บท 8: 8: Breaking the taboo

'It's alright. I can do this. I have done all this before so I can do this now as well.' Elysia felt nervous about the ceremony. She was so nervous that she wanted to hide away and not attend it.

But she could not run away. Brother Yohan will never forgive her for ruining his first ceremony.

"Elysia, where are you going? Weren't you grounded?"

Elysia felt her blood run cold when she ran into sister Rosa and her sharp tongue. Out of everyone out there, Sister Rosa was the one Elysia wanted to run least into.

"I-I was asked to perform the ceremony today since E-Eve doesn't know how to."

Sister Rosa looked back at her with blank eyes. Those eyes were always judging Elysia but they were not warm.

Right now, Elysia would have even taken fake kindness over this indifference.

"I see what Brother Yohan was thinking. But honestly, they should not be using you at all. Relying on children when they have capable adults to do work is just shameless."

"It's not shameless. B-Besides, no one else had as much power as me or Eve." Sister Rosa's glare caused Elysia to falter but he continued, "I-I want to be of help."

Sister Rosa's stare did not go away. It was something Elysia was hyper-aware of and she wanted to escape it.

"Is that so? Then do what you want to. If those idiots want to take a risk by involving children in these rituals then it is their choice. Good luck out today."

Elysia stood there frozen as Sister Rosa passed her.

'S-She wished me luck? Why did she wish me luck today of all days?'

Had it been any other time, Elysia would have been elated to have been wished luck. But for some reason, all it did was make her sick to the stomach.

"I should not have eaten today. My stomach aches."

Elysia felt like she was sick but she did not want to get it confirmed. If she turned out to be sick then she would have to sit the ceremony out.

'I cannot get sick now. I should hurry up with the cleansing.'

Thankfully, Elysia met no one else on her way to the cleansing pools. No one else except the people involved in a ceremony was supposed to come here and the male and female parts had a barrier built in-between.

Currently, Elysia was the only one who was supposed to be in the female part of the bath.

"I hope I don't have a vision today."

Elysia hoped for the best but she was sure that something was about to happen as soon as she entered the pool.

She had only been in this pool when necessary and she had always left with a vision. And since she had always come here alone, she could not even ask anyone else what she saw.

She had once asked the other people involved in the ceremony if they saw anything after entering the pool. But they all had looked at her with pity and told Elysia to not worry about her dreams.

'I can do this. I just need to step in and out. It will be done soon.'

Elysia pushed her foot ahead and quickly entered the water. It was as cold as usual and it felt soothing as soon as she entered it.

But the calmness was soon overtaken by grief and a feeling of fear.

[Elysia could see a monster heading her way but someone was covering her body. Her eyes had a filter of red and everything had a red tint to it. It almost looked like she was seeing the world through a film of red.

Elysia's hand came up to her face to wipe something itchy off. But something sticky was stuck on her hand.

"Hurry up and contain the monsters. Make sure they do not harm anyone else," voices were getting louder and louder inside Elysia's head. Someone must be speaking from her side but it was difficult for Elysia to make it out.

She quickly looked around for other people and instantly spotted two figures huddling together.

"Your highness, Eve, get out of the way," the monster attacked but it was too late for anyone to stop them.

It was going to kill those two but that could not be allowed. The prophecy could not allow that to happen.

So something was bound to happen. The second the monster headed toward the main pair, a thought came to Elysia. 'This vision is different. The protagonists have never been in danger like this, right?'

There was no way they were going to be killed.

And they were not. As soon as the monster neared the pair, he stopped and turned directions. He had turned toward Elysia and he charged.

No, not at her. But at the capsule that was lying near Elysia. She would be killed because of a silly little capsule she did not even remember touching.

But that was not possible. It was not time for her to die and she could not allow that to happen at all costs.

"Elysia, wake up," before the monster could attack her, someone covered her body.]

"Elysia, wake up. Are you alright? I thought you drowned or something in here. I was worried."

Red obstructed Elysia's vision again. But it was different from the blood that had made her see the world in red before.

This time, the red belonged to Eve's hair that was obstructing her vision.

