"We can't be engaged!" Olivia exclaimed. "I'm going to the convent!"
"You want to be punished for something you didn't do that badly?" He asked annoyed that she would rather go to the Southern Convent than to marry him.
"Punished?" She asked, confused. "Do I look stupid to you? Why would I want to be punished? I'm just joining a convent."
He looked at her stunned. Did she not know what kind of place that was?
Of course she didn't. As bad of a life as she had led, she was still a sheltered young lady. She wouldn't know a thing about what happened in the world outside of her mansion, Balls, and tea parties.
He was very upset with the Marquis at this moment. When she had made such a decision and told him about it, did he not think to protect her at all? Or at least inform her? Let her know what she was walking into. Once the convent had her in its clutches she was never getting out again until they broke her and made her one of them! What's more the marquis wasn't aware of the fact that he and Olivia hadn't actually been together intimately. So for all the Marquis knew, Olivia could be pregnant! Was the Marquis trying to kill his child!?
Adarian sighed. "You were just going to go there without knowing anything?" He asked her. He knew she wanted to escape her home, but escaping to a place like that was worse than just staying with the Marquis for the rest of her life. At least with the Marquis basic human necessities would be met.
Olivia cocked her head, "What do you mean?" It was just a convent with nuns right?
"Do you not even know which god they serve at the Southern Convent?" He asked her, trying not to get angry at her ignorance.
Olivia was stunned. She had taken for granted she wasn't on earth anymore. She was familiar with the gods worshiped on Earth. The novel didn't really mention religion. How had the Novel missed so much? The only god she remembered being mentioned was the god of Love, during Graciella's wedding in the novel, they had to say their vows to the God of love. She had heard the maids talking about the god of contracts, or something like that. The Officiator's worshiped that god, and considered the building they worked in a church. There were more gods? She shook her head, indicating that she didn't know.
"They worship Ultor, the god of punishment." He said. Olivia reacted with more confusion, she bit her lip seeming anxious for not knowing. He would have to teach her not to do that later.
He remembered the taste of her lips from the ball. That move was too seductive.
"You haven't heard of the god of punishment?" he asked her incredulously.
She shook her head again.
He knew a good many nanny's among the nobility threatened to feed the kids to Ultor if they didn't behave. Graciella would sometimes shudder at the mention of Ultor's name back when he had married her. How did Olivia not know who Ultor was? This was really weird.
"-I," Olivia realized the time had come. She was exposed as a fraud. 'Damn pop-culture! Of course she didn't know who that was! It wasn't mentioned in the novel!' "I -I hit -I hit my head."
"You stutter when you lie," he observed aloud.
"I do not!" She really believed herself.
He smiled. "I think I'm going to like being married to you."
"Wait," Olivia started. "About that... Can we still annul that? …I can go to a different convent and-"
"Not possible," he narrowed his eyes at her. "We're already married."
Olivia's mind went blank. '404 marriage not found' "No we aren't!" Come, he said. I'll show you. He grabbed her hand to lead her, she pulled back.
So she wouldn't trust him that easily... Of course she wouldn't. "I'm worried you'll run off if I don't hold on to you," he explained.
"I won't," she replied.
"I know," he said, "because I'll be holding your hand."
" ...Unless you want to stay in this room with me?" He added suggestively.
She grabbed his hand.
He took the pitcher, and the glass they had used and led her out of the room and down a few hallways. "This is the treasure room," he explained as they finally reached a set of double doors. He unlocked it, and gestured for her to enter first.
She entered and saw a museum inside. There were things in glass cases, paintings in the walls, and everything was clean. It was organized so nicely. He closed the door behind them. Olivia could hear it latch. "Are we locked in?" She asked, panicking a bit.
Instead of answering her he got her hand again and pushed on the door with her hand. It opened immediately. "It only locks from the outside," he said. He kept her hand and walked with her to the back. The lights got dimmer as they walked. So she had to hold on to him after a while.
She watched everything wondering what the history of this place was really like. The difference between a novel and the world the novel came from was astounding. Especially if you only got one or two perspectives of the world.
He finally led her to a dark corner and opened a door. It led down a dark staircase. Olivia's anxiety kicked into overdrive immediately. Her chest felt tight, she was trying to breathe under water. Her mind stopped working and her only instinct was to get away from there. She pulled back hard, almost knocking over a glass case. 'The basement!'
He saw her panic. It looked like the panic he had seen after a soldier had been in battle too many times. They called it Soldier's heart sickness. He pulled her away from the dark doorway and said "Hey," he spoke so gently. "Hey, it's ok. I promise there's only one thing down there, and it can't hurt you. It's the proof you wanted."
Her eyes were still wide, she was looking around.
She was muttering. "...Glass cases, a crown, this hand, my clothes, the wall..." she reached out and touched the wall. What was this nonsense list she was saying?
He let her continue until she had calmed down. "Ok," she said, still a little breathless from her panicking. "I'm ok now."
"Do you want to wait? We don't have to go down," he said. The proof wasn't going to disappear and even though he forced this marriage on her he wouldn't force anything else on her.
"No," she smiled bravely, "I was just caught off guard. It's fine now. The proofs down there right?" She began to walk to the doorway and had already taken a step down, she looked back to see him standing there astonished.
"Coming?" She asked him.
He woke from his stupor. "Yes," he said amazed, she recovered so quickly. He quickly followed her down.
…
…
There were not a lot of steps, but the steps were dark, so Olivia had taken it slow. He still held the pitcher and glass in one hand, and had taken her hand again with his other hand, ready to hold on to her if she suffered from Soldiers Heart Sickness' again.
Once they had reached the bottom, there was a narrow corridor with an unnatural light shining up ahead. Adarian stepped in front of her, and led the rest of the way. The light was shining from inside a glass case up ahead at the end of the corridor. He placed the pitcher under a glass case next to the glowing case. To the side, she could see glasses of various shapes and sizes lining the shelves on the wall. He placed their glass on a shelf next to the others. Then he went to the glowing glass case.
"Here," he said to her, "Is the proof." Then he went on to explain. "Royalty has a contract with the god of love, Volim. In this contract, royalty must exchange a nuptial cup, using the pitcher that Volim used to pour out the waters of the world, creating the oceans, rivers, and streams. The wife must first pour for the husband," He pointed to her when he said wife, and to himself when he said husband. "Then in the same glass, the husband pours for the wife. After this, the couple's names appear in a copy of the book of love containing only the royal lineage of this country.
They appear side by side, indicating that they are equal in the eyes of the Volim. They are married forever. There will be no divorce, and even after death, the marriage will not end." When he mentioned the book, he touched the case, the glow died down a bit, but did not stop. The pitcher had also started to glow. He took out the book, opened it, and showed her their names.
[Adarian Caliban], and next to his name [Olivia Carter (Praxis)]