Actually, in the years before Yeri’s appearance, all sorts of strange things happened in the Gel Empire. In order to stabilize it, the Empire announced that it would choose offerings to appease the heavens. Among ordinary offerings such as cloth, livestock, and grain, a ‘noble lady’ was included in the list. Society immediately went into an uproar, but the Imperial family was firm in their choice.
The conditions for recruiting a temple princess1 were simple—must be of noble descent and single.
How did one offer a noble as a sacrifice? The exact details were not known. However, there had been bizarre rumors that the offering would be sacrificed alive. Though the Imperial family started cracking down on the rumors, bad news traveled fast. Furthermore, the rumor had spread even further because Gel Empire was supported not only within the Empire, but they also got cooperation and support from each Kingdom.
From what Valia remembered, the applicants came out several years after the first temple princess recruitment.
But then again, no parent would want to sell their precious daughter to the temple without knowing the details. The same went even for the orphan ladies like Valia. As the money-hungry Valia in the past, there was a time when Valia wondered; considering they would be taking the life of a noble, if she went, there would be a fair amount of compensation, would there not? Carl refused her proposition sharply, however.
‘And not long after that, I was sick.‘
Although fate later passed coldly, Valia was grateful for Carl’s ‘firm opposition.’ Even though it would have cost him a lot of money to raise her, Carl never complained about anything. Valia tapped the table. The old wooden table was slowly cracking. What happened after that also came to her mind slowly.
‘After that, I’m sure…’
A young lady volunteered for the recruitment of the temple princess. She was the sole applicant despite the recruitment being made both in the Empire as well as the Kingdom. The story of a fallen noble who volunteered for the recruitment became a hot topic even in the Kingdom’s small tea time. What would happen to her? Will she really be sacrificed alive? The curiosity-grounded chatter was endless.
‘And it was a while later.’
The lady surprisingly became Marchioness Garth.
No one knew why she got married to the Marquess of the Gel Empire. Valia just heard that there was some kind of deal going on. Anyway, the lady in question had been the center of gossip in the society for some time after going from the daughter of a fallen noble to the lady of the house of the Empire’s greatest noble. Most of them were envious and jealous. The men also said that a woman should be living comfortably.
Valia did not understand their way of thinking.
They did not know how much fear and hesitation she must have felt until she volunteered as a temple princess, not even knowing what her fate would be. Valia, who once had the same concern, knew. People only talked about the lucky result without even caring about the process to get said result. It was the gossip that Valia, who entered the Imperial palace as a lady-in-waiting, heard in person. If there was anything in common with the murmurs, it was due to jealousy.
Valia just wondered how that lady felt at the time.
‘Was she as happy as if she had the whole world?’
The lady was the daughter of a fallen noble, so she would have lived in poverty like herself. Perhaps applying in the temple princess recruitment, not knowing where she might go, was her way to be anything rather than living the way she had been living back then. Then, she became Marchioness Garth, the peak of society. She was the perfect example of someone who rose from the bottom to the top.
‘I envied her because she did not have to worry about money.’
She did not covet expensive jewelry, delicate lace, or fancy dresses. One who suffered from poverty and had nothing may long for a luxurious life, but they did not crave it.
Valia just needed minimal financial security. No one knew how sad it felt when your family went through life and death, but there was no money for the treatment fee. Valia had never been as miserable as then.
‘After that, the Marchioness also became miserable…’
Her myth of rising in status that shook the Empire was only for a moment.
The very next year, the woman of the oracle, Yeri, appeared.
This mysterious woman’s action, speech, gaze, laughter, and atmosphere were all different from the conventional lady. A new charm that hit society. Many young lords admired her, and even among the ladies, she had a lot of followers. The spouse of the beautiful saintess was the first Prince of the Gel Empire.
There were many twists and turns here. The first Prince was in a strong position because he was the son of the Empress, but his throne was not firmly guaranteed. The first Prince’s opponent was the son of the concubine from a powerful family. Valia did not know the details of the story. However, she knew that it was thanks to Yeri that the first Prince defeated the other Prince and was conferred as the Crown Prince.
