Chapter 101 – Praise the Queen[2]

There was no choice to be made.

Not even five seconds after Cassius’s words echoed around the room, Sarah was already nodding furiously.

"I-I accept!" She stammered, getting to her feet and taking the Death Contract from his hand.

She swallowed hard, wondering how Cassius had come to possess a Death Contract. It was no simple thing to have.

These contracts were exclusive to the Church of Death — unable to be created or activated by anyone else without their permission — and would deliver the most terrible punishment imaginable.

Contrary to what the name implied, failing to uphold the terms would not kill you. That would be easy, as the servants of Vorn loved to say. It was your very soul that would be taken hostage, then surrendered to the one you had betrayed.

In that case, that being would literally own everything of you. You would breathe only when he told you to breathe, laugh when he told you to laugh, relieve yourself only when he permitted it.

And as the crowning touch, he could kill you at any moment depending on his mood.

The Church of Death would not help you either, for you had broken the contract of your own volition.

There was no salvation.

That was why people never accepted Death Contracts. Never.

Except when the choice was never truly theirs.

Knowing all of this, Sarah sighed inwardly. She briefly entertained the possibility that Cassius had received such a thing from the High Priestess herself. But then the question of why would surface and she would have no answer.

In the end, she simply accepted the situation and nervously read through the contract’s terms.

There were many, but the most critical ones were these: she could not reveal the existence of the Sect under any circumstances; loyalty to the Sect and its members was paramount, and betrayal in any form would be met with no mercy; and contributions to the Sect’s advancement were expected from her in whatever shape possible.

Her blue eyes stayed fixed on it for a couple of minutes. Then, with a determined expression, she bit her finger hard enough for blood to trickle out and let it fall onto the black parchment.

It glowed with a bloody, murky dark light before transforming into a cloud of crimson-black flies that split into two and flew toward both Cassius and Sarah.

Each of them gasped, feeling a shift — an addition — inside themselves.

Without pause, Sarah swore the Oath next, officially making her the second member of the Fallen Angel.

"Perfect." Cassius said, nodding with satisfaction. "Welcome among us, Sarah."

"Uh... thanks?" She said carefully, not quite sure what kind of mess she had gotten herself into. "Is this... is this truly real?"

"Do I look like someone who jokes about matters like this?" He retorted. "Of course it is serious. And on that note, there is one more thing I want you to know."

"Yes, sir?"

"Our Sect does not worship Vorn, Lord of Death." He said with great seriousness, leaning forward slightly. "Our Sect worships Lady Ananke — the Queen of Fate, Owner of the Gate of Fate and Secrecy. She is my goddess, and I am her Blessed."

Ananke, watching from her Gate, smiled faintly at the scene. She shook her head, embarrassed yet quietly happy at her Blessed’s care.

Even if it was his duty.

"A Blessed?" Sarah said with a hint of surprise, not expecting that, yet not particularly shaken by it either.

With everything she had seen and felt from Cassius in the last few minutes, him being a Blessed was the least surprising revelation.

"Lady... Ananke?" Sarah echoed, brows furrowing. "I have never heard of her."

"You will from now on." Cassius replied. "I am not asking you to change your beliefs overnight. But you will receive considerably more benefits as her believer. And if you work hard by showing faith, usefulness and loyalty..."

He smiled, looking like a priest preaching in honour of his goddess.

"...you might even be granted a {Seat}. I trust you know how rare that is."

Sarah became instantly excited. The prospect of gaining a literal Seat within a faith was something she had never once believed she could achieve.

Yet the opportunity was here. It might be an unknown and unfamous faith and goddess, but with Cassius as its Blessed...

’...it is worth it. And in the future, perhaps even more worth it. A faith can grow in size and magnitude. Yes, I must use this advantage to its fullest.’

It was not even a real problem. While Vorn was the state faith of the Badur Kingdom, not everyone worshipped him.

Some worshipped gods they felt more naturally drawn to. They were scarce, but they existed.

And most who did worship Vorn did so not out of genuine personal choice, but simply because the whole kingdom did. There was no true attachment to the worship or to the god himself. Sarah was the same.

So it was no wonder she nodded easily, agreeing to change her faith, and became a believer of the Queen.

The moment she accepted with genuine intent, the symbol of Ananke appeared above Cassius’s head like a halo — a silver wheel made of an uncountable number of coiling threads, turning and turning and turning — making him look eerily like an angel.

Sarah immediately dropped to her knees, her chest submerged by a sensation she had never believed she would one day feel, one that soothed her heart and soul in a way only a divine being could.

A voice whispered inside her mind. Soft yet powerful. Divine yet strangely intimate — not like a Goddess speaking, but like the mother she had never had the chance to know.

[You have been chosen by my beloved Blessed.]

Ananke spoke, using Cassius — whose eyes had become twin pools of Fate’s threads — as a medium to reach the mortal before her.

[Love my Blessed as your Lord. Respect him. Be loyal to him. Worship me, and me alone. And I shall guide you to your most glorious Fate.]

[Do you accept?]

Sarah, tears spilling freely from the joy of being personally addressed by a literal Goddess, sobbed her answer, kneeling with her hands clasped in prayer.

