The Fake Princess's Soul Contract Duke

Chapter 13: Thalia and the Apostle's Soul

“Thalia La Sheridan, lie down on this altar.”, without much question, Alianora immediately did as ordered by the priest who was reading the prayer sentences. The unfocused Alianora still imagined the disrespectful brat she had just met.

Ah, by the way, that kid's face is a bit familiar, hm. Dark hair, look in those eyes, where have I seen it?

The priest then took the water in a small bucket, and sprinkled it slowly throughout Alianora's body, unceasingly chanting the prayers. Alianora closed her eyes in relaxation. The grains of water that touched his body felt like he was under the drizzling raindrops that made him comfortable. He felt sleepy.

Ah, nevermind. Whoever that kid is, from his appearance he must be a noble with a fairly high class, and if that's true, I will definitely meet him again later. I will try to remember it back then.

Not long after, a gigantic magic circle under the altar, dazzling glittering that enveloped Alianora's entire body. The baptism magic circle was a dazzling golden radiance, something that had not even happened, at least not during these several hundred years of cultivation.

Everyone watching widened their eyes while gaping wide. The nobles inside, immediately whispered quickly, while those outside, flocked inside in haste to witness the strange phenomenon.

“Golden light?..don't say...ah, so I do, hm...”, said a bright blue-haired boy with a smile.

“W-woah, dad! The one on the altar was actually Duke Sheridan's 'that's' daughter right? Means she...means she...!”.

“Sshh....Leon, shut up.”

the old red-haired boy immediately fell silent when he got a reprimand from his mother.

In the corner of the room some purple-robed old people had already gathered while wide in disbelief.

"That golden light is unmistakable!"

said one of them.

"Whoa, whoa, I didn't expect that this year I would see such a rare event. Heh, indeed I already have a feeling that my life line is good."

"Shhh, Kashim. Can't you not be too noisy? Your voice is like a loudspeaker. And you're Ilya, your line of life is damned so shut up."

"Oh, don't argue with you! We report this to Master."

Then they just disappeared from there.

*****

In addition, the flat and cold face of Sheridan's family was also broken by a dumbfounded expression, especially for Estelle who was watching her brother with an inexplicable feeling.

From the direction of the exit, a dark blue-haired boy watched calmly everything that happened.

"...."

With the body still shaking and the cold sweat melting, the priest approached the altar, “S-a Soul Apostle has been born! Blessed be the God of Light Ilios!”

From that day on, the news that a new Apostle Soul had been born had been completely spread throughout the entirety of the Kingdom of England, and thanks to this, the capital became in an uproar.

Within a few days, Thalia's name became a hot topic in every aristocratic conversation.

Although the church appealed not to talk about the Apostle's Soul until there was an official revelation, they still could not fully control the mouths of those who witnessed the events of the day. As a result, the news reached the ears of the royal family and the other nobles who were absent that day.

An Apostle Soul that was revered like a saint, were those nobles not tempted by the power it possessed?

Therefore, during these two weeks, many prominent noble families tried to find face in front of the Sheridan family, especially in front of Alianora, by sending a mountain of invitations to small events, and, and meetings.

Alianora really did not have time to just breathe.

"Uhm...Miss Sheridan? Is everything okay?"

The pale pink-haired lady, Miss Ivory looked at her anxiously.

Immediately when Alianora raised her head, her gaze was filled with the faces of noble girls of her age in colorful dresses and also jewelry here and there. They looked at him confused.

Ah, yes it is. I was at a tea show in...Who was his name…?

"ah! Yeah, I'm fine, I'm sorry, Miss Ivory, did you say anything?"

Of course, the tea and talk show between nobles was one of his bustle as well. Of the many invitations that came, every day he had to follow at least two or three events.

At times like this, Alianora hoped that Kalisto would forbid him from leaving, but unfortunately even though that person had the influence and power that was respected by other nobles throughout England, he would not have possibly refused the invitations sent by noble families who also had important influence, such as the family of Marquess Ivory.

Marquess Ivory was one of the wealthiest noble families in the Kingdom of Agris. Their wealth was probably only eleven-twelve with Marquess Rocheleau, who was almost as rich as the royal family.

They had the largest spice trade and reached other kingdoms.

Thanks to this too, they had many connections with the aristocrats of other countries which made them one of the influential families among the nobility. In addition, the Sheridan Duke Family has also long cooperated with the Ivory Marquess Family, and consider them to be very important business partners.

