The Female Knight of Doom - TFKOD 30: Priestess from Underground

Olivia Rachel, formerly Olivia Quint.

She had spent over ten years in the windowless building. The garden at the back was the only time she had ever been outside. Only a small patch of sky and a little amount of sunlight could be seen from inside the tiny garden because the walls were three meters high.

She was only permitted to spend an hour a day in the garden, ideally no more than thirty minutes.

One day, the servant would remind her if she stayed a bit longer, “You must go back.”

Olivia was by herself for the majority of the day. Although she didn’t have much time for herself, she would remember her childhood when she could control her thoughts.

The villa she occupied at the time was located outside the royal capital. She would run outside to play after interacting with her tutor each day, picking roses in the rose garden while being cautious not to get thorns on her hands.

The social season was her favorite, but she wasn’t old enough to enjoy it yet.

However, her married sister Sylvie would visit her in the royal capital from West Felix every social season, bringing her a variety of amusing presents.

She thought her older sister was the most attractive and gentle.

Her father, Earl Quint, frequently spoke of her at home, describing her as fortunate and having a good marriage. Duke Felix was a handsome man, but he was not young. He had previously been married, but it wasn’t a big deal because his first wife had passed away and left no children.

This was a good thing for Sylvie, even though she had been unable to conceive. She could inherit all of the Duke’s assets and titles upon his death, making her the Duchess of West Felix, in accordance with West Felix customs and laws.

At that point, she would surpass even Her Majesty the Queen in power, making her the most powerful woman in the state.

Little Olivia would always be picked up by Earl Quint and placed on his lap after he had finished speaking about Sylvie, “My little princess Olivia will definitely be able to find the best husband in the future.”

Olivia believed him when he said that.

However, after giving it some thought, she realizes that he was justified in saying that. He was His Majesty the King’s preferred servant and had a job at the court. His ancestry was sought after by numerous old noble families.

Marriage would never be a concern for her.

But it’s not so simple to find a widower as ideal as Duke Felix.

Furthermore, Earl Quint would never consent to marrying Olivia off to an elderly man because she is too attractive and will be too old to get married.

Earl Claude Rachel of the North was the man he ultimately chose to marry after much consideration. Rachel is merely an earl, but his realm is large and affluent, the northern political climate is stable, and wars are less frequent.

Even though they are well-liked by the king, new money families like the Quint family are not as wealthy as those old aristocratic families who have amassed wealth over many generations.

Either way, this individual is a suitable match for marriage.

It was at a ball in the royal capital that Olivia first saw him.

At the age of nineteen, he was still grieving the loss of his father. His face looked like a pale pink rose, just as lovely as hers, because he was dressed in black, even though he was at the ball.

At first sight, she fell in love with him.

If there was a fault with this marriage from the standpoint of the time, it would be that the Rachel family had always worshipped ancient gods and had only converted to the worship of the God of Light after being submissive.

Earl Quint, on the other hand, held a straightforward, practical perspective on faith, believing that concealing one’s beliefs was sufficient regardless of one’s actual beliefs.

Earl Rachel has been a frequent visitor to the temple and has always been very enthusiastic about the God of Light since coming to the royal capital.

Earl Quint thought that was sufficient.

The marriage was quickly decided because the two people clicked right away. They were planning to tie the knot by August after meeting in April.

When Sylvie, who lived in the far west, learned that the marriage had been finalized, asked an artisan to make a very beautiful beaded crown, which she then sent to her sister as a wedding present.

This crown was worn by Olivia when she got married.

She was seventeen at the time, and Earl Rachel was nineteen. Both of them were attractive, enviable, and they were in their best years.

That year, the royal capital’s most extravagant event was their wedding. People were still very interested in talking about it even after a long time had passed.

Following the royal capital wedding, Olivia accompanied Earl Rachel to the north.

Olivia’s mother had informed her about the challenges a married woman faces prior to the wedding. It was normal not to have done that; she didn’t give it much thought because the days leading up to and following the wedding were a total blur.

However, everything was resolved and the earl had yet to touch her when she followed him back to the Rachel mansion in the north.

Nevertheless, he gave Olivia his full attention.

Then, in the fall, Claude Rachel showed her a lot of love by taking her on a carriage ride to see the northern leaves. She didn’t worry about this because he was always by her side and she felt comfortable with him, believing that he was taking into account her youth.

He was very good to her, except for that incident.

He constantly tried to gain her favor by sending people to bring back rare ingredients from the south to make her hometown dishes, in addition to taking her out for fun on a regular basis.

When she spent her second winter in the north, however, things took a slight turn for the worse.