"It is my honour, Queen." She whimpered. "It is my honour to be chosen by you and your Blessed. You have revealed yourself to me and proven your existence, and your Blessed alone has already been a miracle in my life. Thus, I accept. Thus, I submit to you..."

She cried harder, as if now that she was sincerely connected to a divine, everything had become lighter, as if her burden no longer hers alone to carry.

"...Thus, from this moment, I am Sarah of Secrecy, believer and servant of the Queen."

And at that, like the sound of a wheel clicking to a perfect stop, Sarah’s chest trumpeted with joy.

[And thus, I welcome you, Sarah of Secrecy, into the palm of my threaded hand.]

The mysterious, divine aura that had filled the room vanished at once, as if nothing had happened at all.

Yet the exhausted pallor of Cassius and Sarah’s current state were proof enough of what had just occurred.

[I am sorry.] Ananke said suddenly, worried. [Did I get carried away? The GeumGeum must be too heavy on you right now.]

Cassius chuckled at her tone, so completely different from the divine authority of moments ago. ’Meh. It’s nothing I can’t handle. But I may need some rest. So let’s finish this quickly.’

The goddess exhaled with relief, her happiness loud and unmistakable to Cassius. He smiled back at her, quietly proud of finally doing his job properly as a Blessed.

After a brief moment of self-satisfaction, he turned his attention back to Sarah.

The maid was still kneeling, eyes closed. Inside her mind, the words of prayer to her new Goddess were flowing gently.

After a moment, she opened her eyes, calmer and more serene in a way that would have startled anyone who had known her before.

Cassius was pleased by the change.

He was finally beginning to glimpse the true nature of Sarah — the {Hidden Heroine} — the one who would later be known as the Living Record.

"Are you ready?" He asked, tilting his head.

Sarah nodded, rose to her feet, and sat back down on the chair.

"Is there something I need to do, Lord...?" She paused, searching for an appropriate title.

"Lord Seraph is fine." Cassius said.

"Lord Seraph." She nodded with a small smile. "Is there something you need from me?"

"Matter of fact, yes." Cassius smiled, producing the Master Key from his space ring and holding it out toward her. "Be extremely careful with this. It is a considerable risk to place in your hands. But I need you to use this key and open a door for me."

Sarah tilted her head. "...which door, Lord Seraph?"

"The Door of Burial of Hood."

Her eyes snapped wide. He only smiled wider.

"Where the dead family members of Hood are laid to rest."

Sarah swallowed. And somewhere in the back of her mind, a memory resurfaced, one that had survived by some twist of fate, never deleted.

The location of the Door of Burial of Hood.

At that, she smiled, instinctively making the sign of a wheel on her chest.

"Praise the Queen!"

...

"Sigh..." Cassius exhaled, falling backwards onto his bed, exhausted and head aching. "Queen’s skirt. This is draining. Let tomorrow come fast and let’s be done with it."

[One more day.] Ananke reassured him. [Just one. You have done very well.]

"Hmm. All our preparations still need to hold together for any of it to be worth something." He said. "I truly hope they do."

[They will, Cassius. Now, why don’t you look at everything you have gained today?]

Cassius opened his eyes and took in the system panels flickering before him.

[NEW ACHIEVEMENT! Homewrecker!]

[Because of your actions and the rippling effect they have caused on those around you, the relationship between two Chosen Ones is now strained.

What a destroyer of families you are.]

[Rewards: 50 Stat Points, x2 Boost Points.]

’No way... seriously?’ He thought immediately, bursting into quiet laughter and immediately beginning to think of ways to strain it even further.

’Oh, Queen above, Anesthesia is going to hate my existence.’

He grinned inwardly, thoroughly amused, before looking at the next panel.

[NEW ACHIEVEMENT! First Believer!]

[Queen’s Skirt! Thanks to you, the drought-stricken and almost nonexistent faith of Fate and Secrecy now has a new believer beyond the Blessed himself.

Incredible. It has not happened since... well. Never!

Praise the Queen!]

[With your actions, your Goddess’s GeumGeum reserve has increased.]

[Rewards: Fated Ticket (Special Ticket)]

And as if that were not enough, before Cassius could even fully register his rewards, another panel flickered into existence. This one was different.

DING!

[You have received a Fated Quest.]

[Description: Tomorrow is the Second Event — the Royal Meeting Event. Many Heirs will gather, and some of the Chosen Ones will be present.

But how can you be worthy of being a Fated Villain if you cannot put those Chosen Ones in their place?

The Academy is coming. We need you to make a statement of who you truly are.

Your task is simple, Last Born of the Desdemona. Very simple, even.

Show the Chosen Ones that Cassius Desdemona is not a useless, spoiled bastard of the Desdemona.]

[Rewards: Depends on performance.]

Cassius read through it, smiled, and closed his eyes.

He was too exhausted to look at the effect of his new ticket just yet, but had enough left to assign the 50 Stat Points into Strength — which sat at 50 — bringing it to 100.

Only two attributes remained.

The next rank-up was close.

"My dear Queen..."

He whispered softly, already drifting toward sleep.

[Yes, my Blessed.]

"...tomorrow is showtime, isn’t it?"

Ananke chuckled.

[Aye. It is indeed.]

"Then here we go."

—End of Chapter 101—