My Lovely Priesthood 3 - (Original Fantasy Otome, Priest!SI)
When the name 'Auguste Saturne' is brought up, the views of the average subject is mixed if not highly polarized between two reactions: one can either appreciate the cunning and the political savviness of the man as he masterfully retained the Royal Chancellory for ten long years, and another will lament the sheer decline the Kingdom had gone through under his reign.
That being said, Auguste Saturne is, in my simplest opinion, a very mediocre statesman. Not an idiot, not a corrupt bastard, but still an ambitious and greedy man who lived on gambles as he had the monetary capital to fuck around and find out. The issue that has recently hit his family is duplicitous but predictable due to his 'gambling politics' strategy. First, he may have gained sympathy by the king in still retaining rule for a few more years due to the slight pushed onto his family after Prince Harold's stunt but he still lost the biggest chance of his life: securing his family a 'familial integration' with the royal family.
What is Familial Integration? Well, the background lore is intense, but I will keep it brief by what the proper law says: in the eventuality of two families, one of which being lesser in rank to the other, are united by a major marriage, such as the wedding of a heiress to a heir, the two families can discuss of 'uniting' in a single group. Using Lyanne and Harold for this example, if Lyanne had married Harold, then this would have led her and her family to claim the name of 'Poutens-Saturne'.
This, in terms of privileges, meant that even if Auguste was dethroned from the chancellory, his voice would have carried enough sway to pick his successors and clash with the king without fearing retribution if those internal opposition was kept as indirect as possible.
Of course it wasn't a smack and go sort of situation. The king had to approve as the head of the Poutens family, and this would have been coerced by the notion that by giving us his sole heir, Auguste was condemning his family to collapse as there was no suitable replacement to Lyanne to take over his role. And by religious opinion, that would have been good enough to see the Church supporting the request.
It was a simple plan, a very smart one considering how it held out as long as it did despite Harold being Harold, but the collapse of that situation had easily ruined his plan, left him with an unmarried daughter who had been scorned, and that is if one ignored the big fucking mess that is handling the judicial situation of those others part of the former crown prince's clique.
Because, while Harold could be only punished by the royal family, that didn't mean the same treatment extended to his buddies and the conspirators that were behind the situation. A deeper look on the public findings of the investigation confirmed that a secret faction had been taking over the Academy for decades now. While their influence had been so deeply light that it was difficult to trace any previous conspiracy, the fact this one hit the then-crown prince created a strong enough push to eradicate those that have been deemed 'high traitors'.
The school was still closed down as far as Louis told me, and I was aware that a proper reorganization was going to take years to take place. Tutors were once more growing in prominence due to this, and yet I was told Louis skipped on this as he had already enough knowledge and he just needed experience to put this to a test. From my understanding, father had assigned him to lead a commission regarding the family fief's infrastructure. The old cobbleroads could see some improvements considering the untainted state of the family's coffers, and better roads meant easier trading and a greater chance of people moving inside our territories.
Now, back to Auguste, the situation over the Prince Harold's Demotion was subject of speculation as it was due to how far deep the conspiracy went in that regard. Some nobles had tried to leverage the 'influence' of this faction as the sole reason behind Harold's thinking, but an investigation led by the King himself unveiled what was summarized as 'evidence of long-standing resentment over the engagement'. The prince had already been distrustful of Lyanne, and he had looked at the quickest path to safety. The only tentative 'claim' that could be made was done against the prince's own good judgment was lying over the potential 'repercussions' of this brazen proclamation.
Why would they lie to the prince about this being a 'good plan'? Well, they thought it was.
From my understanding, the Headmaster had planned to use a slight 'compulsion' charm that would have made the High Priest more amenable to pushes of this kind. The charm itself would have been administered by the chair I was sitting on during that gala, but wasn't strong enough to bypass my natural mana defense. While the High Priest wasn't magically gifted or stronger than me, his age had made him far weaker than he used to be and such charm would have had the intended effect.
Me being there pretty much avoided the successful implementation of the coup itself. And the end result was still a massive headache for Grand Duke Saturne, which prompt the second reason why some had grown a bit suspicious of the chancellor in recent weeks: rumors.
In the specific, rumors that stemmed from the growing sighting of the Grand Duke drinking more wine than usual, his wife sporting some visible bruises as if 'burned' somehow, and the extensive disappearance of Lyanne from the public eye. The last one can be justified, perhaps, as the girl feeling shamed by what had just happened, which was sad if that was true, but when combined with the other factors, some was keen to suspect potential domestic abuse.