It was clear that Alianora should not ignore the invitation to have tea together from the daughter of this family right?

Miss Ivory, who was sitting across from Alianora, replied with a sincere smile, "It's fine, Miss Sheridan, I just want to know if this Yellow Mountain Fur Peak Green Tea matches your taste."

Alianora looked back at the transparent light green liquid inside the white ceramic cup before her that was completely untouched. He quickly but tried to calm down, sipping the tea a little.

Uh..what does he want me to say? That this Vulpix blablabla tea really tastes like...teh?

Alianora put on a thin smile made-up,“Of course Miss Ivory, tea.this really feels unique and the aroma is also different from other teas. Maybe this tea can be one of my favorite teas.”

Tch, how much longer am I gonna be here?

“Ah, Miss Sheridan is right. This tea is so delicious and refreshing!" sahut's daughter next to Alianora.

"Where did you get tea like this? I've never seen this tea before." ' added another daughter opposite her.

This round table is full of useless things.

Miss Ivory chuckled at the reaction of the other children. Her white cheeks displayed a thin red hue and her emerald green eyes were filled with excitement.

"Oh, this tea was bought by my father when he visited the eastern part of the country on business. My father said that the tea leaves, coated with some kind of cotton fiber, only grew around the Yellow Mountains there. Therefore, easterners used to call it Huangshan Maofeng or Yellow Mountain Fur Peak Green Tea.This tea was very popular among the eastern nobles, so my father bought it as a souvenir."

“Wow, unique once huh?”

“If I can I want to invite my father to travel east because of this!”

“Nona Ivory is very lucky to be able to try a wide range of unique items from abroad.”

Miss Ivory flicked her hand with a smile, “Hm, this is all thanks to my father. Each region is different, he at least brought souvenirs typical of that area. So, even though I did not visit alone, I could feel the atmosphere of the area through the items.”

Alianora rolled her eyeballs.

He was already completely fed up of listening to the babbling of these boys before him. Their talk was so useless that it almost made his head break. Don't they have any more quality topics to talk about.

“Oh, but if not wrong, said my father, an Apostle Soul later after officially crowned saint also has the opportunity to visit other kingdoms as ‘facial’ Angris church, to do social activities. Is that right, right? Miss Sheridan?”, Miss Ivory asked with a plain smile across her.

Alianora just smiled.

Hah, like saving people's lives is still not enough to make my brain dizzy, then there are other troublesome social activities? No thank you.

But before Alianora could respond, someone cut her off.

“Nona Ivory, I'm sorry but, the news that Miss Sheridan is the Apostle's Soul has not been made public, is asking that not too soon?”, from the bench to her right, is, a bright green-haired little girl pucked in two, glanced at him with a humble gaze.

Miss Ivory who felt bad putting back her teacup, “Ah, Miss Madeline, I don't mean to be disrespectful, but even though there's no official news yet, many people had witnessed how the altar light of that time turned golden yellow right?”

“Fufu~ is absolutely right, but if that's all, why hasn't the church released the official news yet? Hm, that means, there are other factors that make the church not yet convinced.”

Girl next to Alianora says, “Other factors?”

Miss Madeline smiled sarcastically while raising next to an eyebrow, “Ya, for example, something related to...magic?”

Silently, Alianora rolled her eyeballs lazily.

Ah, so that's what this kid wanted to offend from the start? 'A person who has no magic, can't possibly be an Apostle Soul!', is that it?

Ever since the news that the Apostle's Soul had been born rang out to the ears of the royal family, King Tyrion had intended to directly invite Alianora to the palace, but the church leader, was, Pope Galatea still asked that this news not be spread to the public first. That was because the background of the child who was the Apostle's Soul, Thalia La Sheridan was unclear, and more than that, because of the condition of his body that did not have magic power.

For that, they needed some sort of further research by inviting Alianora to the cathedral to perform some sort of purification and blessing ritual in hopes that whatever was blocking the mana in Alianora's body was lost.

They also showered Alianora with unimportant questions such as interrogating criminals.

Not that Alianora was shocked or anything, because the treatment she received was clearly the same as Thalia had received before. Only, Thalia received all of this by the time she was old enough, whereas Alianora was only 10 years old.

Alianora still remembers how Thalia would later be treated by the priests. It is not worshiped like a saintess but is considered like a non-human. They, the church and the nobles, used it as a symbol of the sanctity and absoluteness of the church to the common people, so that they could gain even more support and trust.

