Hundreds of colorful wagons entered the large plaza behind the temple. Since it had not been held for three years due to the war, even small and medium-ranking noble families of the region were gathering.
“Lady OOO1, long time no see. How long has it been? How is your father OOO?
“Oh my, OOO. My father is of good health. He’s on a short trip to the South right now for recuperation. I heard you’ve started a perfume business lately. How’s it going?”
“It’s still hard to judge, as the war has ended only recently, but I don’t think the earnings will be low once we gain momentum. If you’re interested, I’ll give you a tester.”
For the first time in a long time, the sound of smiling and chatting while praising each other for their beautifully decorations of the nobles and knights filled the temple grounds, which was usually quiet.
At 3 pm, when the bell rang ten times to announce the start of the prayer ceremony, the people who were chatting entered the hall quickly.
I was sitting in one of the seats for royal family on the right side of the altar. Yeah, right next to Aquila and Stella!
I was wearing a white dress with jewels that Sierra had worked hard on for several days, and with my hair covered in perfume and decorated with a white lace ribbon, I looked like a little lady of noble status.
However, because I was used to the loose apprentice priest uniform, it was very uncomfortable to wear. No, the biggest reason why I feel uncomfortable is because of these people next to me.
Stella had her glance lowered with her hands on her knees while wearing a cold expression on her face, and Aquila formally asked me how the temple life was and if there were any difficulties, but soon closed her mouth. Well, for me, it was much more comfortable to watch people than to continue awkward conversations with the enemies of my past lives.
It was easy to observe people because the seats were placed on a high platform. In the center of the hall, a blue magical flame, which symbolized Lux’s protection and which does not extinguish throughout the prayer ceremony, was burning on a large holy torch, and numerous seats were lined up on both sides of it. The further in the front one sits, the higher their rank as a noble is.
The front row was made up of very honorable seats, where the Knights protecting Santra and the heads of the royal wizards were sitting. Phaeon was easy to spot, and he was dressed in a splendid white robe decorated with golden embroidery and all kinds of medals on his chest.
He was staring at the statue of God Lux with his mouth closed, as if he were not very close to the people sitting next to him.
“We will start the opening ceremony now. Everyone who is seated, please stand up.”
High priest Bellus came up to the podium. Seeing how his voice resonated, he must have used sound extension magic. The opening ceremony ended after a lively beat of music was played by the orchestra on the right side of the altar, and the people sang the hymns of the nation of Santra and the god Lux.
“Before the main ceremony”, Bellus turned his head to where Phaeon was seated, “the King will take a moment to honor the brilliant hero of Santra who has made a remarkable contribution to this war. First, Lord Phaeon Parciel, as the Knight Commander of the Knights of St. Veritas, please come out as their representative.”
He strode up to the podium and offered the king the greeting of a knight.
“Sir Parciel has been fighting on the front lines for the past three years and defended the frontline to protect the capital Salus and defeating the enemy in the Battle of Nigel Plains, bringing victory to Santra. I commend him for his contribution.”
When the king put a new medal on his chest, a thunderous applause and shouts rose.
Most aristocratic women were looking at him with a dreamy look on their faces. Indeed, his graceful and beautiful face as if scarved by God himself and the solid and slim muscular body, that stands out even with a stylish robe on, deserved to shake the hearts of many women.
But I was surprised to see a considerable number of nobles looking at him with hostile eyes. I didn’t know because I didn’t watch him carefully before tis return, but there were some nobles who were so blatantly hostile towards him?
‘I’m going to shoot them with mana from my eyes, too. ‘
In particular, the people of the Marquises, of whom there were only four in Santra, and several men of the rank of a count were frowning as if they were seeing something unpleasant. Of course, they didn’t even applaud.
“How did he get so hated?”
Although the nobility often feuded with the temple… The medal ceremony passed while I was speculating whether he had been rude in front of such a great aristocrat.
“Next, let’s take a moment to pay silent tribute to the souls who were sacrificed for Santra.”
There was quiet music playing and weeping could be heard from every corner. Since many aristocrats were sent to war as knights and assistant wizards, the victim’s families and acquaintances may not yet be able to escape the sorrow of losing their precious loved ones.
“We were able to win the war thanks to Lux’s protection, but the damage was not small. The royal family and the temple will make every effort to restore the postwar era for the time being. If we join forces here, we, the ‘chosen people’, will enjoy greater prosperity than ever before”, spoke the king in a firm tone.
“The royal family lost Princess Beatrice during the war”, the voice of the king, who had lost his most cherished child, was filled with grief, “But the princess left us with a new life. I am delighted to introduce her daughter to you here.”
The auditorium was in a great uproar. The royal family is finally presenting the well-hidden princess, which had only been rumored about. Belus came up to escort me. I stood up holding his hand and walked to the center of the podium.
“Let me introduce Princess Anastasia.”
My whole body stiffened and my heart was beating like it would explode any second. In my past life, I could not avoid criticism and contempt whenever I went to such a crowded place. No one spoke to me and I used to lament why there was still no magic to make my body transparent.
