Rēïncårnātē

Chapter Fifteen

The Romania Church was the church of the Homeland. With many roots, it has made itself one of the three most powerful churches in their time. Its history has spanned since the first civilization.

It had stood firm due to the 'ark'.

Murmurs burst froth from the audience of noblemen and advisors as they realized this was serious; despite the fact, the Kingdom of Nieve was not part of the Romania Church they were unable to bear offending such a global superpower. What the king found strange was the fact that none of the royal family of Mythikós had ever been a slave to the church.

"On behalf of the church?" When the king spoke his subordinates silenced themselves lest they showed disrespect. "In that case, please be my guests! We can talk about this in the Royal courts tomorrow."

"Crowned prince, please entertain our guests!"

The prince who had accompanied them to the palace was quick to bow and show them out of the hall.

~

She found it strange how the King had referred to his son as the crowned prince, rather than his name. Her eyes remained glued to the fragile-looking figure of the supposed crowned prince as he led them to their quarters, she couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him even know she knew nothing about him.

"Does your father know your name?"

The small group came to a halt, Grey looked at the prince hoping he would turn around and answer him but the prince didn't say a word, he just kept on moving.  The princess glanced at Grey who had asked that question, she felt a little more respect for him, she also confirmed the estranged relationship between the king and his successor.

Just as the group had sunken back into an awkward silence, the prince answered.

"How would he? We have arrived."

They were introduced to a long corridor with beautiful women standing in two parallel lines, they all seemed to be between 5 to 21 years old. They were dressed beautifully in expensive garments and adorned like individual trophies,  their lips were all tugged into a slight smile without meaning and a lot of the young teens were glancing at Raymond who still didn't seem to care about their situation.

It didn't take long to see that they were all princesses, the long line of women were all related, and most likely were put on display for Raymond, even the little girls that looked like they were barely able to feed themselves. They were trophies, those who were old enough were hoping Raymond would take interest in a few of them and marry them, It occurred to Earle that this was what she would have to become in a few years, a trophy. 

Terrifying.

She lowered her head and stood silently, her hands were taken by Grey who seemed to want to reassure her, it was ok.

"These are the princesses" The crowned prince started, "you are aware of our customs, please do not use them, they aren't inexpensive."

Filth.

"You may choose a room, the princess will reside in the women's courtyard, specifically the Queen's quarters," as he said that a young princess that looked to be 17 years old stood out of her spot and bowed to Raymond before taking Earle's hand and leading her away.

The women's courtyard was on the other side of the palace, the walk was devastating on her small feet but she didn't speak, instead, she observed her surroundings, bowing as her guide bowed to whichever men they met on their conquest. She was happy to realize that her room was almost as good as her bedroom, it paled in comparison but it was in no way neglectful.

"This will be your room for the rest of the journey, your servants will be arriving shortly." With that she left, her bell earing ringing softly under her beautiful brown hair she had tied up in an elegant twisted bun.

She was left all alone, she walked over to the bed and sat down, she was separated from her brothers making her a likely hostage if anything were to ever go wrong, until her brother finds the witch that provided Vanessa with the love potion she had to endure it, till then.

•°•

The soft knocking on her door jolted her awake from her deep slumber, she grimaced at the bright sunlight that streamed in from her window, she let out a small approval before the door was opened and two middle-aged women walked in with a tub followed by two little girls with baskets of clothes and sanitary accessories. Earle was swiftly ready to be transported to across the palace to the men's quarters as her brother had requested she ate breakfast with him, she couldn't help but feel strange as she passed by all the princesses with their servant girls who stopped to look at her like she was an alien.

It was unheard of for a woman to eat breakfast with a man, hearing the whispers made her want to wear a paper bag.

She silently hoped Raymond could finish what he needed to do so they could leave.

It was relatively late into the day before she was alerted of what had transpired in the capital.

A woman had confessed to witchcraft.

With a 'customer' in the royal family.