Claude initially forbade her from leaving, and the justification he came up with was also quite fitting: she was from the south, and the winter in the north was too cold, so he was worried that she would be frozen. She believed him because last year, after playing in the snow, she did cough a little.

When spring finally arrived, however, he still forbade her from leaving the house and only consented to let her walk in the garden.

They got into an argument, but it was more of a one-sided way for Olivia to express her displeasure. Claude did not speak as he listened in silence.

Nevertheless, she was unable to leave her bedroom following this incident.

Her bedroom door was constantly guarded by two powerful servants. One of them would always go right after her when she wanted to leave the room, and the other would go right out and find the earl. He would entice and trick her as soon as he got there, then send her back to her room with some degree of force.

He kept her confined to the mansion and announced her illness to the public.

Since the nobles of the entire Northern Alliance were his allies and everyone in the Rachel mansion was his servant, Olivia was unable to ask for assistance.

She was permitted by him to write letters to her family, but he had to read each one.

Occasionally, if he was not happy with what she wrote, he would just ask her to write down the words he dictated. No one could notice any imperfections because he knew her so well that the letters’ tone and wording were typical of her.

She eventually broke down after some time.

Olivia sobbed as she knelt in front of Claude and questioned him about why he had married her, why he had imprisoned her, and why he had not touched her.

Her tears continued, and his expression remained the same as he silently watched her from the other side of the room.

Even herself thought her breakdown was a joke by the end of her tears because of his calm demeanor, but she still asked the question she had never dared to ask, “Do you have even a little bit of affection for me?”

Claude crouched, used his fingers to dab at her tears, and planted a kiss on her lips, “I like you, I’ve always liked you.”

His expression was emotionless even as he spoke, and he gazed at her as though she were a cute little pet.

Nevertheless, she found she was unable to resist him.

He had the charm of a viper and the composure of ice. She had tried to resist his demands, but he always managed to get her to comply.

She both liked and hated him.

Although he never touched her and she was unaware of the reason, he occasionally gave her a kiss as a reward for good behavior.

They were married for three years when he brought her here.

The God of Light was entirely different from the gods worshipped by the northern nobles, Olivia had once heard. They demolished the ancient gods’ temples, erected a Temple of Light akin to the royal capital’s, and proclaimed their conversion to the God of Light after submitting to His Majesty the King.

The fact that they had constructed a new temple underground, where they continued to covertly worship the ancient gods, was unknown to her and possibly unknown to any outsider.

One of the priestesses in the old temple went underground with the temple. She brought Olivia before her to teach her the skills required to become a priestess.

Numerous questions were resolved here, and she realized what they wanted her to do: the priestess was already quite elderly, so she would be her heir upon her passing.

A woman must be a virgin prior to the ceremony in order to be a priestess, per religious regulations.

Northern nobles worship a goddess known as the Great Mother.

She is known in the northern teachings as the Mother of All Things and the Mother of All Gods. According to the northern nobles, the God of Light is also her child. Although they both worship the God of Light, they do not believe that he can govern the north because the sunlight there is always a little bit dimmer than elsewhere, which is sufficient evidence that the God of Light cannot effectively govern this area.

Given that the Great Mother is even older than the God of Light, she seems more uncivilized and harsh than other gods.

To serve the God of Light, priests merely need to comprehend the teachings and perform rituals; however, the Great Mother’s priestesses must sacrifice everything for the god, using their own bodies as altars and offerings, as well as vessels in which the Great Mother resides.

At the High Priestess’ succession ceremony, Olivia, dressed in a freshly made priestess robe, stood in the hall with the moon and stars painted on the ceiling.

From a golden cup, she drank a red liquid, a mixture of wine, hallucinogenic herbs, and the former priestess’ blood. She was a vessel for the Great Mother’s will, which entered her body through the blood and used the hallucinogenic potion to control her mind.

She sipped the blood wine.

Claude had been staring at her in a daze, as if he were drunk and in a rage.

Olivia had never seen the fire burning in his eyes before; it was a look so strange to her. She didn’t need to say anything at that point because she knew he loved her.

Who was the object of his love?

There was no time for her to consider such questions.

The priestess’ blood entered her entire body through her stomach. The herbs worked.

Olivia experienced a blur in front of her eyes and started to lose the ability to tell herself apart from the Great Mother.

Claude embraced her and gave her a kiss.

Every priestess had a designated servant, and he was that servant, he informed her, and a priestess was a vessel for the Great Mother on earth. He would plant the seed that would make her a mother; he would give her everything he had, grant her every wish, never lie to her, and love her until the day he died.

He was her child, her friend, and her servant.

He was both her jailer and lover.

She was unable to leave as long as he was alive.