The Holy Council

It is said that the emperor is chosen by the heavens, and hence he must be treated with great respect and his commands are to be accepted by everyone under his reign.

Then who is above an emperor?

It was the heavens, as well as the messengers of heavens.

The Holy Council was made up of these messengers or the gifted individuals that are said to be blessed by the gods and are assigned with the role of maintaining peace and order across the land.

These were the ideals that formed the council centuries ago, the gifted members of the council were given high roles without any prejudices, because all men are made equal.

However, for some strange reason all the gifted ones that belonged to council were from noble or royal families.

"The custom had been simple," Saint Nicholas poured the tea, "The emperor had to abide by the rules of council, but his majesty never bent his knee to the heavens."

A man who seemed to be in his twenties took the tea with a smile, his eyes turned into a kind curve as he spoke,

"He is just a little undisciplined," he softly inhaled the scent of tea, "There is some sort of magic in your hands, my lord."

"You are too gentle." Nicholas sighed as he sat in front of the table, "He is like an untamed creature, we should be wary of him..."

Saint Aaron was the youngest high priest of The Heavenly Temple, as well as the leader of the Holy Council. There was great authority in his hands but despite that, he was seen as a kind charming man that was known for his peaceful nature.

"Saint Azure hadn't returned," Nicholas looked at Aaron, "He is always punctual, this delay makes me dreary."

"You worry too much," 

"There are all sorts of rumors about his majesty," Rudolf, who had been sitting quietly for so long spoke up, "Those that have seen him in war call him a devil. He disregards the opinion of council as well as nobles. That man is not a good news, my lord."

"Those are only rumors," Aaron placed his cup down, "If we think about him, without letting prejudice cloud our judgement, we will notice that he had not done anything that breaks the laws."

"And yet-" 

Rudolf stopped as he saw someone arrive at the gates, there was a panting woman with a knight. Her clothes were stained with blood and dirt, her face was sickly pale.

"Dear lords!" Aaron stood up from his chair,

"What happened to you, Lady Cassandra?" Nicholas frowned.

"Indeed, have you forgotten your manners? How can you enter a pure place in such an unseemly way?" Rudolf tsked.

"Where is Saint Azure?" Nicholas brought the tea pot closer to himself.

Aaron creased his brows together, and crossed the room. He was at a loss of words. Cassandra was the only oracle of whole empire, she was respected and had a high position inside the heavenly temple.

Then what caused her to become like this?

Her eyes began to tear up.

"Let's visit the healer first, you don't seem well..." he whispered in a low voice.

"N-no, I must talk with his grace," she stiffly shook her head, "Y-you were right...he..."

"My lords," Aaron glanced back, "Can you please excuse us?"

Rudolf suspiciously watched Cassandra, Nicholas promised to send her some peppermint tea for her fatigue, before both of them left the room.

Cassandra was in a state of shock, she had been running since one whole day and now when she was finally safe, all her physical and emotional exhaustion weighed her down at once.

Aaron led her towards the chair and poured her some warm water.

"Take your time,"

She nodded while accepting the glass.

Andrew sat on the chair and patiently waited for Cassandra to continue.

"He is a monster," she said, "The emperor-he-he murdered Saint Azure!"

Andrew froze, with a shaky hand, he clasped Cassandra's hand.

"That can't be possible, Saint Azure...he....oh dear gods..."

"It's true," she closed her eyes to stop the tears from coming out.

"But why?"

"His grace confronted that devil about his true nature, he only said the truth and to hid it from being revealed...he...killed Saint Azure."

"So that man was right..." Aaron's eyes turned deep, "The information we received seems to be true."

"I targeted Princess Johanna just as we were told, but...he shielded her," her voice turned low as she continued, "Why would a monster protect someone else?"

Aaron lifted his eyes to notice the conflict upon her face. She had been against targeting Johanna at first, but Cassandra always placed her duty before her emotions and so she swore to kill her when the command was given.

"Don't think too much about that," Aaron said, "Princess Johanna needs to die if we want to eliminate the emperor. This is simply her fate, we can not go against what heavens have decided."

Cassandra nodded stiffly.

"Your grace...can we really trust that man?"

It happened a few weeks ago, when a mysterious man met with high priest of The Holy council, Saint Aaron. He was the one that revealed a rather strange truth about Princess Johanna.

He said that she is tied with the emperor in a way that will make it harder to kill emperor, as long as she is alive.

He told them about things that were hard to believe and so, Aaron sent Azure on a little mission to confirm the words of that man.

"Why should we not trust him, my lady?" Aaron asked with slight worry in his voice.

"I...he seems suspicious," Cassandra muttered with her head hung low.

"I won't deny that, you have a great insight," Aaron sighed, "But if it wasn't for him, then we wouldn't have known the truth about his majesty. That man and we have the same goal..."

Cassandra bit her lips and said nothing.

Aaron's eyes turned dark as he continued,

"We can worry about other things later, but right now...a sinner has to pay for his crimes."