The Priests' Inauguration

THUD! SMASH! CLANK!

"Hiii…!!" Giving up, Sei finally ran out of the room to save herself from the demon's fury.

"What happened? Miss Arina is throwing a tantrum again?" Asked Helen after she heard what happened. "Is it because of her menstrual cramps too? Is it that painful this time?"

Sei actually wanted to answer, that to be more precise, Arina was like that because she just failed to kill a girl last night. But because she couldn't, she ended up just nodding her head. "It must be!"

Arina does like to get angry inexplicably from time to time. But throwing a tantrum like this is actually very rare. That's why rather than trying to calm her down, all the maids just chose to wait at the door until she got tired by herself.

And never mind the maids, Arina wouldn't even let her father and mother enter her room. "Can't you persuade her somehow?" Asked Mr. Hendrick. "The king and queen will also come, right? It feels bad if Rina doesn't come, you know."

"But she didn't even let me in…" Mrs. Anastasia replied sullenly. "Maybe I should just stay at home?" She continued again, unable to calm down considering that her daughter still locked herself in her room for an unknown reason.

"You were also invited by the head priest, right? Of course you have to come." He replied again. "Rina will be fine. The maids will take care of her." He said. So with a heavy heart, the Almira family had to go to the palace without their daughter.

Or they thought they would.

But when they left the house, it turned out that their only child was already there, looking beautiful and ready to go.

"Rina?" Mrs. Anastasia called as she walked closer to her. "Are you okay? I thought you were sick." She asked.

"Says who? I'm fine." Arina replied flatly, then just looked away and got into the carriage first.

Mr. and Mrs. Almira looked at each other in confusion at first. But well, it wasn't the first time their daughter had behaved strangely, so they decided to let her be.

Every year, the welcoming ceremony for the new priests is actually held humbly. With a serious and solemn event which was then followed by a small garden party, which was also attended only by palace residents.

But! In the year when they finally had someone who was said to be the new incarnation of the high priest, the palace decided to increase the scale of the ceremony. considering that there must be a lot of people who are curious about her.

Ordinary people were allowed to see and greet them from outside the gates, but only nobles and special invitees who had a special relationship with the royals could enter the palace. Including the Almira family.

That's why as soon as he saw the carriage with their logo, Alex immediately ran to escort them. "Mr and Mrs Almira. You have come." Says Alex as soon as he sees them. "And Arina. I'm glad to see you--"

But even though he stretched out his hand to help Arina down, his fiance just ignored and walked past him without saying anything. "..."

Mrs. Anastasia smiled, but there was a bitter feeling to it. "I'm sorry, prince. Arina's been in a bad mood since morning, so…"

"Ah, it's okay. I understand." Alex replied. Arina hasn't told him anything at all, but of course he already knows the reason. Because the fact that this celebration is still continuing means that the incarnation of the high priest is still alive.

"Then you two should come in now. The priests' entourage will be here any minute." Alex said again, and they finally entered the palace.

Mr. Hendrick went to the other side to meet with the other ministers, so Mrs. Anastasia decided to go find Arina who was already standing in the most quiet area, purposely avoiding everyone.

But just as she was about to approach her, Mrs. Anastasia suddenly felt a gaze directed at her. Which turned out to come from the queen who was sitting in the royal seats far ahead. The woman also seemed to be waving at her.

Anastasia smiled and responded with a small bow. She knew that the queen had a chronic illness, so she felt a little relieved when she saw that the woman's face looked healthier than usual.

But apart from the figures of the king and queen, there were actually other unusual sights there. Namely Alex's two older siblings, Prince Felix and Princess Iris.

"So they came too. Somehow I thought they wouldn't." Mrs. Anastasia muttered softly.

The thing is, unlike Alex, who often goes here and there to take care of many royal affairs, his two siblings are a bit different. They rarely show their faces in public. Not even at private events, let alone a public event like this.

"It seems everyone is really curious to see the new high priestess." Mrs. Anastasia said while glancing at Arina. 'Come to think of it, she also decided to come despite her tantrum...'

"Rina." She finally poked her daughter. "Why are you here? Aren't you going to meet Olivia and the others? They're over there." She said while pointing at some group of women around Arina's age.

Didn't look interested, Arina sighed while looking the other way. "Why should I?" She replied flatly. She just calls them friends when they're useful. So right now, they're not her friends.

Mrs. Anastasia just pursed her lips a little disappointed, but then Arina said again, "But he's really coming. I guess it's true after all." She said while looking at the royal seats.

"...What's true?"

"Somebody said to me that Prince Felix might take interest in the new high priestess." She said. "He might be thinking that he can take over the crown prince position again by having her." 

"You mean interest as in…"

"I know. Even though she is the high priestess, how can he think she will be able to stand over me, right? I thought he wasn't that stupid."

Mrs. Anastasia went silent for a while. But seeing her daughter still able to act highly like that might be a good sign that she wasn't that depressed. "But I thought you don't care about such things."

And Arina suddenly chuckled. "Yes, I don't." She said. 'If only she wasn't the high priestess!'

Arina's chuckle sounded a little too eerie, so Mrs. Anastasia went silent again. But then her daughter looked at the royal seats again. "Though I'm still curious why the princess's coming too…"

"...Right."

And the priests' entourage finally arrived.

Mrs. Anastasia recognized the three priests walking in front of the line, so the people following behind them must be the new members, who from today will be inaugurated as the royal priests & priestesses.

No need to be confused, everyone could immediately tell which priestess was the incarnation of the high priest. The girl with sparkling golden hair was definitely the one.

With her green eyes and shining skin under the sunlight, her beauty was enough to attract everyone's attention. But that red mark... In the shape of a flower and a crescent moon on her neck is the clear evidence that this girl is the incarnation of a high priest, who only appears once every hundred years.

"Oh, she's really much younger than I thought…" Said Mrs. Anastasia. "She might even be younger than you." She added to Arina.

The civilians from outside looked like they were busy bowing and touched their chest as if expressing their gesture of gratitude or something. It was a one in a millennium experience after all. Some of the nobles followed it, but most of them didn't.

Although on the contrary, the person who received the honour actually looked so uncomfortable and tried to lower her head as deeply as possible.

That's why as soon as they stopped right in front of the royal seats, she finally sighed with relief because at that time she was the one who had to bow before the king and queen.

Until not long after, an old man with a long white beard was also seen coming out of the palace door. It was the head priest, Mr. Alfodian.

Due to his old age, the priest walked with a long staff and walked slowly. Everyone had forgotten the exact age of the head priest, but it was definitely close to a century. Even Mrs. Anastasia who saw that felt bad because she rarely visited him recently.

At that moment, everyone thought the same. If indeed it is time for the generation of priests to be continued by someone else.