Outside, Agatha looked to be calm and silent as she waited for the two men to come out. It had been half an hour since the door to the room closed, and no change appeared on her face. However, inwardly, she was actually screaming and pulling her hair out of frustration. The eyes of her knights and the king"s royal soldiers pinned at her were the only thing stopping her in doing it for real.Deep inside, she really hated how Holon"s supreme ruler suddenly went off the script, grabbing the target she wanted to nail on the cross for a talk instead of decreeing his death.
Why? What had gone wrong? What suddenly had gone into the king"s head?
Several minutes later, when her patience and calmness wore out, she could no longer help but blurt out her worries, "Will His Majesty be alright, being left alone with that blasphemer? That James uses dark arts… and I"m worried that he will use them against His Majesty. Can"t we really break-in?"
The knights and servants surrounding her all began to comfort her. "Don"t worry much, Your Highness. The king is one of the strongest fighters in the kingdom and is blessed by the Pope of The Church of Combat. His light is with him and will help him triumph against all dark magicians."
The rest said something similar that did not truly make her mood better. They were all doing their best to demean the forces and power of the believers of the Fallen Angels without knowing that the royal consort was actually one of those believers.
Agatha paced here and there before facing the burly captain of the knights and throwing a question again, "Why did His Majesty choose to speak with that blasphemer? I don"t get it. He could have just ordered you all to send him to the dungeon or the Ministry of Justice. So why?"
This time, n.o.body could answer her. None of them could think of any reason or dare to say their opinion since it would mean questioning the king"s decision and authority.
The royal consort saw that everyone had lowered their heads with no desire to meet her stare and it made her so depressed. She was also still very anxious since she actually had no idea how powerful the youth really was. What if that teenage boy was already hurting her king? Agatha was a woman with twisted morals, but she genuinely cares for Francis. Now that she thought about that possibility, she was starting to regret it. "I should have just shut up and endured…"
Her thoughts were showing in her face and those secretly peeking at her were in awe of her devotion to the monarch. Yet they were also puzzled why she was acting like the young man could do harm to the king.
"Since the boy is badly scared off by the Church of Wisdom and had to flee from Borley, he should be a weakling, no?" the majority thought to themselves.
"Your Highness. Prince Benedict from the Borley Kingdom wanted to speak with you," said one of the magicians.
Agatha"s train of thoughts was broken and she looked at the aged sorcerer with a frown. "Why is that person seeking me?"
"I"m sorry, milady. He"s asking to speak with you to request to see the blasphemer. It seems our operation has leaked somehow and the Borleans" second prince came to hear about it. "
"Oh? I wonder which imbecile betrayed us, huh…" she thought in exasperation.
"Put him through to me then." A cold expression emerged on the villainess" face as she ordered the magicians to lead her to a vacant room.
…
In the former observatory tower, Margarette had no clue that her father went to see Jiang Li. She was kind of isolated from her people right now since she was in the bas.e.m.e.nt of the tower, walking down the hallway that would connect her to another realm.
Her spies and guards in the mansion area had been knocked out long before they could take a glimpse of the knights, much less of the king and the consort. The whole matter had just no way of reaching her ears. Because of this, she didn"t know that her father was looking for her, aware that her soul was inhabiting another person"s body.
But actually, even if she heard about this all, she wouldn"t turn back as she was currently on her way to meet the enigmatic witch who guided her in her practice of witchcraft - the real reason why she had her memories of the past life.
"Welcome and I"m glad to see you again, Margarette," said a woman wearing a hooded violet robe looking like a medium with several silver accessories on her wrists, fingers, and neck.
The woman in violet was the only one in the small dome-like greenhouse that appeared at the end of the hallway. She was in the middle of the garden that had no other lamp or any other type of illumination apart from the thousands of fireflies lingering there. With a slight smile, she commented to the dumbfounded girl, "How have you been? I"m truly amazed that you managed to get past all the tests I scattered in the city and find me in just a month. You have made me quite proud, my lovely student."
Looking embarra.s.sed and shy, Margarette bowed slightly to the woman seated at a table that had a bronze candle holder on top of it.
"I don"t deserve the compliment, but I won"t deny that it makes me happy." The girl responded. "I"m also glad to finally see you too in person, dearest mentor."
She was genuinely happy to come here and see the woman. It was the first time, after all. Before, since she was little, the other had only expounded knowledge or extended help to her from the shadows, giving her no opportunity to see what her powerful master looked like. Now that she was finally given a chance, of course, she felt moved. Her mentor even showed her a mesmerizing scene, a live work of art, that made all the troubles in locating her worth it.
However, she was still as careful as ever, checking out the place for danger despite knowing the woman wouldn"t harm her. That was when her eyes briefly scanned the candle atop the table there that was burning with blue flames and emitting a pleasant floral smell.
"It has a scent that is from a rare mix of herbs and essential oils." A piece of memory surfaced in her mind, an image that didn"t belong to her, but Aliyah.
Before the soul of that woman with multiple personalities arrived in Marian"s body, Marian had first sought out a mystic, a believer of Armamos, G.o.d of Mystery and Enchantment, in hopes of unlocking her sealed memories and speaking with her deceased brother.
However, due to some man-made accident, none of Marian"s two objectives was completed and she herself, had seemingly forgotten about it after becoming the d.u.c.h.ess. When Aliyah transmigrated into the body amidst the ceremony, all she uncovered were two images, one, the cover of the book depicting Marian"s fictional story, the other, a mural of seven angels.
"Teacher, are you the medium who performed the rituals for Marian before the body swap?"
Margarette"s eyes widened in disbelief of the coincidence. As the scene was quite embarra.s.sing to her, she was half-doubting the images she retrieved from Aliyah"s memory.
However, contrary to the girl, no sign of embarra.s.sment could be seen from the woman"s face. Sitting with her clasped hands at the table, the medium batted her dark eyes that could seemingly suck souls in them and admitted, "Right. It is indeed I. Why? Are you having difficulty relating me to that medium? I look the same though, and I said "I"m glad to see you again" about a minute ago.
Margarette approached the violet-robed woman, and she resembled no princess or commerce queen as she awkwardly looked away from the other lady. "I"m sorry, teacher. I was just shocked to learn I have met you before, and that you are a magician of…"
"Of an orthodox G.o.d?" The medium smiled, perfectly aware that the princess was wondering whether she was a real believer of the G.o.d of Mystery, or a faker and spy whose faith was still in one of the Fallen Angels.
The medium pointed her hand on the simple wooden chair across hers. "Before anything else, you take a seat, Margarette. We have the whole night to talk about me, and the happenstances in the continent…"
"I think it will take a long while for my son and your husband to come…"