Chapter 4: The Priest
931 Words
The polished marble floor reflected the chandeliers above. The crimson velvet curtains danced with the wind coming from the open windows. The portraits on the walls noble and grand stared down at her as if judging her confusion. She felt small.
Suddenly, footsteps echoed behind her.
"My lady," Elric called, voice calm but cautious. "We have a visitor."
Sera turned her head. "A visitor?"
"A priest from the capital," he said. "He requested to see you. You… know him, my lady. He says you have things to discuss."
Her brow furrowed. Why would a priest visit a duchess like me?
She nodded silently and followed him.
They arrived at the receiving chamber, a formal space lined with bookshelves and tall glass windows that painted golden light across the room. At the center, seated patiently on a cushioned wooden chair, was an elderly man.
He looked ancient his long beard snow-white, his eyes sunken, and his wrinkled hands gripped a wooden staff. His white priestly robe flowed around him like a relic of time. His presence was like a whisper from the past.
Sera stepped into the room.
But something changed.
Her curiosity drained. Her heart felt heavy but her expression hardened.
As she sat down across from the old man, her red eyes sharpened into something cold, almost inhuman. Her body straightened like royalty, chin raised in disdain. She looked at the priest as if he were not even worth the chair he sat on.
The priest noticed it instantly.
He scowled.
"I will no longer tolerate your actions, woman," he spat, not even calling her duchess. "I came here out of duty, but I no longer carry any respect for you."
Sera didn't flinch.
"You were meant to protect the people of this kingdom," he continued, "yet you act as a tyrant. Cruel. One of your former maids came to me her hands gone because of you! How could you do such a thing?! She cannot even feed herself anymore!"
His voice echoed through the room.
But Seraphine's eyes narrowed, lips curling into a slight, amused smirk. She leaned slightly forward, her voice cold.
"She failed her job," she said. "That was her fault. She deserved what she got."
The priest's jaw dropped in disbelief. "Cutting off a hand for a mistake?! No woman would do such a thing unless she was cra"
CLINK!
The sound of porcelain shattering cut him off.
Seraphine had thrown her teacup directly at his face. Tea splashed across his robe. The cup rolled onto the floor and shattered.
"How dare you raise your voice at me," she said, eyes glowing with fury. "You're just an old, withering priest."
Then her tone dropped, darker.
"Do you want to die here?"
The priest froze.
"I could slit your throat," she whispered, "and no one would ever know. No one would dare question it."
The room fell into deadly silence.
The priest swallowed, his wrinkled hand shaking. This woman... she's insane. He stood up, heart pounding in his chest.
"If you have nothing else to talk about aside from that useless maid," she said coldly, "get out. Leave this place before I really lose patience."
He staggered back, nearly tripping over the carpet. Without another word, he turned and walked away, the air behind him thick with the presence of death.
As he exited the mansion, the priest thought bitterly, One day… someone stronger than you will come. And you'll be put in your place.
---
Inside the chamber, Seraphine's eyes remained locked on the door he left through.
"Elric," she called.
He stepped in.
Her head turned toward him slowly. Her tone was sharp, dangerously sharp.
"I told you never to let that old rat step foot in this mansion again," she hissed. "Do you not understand that?"
She stood up from the couch, picking up a golden pen from the table and twirling it between her fingers.
"Do you want me to stab that pretty face of yours again with this?"
Elric lowered his head immediately, expression unreadable.
"I… I'm sorry, my lady. I deeply apologize."
But in his mind, something unsettled him.
She changed.
The moment she saw the old man, she turned into someone else. Her eyes, her voice… her presence everything shifted.
Then, just as quickly, she softened.
Her shoulders relaxed. Her brows furrowed with confusion. Her crimson eyes blinked slowly like waking up from a daze.
Sera, the girl from another world, looked down at her hands.
"What just happened…?" she whispered. "Why did I say those things…?"
Her heart pounded in her chest.
"No. No way…"
Her hands trembled.
"Is the real Seraphine… still inside me?"
The echo of footsteps slowly faded down the marble hallway as the priest disappeared around the corner, leaving behind a silence that clung to the air like dust in sunlight.
Seraphine stood still beside Elric, her lips parted slightly, her mind racing like a runaway cart. Her heart thumped as if it had remembered something her brain had not yet caught up with.
Wait… wasn't I just Her breath hitched.
It all came rushing back like a wave slapping her in the face:
A bed draped in silk sheets, a canopy that shimmered gold, her hands gripping unfamiliar fabric as she jolted awake. That was her first moment in this world. Her first breath as Seraphine Evandale. Her first real memory after the accident.
She hadn't just taken over a body Seraphine had been alive. Still was. Lurking somewhere inside her. Watching? Sleeping? Trapped?
A chill danced down her spine.
"Holy crap," she whispered.
- Writer
