Corvina beamed at Anne with an expression of pride and excitement while Anne took a moment to gather her thoughts.

“Corvina…” said Anne. “I’m not… I’m not doubting you, but can you please explain to me why this outcome is perfect?”

“You can’t see it?” said Corvina. “You should be able to piece it together with the information you have available to you.”

“Corvina,” said Anne. “One of the very first things I told you the first time we met is that I’m not good at politics.”

“Oh, right,” said Corvina, a bit taken aback. Now it was her turn to take a moment to gather her thoughts. “The main benefit of this announcement is that it gives you an immediate reason to go to Longren without raising any suspicions, and we need to go to Longren for the next stage of the plan. If the church was still using you as a pawn to raise their status in the capital it would have been difficult for you to leave town.”

“Okay…” said Anne.

“A secondary benefit is that both the Bishop and the Emperor now consider you an entirely neutralized threat,” continued Corvina. “So neither of them will bother to track your activities as closely as they would if they still thought you held significant power.”

“I guess that makes sense,” said Anne. “But isn’t all of this good for them, too? By making me look weak and stupid and loyal to the Empire they get public opinion on their side.”

“Right,” said Corvina. “Temporarily. Public opinion isn’t that hard to change if we need to down the line. And all the best plans at least seem like they benefit your enemies. Because then your enemies have no reason to interfere with your plans.”

Anne furrowed her brow as she tried to work out the math on that one. “Okay,” she said. “I think I get it. Can I ask one more thing?”

“Of course.”

“How did you know things would turn out this way?” asked Anne. “Like, how were you so certain about it?”

“Oh, because I helped plan it this way,” said Corvina, with a shrug. “My father and I frequently develop detailed plans for a variety of different potential scenarios together, just in case. This particular plan was always meant to be the standard response for if there was any sort of scandal involving the Saintess. I personally helped him rewrite the generic speech so that it addressed this specific scandal, and of course I nudged a few things here and there to make sure it would benefit us as much as possible. And the fact that this was an established plan means the Emperor will be even less suspicious of it! That’s why it’s so perfect!”

Anne was forced to concede the point. “Okay, it does seem pretty perfect,” she said. “But I think I would have been happier if you would’ve told me all this ahead of time.”

“What?” said Corvina. “But the more people know about a plan ahead of time the more dangerous it is. It’s always better to keep information on a need to know basis.”

“You don’t think I needed to know any of this?” asked Anne.

“What would you have needed to know?” asked Corvina. “The only role you had to play in this plan was to allow it to happen. I didn’t particularly need to tell you anything to stop you from interfering. You weren’t doing anything anyway.”

That made Anne flinch. Had she really been so passive this whole time? Did she really not need to contribute anything? Was it really better to just… let Corvina do whatever she was going to do and not worry about it unless asked to? I mean, of course Corvina was a lot smarter than her, but…

Corvina hesitantly reached out to put a hand on Anne’s shoulder, her expression concerned. “You’re not mad at me, are you?” she asked.

Anne shook her head and made herself smile. “Of course not!” she said. “Why would I be mad at you? I’m the one who asked you to help me with this whole prophecy mess. Thank you for arranging all this, really! I’m sure it will work out for the best in the end.”

“It will, I promise,” said Corvina. “You can trust me.”

“Right, of course…” said Anne.

Anne and Corvina walked back through the palace in a slightly awkward silence. They met back up with Eva and Ulrich in the foyer outside of the throne room.

“Congratulations on a plan well executed,” said Ulrich, smiling at Corvina. “It’s always satisfying when such things go off without a hitch.”

“Indeed,” said Corvina, smiling back.

Anne had expected Eva to be furious after all that and was bracing herself for it, preparing to defend Corvina’s actions, but she was surprised to see that Eva was looking as serene as ever.

Stolen novel; please report.

“You’re not mad about this, Eva?” asked Anne.

“Ah, well…” said Eva. “Are you happy with this outcome?”

“Yeah,” said Anne. “Of course. This will make our other plans a lot easier from here. So it’s a good thing.”

“Then I’m not mad,” said Eva. “Ulrich and Lady Corvina, could I ask that one or both of you escort our dear Saintess back to the Cathedral? It may be wiser to take the back ways. I’m not sure how the public will react to this announcement in the short term and it may be better to keep the Saintess out of sight.”

“Wait, you’re not coming back with us?” asked Anne.

In the back of her mind, Anne was wondering why it was that she was kind of annoyed that Eva wasn’t angry this time…

“Not to worry,” said Eva, taking Anne’s hand and squeezing it reassuringly. “I’ll see you back at the cathedral later on. But I have something I need to take care of first.”

----------------------------------------

The Emperor sat down at the desk in his office, which was located just behind the throne room, and began sorting through some paperwork. After a while he looked up to where Bishop Geist was waiting patiently, standing next to the door.

