The spoilers on the forums about Marian"s story, "Kingdoms and Angels", included quite a lot of things. For example, the ones who gave the magical item to the murderer was somebody from the royal family. This meant that somebody from the royal family of Borley Kingdom was actually the final boss.Some commenters also mentioned how Marian gave up on the secular investigation authorities and turned to the ecclesiastical juries. It was because the capital"s investigators were so slow in their work. This time, it was not only because the crown pa.s.sed down an order to be as half-hearted as possible in the progress.
Several layers of authorities had to be taken into consideration when investigating a crime case. The churches were simply more efficient when it comes to matter like that since all inhabitants of Mu were respectful to servants of the deities. A case of an office, or local authority making things difficult for an investigator from church rarely happens, at most one in a million…
There were other major events that took place as the story progressed. b.a.l.l.s, talks with other n.o.bles, hunt, and other typical elements of a medieval story were in the list. She was also courted by a prince from the enemy family, something that everyone knew was very fishy from the beginning. Only after that… wait, no. Only after one last drama with her own family did she find out the real secret that cost her brother"s life.
These were all pieces of information obtained from the spoilers.
A forum was really an amazing place that not only gives fans of certain works to vent their emotions and express feelings, but allows one to go through a whole book without actually having to read it. Through it, one would know whether to continue reading or not. Of course, there was just a large risk of losing interest in that story once the whole plot was unveiled
In any case, Aliyah was very thankful to the "reviewers" on that site.
Without the spoilers, she would have been blindly groping in the dark. Or feeling happy that she transmigrated without knowing that as the protagonist, one of her feet was already in her grave.
Probably, if there was one thing which she was dissatisfied about the forum… it was how none of the people from there mentioned about the living conditions in the castle or the daily lives of those dwelling inside…
Now that Aliyah, now Marian, was there to experience it all by herself, she found it hard not to marvel at the human race"s superb ability to adapt and tolerate.
She covered her nose elegantly with a handkerchief and then walked down the large hallway. It was one of the few hallways that the family of the Lord would use.
Every castle had many pa.s.sageways but most were narrow and dark. n.o.bles naturally only used those with lamps or access to sunlight, and were large enough to accommodate at least four people at once. After all, members of a n.o.ble family would rarely walk around without servants following them behind.
"Squeak!"
Aliyah trembled and almost jumped to her feet. She seemed to have heard something frightening, a squealing of a creature in the dark followed by some light bouncing sounds... She looked around. Those with her didn"t seem to mind that a large rat just announced its great presence amongst them.
Seeing how uncomfortable the beautiful young lady looked, a close servant bowed her head and said softly, "Milady, we"re extremely sorry about this. Please bear with it for a while. The next turn leading to the exit is already cleaned."
"What kind of clean is clean in your standards? Is that enough to make rats ashamed to go there?" She almost asked, her eyes once again roaming around.
Aliyah didn"t talk as she really couldn"t focus much on anything else. While she was thankful that after some time, there was no more cries from the dark creatures. Still, she couldn"t relax. She was busy… ensuring the smell of the herbs, reeds, and other stuff wouldn"t knock her out. The first two were carpeting the floor to make the dirt and litter-filled flooring appear clean. No, it must be to cover up the annoying stench. Yet how effective could this makes.h.i.+ft, half-baked air-freshener be?
The girl secretly shook her head. The natural fragrance of the herbs and reeds barely made the place bearable. Of course, she was still more amazed by how those walking beside her or behind her were not even batting an eye for it.
Would she eventually become like them in the future? Learning how to adapt and accept the rats and the other pests coexisting with the humans here?
How about the odor filling the place? Yesterday, she eavesdropped on the conversation of three young maids and they were actually having fun talking about some people"s behind that they saw in the public "toilet".
That time, those girls called the thing a necessarium.
Since she was Youtuber covering weird histories, she knew this necessarium was simply a long bench with holes in it. The ruling cla.s.s at least could have a privy chamber. Still… There was no toilet paper… No soap with good detergent power... No running water… All the wastes simply go to a giant cesspit directly below the castle…
"Ugh."
She momentarily closed her eyes and shuddered.
When she got outside and saw how bright the sun was despite the tall trees s.h.i.+elding a part of its brilliance, a large part of her felt relief. She also realized just how dark the interior of the castle was.
"To the church," she said to her handmaid who seemed surprised.
"Not the chapel?"
Aliyah gave the girl a glance, remembering that the castle had a chapel of its own where one could pray.
A traveling priest about to be transferred to a church in the neighboring dukedom happened to pa.s.s by. He would be staying in one of the guest rooms for a week or two. In exchange, he would preach in the chapel so the whole Obson castle could just hear the ma.s.s there every morning.
However, while she wanted to speak with a priest, the one she needed was someone who might be able to give her clues about her situation… if there had already been a precedent of somebody transmigrating into this era… and if there was a way back. The chance that the priest staying in brought important records about that was nil.
This was why she had to make a trip outside. There were four churches in the large town nearby and she was hoping at least one had some relevant records.
After giving Lotta, the handmaiden who asked her just now, a slight smile, she silently got into the vehicle. She sat down on the cus.h.i.+oned seat while making sure her long skirt was not stepped on.
Seeing this, the few knights and female attendants briefly looked at each other.
In the end, the carriage still set off since n.o.body from the bunch could make the young lady change her mind.
An hour later, they arrived at the Church of Wisdom located in the middle of the city and met the head priest there. The latter was quite polite. But Aliyah was sure, it was not because of her status as a viscount"s daughter. Yet her father must have something to do with it.
"As a believer of the G.o.ddess of Wisdom, that Viscount that I"ve yet to meet must have donated quite a large fund to the church."
Aliyah couldn"t picture the father of the female lead in her head since she had yet to see him in person. The man was said to be not around since he went to His Majesty, the King of Borley Kingdom in the capital to settle the matter about the heir. With her elder brother dead, there was only one successor left.
In this kingdom, if there were no more men to inherit, a woman could be the heir. Yet she was sure her father was not going to the capital to request she be made heiress. The viscount and his lady were still young so they might be able to produce another male heir.
Aliyah was not that enthusiastic about inheriting a stinky castle so she approached the priest and directly consulted with him her dilemma after curtsying to him.