Adriana Claudia, with her piercing eyes and unwavering faith, was many things, but dim-witted was not one of them. She was zealous, embodying excess in every sense of the word, especially when it came to showcasing her devotion. Her fervor sometimes bordered on the extreme, but even those who met her couldn’t deny her intelligence and sharpness.
Years had gone by since the moment she had found herself lost in the shadow of her husband's reputation and stature. Lucianus, who had lived almost a decade longer than her, was not just any man. He was a luminary – a pivotal figure in the state, surpassed in significance perhaps only by the highest echelons of the clergy. When the [Pope] himself had orchestrated their union, Adriana's heart had been abuzz with visions of love, partnership, and, perhaps, the shared joy of parenthood. However, reality hadn’t been so kind. Their marriage felt like a garden where love struggled to bloom, exacerbated by her inability to gift him a child.
Yet, fate has a peculiar way of intervening. One fateful evening, when all hope seemed to have ebbed away, they found themselves blessed with the news of a forthcoming child. Their daughter was born, and with her arrival, fresh challenges emerged.
However, all those tales and promises she had heard from women around her of an intrinsic maternal bond with her daughter had never materialized for her. Aurora, her child, was a stranger to her. She couldn’t understand how she thought—she behaved differently from just about any other child, male or female.
Lucianus, too, albeit a genius beyond what most could imagine, was completely oblivious to the needs of a child.
She had tried hard not to disappoint Lucianus and raise the perfect daughter, but she had felt like a failure when her husband had to step in and take matters into his own hands.
And yet, amidst the tumult of life and the literal battlefield they now found themselves on – where Lucianus had invited her to rekindle their love – their relationship had actually undergone a metamorphosis. The rigors of daily combat reignited a spark akin to the thrill she had felt when the news of their arranged wedding had been made public by His Holiness.
“Lucianus...” She caressed his shoulders as the man sat at the desk with his hands conjoined, resting his chin upon them. He had just read the missive from the [Pope] and passed it to her.
His Holiness arranged for a marriage between our daughter and his third son, Lumius, and he’s taking over her education, too.
Adriana, under any ordinary circumstances, would have considered this a blessing, an honor bestowed upon their family. However, these were far from ordinary times. The ripples of this decision threatened to wash away the legacy of Lucianus’s lineage; the man was the last living male of the main branch of the Gens Claudia. Gentiliana, too, his cousin, aging and without offspring, had placed her hopes and the weight of the family’s legacy on Aurora, their daughter.
The [Pope] had effectively nipped the rebirth of the Gens Claudia in the bud with this move. If more [Cardinals] supported Lucianus, this could cause a civil war. Sadly, the man had as much support among the troops and his strange friends as little he had among the highest rungs of the clergy.
Adriana's voice, filled with concern, broke through the heavy silence, "Is there a way out? An alternative?" The heartache in her voice was palpable. Lucianus had only just come to recognize the depth of his affection for their daughter, and now, she was on the brink of being swept into the maw of the [Pope]’s dynasty.
“He wants me to make a move,” Lucianus spoke slowly.
“Dear?”
“Are you happy?” The man suddenly asked. “Are you happy with this?”
“I don’t—no. No, Lucianus. I’m not. She’s our daughter and the future of your—no, our family.”
He leaned forward, the question he posed next bearing the gravity of their entire situation, “What are you ready to do for our daughter, Adriana?”
Lucianus turned, and the glint in his eyes felt like it was about to shred the woman’s skin.
The fierce determination in his eyes made her skin tingle in apprehension. Gathering her resolve, Adriana held her husband's gaze without faltering, her voice unwavering.
“Anything, Lucianus. Anything.”
...
Lumius, like all the descendants of the Gens Constantina, was a caster, exactly like Lily’s mother. Currently, he was using a mix of close-combat and fire-based attacks against his tutors.
Lily stood by the courtyard of the Papal Estate, forced to observe her future husband training and assisting him with her healing—this was the least surprising and traumatizing part of her new training regime, as supervised by [Cardinal] Atticus.
The Papal Estate clearly did not believe in kindness.
Lumius soon came to stand before her, waiting with his deadpan and impenetrable gaze. His grey eyes fluttered, and his white hair swayed gently in the wind. Not often had Lily seen creepier eyes than this kid’s. He was twelve, one year from getting his class, but he looked fourteen, at the very least.
[Minor Healing]
She raised her hands and channeled her skill, still surprised by the incredible amount of damage the tutors would deliver to the [Pope]’s son during an ordinary sparring session. But apparently, that’s how they did things in this family. Her mother being legally insane made much more sense now.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Let’s go; it’s time for your training,” Lumius said in a monotone, looking with a side-eye at [Cardinal] Atticus, who had been turned into her babysitter.
Lily nodded, already feeling her stomach churn.
...
They were currently in the papal dungeon – without the capital D; it was just the private jail of His Holiness – and three men were tied to sturdy tables made of steel, Mana-sucking manacles around their wrists and ankles.
A [Jailer] and an [Executioner] smiled at Lily with few rotten teeth before drawing a dagger and plunging it into the chest of one of the men, who screamed in pain through the gag. Lily almost puked right there and then, but this had become a familiar scene over the past week.
Prisoners sentenced to death were just training stock.
She knew better than to whine by now: someone had already died because of her hesitation. So, she fully exerted her knowledge. The wound had already penetrated the man’s guts, so she needed to prioritize the internal injuries. However, deep down, she questioned the ethics and the very purpose of her actions. Why heal? Just so the man could be tortured again?
