Blooming from the Ashes

Ch3: A Shared Meal

After waking I wash myself up and Sister Rosell does my hair. She always used to make different hairstyles on my hair since they were the longest among the other children of the orphanage.

As I enter the dining room, the smell of freshly baked bread reaches my nose. That's when I realized how hungry I was.

Everyone was staring at me, I had been the last to enter. Sister Rosell leads me to the table where I used to sit. Then everyone holds hands, and Father starts the prayer. Everyone repeats after him.

"O Saintess, whose benevolence graces the Emberland Empire,

Thy light shines bright, our hearts inspire.

In thy boundless mercy, we find solace and might,

Guiding us through shadows into the purest light.

Bless our land with prosperity and peace,

May justice and harmony never cease.

Grant us the wisdom to walk in thy way,

And the strength to serve others every day.

In the trials we face, be our steadfast guide,

With thy grace, let compassion abide.

Emberland Empire, under thy watchful eye,

May love and unity never wane, but amplify.

O Saintess, hear our earnest plea,

Embrace us all, from sea to shining sea.

For in thy grace, Emberland stands tall,

United in faith, we heed thy call."

Then the lunch starts and everyone starts eating as I just look at the delicious bread and juice which has been given to me.

I hold it, it feels so soft and smells good.

The memory of my first time eating in prison then flashes in my mind.

..........................................................................................

The guard throws a moldy bread at me.

"What is this!" I shout at him angrily.

"It's your food, for today," he says

"I can't eat this! It has become moldy! Bring me some other bread."

Hearing this commotion two female servants come.

"Eat it." That girl, I remember her name being Zora says.

"I won't," I shout back

"I have done nothing wrong to your lovely Saintess, she framed me! I don't deserve this treatment"

"How dare you!" says the other girl, Millina

Then the guard opens the gate angrily

Both the girls hold my arms tightly as the guard kicks my stomach.

He then forces the bread into my mouth and does not leave it until I take it in. It tasted so bad but he did not let me vomit.

"How dare you try to blame the Saintess!"

"This was the only food you will receive today," they say as they slam the gate shut, leaving me in the darkness

What did I do to deserve this?

..............................................................

"Sister Liana, why are you not eating?" a small girl asks.

"She has been sick for so long, Lily. Maybe she is not feeling well." Aiden says

Oh, now I remember, her name was Lily!

Also, Aiden is my age, I remember he further enrolled as a knight in the Marquess's house. He always had a passion for wielding a sword but was usually unnoticed thus was not able to enter the academy's section for knights.

"Shall I call Sister Rosell?" he asks worriedly

I quickly deny and start eating the bread.

It's so yummy!

I eat it fast and finish it off.

"Hey, you okay? Do you need more?" He asks giving a piece of his bread to me

I take it from him and eat it too. It feels so good to eat a proper meal after this long.

I then gulp down the juice.

"Looks like Sister Liana is very hungry," Lily whispers as I hear her and turn bright red

"Well she had been unconscious for a week, of course, she was hungry!" Aiden scolds.

After lunch, classes start. Since there were no teachers at the orphanage, it was the Sisters who used to teach us.

Me, Aiden, and Elma used to take lessons together with other children who were the same age as us. We three were close, before I was sponsored by the Marquess and started going to the academy after I discovered that I had powers.

Not everyone had powers, only nobles had magic. But in very rare cases, some commoners had magic too.

If they passed the entrance exam, they were allowed to attend the academy.

But my powers were mostly useless. All I could do was make flowers bloom, I don't know why it was called Floral Mastery. But I never really paid full attention to it anyways, because I was too lovesick for the Prince.

I will never fall in love with him, never again.

Wait, but haven't I already awakened my powers? I remember I had awakened them when I was 12, but Father had asked me to keep it a secret or else people might try to harm me in jealousy.

"Liana, we have to go to class," Elma says as she holds my hand and takes me to our first class.

Aiden follows us and then we sit in the third row of class. There were only 4 more children leaving us three.

Sister Rosell enters, and then I realize that we are going to be learning history.