Anyway, Yeri became the first Prince’s fiancee. Many men who loved her gave up with tears, but some of them could not give up. Valia was in a position to get a lot of gossip. Among them were some really unexpected names.
“…Marquess Garth.”
Yes, it was Marquess Garth.
It was said that Marquess Garth was in love with Yeri. Valia did not know if that was true. However, it was unusual for the eyes of a Marchioness to be haggard and hollow.
And soon, the wedding was held. Shortly after the wedding, Yeri had the first child of the first Prince. The first Prince was elevated to the only Crown Prince of the Empire and Yeri was conferred as the Crown Princess. An incident that continued to be the subject of gossip in society occurred during the grandiose celebration of the Imperial family.
[If only I had not loved you, I would not have been in this much pain!]
Quite a few people have heard it. Only those who were not there did not know who the ‘you’ the Marchioness was referring to. Marquess Garth returned to his manor with the Marchioness, who had been shedding tears without saying a word, in his hand. Since then, the Marchioness did not show her face in society.
‘…I heard they got divorced a while later.’
Valia knew about that because society became noisy. It was rare for a high-ranking noble of the rank of a Marquess to divorce. Moreover, the aftereffect was intense due to Marchioness Garth being the main character of the gossip. As to who suggested the divorce first, opinions were divided, and it was not well known. However, rumors pertaining that it was Marquess Garth who suggested a divorce first were far more likely.
The tragic romance that was twisted like a love triangle had a very unhappy ending.
It was said that Yeri, the woman of the oracle, was chosen by God. Later, she was also called a saintess. She was a person of the highest rank that was equated with the Imperial family and was always surrounded by many people. The woman chosen by God and the woman who was chosen to be God’s offering—it was a terrifyingly stark contrast.
The nobles sneered at the former Marchioness.
From the fallen noble of a small Kingdom, she became the lady of the house of Garth. People said she should just be grateful that she got to raise her status. She was ridiculed for not knowing her place. But Valia could not agree with their jeer. Isn’t it enough of a tragedy for a wife to suffer because of the love she had for her husband? Marchioness Garth was unhappy because she was in love with the Marquess. And according to the Marchioness, Marquess Garth would have been unhappy as well.
Because he loved the Crown Princess. He would never have her.
The same thing would happen again. The Marchioness would love her husband and Marquess Garth would love Yeri. Such a foretold tragedy prevailed in this world.
“That was so sad.”
Valia did not sympathize well with those who shed tears at a love story. Her life was already akin to a sheet of thin ice with each step she took.
The situation in the Imperial Palace changed rapidly. Numerous ladies-in-waiting were taken away overnight for offending their master’s feelings. And most of them were those in a situation similar to Valia where they did not have a reliable backup.
For Valia, the issue of survival was urgent. She had no time to even take care of luxury feelings.
‘…She may have been different.’
Yeri. the woman of the oracle. Saintess. The lover of the first Prince. Crown Princess. She was loved by God. She was loved by everyone, so it must have been the same for Marquess Garth too. If the rumors in the society were not wrong.
‘Even though everyone ended up unhappy…’
All the love that Valia had seen was like that. People suffered from pain that seemed to tear their hearts out, but in the end, they ended up with regret. Was that the reason? Valia had strange confidence. She was confident that she would never fall in love. As she thought about it, Valia let out a deep sigh.
‘So what if I’m confident?’
Valia had only seen him a few times in her past. The first place where she saw Marquess Garth was the Imperial Banquet Hall. The Imperial family held a huge celebration to commemorate the woman of the oracle coming down to the Empire. Marquess Garth, who participated with the Marchioness, was a handsome man with a beautiful appearance with looks that even cooled the eyes of the tired Valia.
“Yeah, so what if he’s handsome?”
Valia murmured while leaning against the wall. In her hand was a letter with the seal of the Imperial family. It was a letter with a subtle fragrance that was too luxurious for a fallen noble.
“The selection of the temple princess…”
It was one day when Valia turned 18. And it was the beginning of her story.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
It was as she remembered.
