The Saintess and the Villainess

Chapter 7

"You'll be pleased to hear that the shipment from the Sacred Forest has been received by Edrea Baines." As she spoke, Lady Corvina maintained her careful posture with her hands in her lap. Her tea remained untouched.

"Who?" said the Emperor, mouth half-full of tea-cake.

"The alchemist," said Corvina. "I'm assured we'll have a report on her first experiments this time next week."

The Emperor nodded. "Fine, fine. And about this ball tomorrow."

"What of it?" asked Corvina.

"I hear that Saintess is coming," said the Emperor.

"She's of no strategic importance," said Corvina. "She was only invited so that the church would stop making a fuss. The church is weak, but there are still those among the nobility who consider themselves devout, and they would be displeased if it seemed like the church was being slighted overmuch."

The Emperor waved a hand dismissively. "I don't care about any of that. I'm merely curious about her since she seems to be all anyone talks about these days. What have you heard about her?"

Corvina gave a slight shrug. "Nothing of interest. Saintess Anne Coris was a foundling, raised by the church in Longren, near the Sacred Forest. She can perform minor miracles, but nothing approaching the power of dangerous ancient magic. By all accounts she's mild and soft spoken."

Corvina didn't add that the Saintess was an elf, although her intelligence network had easily been able to uncover that barely-kept secret. It wasn't relevant, for now, and it would just set her father off on one of his rants.

"Is she pretty?" asked the Emperor.

"I couldn't say," said Corvina. "Although people do say she has a heavenly glow about her. Perhaps it comes from the blessing of the goddess."

The emperor scoffed.

The emperor was no-doubt about to say something rude about the goddess when Prince Sebastian burst into the room, followed shortly by Grand Duke Marshal. "Father, there you are!" exclaimed Sebastian. "You must tell Marshal not to be so unbearably dull and come out riding with me."

Crown Prince Sebastian Wyernwolf had long golden hair tied back in a ponytail, and golden eyes the same as his father's. As the only legitimate child of the Emperor, he was guaranteed to inherit. He was also widely considered something of a spoiled idiot.

In contrast, Grand Duke Robert Marshal had short, well-kept dark hair, dark eyes, and was generally considered a serious and competent young man, if a bit dour. As Grand Duke, he was the third highest-ranking man in the Empire, just behind the Emperor and the Crown Prince. But in all the years of the Empires history, the Marshal family had never yet intermarried with the imperial family. And with no blood connection to the Wyernwolfs, Robert had no chance of ever becoming Emperor himself.

"Your majesty," said the Duke, with a deep bow. "I never refused to go riding with your son. I merely informed him that I had military duties to complete first. I will ride with him as much as he likes in the afternoon."

The Prince scoffed, and threw himself down on a chair, lounging in it. "You're always going on about your duties these days, Marshal. You were much more fun when we were children and you didn't have duties."

"I apologize, your highness," said the Duke. "I will endeavor to be more fun in the future."

"After your duties are all done with?"

"After my duties are complete, yes."

"Well, just make sure you don't have any duties tomorrow," said Prince Sebastian. "There's a ball tomorrow, and as far as I'm concerned, that means the party goes on all day."