The elder girl was holding on to Elysia's body and trying to pull her back up. But her six-year-old body was not able to pull Elysia up.

Not that Elysia needed it since she was not drawing. She had gone into a trance where she did not need to breathe.

"Eve? You should not be here. Bad things will happen if you are caught here."

Elysia felt her calm mind go into a panicked state as soon as she spotted Eve in the cleansing room.

It was taboo for anyone else other than the ceremony performers to step into this room. That taboo had been implemented quite forcefully until now.

"Huh? But why am I not allowed here? This is just a bathing house, right? It doesn't matter if I get a little wet in here."

Elysia was not able to explain why she felt panicked but she wanted Eve out of here.

Something inside her did not want to have the elder girl in the same room as her for now. She could not help but feel like things would become bothersome if Eve remained in here.

"I cannot explain right now but go should go. I am alright and I was not drawing. It is just a part of my cleansing process so you should not have interfered. Also, do be careful once you go out and do not tell anyone you were here, alright?"

"H-Huh? Alright? But why? Are you angry at me for being here?"

Eve sounded a little confused. All the information that had been dumped on her went a little over her head and it must be making her head spin.

"Eve, please go for now. I promise I will not be angry with you but you cannot be here. I-I might get in trouble if someone finds you here with me."

Elysia's panic was real and Eve looked like she understood.

"Alright, I will leave now. You should relax and have fun as well. This will be our secret."

Eve finally left but Elysia's panic did not subdue. The taboo that had been kept for a long time was broken today and somehow, Elysia could not help but feel like something bad would happen.

"I hope it's just my feeling and nothing happens. But for some reason, I feel afraid of the ceremony today."

_____________________________________

Eve had not wanted to barge in on the ceremonial pools but she had just found her way there.

She had been looking for Elysia and had heard some sisters mention her heading toward the ceremony pool. So Eve had headed off there as well.

But when she had reached the pool, some kind of light had been shining through the door which had made Elysia curious.

So she opened the door, only to find an open area with a lot of trees and a natural pond in the middle of the space.

The pond was the place where the light was coming from and there was only one small body inside the pool.

Elysia was glowing like a divine entity and Eve felt awed to see that. But Elysia's unresponsiveness also worried Eve.

The younger but taller girl was not moving at all. She was just stuck in her place and glowing.

"Elysia, are you alright?"

The girl didn't even move an inch when Eve called out to her and fear filled Eve's mind. Her only friend was drowning and she might even be dead if she did not breathe soon.

'I need to get her out,' panic was all Eve felt until she somehow managed to knock Elysia out of her dream.

But her friend had not been happy with her and that worried Eve. In the end, she had even been pushed out of the room because she had broken a rule she had not even been aware of.

'I got Elysia into trouble again. I need to make it up to her now. I don't want her to be in trouble because of me. I will keep quiet about this incident and it will be a secret between us both.'

For some reason, sharing a secret like this felt good to Eve. It made her feel closer to Elysia in a way she was not even closer to Yohan.

"I want to be a good friend to Elysia. Closer than anyone else. I hope I get to spend more time with her in the future."

Eve was so into her mind that she did not even notice the pair of cold golden eyes looking back at her in contempt.

Had she looked, she would have recognized a rival she had for her new 'friend's' attention. But since she did not, she missed meeting the crown prince of the empire for the first time.

On the other side, the white-haired youth glared at the girl who dared to approach his 'prey.'

He did not like her and something inside him recognized her as a threat to him. He should make sure to stay as far from as he could.

She was powerful and her powers were also a direct contrast to his. Not to mention, she had his 'prey's' scent on her body. He hated that mixture of smells.

"Your highness, do you need me to approach that girl and ask her to accompany us? It seems like you are interested in her."

The retainer looked between the new girl and the crown prince. It seemed like he was interested in her.

"Don't ask her to come here or she'll end up dead. Just her scent makes me want to rip her apart."

At first, the retainer looked taken aback at the joke but he soon realized that the crown prince was not joking at all.

'How did the young prince end up hating the only other candidate for his wife at the first glance? The emperor would not like this development at all.'

But there was nothing else to be done. A dragon's instincts were strong and they hardly ever changed their opinion.