Valia looked through the letter and thought so. She did not remember the contents of the letter exactly, but it was not much different from what was written now. This letter of the temple princess selection did not go to all the nobles at once. The Imperial family sent the letter after dividing the Kingdoms in the continent into several districts. The Kingdom where Valia lived was ranked first among them. She had no idea what the standards were. Valia just thought it was random.
‘No one in this Kingdom applied.’
Even Carl was dead set against it. Who would even let their daughter apply to such an unidentified temple princess recruitment? Moreover, people did not even call it temple princess recruitment. They just called it ‘offering selection’. The horror that the word gave was never taken lightly.
Valia turned over the letter she was holding several times. Even though she already knew about the future, she was still troubled as well.
“I won’t really be a living sacrifice, right…”
She mumbled like that even though she already knew about it. Everyone felt uneasy when something big was ahead. Because of that, Valia did housework with a blank face all day.
“Valia, I told you not to cook.”
Valia came to her senses only after hearing Carl’s criticism. At the dinner table, Carl stirred his stew with a sour expression. Valia asked awkwardly.
“Is it bad?”
“As always.”
There was no hesitation in Carl’s answer. That was because Valia was really bad at cooking. Today, she made a hard decision and even added cream and butter. But the taste of the stew was very mysterious. She chopped the potatoes, carrots, and onions, and the seasoning also seemed to be right. But where did it go wrong?
‘Why am I so bad at cooking?’
Valia sighed. She also had a normal sense of taste. When she tasted it while it was boiling, it certainly tasted good enough to eat. However, when she brought it to the table and tasted it, it started to get a mysterious taste. Valia had even suspected that she had been cursed this way in the past.
Anyway, today’s dish was up to Carl too. The bread served together was the only dish that Valia did not fail. The salad that was served with it had no problem with the taste as it only consisted of trimmed vegetables. Although the shape of the vegetables was crooked, it was not flawed in a way that made them inedible.
Having mastered several recipes while bringing up Valia, Carl quickly cooked the stew. It was 200 times more delicious than Valia’s dish. Valia took a bite of the stew. She opened her mouth after pondering about something.
Actually, in the years before Yeri’s appearance, all sorts of strange things happened in the Gel Empire. In order to stabilize it, the Empire announced that it would choose offerings to appease the heavens. Among ordinary offerings such as cloth, livestock, and grain, a ‘noble lady’ was included in the list. Society immediately went into an uproar, but the Imperial family was firm in their choice.
The conditions for recruiting a temple princess1 were simple—must be of noble descent and single.
How did one offer a noble as a sacrifice? The exact details were not known. However, there had been bizarre rumors that the offering would be sacrificed alive. Though the Imperial family started cracking down on the rumors, bad news traveled fast. Furthermore, the rumor had spread even further because Gel Empire was supported not only within the Empire, but they also got cooperation and support from each Kingdom.
From what Valia remembered, the applicants came out several years after the first temple princess recruitment.
But then again, no parent would want to sell their precious daughter to the temple without knowing the details. The same went even for the orphan ladies like Valia. As the money-hungry Valia in the past, there was a time when Valia wondered; considering they would be taking the life of a noble, if she went, there would be a fair amount of compensation, would there not? Carl refused her proposition sharply, however.
‘And not long after that, I was sick.‘
Although fate later passed coldly, Valia was grateful for Carl’s ‘firm opposition.’ Even though it would have cost him a lot of money to raise her, Carl never complained about anything. Valia tapped the table. The old wooden table was slowly cracking. What happened after that also came to her mind slowly.
‘After that, I’m sure…’
A young lady volunteered for the recruitment of the temple princess. She was the sole applicant despite the recruitment being made both in the Empire as well as the Kingdom. The story of a fallen noble who volunteered for the recruitment became a hot topic even in the Kingdom’s small tea time. What would happen to her? Will she really be sacrificed alive? The curiosity-grounded chatter was endless.
‘And it was a while later.’
The lady surprisingly became Marchioness Garth.
No one knew why she got married to the Marquess of the Gel Empire. Valia just heard that there was some kind of deal going on. Anyway, the lady in question had been the center of gossip in the society for some time after going from the daughter of a fallen noble to the lady of the house of the Empire’s greatest noble. Most of them were envious and jealous. The men also said that a woman should be living comfortably.
