Capítulo 12: 12: The decision is made
"Hey, watch where you are going. Can't you see that someone is in front…." The man trailed off as soon as his eyes fell on the blank blue eyes of the cloaked figure.
Those eyes help no light inside them, indicating that the girl could not see much of anything.
And as soon as the realization hit, the man's demeanor instantly changed from accusing to gentle.
"A-Ah, I'm sorry miss. I did not know your circumstances," having realized his fault, the man quickly bowed down. He could feel various eyes aimed at his back, judging him for the commotion he had caused.
This was not something the noble had planned to face when he decided to visit the temple today. But the girl was taking a long time to respond which made his situation even more complicated.
Whispers broke out as soon as he bowed. He quickly looked up at the blank eyes of the female in front of him and instantly realized his mistake.
Of course, the girl had not asked him to stand back up from how to bow. She had not seen him bow at all.
His silence and all the whispers must have clued the girl in on the situation because she flinched and quickly bowed back.
"N-No, the fault lies with me. I should not have come here today. Kindly forgive me for this shameful behavior."
The noble instantly calmed down as soon as he heard the girl's voice. It was a gentle and kind voice that relaxed him.
However, the looks and whispers being aimed in his way did not stop. It took the noble a few minutes to realize that those commoners were not looking at him, but rather at the cloaked girl in front of her.
Their eyes held fear when they looked at the blind girl and the noble felt realization drawn on him.
'Ah, so she is 'that' child, Elysia? She looks younger than I expected her to. She also doesn't look like she could hurt anyone. But looks can be deceiving.'
As soon as the man realized who the sixteen-year-old in front of him was, he quickly gave another bow.
"Greetings to the fiance of our crown prince. I hope I did not cause any problem for our future empress or it would bring shame to the Cross name."
The noble could feel the glares that were being aimed his way. The temple had too many commoners who supported the next saintess as the candidate for the future empress.
And had that 'Eve' girl been born as a noble, he would not have minded it so much. But how can a commoner without any background be allowed to marry the royal family when they had another candidate?
Even if the crown prince was in love with the next saintess, the noble fraction could not support that marriage.
"A-Ah, thank you? I-I should get going now. I am not supposed to be here."
The girl was shy and sounded submissive as well. She was easy prey that the Nobel was sure he could subdue.
So if he pushed a little more, then he could make that girl fall on his side and use her for his rise.
No matter how little the crown prince cared for his fiance, she was still his fiance.
"Why so soon, my lady? I would like to ask my lady to accompany me to the gardens, if possible," the noble cheered the exact moment Elysia gave in to his demands.
He could see her fragile defense breaking apart as he probed more and more but he missed the dark glare that entered the girl's mind.
Those from the tower who knew what the girl was capable of flinched while the general public sneered at the loose girl.
Elysia had the most diverse image among different masses but neither liked to interact with her much. She was too much of a danger for both sides - be it the Tempel or the common people.
"Elysia, the head priest is calling for you. If you are late again then you will be punished with another time out."
"A-Ah, I should leave then. It was nice knowing you, Noble Cross. I hope we get another chance to talk again."
The Noble looked on awkwardly as the girl left him behind. He wanted to be angry but he could not show his emotions. So all he could do was glare at the eye-patch earring sister in front of him.
Sister Rosa could just sigh at the foolish man who had fallen prey to the head priest's schemes.
He would be lucky to survive this night with the amount of poison Elysia had managed to get into his veins.
And the worst of it all was, that no one would be able to find the source since Elysia had used untraceable magic to perform that task.
Only someone with stronger magic than Elysia would be able to detect this magic and the only one who fitted this criterion was the crown prince.
And Sister Rosa knew that the crown prince was not going to admit to it. If he had overlooked everything else Elysia had done this far, then he was not going to betray Elysia now.
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Elysia's facade fell as soon as she exited the room. She did feel sorry for the noble but not to the point of saving him.
After all, between him and Eve, Elysia already knew which one she was going to choose and save.
Her eyes could not make out much of anything in front of her but Elysia had been spared the fate of being blind. She could still make out vague shapes and differences in the light around her.
