A few figures can be seen rushing towards an estate from a distance. They are wearing hoods, preventing themselves from being stalked by any people. It is already dawn; they cannot waste any time being found.
"Your Highness--" the figure puts her forefinger to their mouth. It is risky enough for them to do this, not even with the greets.
"Let's do this," they said.
The Holy Day has come, and many devoted servants to God come to the Temple, praying for their wishes to come true. Same as Hera, who comes first before fitting into her following schedule, which is probably by Ares' side all the time. As she is the Crown Princess of the Empire, people would always try to greet her. It would be a lie if she said it is not exhausting; however, she excites and feels on cloud nine every time she sees their eyes sparkling with happiness. It is enough for her, although she is exhausted.
"My Lady? It is the time for the main event for the Holy Day," Phoebe knocks on the door, as Hera always request to be alone when she prays at the Temple.
The blonde woman takes a deep breath, repeating some mantra in her head to keep her nerves in check. Then, finally, her beautiful emerald eyes open again before she extends her hand and pulls the door, only to find Phoebe flashes an excited smile at her.
"I am ready," she smiles back.
The main event is quite minimalistic, something like Eryx wants to do, not being forced to do. Since the Imperial Family also attends it, the Grand Temple is open to all people within the Empire. As usual, the Pope would usually lead the ceremony in the front, doing the same ritual repeatedly for the past few years. Some nobles like the Duchesses and Marquess Hector couldn't care less about it, but they followed it, respecting the cultures.
They are on the second floor, where the Duchesses face each other, but the only thing that separates them is another space used to watch the Pope and the Cardinal down, along with the Imperial Family. It is a sacred place where the highest nobility would go inside and stay with the Pope on the ground. Meanwhile, the higher they place from the bottom, their ranking in the Imperial hierarchy is lower.
The ruby eyes switch from the ground to the same eye level as hers, waiting for the amethyst eyes to reciprocate. The Duchess of Light also wears gold lining to match. Minimalistic jewellery and a white veil on her head. The other Duchess also wears white with a hint of purple to match the theme. She is not wearing a veil as Natalie did, but she pulls a bun for her hair on this occasion. After a while, the amethyst eyes meet with Natalie's, slowly nodding at her.
"Today is when our Guardian of the Angelos Empire gives his blessings to us. Therefore, pray with your desire whole-heartedly for that he will grant your wish in the unexpected way you ever dream off," the Pope turns her body back, looking randomly at the people around the hall of the Grand Temple.
Then, she returns to her original position to lead the prayers where everyone crosses their fingers that day, making a wish that they desire the most at the moment. Some people who don't believe in it don't even bother to bow or close their eyes for the wish since they don't think it's necessary. Finally, after an eternity, the Pope speaks again, "On this fateful day also, we from the Temple want to express our gratitude for our Cardinal to arrange such a pure day with celebration with the Holy Day and High Priest's selection as well."
The celebration for the High Priests would be the next event to take place. When Eryx stares at Frederick and Marcus, he can't help but feel queasy because of the beam of pride that Frederick and Marcus wear on their faces. Most of the ill will would be directed on the Cardinal, who was responsible for organizing this.
"What an insensitive moment for an extravagant event like this!"
The rumours begin to throw more dirt on Eryx's name. Some even talk about it, so they purposely let him hear about it. The man could only clench his fists for being in this situation. People always be fooled in the name of politics, and it is not their fault. They work hard, night and day, just bring food to their table.
Regardless, they cannot continue to think about it and must allow the situation to be justified by the rumours or everything else they see and hear.
But, it is all illusions. Illusions are dangerous and cunning. For an illusionist and manipulator, it is one of the most fatal weapons in Ares' wicked hand. He had a fair share of joy in wielding power.
On the other hand, their facial expression reveals confusion precisely about the time that the Cardinal positions their seats in front of a stage with flowers placed on both their left and right sides. It does not appear that this will be how the celebration will take place.
The sapphire eyes begin to see some doubts about these strange. Finally, however, the Cardinal takes his place in front of the stage, where people start to throw stones at him. One lands directly on his temple. The blood rushes over, but all he can do is sigh, wiping the blood using the handkerchief.
"I understand the rage directed at me for being insensitive over the recent incident at the Empire not long ago. However, this ceremony is place dear in my heart as I am honour to present to all of the people within the Angelos Empire that---" two figures begin to walk from behind, wearing dress and suit in white hats.
Sensing a potential threat to the Crown Prince and Crown Princess, the Imperial Knights begin to march in their direction. But before they could get so much as touch a hair, Eryx speaks again, "This is the Crown Princess of the Crassore Empire and her fiance, Princess Isis and Lady Leonora."
Gasps could be heard here and there as people kept their gaze on Isis. They are starting to speculate about her intention to be here. Ares' eyes narrow a bit, looking at Eryx and then Isis while smirking.
"My apologies for making a sudden appearance like this. I have notified the Cardinal that I will visit the Angelos Empire to celebrate my engagement ceremony with my dear fiance. So don't shower your wrath with Cardinal Eryx, as he doesn't even use Temple's money for this ceremony. Furthermore, I'd want to thank the people for saving me last time by offering free meats and other supplies to the Empire for leaving me with many good memories instead of terrible ones on this Holy Day," Isis lets out a sincere smile.
People in the ceremony who heard such claims are jumping in happiness since it's been a long since they haven't tasted meats and other delicacies.
The Crown Princess then turns her head to Ares, nodding at him while saying, "And I would like to apologize to Prince Ares as well for my rudeness on being here, as I like to make a surprise on you by handing you these."
The Crassore's servants go by her side, presenting the gifts to both future suns of the Angelos Empire. The raven-haired beauty then extends her hand as her fingers pick it up. The gasps from the nobles can be heard, and one of them suddenly whispers.
