"May the Goddess Kartara bless you, Pope," Felicia said as it was the Pope who spoke directly at her. He was staring weirdly at her since earlier and she couldn't help but feel weird and confused. Why would the pope stare at her?
"May the Goddess give you light on your path, little one. I am assuming that you held a significant amount of curiosity about the Goddess. I seem to notice that you're someone new in the palace of the Goddess. Are you related to the Duke and the Duchess of Del Montague?" The pope asked, flashing a beam on his face.
"Forgive me for not introducing myself, Your Holiness. I am the eldest daughter of Duke Roelle David Del Montague and Felicia Vivianne Del Montague. It is an honour to meet you, your Eminence." Felicia greeted as she bowed her head down, curtsied to show her respect towards the Pope.
"Please, in this humble abode of the Goddess, let's not do that at all." The pope said as he held Felicia by the hand and made her stand up, still smiling at her Rachelle couldn't help but think of there's something on her face that she couldn't see.
As Rachelle stares into the Pope's face, the Pope in front of her is not the typical pope he's old and looks fragile compared to others. He's quite young, energetic, special, and handsome.
He doesn't even look like he's ageing at all.
"Is there anything that you would like to ask me? You see, I'm so invested in you that I've caught you staring around, letting your eyes wander even though someone is preaching in front." The pope suddenly said, opening a conversation once again.
"Pardon?" She asked to which the Pope only replied with a chuckle, It seemed like he had woken her up from gawking her eyes into him.
"No, I didn't mean to sound like I am mad that you are not listening at all. Rather, I am glad to see you attentively speculating on every statue inside. In my eyes, you held great admiration and curiosity that you should explore." The pope stated, looking at the Goddess Kartara.
Felicia moves her body, looking at the statue in front of her. "Yes... I do feel like some sort of getting into this vortex as I stare at the statue for too long. It makes me feel like it's absorbing me into an unknown force that I couldn't figure out. There really is something with me." She suddenly said, letting out her frustrations in front of the pope.
The pope stopped and stared at her, his eyes glowed dark while he kept smiling innocently towards Felicia who was fixated upon the statue of the Goddess. His hand uncontrollably reached for her head when all of a sudden, Felicia faced him, enough for the Pope to realize what he was doing.
He then immediately placed his hand on the strand of her hair, tucking it back to her ear and chuckled, trying to avoid any suspicions as he unconsciously reached for her.
"That's because of the great and deep bond the two of you share. You know, everyone is connected to the Goddess, if you decide to turn away from her, she will let you experience how hard it is to live without her. So people in this country have a strong fate over the goddess as she kept us, protecting our country from our enemies." The pope said and retracted his hand away from her face.
Felicia who was surprised because of what he did, nodded her head slowly as if something wasn't written earlier. She felt like she was getting touched and as soon as she turned her head, the Pope sure was about to choke her.
"Right... must be because of my deep bond with her even though it's the first time that I and the Goddess had actually met," Felicia said, smiling at the pope while Pope's face went dark all of a sudden but suddenly changed into an interesting expression.
"Be sure to keep no evil in your heart so that the Goddess will love you forever." The pope said. "Well then, I hope you learned a lot in today's speech. I expect that the young lady will explore your curiosity." The pope added as he tilted his head, paying respect to Felicia before leaving her in front of the altar, positioned exactly in front of the goddess.
Rachelle felt very chill as the Pope soon left her in front of the altar. Everyone still was busy talking about their powers together but one pair of eyes caught her attention. It was looking at her with a scornful look through its veil, glaring at her for something that she didn't know why this girl was mad at her.
It was Helena surrounded by men and women, trying to earn her favour as she is known as the Duke's spoiled daughter and the beloved Saintess of the country. Well, it seems so dumb to me that everyone wants to curry her favour.
She smirked upon seeing how Helena wasn't backing down with her scornful stare at it making her skin sting. Since Helena wasn't doing anything, she just left instead and focused on looking for something else.
The sword that the Noctua was talking about. The Goddess Kartara's sword.
Although she personally doesn't know where to find the sword, but a good thing she saw someone familiar who made her smile. It was the young Marquis Liam with his family talking to another noble family.
She was about to step in his direction when she was stopped by a hand forcing her to stay at her side. This made her feel very annoyed, so she turned her body and glared at the person who stopped her from getting any information.
But it was just Alexander, stopping her from moving when he saw her walking right into where Liam was. "What's the matter, brother?" Rachelle stops herself from rolling her eyes in annoyance.
She does want to slap him hard and beat him to a pulp but she cannot do that knowing that he's useful for her plans.
Alexander looked at her with confusion as it was clear on his face. It's as if his face is confused as to why she is walking directly to the Marquis' family even though they were there waiting for them.
"Where do you think you're going?" Alexander asked while looking at Felicia straight into his eyes. Rachelle felt like he was somehow acting like a good old brother of hers, getting strict and annoying even though she still can't forget how much of a damn man he is.
"I was about to greet the Marquis since he is my dear friend," Felicia replied to him, trying to pull her hand but it was such a tight grip that she couldn't pull her hand out from his grasp.
"Felicia, you are soon to be married to the Prince. Reconsider that you cannot meet any other man. You don't want the Dukedom to become a laughing stock, right?" He asked with his eyebrow raised.
Rachelle frowned at his words, What's the deal when meeting your friend and he's acting like this?
"Brother, the Marquis is your friend and my friend, why are you putting me on hold to meet my friend?" She asked, couldn't help but show how she didn't like how he stopped her from meeting Liam.
It's taking up too much time and she might not be able to reach that place soon! She sighed, wanting to escape from him as it seemed that his disease was acting up again. What a weird illness to have, trying to stop her from meeting Liam.
"I-I just want your reputation to be safe," Alexander said, stuttering as he was surprised to see her frustrations, visible in her face.
"Well then, I swear to my honour that I will never bring the name of Del Montague in shame as well as put our reputation at risk." She said, successfully pulling out her arm as his grip was loosened.
"Is there something wrong?" Someone asked, making Felicia turn her head and smile at the figure behind her. It was the person they were talking about, the young Marquis Liam.
"We met again, lady Felicia. It seems that you are together with your brother, Felix." Liam said, bowing his head in respect towards Alexander while he softly pulled out Felicia's hand and kissed the back of it, making Felicia feel like something weird was going on.
After his kiss to show his respect towards Felicia, Felicia then curtsied to respond to his actions. "Both of you look like you're arguing something. I hope you're not bullying her again, Alexander." He said, looking at Alexander with a smile on his face.
But in Alexander's eyes, it seems like he's mocking her because of their past exchanges wherein Liam personally saw how Alexander treated Felicia first and protected Helena right in front of his eyes even though Felicia didn't even do anything.
"What? What do you mean?! Of course, I'm not! You know what? Alright! Talk to him, I don't care at all!" Alexander exclaimed, aggrieved as it seemed like he was triggered by Liam's response, leaving the two of them immediately with his head stomping on the ground.
Seeing how he walks away like the mad quack that he is, Felicia lets out a laugh, shaking her head in disbelief to see that the man left just because of Liam's remarks towards him. Truly a pathetic person to belittle.