For Thalia's entire life had never received proper treatment as an Apostle Soul, even if it wasn't for accidentally eavesdropping on her father's conversation with one of the church's cardinals, she would definitely never know, she would have never known, if he was the Apostle's Soul.

To live to adulthood only to be used for the benefit of others, then to be killed for sins not committed by him, and what did the church do at that time? They stared at him like sinners, more despicable than animals.

If she was Thalia at that time, then she would have made a soul contract to kill all those priests in the most heinous way. Right, he would definitely not forgive them to death.

Hopefully in the future they won't.

Now, at the very least he had to do something to this irreverent little boy named Madeline.

Alianora suddenly clapped her hands then smiled innocently, “Wah! That's right, Miss Madeline!”

Everyone at the table looked at Alianora with a face as if Alianora had gone mad, but seeing this instead made her even more enthusiastic.

Hah, brat you think this kind of abuse can affect me?

Ignoring their gazes, Alianora continued, “I didn't know that the news had spread, I thought that only me and my parents knew, even Elle didn't know anything, so I don't think I need to tell you guys. I didn't expect Miss Madeline to be so quick to get information!”

Madeline was almost speechless, she didn't seem to expect that Alianora's response was far from what she had imagined.

“Ah...haha.be-right, my father has acquaintance with the priest so find out that you are not-”.

“Hm, but is that true? From what I heard from my father, the church is now strictly forbidding the news to be spread. In fact, the royal family also agrees with the church and will impose severe sanctions on anyone who violates, be it the pastor himself or the nobility. But Miss Madeline already knows, hm, how ya?”

Madeline's face immediately turned pale and her cynical smile was fixed stiff as well as the faces of the other girls around her, not least Ivory who looked nervous. It took all of Alianora's desire not to laugh right then and there when she saw their foreheads getting soaked in sweat and becoming snuffed in the sunlight.

That afternoon Alianora had no scheduled visit to the cathedral, so from the home of Marquess Ivory, Alianora went straight home with a beaming face. He could not wait to go home and rest his mind.

After he finished serving a group of children who made a headache, he did not want to sit sweetly in front of the altar while hearing the chanting of prayers like mantras. He's going crazy.

Fortunately that day the priests no longer called him to the cathedral as usual, so that he could rest in peace while thinking of ways to quickly recover the magic in his body.

It is likely that the pastors were also tired of praying for him without any results.

Ha, of course. They think that only by praying will the gods grant their wishes? If it were that easy, poor Thalia would not have been hard-pressed to sacrifice her soul to call me.

If you want something then you have to fight to get it to your own ability. Don't wait until there's help from the sky because no matter how long you wait, it can't be there.

“Haahh, I mean, constantly going to the cathedral was obviously useless, mending that time I used to something useful, right, Mary?”

Mary who was sitting opposite Alianora at that time tilted her head, “In my opinion, a prayer was not immediately granted instantly but gradually. At first it will look like there is no change but who knows, if we continue to believe then surely the great God Ilios must have listened.”

“God Ilios, heh? Just look if he's that noble.” Alianora muttered while chuckling softly.

“Excuse me, miss? Did you say something?”

“Haha, no, no. I'm just saying, yes of course. This generous God Ilios must have pityed me this.”

Mary, “...”

As the train drove down the city streets, close to Nauchwanstein Castle, Alianora accidentally saw a large, multi-storey building in the distance. It is the second largest building after Nauchwanstein Castle.

“Mary, what building is it?”

Mary looked in the direction that Alianora pointed at, she immediately replied flatly,

“It was a public library building, miss. The library was open to everyone, be it ordinary folk or -”, as soon as Mary remembered something that made her glance back at the face of her young miss who had been re-energized and even filled with, the, what he felt as, something that made his feelings unpleasant.

“Nona, you don't think to go there do you?”

Alianora bit her lips to hold back a smile, “Do you think?”

Realizing what her young lady was planning, Mary's face turned serious, “Nona, you know that your schedule is now full. Tomorrow you have to attend the events, then after that-”

“Tut...tut…! Mary, tomorrow's business let's think about tomorrow, okay? After all, who said that I would leave tomorrow?”

Mary's dumb-ass face stared at Alianora, instantly turning stiff, “N-nona wait!”

Srak!

Alianora opened the window violently, then leaned her head out facing the coachman who was looking at her with a gaping mouth.

Alianora smiled darkly at him, “Hei, stop the train now.”