasia.”

My whole body went rigid, and my heart pounded as if it would burst. In my past lives, whenever I attended gatherings this crowded, I could never avoid the looks of condemnation and contempt. No one ever spoke to me, and I used to lament why there still wasn’t a spell to make my body invisible.

“We will now proceed with the ceremony in which Princess Anastasia receives her blessing name from Lord Lux.”

Belus took my hand and began walking toward the central brazier. I felt stinging gazes, but I did not look around; I walked straight ahead, back straight. I did not want to be looked down upon by them.

When we reached the brazier, he lit a golden ceremonial torch and handed it to me. I took the rather heavy thing and carefully made my way back to the dais.

At the center of the dais was a brazier filled with name tablets inscribed in the ancient language. After I transferred this fire to the brazier, the high priest would sprinkle holy water over it, and the ceremony would end. Then the cleanest tablet, unburned by the fire in the brazier, would become my middle name. This ceremony should originally have been performed by my mother, but since my mother could no longer do it, I was doing it myself.

I climbed onto the dais and carefully tilted the ceremonial torch toward the brazier.

Then.

Whoosh!

The flame on the perfectly burning torch suddenly went out.

“…!”

Gasps came from all around, and the crowd watching me began to murmur. Never before had the flame gone out during the torch procession.

‘…It’s magic.’

I had been so tense that I hadn’t noticed, but I could sense a faint trace of mana from the torch. Aquila had certainly had a hand in this.

“An ill omen!”

The cry burst out from somewhere in the seats. It was loud enough for even me to hear. From then on, the hall filled with irrepressible murmuring.

Belus seemed startled as well and didn’t know what to do. The only option was to go back to the brazier to relight it, but then I would obviously have to endure the humiliation of whispers the entire way there.

‘I have to choose.’

I had the knowledge and experience of my past lives, but if I moved differently from my past lives, there was no telling how the future would change.

‘I had planned to live quietly at least until I was eight…’

It was after I turned eight that Aquila began to move in earnest. Truly persecuting a four-year-old child might not look good in the eyes of the world, so until then she would probably have kept her head down.

Aquila was still more wary of the temple than of me, so I had intended to conceal my power as much as possible until I was eight, but…

‘…Still, if she’s going to come at me like this, I have no choice.’

Those few seconds felt like an eternity. I focused on letting the flow of mana in my body course to my fingertips and whispered the activation word.

“Igniárĭus.”

Fwoosh!

Blue flame blazed up on the ceremonial torch once more. In an instant, the murmuring turned into cries of admiration and wonder.

“The sacred flame suddenly blazed up again!”

“Is it a miracle?! A miracle of Lord Lux?”

“No, it’s magic. I clearly saw the princess recite an activation word!”

“That’s impossible… Elemental magic at that age? A miracle would make more sense, Lord Drake!”

The ill omen was overturned into astonishment. The king, too, gaped and could not take his eyes off me, and Stella had risen outright from her seat. Aquila as well sat with her face stiffened, gripping the armrest of her chair so hard her hand turned white.

“Everyone, please be quiet. We will continue the ceremony.”

As the commotion grew too loud, Belus shouted to restore order.

“…I had heard the princess could use magic, but it’s hard to believe even with my own two eyes.”

He whispered quietly. I smiled faintly and brought the torch toward the brazier. The fire caught the wooden tablets quickly, and after some time Belus sprinkled holy water. Then he picked out a single clean tablet from among the blackened ones.

“…The princess’s blessing name is,”

Gulp.

Please let it be something good.

“Lumière.”

The moment Belus read the word written on the tablet, the great hall grew noisy again.

“Lumière!”

“That’s excessive. Putting a word like that in from the start—it’s blasphemy!”

Lumière is one of the other names for the god Lux. In ancient times, there had been several words referring to God.

‘Even I didn’t wish for something this excessive…’

I still couldn’t judge whether this was good or bad for me.

“The princess’s name is, from now on, ‘Anastasia Lumière Entimos (Ἀναστασία Lumière ἔντιμος).’ I will now offer the blessing prayer—”

“Just a moment.”

Someone cut off Belus and cried out. Interrupting the middle of a ceremony was a great insolence, so people looked toward the source of the voice in horror.

“…I apologize for the rudeness in this sacred place. However, I, Stein Orléans, head of the House of Orléans and Minister of State of Santra, cannot acknowledge this ceremony.”

The owner of the cry that disrupted the ceremony rose from his seat. A silver-haired old man with a clear, ringing voice, he was Marquis Orléans—a figure of caution I needed to be wary of. He was one of Aquila’s men.

“…May I ask the reason, Lord Orléans?”

“I have not yet heard any official statement from the royal family regarding the princess’s father.”

He continued in a cold voice.

“According to the rumors circulating… they say the princess’s father is a Kalisa mercenary. Is that true?”