“From now on, we will hold a ceremony to receive the blessed name for Princess Anastasia by Lux.”
Belus took my hand and we began to move toward the central torch. I felt the stinging gazes, but I didn’t look around and walked straight forward. I didn’t want to look down to them.
When we arrived at the holy torch, Belus lit a gold torch from it and handed it to me. I picked it up, although it was quite heavy, and carefully turned back to the podium.
In the center of the podium is a vessel filled with many small wooden boards with ancient names written on them. After lighting these nameplates on fire with the magical light on the torch, the ritual will be over when the high priest pours holy water on it. And the cleanest nameplate in the vessel will becomes my middle name. This ritual was originally supposed to be done by my mother, but my mother is no longer here to do it, so I will do it myself.
I climbed onto the platform and carefully tilted the torch toward the vessel.
But then…
Whoo!
The magical fire of of the torch, which had been burning normally till now, suddenly went out.
“…!”
There were gasps here and there and the crowd watching me murmured. Until now, the fire had never been extinguished during the ceremony.
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‘… It’s magic.’
I was so nervous that I didn’t realize it till now, but I felt the light traces of mana from the torch. It was clear that Aquila had her hands in this.
“It a bad omen!”
It came from somewhere in the audience. The voice was loud enough to be heard by me. Since then, it has become full of uncontrollable murmurs.
Belus was surprised, too, and was at a loss at what to do. I had no choice but to go back to the holy fire to light the torch, but it was obvious that I would have to suffer the humiliation of enduring the murmur throughout the way.
‘I have to choose!’
I have the knowledge and experience of lives prior to this regression, but I don’t know how the future will change if I move differently from my previous lives.
‘I wanted to live quiet until I was at least eight years old…‘
Aquila only started to make her moves earnestly after I turned eight. If you were to sincerely persecute a four-year-old child, the eyes of the public may not look favorably at you, so you must lay low until then.
Aquila is still more wary of the temple than of me, so she tried to hide my strength as much as she could till I turned eight years old.
‘… But I can’t help it if something like this happens.’
For a few seconds I felt like a coward. I whispered the spell, concentrating on the flow of the mana in my body to make it flow to my fingertips: “Igniárius.”
A blue flame flared up again on the tourch. The murmur quickly turned into shouts of admiration and wonder.
“The torch was lit on fire again all of a sudden!”
“Is it a miracle?! Is it Lux’s miracle?”
“No, it’s magic. I clearly saw the princess citing the spell!”
“No way… being able to use elemental magic at that age. A miracle would make more sense, Drake!”
The ominousness was covered with surprise. Even the king couldn’t take his eyes off me with his mouth wide open, and Stella was jumping off of her seat. Aquila also held on to the handle of the chair so tightly, that her hands turned white while her face hardened.
“Everyone, please be quiet. Let’s continue with the ceremony”, shouted Belarus out loud to clear up the situation as it became too noisy.
” … I’ve heard before that the Princess knows how to use magic, but it’s still hard to believe after witnessing it with my own eyes”, whispered Belus quietly.
I only smiled faintly and took the torch to the fireplace. The fire spread quickly to the wooden nameplates and some time later, Belarus poured holy water over it. Then he picked out a clean nameplate from among the burned ones.
“…the blessed name for the Princess is…”
Gulp,
It must be a good one.
“It’s Lumirère.”
As soon as Belarus read the words on the nameplate, the audience became noisy again.
“What do you mean it’s Lumirère?”
“That’s too much. It’s disrespectful to say such a word in the first place!”
Lumirère is one of the other names for the god Lux. In ancient times, there were several words referring to the God.
‘I didn’t expect this much either… ‘
I’m still unsure whether this is a good or a bad thing for me yet.
“Your name is Anastasia Lumirère Entomos3 from now on. I’ll pray for your wellbeing.”
“Wait a minute”, interrupted someone Belus and shouted.
Interrupting during the ceremony was a great disservice, so people reacted to the sound with astonishment.
“… I apologize for my rudeness in the sacred place. But I, head of house Orléans and a Minister of Santra, Einstein Orléans4, cannot accept this ceremony”, the owner of the interruption that interfered with the ceremony rose from his seat.
He, an old, silvery-haired man, is the Marquis of Orléans, a notable figure that I should be wary of. Because he was one of Aquila’s men.
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“…May I ask why, Marquis Orléans?”
“I haven’t heard the royal family’s official statement regarding the Princess’ father yet”, continued he in a cold voice, “Is it true that the princess’ father is a mercenary of Kalisa?”
X1: OOO standing for any name, similar to y/n
X3: The authors used ‘ëvtulos’ here originally, but let’s be real: what the heck is that? Google doen’t have any search results for it an´d my closest guess is that it’s supposed be latin, but there is no such latin word? So I just went with the way the author wrote it before.
X4: 인슈타인 오를레앙 → 인슈타인 is the propper way to say Einstein in Korean. It’s hilarious how the author gave him this name