Valia did not understand their way of thinking.
They did not know how much fear and hesitation she must have felt until she volunteered as a temple princess, not even knowing what her fate would be. Valia, who once had the same concern, knew. People only talked about the lucky result without even caring about the process to get said result. It was the gossip that Valia, who entered the Imperial palace as a lady-in-waiting, heard in person. If there was anything in common with the murmurs, it was due to jealousy.
Valia just wondered how that lady felt at the time.
‘Was she as happy as if she had the whole world?’
The lady was the daughter of a fallen noble, so she would have lived in poverty like herself. Perhaps applying in the temple princess recruitment, not knowing where she might go, was her way to be anything rather than living the way she had been living back then. Then, she became Marchioness Garth, the peak of society. She was the perfect example of someone who rose from the bottom to the top.
‘I envied her because she did not have to worry about money.’
She did not covet expensive jewelry, delicate lace, or fancy dresses. One who suffered from poverty and had nothing may long for a luxurious life, but they did not crave it.
Valia just needed minimal financial security. No one knew how sad it felt when your family went through life and death, but there was no money for the treatment fee. Valia had never been as miserable as then.
‘After that, the Marchioness also became miserable…’
Her myth of rising in status that shook the Empire was only for a moment.
The very next year, the woman of the oracle, Yeri, appeared.
This mysterious woman’s action, speech, gaze, laughter, and atmosphere were all different from the conventional lady. A new charm that hit society. Many young lords admired her, and even among the ladies, she had a lot of followers. The spouse of the beautiful saintess was the first Prince of the Gel Empire.
There were many twists and turns here. The first Prince was in a strong position because he was the son of the Empress, but his throne was not firmly guaranteed. The first Prince’s opponent was the son of the concubine from a powerful family. Valia did not know the details of the story. However, she knew that it was thanks to Yeri that the first Prince defeated the other Prince and was conferred as the Crown Prince.
Anyway, Yeri became the first Prince’s fiancee. Many men who loved her gave up with tears, but some of them could not give up. Valia was in a position to get a lot of gossip. Among them were some really unexpected names.
“…Marquess Garth.”
Yes, it was Marquess Garth.
It was said that Marquess Garth was in love with Yeri. Valia did not know if that was true. However, it was unusual for the eyes of a Marchioness to be haggard and hollow.
And soon, the wedding was held. Shortly after the wedding, Yeri had the first child of the first Prince. The first Prince was elevated to the only Crown Prince of the Empire and Yeri was conferred as the Crown Princess. An incident that continued to be the subject of gossip in society occurred during the grandiose celebration of the Imperial family.
[If only I had not loved you, I would not have been in this much pain!]
Quite a few people have heard it. Only those who were not there did not know who the ‘you’ the Marchioness was referring to. Marquess Garth returned to his manor with the Marchioness, who had been shedding tears without saying a word, in his hand. Since then, the Marchioness did not show her face in society.
‘…I heard they got divorced a while later.’
Valia knew about that because society became noisy. It was rare for a high-ranking noble of the rank of a Marquess to divorce. Moreover, the aftereffect was intense due to Marchioness Garth being the main character of the gossip. As to who suggested the divorce first, opinions were divided, and it was not well known. However, rumors pertaining that it was Marquess Garth who suggested a divorce first were far more likely.
The tragic romance that was twisted like a love triangle had a very unhappy ending.
It was said that Yeri, the woman of the oracle, was chosen by God. Later, she was also called a saintess. She was a person of the highest rank that was equated with the Imperial family and was always surrounded by many people. The woman chosen by God and the woman who was chosen to be God’s offering—it was a terrifyingly stark contrast.
The nobles sneered at the former Marchioness.
From the fallen noble of a small Kingdom, she became the lady of the house of Garth. People said she should just be grateful that she got to raise her status. She was ridiculed for not knowing her place. But Valia could not agree with their jeer. Isn’t it enough of a tragedy for a wife to suffer because of the love she had for her husband? Marchioness Garth was unhappy because she was in love with the Marquess. And according to the Marchioness, Marquess Garth would have been unhappy as well.