It was actually my own guess before something made me change and render this lengthy exposition about Auguste Saturne a necessary chore: the church was notified of a 'potential Qlippoth Class 3' Exorcism needed at the Saturne Manor.
This was not a funny business, for Qlippoth was defined as the highest of the threats possible in an exorcism, with Class 3 out of 10 being seen as 'quite close to a fief-wide quarantine being needed'. Nicholas swiftly packed up all we required for the worst case scenario, and we took the first carriage to the manor.
While normally a curse is, by all means, a possession by itself, the issue that we found afflicting Lyanne Saturne was not the one worthy of my legitimate concern. Her coils had been damaged to an extent which could be permanent depending on her recovery, with Nicholas preparing the correct concoction to slow down the curse to at least giving her body a fighting chance while we soon started to check on what was behind the curse. The curse itself was malignant enough that whoever cast it was also had to pay an hefty price in the form of a demonic possession.
There are two kind of possessions that an exorcist should know about: the 'normal possession' which is caused by a living demon and thus a 'weak monster' compared to the other case, the 'reincarnation possession'. Back in the Age of the Demon King, some dark magicians managed to create a spell that bound the souls of the Higher Demon Lords to a purgatory-like realm. This allowed the bastards to persist for long enough to make the possibility of possessions feasible by those. Now, there was something good about this sort of possessions as they took a long time and a lot of sacrifices to be completed.
Considering that the Grand Duke confirmed that there had been no mass kidnappings in his fief, we could rule out this was caused by a serious cultist... which made the situation a bit more complex to unravel. To put it bluntly, finding people trying to willingly bring back some of the 'Old Ones' back was easier compared to someone using this curse to hurt Lyanne without caring of what really this curse was all about. That, however, didn't stop us from looking through Lyanne's stuff and-
"D-Do you really have to go through my things so roughly?!"
I admit that keeping quiet about those details and keeping hush hush on what this curse was truly all about can lead to some awkward suspicions with the way we were moving, looking through drawers of clothes and shelves filled with various items ranging from books to a personal diary. That and also because Lyanne was still in her room, mostly covered, but we have studied her frame and seen how revealing her black nightgown was. Bold choice considering she was red-haired and red-eyed and big-tittied.
...What? I am not lusting after that, just bringing this piece of info to attention and looking religiously at fine nature at work. Nothing else.
"Yes. We are looking for any items which may have been used as a 'carrier' for the curse," Nicholas flatly remarked. "Any gifts, any unusual boxes- this kind of items can be used to propel a curse on the receiver of those objects."
I nodded at the explanation, and I saw Lyanne take a moment to think about it. I knew noble ladies were keen to receive lots of gifts, I was aware that this was even more relevant in times of need when it comes to 'send support' between 'friends'. Hence why I hadn't asked her if she had received anything suspicious since the redhead had to have gotten a lot of those stuff around. But, to my surprise, her response made us both stop.
"W-Well, I did receive that new lamp on the wall," Lyanne pointed out, aiming at a specific lamp that had been recently screwed by the wall near the bed. "It was a gift from my cousin, Giselle-"
"Where is she?" I asked, not planning to know any motivations or reasons until I had this mess dealt with.
Lyanne froze up for a moment, but told us that the girl was a year younger than her and always been sickly. I didn't need to more information to know she was the one- she had to be the one. It was the only gift that had been given to Lyanne in the last few weeks, and it was the only item that was also close enough to impact her so intensely so early on. Nicholas was right behind me as I marched while being led around by a butler through the manor to where Giselle's room was. Some maids tried to stop us as 'Lady Giselle had been getting more sick', but this made me even more confident it was her.
I kicked the door open, and the fetid air of 'rotting flesh' hit our nostrils. Nicholas readied some talismans, while I secured some purified water for what was to follow next. Considering the weakened state of the curse user, the damage inflicted on her body was so thorough that it was clear her body was 'shedding' human flesh to replace it with demonic one to 'make the ritual possible'. And thus it was no surprise we found an unconscious girl, horns forming and black scales appearing over her putrid arms. The sight and stench was the same as usual, and I have never seen anything go beyond this stage without the Church going hard on them by sending the top exorcist on the case.