But she mostly relied on her magic to read the room and her surroundings. That was her most powerful weapon and also something Elysia relied on exclusively on.
She had also been able to carry out today's mission in relative peace because of her delicate mastery of magic.
"May you find peace in your next life," with that last prayer out of the way, Elysia made her way toward the Head Priest's office.
It was not often that Yohan called for her anymore. Nor did he ask her to do a lot. According to him, it was not yet time for Elysia to make herself useful in the most important ways.
She had only been tasked to clear out some monsters from the demon world and aid Eve's peace campaigns thus far.
Oh, and to take out the competition.
Over the years, Elysia had been slowly but surely clearing those who were opposing the royal family and the next saintess candidate.
It had been difficult for Elysia to be able to hide this side of her from her companions but she had somehow managed to get away this far.
Eve likely suspected something but the crown prince let Elysia be. He didn't even question her when he found her in the weirdest of places.
Elysia was afraid that the crown prince knew something about her 'true' work but since he had not said anything, Elysia did not pry too much into it.
She quickly knocked at the Head Priest's door and braced herself.
"Come in," the door opened and the atmosphere changed as soon as Head priest Yohan saw her enter.
That was something that never seemed to change in her life. The uncomfortable feeling that penetrated the space around Elysia every time she was in Head Priest's presence never failed to catch her off-guard.
"Sir, the mission was a success. Noble Cross will die by the end of today and his son will take over his position pretty soon. Since his son is young, we can make use of him for our ends."
"I know. You did a good job so I feel like I can entrust you with another. Since you are sixteen already, I feel like you are finally ready to take on heavier responsibilities."
Elysia felt happy at being acknowledged. Those words were ones that she had wanted to hear for a long time now.
She did not even care that those words come with some strings attached to them.
"I will be happy to take on any responsibility you impose on me, my lord."
Those words escaped Elysia's mouth without any hesitation. She knew that the Head Preist might not like her, but he needed her.
And that was why he would not give Elysia any task that would put her life at risk for now.
Not unless it was necessary and would put Eve on the brink of death.
"Since we have cleaned out most of the domestic competition, we don't need to worry about Eve's path to the saintess candidate. However, we are still missing an important figure in our plans - a powerful backer."
"Since the royal family needs to remain neutral in this conflict, it falls on us to find another powerful backer to take their place. And I can only think of one house capable enough to do that."
Elysia felt her breath stop as soon as she heard those words.
Surely she had heard wrong? Surely the Head Priest was not suggesting what she thought he was? Elysia had to be mistaken in her assumption.
"M-My lord, are you sure? S-Surely you jest when you propose this. S-Surely not that family?"
Elysia felt her blood run cold. Out of everything she could have expected, she had never considered returning to 'that' family before.
None of her visions had shown her anything about 'that' family either so Elysia was not sure how she felt.
"No, you heard me right. I am asking you to go back and claim your birthright. As it stands, we cannot let that monster be in charge of the second most powerful family in this empire. So, Elysia Darce, it is time you go back and reclaim your birthright."
With those words, Elysia felt her fate finally get cemented in a way she had never expected to.
"What's wrong? Don't you want to live? If you go back to the Dirac family and demand your birthright, no one will be able to touch you again. Not even the royal family will be able to kill you off. Didn't you want to live?"
Elysia did want to live. She wanted to live so badly.
But something inside her was terrified of the unknown if she stepped into that place again. She had been born in the Dirac estate but Elysia had no memories of it.
"Elysia, your answer doesn't matter. I have already sent the letter so the Dirac family would be expecting your arrival tomorrow. Go, pack your things and head out early tomorrow. And be ready since things would be getting busier from now."
Since the letter had already been sent, Elysia had no other choice but to agree to go. Dirac's family could not be meddled with easily.
If Elysia did not show up after the letter, then the Dirac family might feel offended enough to retaliate and that would spell disaster for everyone.
Especially for Elysia. She would certainly die if the Dirac family came after her. So she had only one option left in the end, to cooperate.
"I understand my lord. I will return to the Dirac family tomorrow morning."
Elysia's easy life was coming to an end but she will do anything for her survival. Even if it meant stepping into hell and struggling there.
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