Because he loved the Crown Princess. He would never have her.
The same thing would happen again. The Marchioness would love her husband and Marquess Garth would love Yeri. Such a foretold tragedy prevailed in this world.
“That was so sad.”
Valia did not sympathize well with those who shed tears at a love story. Her life was already akin to a sheet of thin ice with each step she took.
The situation in the Imperial Palace changed rapidly. Numerous ladies-in-waiting were taken away overnight for offending their master’s feelings. And most of them were those in a situation similar to Valia where they did not have a reliable backup.
For Valia, the issue of survival was urgent. She had no time to even take care of luxury feelings.
‘…She may have been different.’
Yeri. the woman of the oracle. Saintess. The lover of the first Prince. Crown Princess. She was loved by God. She was loved by everyone, so it must have been the same for Marquess Garth too. If the rumors in the society were not wrong.
‘Even though everyone ended up unhappy…’
All the love that Valia had seen was like that. People suffered from pain that seemed to tear their hearts out, but in the end, they ended up with regret. Was that the reason? Valia had strange confidence. She was confident that she would never fall in love. As she thought about it, Valia let out a deep sigh.
‘So what if I’m confident?’
Valia had only seen him a few times in her past. The first place where she saw Marquess Garth was the Imperial Banquet Hall. The Imperial family held a huge celebration to commemorate the woman of the oracle coming down to the Empire. Marquess Garth, who participated with the Marchioness, was a handsome man with a beautiful appearance with looks that even cooled the eyes of the tired Valia.
“Yeah, so what if he’s handsome?”
Valia murmured while leaning against the wall. In her hand was a letter with the seal of the Imperial family. It was a letter with a subtle fragrance that was too luxurious for a fallen noble.
“The selection of the temple princess…”
It was one day when Valia turned 18. And it was the beginning of her story.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
It was as she remembered.
Valia looked through the letter and thought so. She did not remember the contents of the letter exactly, but it was not much different from what was written now. This letter of the temple princess selection did not go to all the nobles at once. The Imperial family sent the letter after dividing the Kingdoms in the continent into several districts. The Kingdom where Valia lived was ranked first among them. She had no idea what the standards were. Valia just thought it was random.
‘No one in this Kingdom applied.’
Even Carl was dead set against it. Who would even let their daughter apply to such an unidentified temple princess recruitment? Moreover, people did not even call it temple princess recruitment. They just called it ‘offering selection’. The horror that the word gave was never taken lightly.
Valia turned over the letter she was holding several times. Even though she already knew about the future, she was still troubled as well.
“I won’t really be a living sacrifice, right…”
She mumbled like that even though she already knew about it. Everyone felt uneasy when something big was ahead. Because of that, Valia did housework with a blank face all day.
“Valia, I told you not to cook.”
Valia came to her senses only after hearing Carl’s criticism. At the dinner table, Carl stirred his stew with a sour expression. Valia asked awkwardly.
“Is it bad?”
“As always.”
There was no hesitation in Carl’s answer. That was because Valia was really bad at cooking. Today, she made a hard decision and even added cream and butter. But the taste of the stew was very mysterious. She chopped the potatoes, carrots, and onions, and the seasoning also seemed to be right. But where did it go wrong?
‘Why am I so bad at cooking?’
Valia sighed. She also had a normal sense of taste. When she tasted it while it was boiling, it certainly tasted good enough to eat. However, when she brought it to the table and tasted it, it started to get a mysterious taste. Valia had even suspected that she had been cursed this way in the past.
Anyway, today’s dish was up to Carl too. The bread served together was the only dish that Valia did not fail. The salad that was served with it had no problem with the taste as it only consisted of trimmed vegetables. Although the shape of the vegetables was crooked, it was not flawed in a way that made them inedible.
Having mastered several recipes while bringing up Valia, Carl quickly cooked the stew. It was 200 times more delicious than Valia’s dish. Valia took a bite of the stew. She opened her mouth after pondering about something.
