TCIWTFY - Part 2 Chapter 10

"Try harder. Are you sure you're going to fail from the start? You can't even take away the one family she has, so do you think you can bring Venus to its orbit?"

The man behind the pendant grumbled in a hoarse voice.

Stop.

Communication was lost.

The Holy Fire had long since changed from black to the appearance of a benevolent goddess.

Rachel bit her fingernails nervously.

"Damn it. Medea, if only that woman showed up..."

The King and even the brainwashed Agemas forgot her existence.

Aside from the constant attempts to sabotage him, she also felt the creepy feeling she had when she was left alone with Medea earlier.

'No way... That girl, is she awake?'

Selene, the real Shadeia priestess was driven out by her mother.

Medea was Selene's only daughter,  so she may have inherited some of her foresight from her blood.

"No, that can't be true. If that were true, she wouldn't have just stood by and watched."

If Medea had been able to foresee, she would not have allowed Rachel into the palace, and in fact, she would not have let her brother, whom she cared so much for, fall into danger.

It is the omnipotence of the Goddess, none other than her.

There is no way that the temple and even the Saintess that all of humanity is waiting for, could remain so quiet.

So.

Rachel bit her lip and clenched her nails.

"Medea haven't awakened yet."

Rachel nodded her head as she muttered. She let out a faint sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness. Medea. It's not too late."

A soft voice was filled with gloomy joy.

Shadeia's priestess and Saintess will only be remembered as one on the continent.

Rachel, in her name only.

The bandage that had been pulled down was torn and fluttering in pieces.

Rachel looked straight at her face reflected in the wooden mirror and touched up her makeup here and there.

Before she knew it, she was combing her messy hair neatly and taking deep breaths.

"I must first remove Medea from her position as Princess. To do that, we must remind her of what an unfortunate bundle of curses she is."

It won't be easy. The current Medea is loved by her subjects and people as a hero who fought against rebels and protected the country.

Fortunately, Rachel has some experience with these things.

All it takes is a drop of doubt to shatter a rock-solid belief.

Just as Medea's mother Selene was banished and killed before she could awaken to her omnipotence, so too will her daughter Medea.

"The Knights Templar are supposed to arrive soon."

The stage and the audience are ready. All that's left are the actors who will appear in the play.

Rachel's sinister gaze fell upon the torn pieces of bandage.

***

A luscious golden tangle waved across her shoulders in a silk gown. It was so smooth that it seemed slippery to the touch.

"Saintess, how can you be so beautiful?"

The maid exclaimed as she combed Rachel's hair.

After entering the palace as a guest of King Valdina, Rachel quickly captured the hearts of the court ladies with her harmless kindness and generous holy energy.

"You're a Saintess, right? Do you know how great she is? She wiped out all those ghouls and saved our Majesty. They also said her holy power was very strong! That's why even the Holy Nation came rushing to her."

"If she were a Saintess, she would be the most powerful person next to the Pope, but I can't believe how kind she is. She goes out to the slums every day to help sick children, and she generously shares her holy power with us low-ranking court ladies."

With her kindness and gentleness, Rachel soon won the people's favor.

Even the maid of the cottage house was assigned to look after Rachel by Medea's order.

"When she first arrived at the palace, the Princess insulted her in front of so many people. Your Highness the Princess is really going too far. Even though the Saintess is nothing less than His Majesty's benefactor!"

The maid pursed her lips.

The maid assigned to Rachel's care was stupid and naive.

After using her powers to heal a few minor wounds, she became completely captivated by Rachel.

It was the easiest thing for Rachel to get someone like that to come to her side by just talking a little.

"I went to treat His Majesty, but I missed the timing. I think I offended Her Highness. I hope Her Highness won't be too angry."

Rachel continued, her eyebrows furrowed.

"So, if I put my divine blessing on something that she likes, won't she look upon me with a more favorable light?"

"Hmm..."

The maid scratched her chin.

"I heard you often visit the Princess's palace..... Is there anything among Her Highness's belongings that could be used for a blessing?"

"Well? I don't really have any thoughts-"

"Think about it. What is it that has Her Highness's name engraved on it... that anyone can tell is Her Highness's?"

As Rachel's voice deepened, the maid's eyes became even more hazy.

"Well. Last year, on Her Highness's birthday, His Majesty gave her a mithril dagger with Her Highness's name engraved on it as a gift."

Rachel smiled brightly at the maid's answer.

"That would be great. Then, can you bring me that dagger without anyone knowing?"

A goat horn-shaped mark appeared above the maid's hazy eyes.

"Yes, that's fine. I used to work at the Princess's palace. I'm also very close with Saya, the Princess's maid."

The maid replied in a dazed manner.

"Yeah. I know."

Rachel nodded gently. If she had enough strength, she would have approached more maids, but she had to manage the Agemas' mark and aim for Peleus.

"That's why I'm asking you."

The maid nodded fervently with hazy eyes.

***

Princess Valdina's Palace.

"Your Highness, that woman called the Saintess is truly strange!"

Saya grumbled.

"Now even the people around me are being influenced by strange things!"

"What's going on?"

At Medea's calm question, Saya swallowed her anger and told the whole story.

"Anji tried to enter my study?"

"Yes. Sister Neril saw it early yesterday morning. She ran away as soon as she heard the sound."

Saya narrowed her eyes as she lamented the ingratitude of Anji, who had once been a maid in the Princess's palace.

"Your Highness, before you punish Anji, there is something I want to tell you. I have been thinking about it carefully, and not long ago, that girl passed by and left me. It was about Your Highness's dagger."

Anji pretended not to know, but hmm... How can I be so quick-witted that I can just let it slide like that? 

Saya snorted inwardly.

Anji's stingy attitude was out of the question for Saya, who was trained by thieves who would steal her wages and bread with a smile on their faces in the back alleys.

"After sending her to the cottage house, she received several blessings, and then she started defending the Saintess, so I thought she was strange. Your Highness, why are you laughing?"

Saya tilted her head at Medea, who suddenly burst into laughter...

'A dagger... Rachel, you've already started preparing.'

"I think I know what she's after. I'm glad nothing has changed."

Rachel's cowardly ways of manipulating her opponents like chess pieces and never getting her hands dirty are still there.

"Just let them take it."

"Huh? No. You don't. Do you know what you can get from there?"

"It's okay. The real thing is here anyway."

A silver dagger appeared in a drawer that opened with a squeak.

"I wouldn't keep Peleus's gift in vain. The one in the study is a fake."

"Ah..."

"Let's just leave it as a gift from me."

"To whom?"

Saya asked back.

"Well, you'll find out soon enough. Don't worry too much about it."

Medea smiled faintly.

"Anyway, it's not like Anji is the only one there."

There were plenty of chess pieces waiting to appear under Medea's control.

***

A few days later, the cottage house.

Rachel looked down at the silver dagger in her hand.

Then he touched the small, antique letters engraved under the handle.

Hehe.

The elegant lips were strangely crooked.

"Huh... Preparations are all do ne."

Rachel, left alone, hummed a faint tune.

Previous                Next

Support Novellate!