Chapter 3.1

Chapter 3.1

“You weren’t perhaps standing there trying to run away again, were you?”

Louis asked, suspicion lacing her voice. Amelia silently shook her head.

“If I’d been trying to escape, why would I be in the Prayer Room? I’d be picking the lock on the door.”

For once, she had a point. Louis’s suspicious expression softened, and she finally nodded.

“I was surprised you weren’t in your room all of a sudden.”

“My apologies for that.”

Amelia replied, turning to Louis with an utterly unapologetic face. Louis seemed to sense the insincere apology. She didn’t jump or deny it.

“Then please rest.”

“You too, Louis.”

The moment Amelia stepped into her bedroom, the door closed. This Amelia, in particular, lacked social graces and affection. It was a good thing she was kept hidden; if she were an exposed presence, she would have caused trouble a hundred times over. Louis sighed and turned away.

–

Amelia walked toward the bed only after hearing the receding footsteps. Her hand carelessly removed her pearl earrings and placed them on the bedside table.

“Of all times to show up.”

Truth be told, she wasn’t in a good mood. Being unable to escape was one thing, but she hadn’t even gotten to hear stories from outside the city wall.

“There was so much I was curious about.”

She had many questions about the world beyond the wall. How bustling the markets were, what kind of clothes people wore, what kind of homes they lived in, how they spent their free time, how they fell in love.

“And…”

And how ordinary people formed families and lived their lives.

Amelia was practically a blank slate when it came to such things. She had lived her entire life confined. The only beings Amelia had truly interacted with in the world were her deceased mother, Aaron, a few familiar great nobles, Louis, and several rotating maidservants.

Ah, there was one more. A girl even smaller and more fragile than herself. Amelia, born a twin, had an unnamed sister. The name Amelia was reserved only for the one who would carry on the line.

“No, please. No! I’ll, I’ll do everything you ask…”

“There is no precedent for a Female Twin.”

A child who couldn’t even live past three years, despite her mother’s desperate pleas. Amelia squeezed her eyes shut, remembering the moment the knife plunged into her sister’s heart. It was a terrible memory, from long ago in her early childhood, yet it clung to her mind, refusing to fade.

“Just kill me instead!”

The moment she recalled her mother’s scream, her hand slipped. Her fumbling hand on the bedside table, trying to steady herself, swept the earring into her palm. As she tightened her grip, the sharp post of the earring pricked her palm.

“…Ah.”

Only then did she snap out of it. Amelia let out a short gasp and dropped the earring. Blood welled from the punctured palm. It was nothing major. The numerous scars already etched into her palm proved that.

“I don’t want to die.”

She truly didn’t want to die like that. A clear sense of refusal and hostility flared in Amelia’s black eyes.

Before the night came when she would have to fulfill her duty, she had to escape, no matter what. If she couldn’t do it alone, she would use whatever else she could.

–

“The day to perform the duty isn’t far off, is it?”

Duke Russell, the leader among the great nobles, raised his glass and spoke. Aaron, sitting opposite him, quietly nodded.

“This generation’s Amelia is already twenty.”

“That she is.”

Duke Russell chuckled lowly and downed his drink in one gulp.

“Why don’t you have a drink? You’re not a real priest, after all.”

He held the neck of the liquor bottle and offered it to Aaron. Aaron smiled awkwardly and shook his head. Regardless of his true nature, his outward appearance was that of a High Priest.

“I’m not particularly inclined.”

“Alright, then.”

Duke Russell easily relented. He considered Aaron a rigid man, but whether Aaron drank or not was of little consequence to him.

“I’ve already prepared a man.”

Aaron, who had been toying with his empty glass, paused. It was only for an imperceptible, fleeting moment.

“Is he disposable?”

Duke Russell chuckled softly at Aaron’s question.

“Of course not. It’s rare for a pregnancy to happen in one go.”

Of course, they couldn’t send a man into the Priestess’s bedroom too often without creating blasphemous rumors. But unless a pregnancy occurred immediately, it couldn’t be a one-time attempt.

“Besides, boys are quite often born.”