"Detour," she said in a cold voice as she narrowed her eyes at the scenery outside through the small gaps of the curtain. "One of you leave to find me a separate carriage. I will be going back to the church."
They were still in the town proper.
The escorts who were a.s.suming she was trembling inside unmoving due to fear were stunned. The clear voice that did not stutter nor hint any emotion surprised them all.
Shouldn"t she be so shocked? Even men like them would have trauma if met with a near-death experience like that.
"Milady, it"s still dangerous." It was the head guard who spoke first.
It didn"t take for the others to recover from the stupor, and the first thing they did was to second Adam"s statement, convincing her that it would be a bad idea.
"Yes, milady. Chances are those attackers are still in the vicinity! Your safety is currently of paramount importance!"
"Milady, don"t worry, we"re just half an hour away, and George has already been sent ahead. If he went full speed, only captain"s horse will be able to catch up to his. In ten minutes, we might be able to meet up with the Viscountess" guards!"
However, Aliyah had already made up her mind, aware of the consequences once she really went to the church.
"I know what you all wanted to say. But I also know that once we get back, I will be detained. With that said, I want to take this opportunity to tell something very important to the church. Fret not, the enemy has already accomplished their goal and won"t go after me again," she calmly said, giving them a few more words to make them do her bidding.
"Captain…" The helpless gazes of the men went to Adam who looked a bit gloomy due to the woman"s stubbornness.
In the end, the people outside acquiesced. They could not do anything anyway since she looked so determined that she jumped out of the vehicle wearing her maid"s clothing. Now, they knew what kind of sounds they were hearing earlier as they clamored to persuade her.
A minute later, somebody returned with a horse-drawn wagon which Aliyah did not hesitate to enter.
The lavish carriage carrying nothing continued heading towards the castle, while she and her maid huddled inside the wagon. Adam and one other guy was with them, driving the vehicle. The two were quite nervous and were constantly roaming their eyes around.
When she successfully reached the nearest church, she hurriedly got off her ride after making sure that there was n.o.body suspicious nearby. It was a church still believing in the Great Deity.
Aliyah then ran inside with her hands slightly lifting her heavy skirt to not interfere with her steps. Disregarding the people praying inside who was distracted by her loud footsteps, she entered the small booth and said, "I have a confession to make! I, I am Marian Obson of the Obson Castle!"
The latter was said in worry that her current clothing would cause her to elicit no response from the people there.
"Obson? The Viscount"s family?"
Feeling her tension and the urgency in her voice, the two nearby priests exchanged glances with each other. One seemed to be preparing for some sort of ceremony so the other nodded at him and entered the other side of the confessional.
"I am here to listen. The Lord is with us to listen too. So ease your mind and tell us what"s bothering your mind…" he said unhurriedly in a kind voice.
The tall and burly clergyman looked more like a warrior than a priest but he was patient as he waited for the young lady on the other side of the screen to speak.
After catching her breath, Aliyah then repeated, "I am Marian Obson from Viscount Obson"s family... My sincerest apologies for the discourtesy earlier."
"T-there is something just that I suddenly remembered about Louie Obson"s case. I am his sister! My brother… When we were at the capital, before he died…."
She looked down and paused, not out of guilt or because she felt that she needed some time to organize her thoughts, but to make sure she was okay for what this confession would entail in the future.
Confiding the secret would mean she would really be involved in Marian Obson"s matter. It would mean she would be busy with other stressful things apart from adapting to medieval life and searching for a way back.
Was she really ready for the extra headache? What a tough question! She fell silent for some time. The priest did not urge her since he a.s.sumed she was going through an internal battle or mapping out what to say. After all, her speech just now had been quite intermittent and messy.
"Uhhh… Let"s try to be a rat and whistle-blower in the shadows, then. Or simply be hermit within the fortified walls of Castle Osbon," thought the girl.
When her heart agreed and reasoned, "Screw it. It"s them who wanted your life and provoked you first!" she looked up once again, softly saying,
"Reverend, here"s the thing. Actually, that night when my brother pa.s.sed away, before I lost consciousness due to an unknown reason…. I vaguely heard my brother mentioning something… S-sacrifices… sacrifices to the royal family…"
"The royal family?" asked the person from the other side of the confessional. The priest with a large built had no idea what sacrifices were being made so he placed more importance on who was receiving them.
Her next words horrified him a lot.
"… And Nephilim."
…
According to the records, Nephilim were evil giant creatures from ancient times who made the Great Deity so mad that He purged all the cities containing them. The fire kept raining on those places for a day regardless of whether there were humans living there.
It was said the G.o.ds who were still angels back then did not spare the humans since they had also become evil, influenced by the giants. In the present time, those cities had become ruins in the Great Mountain Ranges at the Western borders of the Mu continent. n.o.body dared to approach the place since that part of the land received the G.o.ds" wrath.
Aliyah had no idea whether those creatures still exist nowadays.
She also did not know what the clergymen from the Church of the Great Deity did after. But she had a hunch those people would not be half-hearted about the issue. After all, it involved "Nephilim", the so-called "offspring of the sons of G.o.d and the daughters of men".
She wondered, how they would deal with those blue blood involving themselves with corrupted monsters?
All the churches were pretty much hostile to creatures that were not humans or friendly to humans. This was why she knew they would be very serious since it was about these mythical beings fathered by Fallen Angels.
She actually did not care if some Nephilim truly survived the purging thousands of years ago. This would become somebody else"s problem, somebody more informed and had the means to deal with them.
But she was hoping for the royal family to start receiving some trouble from the churches soon. She hoped the churches would hara.s.s the royal family so much that they would forget she exists.