"Is that---"
"Thanks to Angelos Empire, I would like to present the future Empress of the Angelos Empire with the Forest Heart as gratitude for this Holy Day. May I have this honour to let you wear it, my Lady?" the emerald eyes waver a bit but soon oblige as too many eyes on her.
Forest Heart is one of the famous pieces of jewellery among women due to its unique colour, green. Green diamonds are rare enough to be found, making ladies desire at least to possess one of them in their jewellery collection. So they eye the Forest Heart with admiration as Isis begins to take a step toward the blonde woman.
"Forest Heart?"
"That is--"
"The long-lost green diamond a long time ago!"
Hera swipes her blonde hair to the side, where Isis stands behind her, slowly wrapping the necklace around Hera's neck. Then, she stands in front of her, where it really matches Hera's emerald eyes. But, rather than that, her eyes are visible more on that. Without wasting time, she goes to Ares, another gift to present to the Crown Prince.
"And for you, Prince Ares, I would like to present the Tears of Sea. It can be worn for the brooch, making your blue eyes even dazzling," the Crown Princess lets out another smile instead of a forced smile.
"Oh my, she is really kind!"
Meanwhile, the Tears of Sea is known for its deep blue colour sapphires, Prussian blue. Indeed, Isis is being generous with her gift right now. But then, her fiance, Lady Leonora, comes forward and presents the gift to him.
"We chose the gifts with the utmost care. Hopefully, Your Highness would like it," the woman said.
The Crown Prince eyes the gift; they go to lengths to foil his plan. He started to feel fire spread throughout his body, but he had to keep his facade. Besides, what keeps his blood boiling is when his shadow knights never inform or proceed with his plan. As seems they are running away to do the job. So, he pulls out the corner of his mouth, trying to force a smile as Isis did earlier.
Somehow it did give them satisfaction over the reaction.
"It is an honour to receive this from the Crassore Empire," the wavelength of his voice doesn't peak even a bit.
After that, the high priest comes to the front with a tight face, especially Frederick and Marcus. However, Eryx steals their thunder this time and regains control by strengthening his position at the Temple and among other people. They also had to do a blessing ceremony for Princess Isis and Lady Leonora's engagement on this Holy Day, as if Eryx couldn't humiliate them even more.
Hera could let out a slight relief as the event turned out to be alright. But, as she turned around, she couldn't find familiar faces; it was only her and Eryx at the place. The Duchesses and their aides aren't there. They probably went somewhere to handle things for the event to turn out well, she convinces herself, putting faith in them.
The events end with people jumping excitedly here and there on that day, except for one person, Ares, who wants to rip off their mouth from smiling at him that day. Particularly the baby Cardinal, Eryx, who dared to make such a circus show to him.
"Can you handle the weight of your action, Your Eminence?"
The day starts to dark again until it swallows almost all of the light around the sky. Duchess Medea stares in the distance from her table, reminiscing what happens during the day. Another figure, as usual, Aurora at the couch, lying down and falling asleep right after due to exhaustion. She might overexert herself at that moment to think she knocks down after she comes to Medea's room. That is after Aurora annoying the Duchess as usual.
Before Eryx reveals Isis and her fiance.
The Duchesses, along with their aide, are on high alerts, where Hector and Apollo watch people with a hawk eye for suspicious movement. Somehow, with luck, Apollo manages to identify one of the sources of Ares' tricks, where the pipelines around the ceremony take over with gasoline that almost connects directly with the stages. It could cause an explosion due to the high pressure on the ground, collapsing the floor above and swallowing the person nearby.
It is when he sees the shadow knights creep around the ceremony and signals Hector to follow them quickly.
Nevertheless, once they reach there, they are too late when they start to spark a fire. It spreads widely and almost arrives at the target place. Where Eryx stands by at that time. However, Apollo and Hector act fast when they send the warning signal to the Duchesses. In response, Natalie stops the time around her except for the other three figures. She can control the time better now and choose which one she wants to stop.
The men look at their surroundings as their eyes sparkle in admiration of the blonde's power. Medea notices this, feeling relieved with Aurora by her side to handle this matter. The Duchesses waste no time, running over to the men.
"What happens?" Aurora catches her breath. Medea is too fast to catch on. If it wasn't for her swordsmanship training with the woman, she wouldn't be able to keep up with her.
"They started a fire on the pipeline, and I smell gasoline there," Apollo points out the location.
"He plans to blow up the place, especially where Eryx stands now," Medea interrupts, where the fire is a bit visible from that perspective.
Aurora takes a deep breath, motioning her hand, wiping out the fire with her ice power. Then, she solidifies in with the ice again, moving it away deep into the ground, breaking the pipelines. Finally, however, she covers it back using the ice. The other three pairs of eyes watch her struggling to move the gasoline as the blood slowly leaves her face, leaving Aurora with a pale complexion.
Her hand trembles at the moment, but she hides it perfectly well from the other. She used too much of her ability.
"I have removed it," Aurora said in a low voice.
"Where are his dogs?" the ruby eyes turn to the men.
Lord Apollo and Marquess Hector turn their head, searching for the shadow knights. Then, they turn to their Lady, where Medea speaks, "Catch them, and bring them to the usual place."
Medea nods at the men, especially Hector, who knows exactly what she said.
"Hurry, I can't hold it much longer," Aurora warns as the men begin their work pace on seizing the men. Luckily, they were fast enough, as they heard a commotion coming from the place.
"Princess Isis has come."
The amethyst eyes continue to gaze upon the blonde woman in a soft gaze. It is almost at the end, and they are slowly regaining the upper hand against Ares, which means the real war is about to start soon.