Chapter 120: Ashes and Prayers
The high priest, after hearing Sue’s fake name, frowned, his face shadowed. An uneasy silence fell over the chapel.
“Well, fine. We’ll postpone your soul level measurement.”
Contrary to his solemn tone, the high priest quickly lost interest in Sue and turned to Acrea. A faint smile appeared on his lips.
“What’s your name?”
Unlike with Sue, he didn’t scan Acrea up and down with a creepy gaze, he just asked for his name. Acrea took a breath and answered naturally,
“My name is Louis. I don’t have a last name. I’ve been living alone since I lost my parents.”
“Oh my, what a tragic life.”
Acrea, as if he had been thinking about it all along, smoothly fabricated Louis’s life story. The high priest, believing him without a doubt, looked back and forth between Sue and Acrea and asked,
“Louis, are you friends with follower Marie?”
Acrea nodded without hesitation.
“Yes, we’ve been playing together since we were young.”
So Louis and Marie were childhood friends.
Sue, fanning herself with her hand in the stifling air, memorized Acrea’s fabricated backstory.
“Hmm, but you two are opposites.”
“What?”
The high priest smiled meaningfully at the puzzled Acrea.
“Follower Louis, your soul level is very high. The only other person with such a pure soul… Yes, it’s Saint Melaine.”
The hall buzzed with excitement at the mention of First Melaine. Acrea, unfazed, asked again,
“High Priest, is my soul level that high?”
“Yes, it’s not quite First yet, but it’s comparable. With a little more training in Second, you could easily reach First.”
“It’s an honor.”
Sue chuckled at his indifferent response.
There was only one reason why the high priest had assigned Acrea to a high class.
His face.
Even though he had grown up poor without parents, a profitable face was ruthlessly assigned to a high class.
She was impressed by the high priest’s shrewdness.
“You’ll join the Holy Demon Religion, of course, won’t you, follower Louis?”
The high priest asked slyly. Acrea looked at Sue and replied,
“If Marie wants to.”
He’s using me as a shield to get out of it. The high priest glanced at Sue, then looked away.
“Joining the Holy Demon Religion is a choice. But everything is predetermined by fate. Louis, it’s not a coincidence that you’re here, it’s destiny.”
Sue had long been forgotten by the high priest. So she assumed he would definitely try to brainwash Acrea.
The high priest spent another ten minutes trying to recruit Acrea before moving on. Sue, swallowing nervously, asked Acrea, who was looking a little exhausted,
“Acr… No, …Louis, are you okay?”
She was asking if he had fallen into some kind of trap. She wasn’t sure if he understood her question, but Acrea replied as usual,
“I’m fine, Marie.”
Louis and Marie. Sue felt a strange sensation at their impromptu playacting. She wanted to ask him why he had stopped her soul level measurement, but she decided not to.
“As long as you’re okay.”
The service finally ended after the long soul level assessment and a brief announcement from the high priest about the next service and the minor pilgrimage.
Sue was about to leave, following the dispersing crowd, when…
“Miss!”
There was only one person who would call her that here.
“Ten.”
“What are you doing here? …Oh, Young Master Woo Acrea…!”
Ten, noticing Acrea belatedly, greeted him with a panicked expression.
“Ten, be quiet, there are a lot of people around.”
“I-I’m sorry, Miss.”
Ten was flustered, unlike her usual self. Sue didn’t know how or when she had recognized her.
“Is this the maid you were talking about?”
Sue nodded at Acrea’s question.
“This is Ten. She’s not my maid anymore, though.”
“….”
Silence fell between the three of them. Sue sighed, seeing Ten biting her lip, speechless.
“Ten, live the life you want now. If this is your life, there’s nothing I can do.”
“M-Miss…”
“But I have one last request. Please keep my and Master Acrea’s presence here a secret. We both came here because we were worried about Lady Melaine. You can do that much, right?”
That was all she could say. She couldn’t scold Ten, she couldn’t blame her, and she couldn’t even kidnap her.
Because protecting Acrea was her top priority right now. Now that Acrea had started investigating the Holy Demon Religion, it was only a matter of time before it was disbanded. Until then, Acrea had to remain “Louis” and keep his identity hidden.
Ten, as if believing her words, mumbled and nodded.
“Okay, you know I’m good at keeping secrets.”
