75 Coldness
Lucien didn't push things too fast, he preferred to slowly make her crumble.
Another two months passed, but he didn't escalate things further this time, he waited for people to change their perspective completely, forget about the old Saintess, or at least forget about her good deeds. And it was amazing how selfish people were, they remembered the bad deeds much longer and more vividly than the good ones.
He just kept practicing, not resting at all. The sooner he was stronger the sooner he would be able to fight fate and time.
It took just two months for the event he waited for to happen. It was just a normal outing for Maria, even after all the rumors and glares she had received, she kept blessing and helping people. She had kept her faith firm even after all that.
And if nothing happened, she was certain to keep that faith as firm and even grow it stronger. Unfortunately, peace is never where it's wanted. As she was blessing a crowd of people, a cute little child ran to the front of the crowd and threw an apple at her. It had tears in it's eyes as if it didn't want to do it, but had no other choice.
Even through Maria could dodge the throw easily, she stood there stunned by the action, allowing herself to be hit.
It was an instant between the kid running out and the apple rolling on the ground after it's mission was accomplished.
The guards that were accompanying her today caught the kid that dared to throw something at the royal family in an single moment.
"What should we do with him, Saint Daughter?"
Maria looked at the kid and it was pretty obvious that someone threatened him to do this, someone from the palace perhaps as nobody else would dare to take such an action even if the rumors gave them an excuse.
"Let him go." She even blessed the child as it ran through the crowds.
Back in his room, Lucien chuckled seeing this scene.
'Now is the time to escalate the situation a little bit further.'
Lucien disappeared from the room silently and not even a minute later, he was in front of the running child in the form of Maria.
He made sure to catch up in a place where there was only a couple of people spectating, not large crowds.
He didn't even talk as he cast a Lightning to scorch the kid, he made sure to erase all the aura and traces he left, the people looking and the body were plenty.
Not lingering further, he went back to his room while making sure nobody followed and waited on the marvelous results this opportunity would present.
'I don't know who sent the kid, but he is going to be the biggest reason for the decline of this Empire. If I knew I would personally thank him, hehe.'
This time the rumors spread at a much faster pace, it was as if a dam broke and all hell was let loose. The body was recovered by the spectators, who didn't even think for a second why would she leave such an evidence. And was showcased in the middle of the capital for everybody to see. By the time the authorities reacted, enough people had seen it. Nobody would be able to pull the wool over the eyes of the masses.
The Saint Daughter that was supposed to be the emissary of God, killed a child because of an apple.
No matter how angry they were, nobody went to protest or voice their opinion. This continent was a place where power ruled and the power was in the hands of the royals.
Maria was overwhelmed once she heard what had happened, she knew that whoever was targeting her was going to great lengths to achieve whatever his goal was, but at the same time even knowing that. There was a coldness spreading inside her body, even through someone was viciously targeting her, nobody came out to help. Her prayers were unanswered like always, her parents were not meeting her.
In fact it was like this for everybody in the Empire, even the Bishop. No matter how much they prayed, there were no actual answers. At some junctures, a blessing would come down and that was it.
But that only made Maria feel even more alone. She was after all a lady that hasn't experienced anything like this before. The only time she was out of the capital was the time her father sent her to walk around the Empire in a disguise and see the world, bless whoever she liked and kill whoever she didn't. But even then she was already more than 20, the damage had been done. She didn't kill anyone, only blessing the poor souls she met on her road.
The only time she actually killed a person was when she was taking revenge for her sister and even then she felt sick for days after it.
And even if it was not noticeable, the coldness was shaking her faith. If her faith was imagined as a stone, that stone now had a tiny little crack on it.
In the palace, she felt like she was on a battlefield, all kinds of people taking turns to mock her and humiliate her using their silver tongues, nobody daring to use force. Even when she went out to bless people nowadays, nobody gathered around her, everybody kept avoiding her like the plague.
Lucien knew his job was done, he just had to wait. And he was right.
Inside the palace she was alone, outside the palace she was still alone. No matter how she prayed, nothing changed. Her faith that she polished for so many years was completely useless in this situation.
She knew that this was just some plot to target her or the royal family and as long as she kept firm for a while, it would all pass. Alas, no matter what she though, as the days passed, that bone piercing coldness only grew stronger, and slowly more small cracks spread over her faith.
