Secrets of the Villainous Empress

Chapter Nine: The Fallen Temple Of Shea

Oh, that’s right, I never told him that I play roles or that my life is not my own. I only mentioned that I retained memories of my past lives, and while sometimes I am born again, I mostly inherit a dying persons wish as I had done with his brother in law’s body. I told him this to prevent further questions as he was stubborn.

Truthfully he was the only ‘family’ that I told, at least in the sense of mortality. Tea was a dragon, and Sofia a witch, so the entire theme of gods and demons was not as sensitive as it was to humans.

To humans, gods are good and powerful, so they need to be worshipped. Demons are evil and powerful, so they need to be feared, but to non-humans, both are just powerful well-meaning d***s.

Hends grew up in List, a region ravaged by beasts and non-sentient demons. As much as they were suitable for ninja practice, they made a lasting impression on him. As he did not like examining the belief that all demons were evil, I chose to respect his view and not mention the gods and their ‘goodness’.

“So, would you rather I let the girl die?”

“Yes.” He answered with no hesitation.

“Hmm? If it’s a cover-up, then wouldn’t my family as Mariette be compensated?”

“Well, yes, but-“

“I am not opposed to dying, and my former family might be richer now, so what is the problem?”

“What are you talking about!! That has nothing to do with the pain of losing a loved one!”

“Are you opposed to the concept of death or the fact that I have no qualm with dying?”

“Simon!”

Simon was my name in the life I led as his brother.

“Henderson, look at me.” I said, forcing his gaze away from the light brown glass coffee table to mine, “Death is natural. If you have a problem with it, take it up with the gods, not me. If the problem is directed to the fact that I moved on easily, how many lifetimes do you think I have been alive?”

“If I grieved for every single one of them, then I'd never get out of bed. Sometimes, it is best to let things go. That way, you still have space in your heart for more joyous things to come. I am sorry if that is not the answer you seek from me.”

His expression morphed to frustration. What he directed it at, I have no idea.

“Should I kill them, the children who took your life?”

I flicked my finger between his eyes, and he yelped.

The issue was not the children. I mean, yes, they were infuriating, but they were raised in an environment that allowed them to be so, an environment that allowed them to get away with it.

Instead of ‘uncover the bullying in the school’ or ‘revolutionise the school’, my quest was ‘protect the next minister of education.’, why? Because she was the one meant to deal with the bullying.

 So, what about the other children and me?

Our roles were to watch the ‘becoming’ of Peris as raw material for her desire.

“Are you stupid?” I frowned at his suggestion. “I will handle it later; for now, hand over the scripts.”

Henderson sighed then handed the papers to me.

“I will be back for payment after this fiasco is wrapped up,” He proclaimed, then stood and walked past me to the window, “Until then, stay safe, bro-bro.”

I rolled my eyes.

I should tell him that I cannot die until my time is up. That will make him re-establish his next line of intrusive questions.

Hmm, still, it might be beneficial, but that means we have to touch on the matter of roles…

I should think about that later. I sighed then stared down at the parchments.

“Now then.”

I walked towards the walk-in closet to select an outfit, but…they were too many, and all of them looked as though they needed an extra helping hand to wear.

-System, how long till you go offline?-

                                                       {4 hours 56 minutes remaining}

It will take roughly two hours to get to the temple, which leaves less than an hour to commune with the gods and then two hours to get back.

-System, is it possible to lock this room while I am away and record all movements?-

              {It is possible, however, once the system goes offline, all data and effects used will be lost}

Hmm…dressing up may take way too long.

“Set a timer for me. I will be back before you go offline,” I said, then tore apart one of the blue scripts and the instant that the parchment parted from each other, the warm afternoon breeze wrapped itself around my body.

From the cliff that I stood atop with my fuzzy pink flip-flops, I could spot the capital of Mayflower.

The scent of sunshine and the sound of the tall grass rustling against the wind soothed me in the way that only the great outdoors could. I bet that even Azalea would have been healed with just this view…but then again, she was allergic to poison.

I smiled.

                                   {The host has 2 hours 54 minutes left until the System goes offline}

“Oh, right.”

I should have brought a scarf and some coin.

Once the system goes off, I will need to start eating.

-Haah…being alive is work.-

I turned away from the view of the bustling capital and turned to the half-destroyed temple next to abandoned rail tracks.

The temple of shea was destroyed during the first war, and though there were protests on having it rebuilt, before the plans were put into action by the royal family, the scandal of the Saintess and the two brothers broke out.

During my last life, the temple officials began movements to restore the building, but this plan was halted because there was another temple nearby in the thriving capital.

The discussion ended in a stalemate. As a result, Baron Christoff, a railway tycoon, wished to expand his regions, but this also led to more protests and well, I stopped listening to the discussions after that. Either way, at the moment, I felt nothing but gratitude for their lack of co-operations because I can visit with the gods in secrecy.

A collapsed column blocked the temple’s entrance, and contrary to my flip-flop idea, the floor was covered in either the crumbs of fallen rocks or weeds growing in the cracks of the stone floor. There were pieces of stained glass, often placed at the front of the temple to permit light to form a coloured halo around the beautiful temple statues of whichever god the institution favoured, scattered around the floor. Even though I ducked down to squeeze my way through the tiny crevices, the space was still tight, and the sound of my garment tearing was not a pleasant one.

Fuck I hope there isn’t a rat around…or a snake!

I didn’t necessarily fear that they would bite me. I just don’t like them, especially when I am ill-equipped for a fight, like now.

A light pierced the dim space that I had entered, and I followed it to an altar that was before a statue of a woman praying, at least that was what the figure was supposed to depict, but time had not been kind to it. The woman missed a few chips of stone in her core while her head was nearly off her shoulders.

My hair was nearly dry from the outside breeze, unfortunately not dry enough to not collect the crumbled dirt on the floor as I knelt, causing the black locks to turn silverish at their ends.

I should have kept my hair tied.

I closed my eyes, then took a deep breath, and the sound of pages turning filled my ears.

“Basilica, child. You are here once again.”