I started the 'game' by hurling the cleansing water at the girl, hitting the face as she jolted awake and screeched in pain as the water burned into the corrupted human, purging the polluting layer of mana that tried to worm its way deep into her skin. The loudness drew attention, and there was nothing to stop those following us from seeing the horrible situation.
"W-What is this?" The Grand Duke appeared aghast on the situation.
At this point, I knew he wasn't aware of what had just happened, but it wasn't important. Nicholas moved with the talismans, quickly slapping the glued papers onto the bed's sides and then chanting the right tune to create the purifying compression barrier. A circular sphere of purifying mana appeared around the girl, now actively trying to leave, but she realized it was too late as the barrier started to press against her, burning as she was too damned to be saved.
Two years ago, I had a similar situation where I contemplated if this was too harsh. If there could be a way to save such a young soul but... the harsh truth was that there was no soul left. The price to inflict the curse was her own soul, so the 'Giselle' that we were finishing off was not the same as the pre-curse one as one of the high demons started to slowly occupying her body and mimic her personality to avoid detection. This kind of possession were impossible to see the host saved, which is why I was thankful that those were incredibly rare to see unfolding.
The process was loud, tense, but overall quick to finish without any surprises. What was left in the bed was the stench of burning flesh as all that remained were ashes. The silence was deafening, with Nicholas checking for anything lingering that may need more focus, but I doubted there was any. I turned to the group of people standing before us with a shocked look at what had just occurred and right at the Grand Duke.
"Lord Saturne, the Church will be sending agents to retrieve the remnants of this room. I suggest you keep this room sealed before the agents come for the visit, at the same time I suggest you move your guards to find out who has given to this girl the means to acquire a demonic contract curse. Seize them with any means necessary and provide what you find on them that may be dangerous to the Church. Beyond that, the curse your daughter was struck with should be removed by now, but if there are any news on the matter which may imply a continuation, I suggest to ask for us at once."
A few minutes later, Nicholas and I were leaving the premises of the manor. The situation had been a bit stiff compared to how I had envisioned my first mission with Nicholas, but I had nothing but praises for the assistant for his rapid reactions. And when we returned to the Royal Cathedral, we reported our findings and any other details needed so that the Church could dispatch 'cleaners' to make sure nothing dormant was left unturned.
Through the ensuing days, we learned a few more things on how this came to be. Turns out that Giselle was a cousin to Lyanne which had been adopted by the Grand Duke after her parents had died in an accident.
The girl had been damaged by said accident, leaving her magically and physically scarred to the point of being bedridden frequently. The girl had been unable to relate with her cousin, but did end up forging a 'friendship' with Prince Harold, leading to resentment over the engagement. However, this took a sharp turn for the worse when she learned of the fall of the prince and his cronies, which made her truly bitter to her cousin.
As for the cursed book that was found... it is an oddity. It was a copy of the book the church had been finding in similar cases in the past ten years. Someone that was unknown would just drop those books on the laps of people that were too emotionally desperate to care for the repercussions.
The first few times that this occurred some had levied the possibility of a conspiracy as those cases involved noble men and women that sought power over others, but when other cases involved unknown paeasants, unconnected merchants, even some mercenaries trying to 'get power quickly', it became clear someone was doing it without any logic or planning.
But why?
I had no means to know who was working on the large collage of cases, but I knew that the one Nicholas and I took in would soon join the collection of this confusing ever-present possibility that someone with the means to produce perfect copies of cursed books was doing so without any plot in mind and only depravity leading their steps.
Lastly, and mostly unrelated to this huge situation, was that Lyanne had actually lost a major fraction of her mana on a permanent level. The Saturne prided themselves as some of the mightiest Fire Casters in the entire kingdom, but I could tell that their heiress now lowering her Rank from a solid A to a low-end B after the curse really put them in a ugly spot. I wouldn't even be surprised if the Grand Duke decided to try again to get an heir now that he could. Male or female, at this point anything was better than trying to prop up Lyanne with how much of a hot potato and a pariah she had turned in high society.
And I knew it was that bad when rumors of a potential lawsuit was levied against the kingdom by the chancellor himself, the man demanding for due reparation as the 'mounting pressure' had 'severely limited his family's security' and 'rapid response to the escalating attacks against them' - in less than a month and a half, the kingdom was splitting in half over a crisis that had been brewing after that botched coup and...
Things were only going to get more interesting in the ensuing weeks.
AN
Always keep in the background because things are getting... spicy in the political side of things. And it can only get worse from this point onward.