She started by sealing the external wound temporarily in an attempt to prevent further blood loss. Internally, she tried to mend the torn muscles and the nicked inferior mesenteric artery.
As soon as she stabilized the man, however, the [Executioner] gave her a deranged smile, plunging his knife into the man’s neck, surgically cutting off his carotid artery completely. A gush of blood immediately hit all present, including Lumius, who didn’t even flinch.
Lily’s eyes pooled with tears of frustration, but she immediately sent a great burst of Light Magic from her hands to stop the bleeding, but the artery’s ends were not aligned anymore. Not having time to use magic for this, she jumped forward and pushed the wet and squishy neck together, feeling inside of it thanks to her [Anatomy] skill.
Immediately after, she healed the wound, but she could feel the gagged man’s heartbeat getting weaker. She jumpstarted the man’s erythrocytes production by sending a concentrated beam of Light Magic channeled through [Minor Healing] to his bone marrow; that’s where the body produced most red blood cells, which carried oxygen. The man's pale face started to regain a hint of color, but the whole ordeal left him in a state of shock, and he suddenly started seizing.
Lily looked at the man with a panicked expression as the [Executioner] actually laughed out loud.
Lily was at a loss for what to do. When the [Executioner] saw her hesitation, he came up to the next man, plunging his dagger into the man’s groin right through the femoral artery, leaving her with a very hard choice.
...
Lily shook and wobbled after downing several Mana potions and puking them out when the training had depleted her ability to consume the blue concoctions for the day.
I hate them.
She was breeding a grudge like she had never felt in her entire life. And, as if to mock her, her skills were unbothered by this grueling situation. In fact, they were thriving.
[*Ding!* Skill – Minor Healing level 97!]
[*Ding!* Skill – Anatomy level 87!]
[*Ding!* Skill – Anatomy level 88!]
[*Ding!* Skill – Anatomy level 89!]
[*Ding!* Skill – Light Magic level 90!]
[*Ding!* Skill – Light Magic level 91!]
She felt dirty—no, beyond dirty. She felt as if a parasite had just taken root in her soul, and she was powerless against it.
“You need to wash yourself before dinner with the [Cardinal],” Lumius said, putting a hand on Lily’s shoulder, who immediately recoiled at his touch.
The boy didn’t seem perturbed by the reaction and shrugged, “[Cardinal] Atticus will push until your breaking point. The more he sees you struggle, the more he will know you have not reached your limit yet. Suit yourself.”
For the umpteenth time this week, Lily felt tears coming out.
It wasn’t just this new kind of prison, the torture she saw inflicted on the men in the papal dungeon, nor the iron schedule she was made to follow; what was slowly breaking her was the fact that, in a twisted way, she had always thought she would be able to do anything to achieve her dreams.
Now, they had taken her dream of being a doctor and twisted it into an unspeakable abomination.
...
Lily scrubbed the dirt that [Cleanse] couldn’t remove from her body, sobbing silently in a warm bath the servants had drawn for her.
Lumius was a psychopath who barely spoke a few words a day. The [Pope] had resumed his journey right after changing her destiny forever, and the [Cardinal], albeit speaking amiably and being better than the crazy [Bishop], who had wanted to torture her with a. chainmail stray jacket, was still hearing no complaints from her. She knew that if she opposed too much, she would be the one tied to those metal tables in the dungeon. And it wasn’t a supposition—she had been told as much.
After her back and changing the white robes common of the Gens Constantina in favor of her yellow ones, she walked to the papal dining room, where [Cardinal] Atticus waited for her and Lumius to report on the matters of the day.
Before walking out of her room, she briefly looked at the window that opened to the palace entrance—there were no metal bars, and she was sure a drop from this height wouldn’t kill her.
...
“... and two levels in [Light Magic],” Lily muttered, keeping her gaze level with the soup.
“Tremendous,” [Cardinal] Atticus said. “His Holiness will be elated with your progress, Aurora. Now, Lumius?”
“No new levels in [Holy Flame], one level in [Sacraluctus]. As for the resistances...”
[Sacraluctus], Lily had recently found out, was the martial art passed down in the Gens Constantina and that every member of the family had to learn, alongside the control of the [Holy Flame].
“Well done, Lumius. Aurora, I hope that you are finding the papal estate to your liking. Lumius is an expert chaperone, and he’s also been tutored in the magnificent history of our family.”
Lily looked vacantly at the [Cardinal], only one thought dominating her mind awakening a part of her she had thought long gone.
I wish I could drive a knife through his eyes.
...
I can’t stay here a second longer.
Lily had no precise plan as to what she would do after fleeing the mansion, but she had had it. This was too much for her. There was no way she could survive one more day in there without losing her mind.
The same anger that she had thought she had left behind on Earth had surged from the deepest pits of her soul. The same pull that had her disobey her mother, flee training, and direct her to follow her heart was now back, stronger than ever.
And so, with a rope made from her bed sheets fastened to the sturdy frame of her bed, she jumped out of the window. She was nimble, and it didn’t take her long to land in some rose bushes, healing the bruises from the last jump with a solitary pulse of [Minor Healing] that barely fazed her Mana reserves.
However, as she was about to start running, a familiar voice called out.
“Where do you think you are going?”
Lily turned to find the lifeless grey eyes on Lumius shimmering in the night, staring right at her.