The Marquis.

Phaedra sat on her bed in thoughts. The morning had come but she did not bother to get her chores done, she could only sit and stare. She had been chosen to be the Priestess, to serve beside the King, to possess great powers, she could turn day to night, turn man to goat and goat to man, she would become the most respected person in the Kingdom other than the Royals. As it seems though, people would regard her more than they would regard the Princess. Everybody had expected her to be the Priestess but she wasn't chosen, just like everyone in the Kingdom, Phaedra had the same thoughts; 'What horrible sin did the Princess commit?'

Her aunts walked inside her room in silence, it seemed like they were skeptical about what to say and how to say it. They were treating the issue like it was bad news. But it wasn't, neither was it a good news as well, her life now had a particular purpose, a particular path to follow: serve the Kingdom beside the King, create a spell that was extremely powerful, marry the Marquis of Order and birth a girl.

Marry the Marquis.

Marry someone she had never met, marry someone who was mocked in all of Thaleia, marry a man who she did not love.

"The Marquis should be here soon to fetch you" one of her aunts started off "have you packed your things for travel?" She asked.

"No," Phaedra replied, "I have not, aunt Dianne" Dianne sucked in a deep breath and glanced at her sister. They shared a look and decided to leave her alone to be with her thoughts.

In the Capital, the Palace court was occupied by officials and ministers all waiting to hear the news from the shrine attendant, Eliza and also to send the Marquis away to fetch the new Priestess.

The court was silent, solely because they could all sense the bad energy emanating from their Princess. Aelia had not said anything to anyone, nor was she frowning, but ever since the previous night, everybody treated her as if she was a volcano waiting to erupt. She sat on her throne as they all waited to hear from Eliza who was taking too much time to appear before the King.

Eliza was the attendant of the shrine, in the sense that she cleaned and took care of all the gadgets and spell books of the previous Priestesses, just like her mother and her grandmother and her great grandmother. She came from a long line of shrine attendants. She had no magic of her own, but she had knowledge, knowledge bestowed upon her by her mother about the ways of their god, The Supreme, the ways of magic and how to care for the Priestess.

Just in time, the door of the court room opened and Ares with the company of Eliza walked inside the Palace. Eliza was dressed in her ceremonious white robe, it was the mandatory wear for all the shrine attendants. Eliza had average looks but a calm countenance, she was kind and walked with grace. Standing beside Ares, one could not easily tell that she was a mere shrine attendant.

"Your Majesty" she kneeled then bowed till her head touched the ground. She rose to her feet and knelt down again then bowed till her head touched the ground. This bow was directed at Aelia "Your Highness". She rose to her feet then gave a slight bow to the queen "My Queen"

"The Priestess has surely been chosen?" Augustus asked again as if he had not experienced first hand the Hexie sword pointing outside the Capital.

"Yes, Your Majesty" Eliza replied and the court erupted into a murmur.

"The Princess was supposed to be the Priestess, why was there an alteration?" A random minister inquired from Eliza. Aelia rolled her eyes at his question intended to spite her.

"I have no idea of the heart of Our Supreme" Eliza answered. "I only attend to the shrine and our Priestess" Eliza focused her gaze on the King, she spared not even a glance towards the person she had just replied to his question.

"Where is she?" Augustus inquired.

"Just like the sword had communicated with us, she is outside of the Capital, Your Majesty" She replied "Permit the Marquis to find her, Your Grace" she bowed in request.

"Of course, Ares should depart immediately to look for her and bring her back in less than two days" Augustus ordered. There was no time to waste, very soon they would be thrown into a war whether they liked it or not, it was inevitable. The four Kingdoms had little to no respect for them and saw Thaleia as a prey, as something that begs them to conquer. So of course, Augustus could not waste any time in looking for the Priestess, she needed to be found as soon as possible.

"Then, I will leave to look for her, guided by the Hexie sword, I will bring the Priestess before the King '' Ares said, followed by a bow. And before he walked out of the courtroom, he sneaked a glance at Aelia who had been unusually quiet.

Aelia was sitted casually on her throne, she wore a simple black mandatory dress, her posture was the least proper, she was slumped on the throne, her elbow leaning on the armrest and her head resting on her fist. It was the signature position of Aelia and she had no desire to correct that fault.

"Such a thing had never happened before in Thaleia, that the Priestess would be another person other than our Princess" A minister said out loud.

Once again, everybody turned to glance at Aelia, but this time, she gave a hard glare to the minister that had just made that statement before she rose to her feet and left the courtroom using the door behind her throne.