The Rise of a King - Copia x Reader

III

It was late in the afternoon when the infamous three knocks on your door indicated you're being picked up for your hearing with the Papas. Nervously you took one last look at yourself in the mirror and straightened your uniform before you opened the door and let Mountain lead you to the Papal corridors. You could smell your strong, yet tender perfume and hoped it wasn't too much.
"Don't worry, we all went through this and they're really friendly. Well most of them-"
"Most?!"
"Well Nihil and Secondo may not be living Sunshine's but they know to value a sister of sin, I assure you of that", Mountain laid a hand on your shoulder and rubbed it gently.
"Thank you", you sighed, barely relieved.
A moment later, you found yourself standing in front of a tall, dark wooden door.
"You will wait here until Omega, a fellow Ghoul opens the door and bids you in, alright? Good luck"
He gave you thumbs up and disappeared down the stairs.
Your breath quickened a little, what if you said something wrong or didn't know what to say at all?
"I don't even know what he's doing here", you suddenly heard an old, rough voice ramble through the door.
"He's not part of the bloodline and shouldn't even get a saying in this!"
"Stop this nonsense, you know this is where I belong! Stop disregarding me like I'm nothing!", a slightly higher pitched voice spoke enraged, yet as you listened closer, you could hear the hurt in his voice.
"The Cardinal is a high ranked member of our clergy and more than deserves his seat here", you recognised Sister Imperator's voice.
"I am the leading Papa Emeritus and I demand the Cardinal stays. Seestor is right, he's my best assistant and a loyal servant to our unholy lord Satan. Now stop this nonsense and let the hearing begin!"
The door was opened and a tall Ghoul stepped through, this must be Omega you thought to yourself.
"You may enter", he instructed you and you did as he said. You now found yourself in a conference like room, a long desk with various people sitting on it faced you, most of them were older men.
"Welcome", Papa spoke and waved you over. You stepped closer to him so that you directly stood in front of him. He himself stood up from his seat which did not make a big difference in Terms of height. You now took the moment to study the living legend in front of you closer, the clothes of his seemed so elegant on him and the way he held himself beamed of confidence. His slicked back, raven black hair laid stable and soft while the skull paint on his face made it a little harder to read his mimics which made him even more mysterious. He suddenly reached out for your hand and placed a soft kiss on the back of it which made you blush more than was good for you and you hoped nobody would notice.
"I am Papa Emeritus the Third but you can simply call me Terzo"
"It's an honour to meet you, I am Sister y/n", you gave him a warm smile which he returned with a smile of his before he gestured for you to return to your original spot.
"The men sitting to my right are my brothers Primo and Secondo, known as Papa Emeritus the First and Second, such as Mister Saltarian. The ones to my left are my father Papa Nihil, Sister Imperator and Cardinal Copia". As you looked around you greet everyone with a formal smile and now realised the Cardinal's gaze curiously piercing through you. It send a strange shiver down your spine but his gaze would soon soften as you offered him a warm smile of yours as well.
The following minutes consisted of a few basic questions, your motivation to work as a sister of sin, your relationship to Satan and the mention of your satanic graduation.
"All in all you seem like the perfect candidate for us and we are pleased to officially welcome you as a sister of sin at our clergy", Terzo announced and everyone clapped for you.
"Have you been informed about the following process?"
You shook your head.
"I have not"
"As a sister of sin you will be helping during services, rituals and if any Papa or other Clergy member needs assistance. Your work of the following months will be supervised and rated, if you've done excellent work it will be decided whether you will be promoted to the personal sister of a Papa. Other than that, Sister Aurora will be your guide within the following week, she will introduce you to your tasks. Do you have any questions?"
You thought for a second before you shook your head again.
"No Papa, I don't"
"Then.." he made a hand gesture and the Cardinal stood up from his seat which startled you a little.
"The Cardinal will now draw the symbol of our clergy onto your forehead as a sign of acceptance and membership of our clergy".
Copia reached for a black mixture in which he dipped one of his gloved fingers.
"The Leviathan Cross, you're familiar?", he asked softly and you suddenly recognised his voice as the one of the hurt man from earlier.
"I am" you then replied and he nods before he lifts his hand and you suddenly feel a cold liquid on your forehead.
Your eyes squinted a little at first but as you got used to it, you opened your eyes and realised how close his face was to yours. Your eyes widened for a second, from up close you could now see all his facial features. You hadn't noticed the sideburns before but you found they made him look pretty handsome and they even matched with the little moustache above his lips.
You slowly dared to now lift your gaze up to his eyes and felt yours almost pop out your skull as you saw how pretty his were. In the dancing candle light you could see them sparkle, his white one like a star, the green one like the woods. You were almost like in trance and barely noticed that his gaze moved from your forehead to your eyes and you quickly looked away, still feeling his eyes resting on yours.
Was that a smirk you saw forming on his lips for the glimpse of a second?
Before you could think about it further, he took a step back and admired his work as the clergy once again began to clap and sent you off.