At the same time, the prayer ceremony in the temple of Ishtar was being held with great solemnity. Carl stood off to the side, his face full of impatience, quietly grumbling that the temple ritual was boring as hell.
Just as the temple emissary was devoutly chanting the goddess's name, there was a dull plop. A figure actually fell from the sky and crashed straight into the fountain in the center of the temple.
Everyone looked closely. It was Elodie. She sat in the water with a dazed expression, clearly not understanding what had just happened.
The officiant immediately proclaimed in a loud voice, "Everyone, this is the savior sent down to the mortal world by the goddess herself."
The Duke stepped forward at once, speaking to the priest with a complicated look. "You are mistaken, Reverend. She is not a savior. She is my daughter, Elodie."
With the ritual not yet finished, and the matter far too bizarre, the Duke could only have Elodie settled in a nearby room for the time being. As he left, the Duke glanced back at her, his eyes dark and icy. Elodie's heart clenched. She knew very well that that look was not worry, but the desire to kill.
"Human, what are you doing?" Suddenly Greed's voice sounded behind her.
Elodie immediately demanded, "Why did you teleport me to a place like this?"
Greed put on a completely innocent face. "I don't know either. You can't blame me for this. I don't understand why it suddenly happened." It then twisted the knife. "Besides, didn't you know the goddess Ishtar is Lady Icar's enemy?"
Elodie grimly thought that this indeed made sense.
Right now, what she worried about most was Ryan. Would he be panicking? But on second thought, she felt Ryan might not care that much whether she lived or died.
Elsewhere, once Ryan realized Elodie had disappeared, he immediately called Mario, his voice urgent and brooking no refusal. "Send people to search for her. Even if you have to turn the entire continent upside down, bring Elodie back to me."
Back on Elodie's side, the Duke and Duchess and both brothers all rushed into the room and demanded to know why she had appeared in the temple.
Facing her family's questioning, she decided that as long as the lie was reasonable enough, she could muddle through. She said calmly, "I was out shopping with Ryan when I was suddenly pulled by some force into a strange place. And then, without warning, I fell into the temple."
But Carl clearly did not believe it. Elodie was about to go on when Greed's voice rang in her head. "Human, why not go along with them and pretend to be the savior? It'll save you trouble."
The Duchess added, "Elodie, you should know how strong the temple's barrier is. How did you get in?"
Ashen, frowning, fixed a probing gaze on her. "What if Elodie really is the savior sent by the goddess?"
With things at this point, Elodie could only go with the flow and rely on the savior title to get by.
Just then a temple attendant came to announce that everyone was to gather at the fountain in an hour, and especially emphasized that they hoped the savior would attend as well.
Dorothia clearly had not expected to see her here either. The Duke of Angelos muttered quietly to his daughter that Pedia must have pulled strings, bribing the priest so that Elodie could appear at the fountain in such a way.
Elodie's gaze swept across the crowd, picking out many familiar faces. Among them was Lyon, head of House Clundle.
She was quietly sighing over this when Dorothia came over to her of her own accord. Taking a closer look, Elodie noticed that Dorothia's illness was completely cured and her face was even more beautiful than before, but with an unnatural, overdone refinement.
"She's using a disguise spell, with her earrings as the medium," Greed reminded her in her mind.
Dorothia sneered that Lady Elodie really was favored, able to make the Duke use his influence to pull temple strings and let her appear at the fountain in such a special way. If word spread that the Duke had colluded with the temple, public opinion of House Pedia and of Lady Elodie would plummet.
Elodie shot back at once. "Are you speaking on behalf of House Angelos?"
Dorothia froze. "I was only speaking casually. How did this turn into the family's position?"
Elodie pressed her. "You're the heir of Angelos. Every word you say will be read as your family's stance." She pressed forward step by step, not giving Dorothia a single breath of room. "Accusing Pedia of improper collusion with the temple is not something that can be waved off with a laugh. I've already explained the entire situation to the arch priest. I don't know why I fell into the temple either."
Dorothia countered that Elodie had no proof of her own innocence.
Elodie immediately fired back. "Then do you have proof that my father colluded with the temple? Throwing around smears against others and their families with no evidence at all. Is that the style of the Angelos heir?" She pushed it further. "If you don't believe me, I can ask the arch priest to testify, to confirm that after meeting day began the barrier was never tampered with."
The Duke of Angelos's face darkened. Knowing that dragging this out would only damage the family, he immediately barked at Dorothia to stop and ordered her to apologize.
However unwilling she was, Dorothia could only squeeze out a sorry under her father's pressure.
Elodie added coolly, "That apology is awfully insincere." Staring at Dorothia's earrings, she went on, "I've always thought your earrings were beautiful. Why not give them to me as a gift of apology?"
Lady Angelos quickly stepped in to smooth things over, forcing a smile. "Miss Elodie, those earrings are very dear to Dorothia. Why don't I give you my earrings instead?"
Elodie's gaze dropped to the lady's hand, seeing through the disguise at a glance. "If you're so sincere, madam, then give me your ring."
Lady Angelos's face went white in an instant, and she was completely stuck.
Dorothia calculated that taking off the earrings would not matter. As long as they stayed in the same space, the disguise spell would hold. So she took them off and offered them to Elodie.
But just as the earrings were about to enter Elodie's hand, Elodie acted as if she had failed to catch them. There was a sharp crack as they hit the ground and shattered. With the earrings broken, Dorothia's flawless face instantly reverted, utterly unlike before.
Putting on an innocent look, Elodie said, "I didn't mean to."
The Angelos mother and daughter slunk away at once, terrified of humiliating themselves further. Though the Duke of Angelos stayed, his expression was also extremely ugly.
Scanning the crowd, Elodie noticed a stranger who had been watching her the whole time. She tugged on Ashen's sleeve and quietly asked, "Brother, who is that? I've never seen him before."
Ashen explained that he was Felix, aide to the Severe family and head of House Highlane. He was the Duke of Severe's nephew, and thus her cousin.
The Duke of Severe was Elodie's biological father. It was said that he had received the full education of a proper duke from childhood, with platinum blonde hair and bright red eyes, and that he valued justice more than anyone. Yet strangely, the Duke of Severe had not appeared in public for twenty years without explanation, even within his own family.
Elodie could not help wondering whether the Duke of Severe knew that his wife had had a daughter. If she could be acknowledged as the daughter of House Severe, would she be able to escape her current predicament?
While her thoughts were turning, the sealing ritual formally began. Representatives of the five remaining great families took out their respective sin stones one by one and placed them on the central sealing altar. The arch priest stepped forward to invoke divine power and reinforce the seal.
Just then, the sealing stone on Elodie's person emitted a faint glow and reacted with a powerful resonance. The arch priest's eyes flew open, as though he had sensed something, and his gaze locked unerringly onto her.
Elodie's heart lurched, and she flinched involuntarily. Sensing her unease, Ashen quietly reassured her. "Don't be afraid. I'm here."