That might have been true when she was Sue’s maid, but who knew now that she was the high priest’s pawn? But Sue had no choice but to believe her.
Ten said she was staying in a nearby village. Sue watched her disappear into the crowd before she moved.
Thus, Sue’s second visit to the Holy Demon Religion came to an end. And she decided not to get involved with the Holy Demon Religion any further.
It was fortunate that she hadn’t been brainwashed by the high priest, although she wasn’t sure if the anti-magic potion had worked. Acrea also seemed fine.
The Acrea grand duke family excelled at white magic, so they were practically immune to black magic, such as brainwashing and curses. She was glad that it applied to the Holy Demon Religion as well.
‘I can leave the rest to Acrea.’ But Acrea shattered her resolve in less than five minutes.
“Byron, let’s attend the next service together.”
Sue had to think for a moment about why he was suggesting that.
“It’s because of Marie and Louis, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
He was asking her to keep up the charade, to maintain the backstory he had fabricated as “Louis.”
“Besides, they said they’re holding a minor pilgrimage at the next service. The minor pilgrimage requires a partner… I would be grateful if you would come with me.”
He was right, they had mentioned holding a minor pilgrimage at the next service. It was a ritual where they walked along a large river beyond the village, scattering purification ashes and praying.
Honestly, she didn’t want to go. She would have to face Ten again, and she had planned to visit Jean’s workshop next week.
But she couldn’t easily refuse him either. Acrea was her only hope.
“Of course I’ll attend if you ask me to, Master Acrea.”
If she could help the key to dismantling the Holy Demon Religion, it was better to help.
Marquis Yuna hadn’t returned to the capital yet, and it would be much cleaner if Acrea could handle it on his own.
Right, well.
It was better to regret doing something than regret doing nothing.
***
When you’re born as a blood relative, it’s rare to have a significant mission in life.
For example, the Emperor, the Imperial Mage, the Imperial Knights, the head of a family, and me.
‘Melaine, you have to grow up and help your sister support the family.’
I had never felt any resentment towards the words that had been drilled into my head since childhood.
I was the only sister of Yuna Vava Cretos. I was so proud to be the sister of the most talented person in the Vava marquis family.
I have to grow up quickly and become a valuable asset to Sister Yuna.
That was the mission I was born with, and the only wish I had ever had.
***
The minor pilgrimage was simple. They walked along the river, each carrying a bundle in one arm and a basket of white ashes in the other, praying at intervals, scattering the purification ashes, and then continuing to walk.
But the problem was the “bundle” they had to carry in one arm. The bundle, wrapped in cloth, its contents unknown, varied in weight depending on the class, getting heavier as you went down the ranks.
The reason for the weight difference was that the bundle represented one’s sins, so the more impure the soul, the heavier the bundle.
The high priest claimed that carrying one’s sins on one shoulder and scattering purification ashes into the river with the other hand, while praying, would purify the soul.
“M-… I mean, Miss Marie, are you okay?”
Ten’s face contorted in an indescribable expression when she saw the large bundle Sue had been given. Sue smiled brightly at her, unsure if she was grimacing or smiling.
“I’m fine, Miss Ten. Please go to the Third line.”
She had bluffed and sent Ten away, but she wasn’t fine.
Sue had been given the Fifth bundle. Because of Acrea’s inexplicable meddling, she hadn’t had her soul level measured, so she was considered a Fifth and received the heaviest bundle.
“Ugh…”
The bundle was much heavier than it looked. She couldn’t carry it with one hand, so she hugged it to her chest with both hands and placed the ash basket on top of it. That made it a little better.
The minor pilgrimage procession began, and Sue walked in line. It felt strange to be walking in formation along a rough riverbank, after always seeing the neatly constructed canals of Löhn. The bundle was a little, no, very heavy, though.
“Marie, give me the bundle, I’ll carry it.”
Acrea, who had been watching her, finally reached out.
“I’m fine.”
Sue instinctively stepped back. She had already refused his offer to carry it for her once. But this time, Acrea ignored her and took the bundle from her arms.
“Don’t refuse something like this.”
His gentle voice was unusually blunt, and Sue looked up at him, startled.
Acrea held his own bundle and Sue’s bundle in each hand.
“You’ve asked for more than this.”
It was too honest to be considered sly.
help he’s funny😭😂