“Well? What are you still doing here?” said Emperor Richard.

“I thought it would be prudent to discuss next steps,” said Bishop Geist.

The Emperor put down the papers he was holding and leaned back in his chair. “What next steps?” he said. “The problem is dealt with.”

“Yes, but—”

“I hope I haven’t given you the wrong impression,” said the Emperor. “I’ve given you a seat on the council and a public statement of support in return for your help in this matter, but I have no intention of becoming a lackey of the church the way my fool of a father was. I am the Emperor of this nation, its absolute ruler. Whatever the next step is, mine will be the foot doing the stepping. I won’t be ordered around by a glorified cleric.”

“I had no thoughts of ordering you around, your majesty,” said Bishop Geist. “I just thought perhaps if you were to share your plans with me I could help you with them. Strictly in an advisory capacity, of course.”

The Emperor gave the Bishop a look that would have made most citizens of the empire fear for their lives. Bishop Geist merely smiled back.

“If you want to advise me you may do so at the next council meeting,” said the Emperor. “I’ll go ahead and tell you in no uncertain terms so you can’t weasel your way out of it: You will not be receiving any special privileges beyond any other member of the council. The fact that you were appointed to the council at all is already a huge concession on my part. I will not be conceding anything else. Now get the hell out of my office.”

Bishop Geist’s smile faltered just slightly, but she quickly reestablished it. “There was a time when we were friends, Richard,” she said. “I seem to recall a scared young prince that would come seek me out after church every week.”

The Emperor sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “We were teenagers, Cerelia. You were a young acolyte who delighted in sharing comforting words and I was in need of comfort, terrified as I was of my father and his Goddess.” The Emperor’s eyes flashed with anger. “We’ve both grown up since then and now I am the one to be feared,” he said. “Out of consideration for our former friendship, I won’t have you executed for your impertinent remarks. That is all you’re going to get from me. Now get… out… of… my… office! I won’t say it again.”

The Bishop obeyed this time, making her way out through the now empty corridors of the palace.

She sighed.

A seat on the council is better than nothing, at least.

“Didn’t quite get what you’d hoped for, did you?”

The Bishop spun around. Sister Eva was waiting there, leaning against the wall of the palace, her arms folded.

“Eva!” said Bishop Geist. “You must understand, this was the best outcome you possibly could have hoped for for your precious Saintess after that absolute debacle of a miracle. There’s only so much the church can defend before her presence is doing us more harm than good.”

“I understand,” said Eva, mildly. “You were in a difficult situation and you made the best decision available to you in order to further the interests of the church.”

“You know, I meant what I said, to an extent,” continued the Bishop. “I don’t think Anne is well suited to life in the capital. And you were just complaining about her schedule being too difficult. Now you can both take it easy in Longren. I’m sure Anne will even be happier this way.”

“Perhaps,” said Eva.

The Bishop had a sudden epiphany. “Or, Eva, we could make a new announcement, all on our own, without the imperial family. We could say there was a mistake all along. Anne was never a Saintess at all. The true Saintess was you all along. A good, loyal, human woman. Raised in the church. It’s perfect. It’s hardly a lie, even. The power was always yours the whole time. And you have a real nose for politics. With you in the role of Saintess we could really start to increase the influence of the church. And you could even keep your precious Anne with you as your attendant. What do you say? That would be a pretty good deal, wouldn’t it?”

Eva approached the Bishop slowly, then suddenly grabbed her by the front of her robes, pulling her down to eye level. “Ever since you first found me in that abandoned wing reading those forbidden books, I’ve been clear with you about what my goals are,” Eva growled. “I don’t want to be the Saintess. There’s no point if it’s not Anne. Everything I’ve ever done is for Anne. To make the world understand how special and important she really is. Nothing else matters.”

The Bishop threw her hands up. “Alright, I understand. There’s no need to behave like this. We can discuss this civilly.”

Eva let the Bishop go.

“You’ll go to Longren quietly at least, won’t you?” asked Bishop Geist, fixing her robes.

Eva shrugged. “For now,” she said. “If you no longer wish to be Anne’s ally because it no longer benefits you, then I understand. I won’t cause trouble. But know this: If you’re not Anne’s ally, you’re not my ally. As long as Anne is being ignored and disgraced, you can forget about asking me to help you with anything going forward.”

Eva started to walk away, but the Bishop called after her. “You can’t talk that way to me! You’re still a cleric. I am the Bishop. You work for me!”

Eva stopped in her tracks and turned back to the Bishop. “You should be careful how you speak to me, Bishop. You may be the only person in this world who knows the true extent of my powers. We may no longer be allies, but do you really want to make me your enemy?”

With that, Eva snapped her fingers and disappeared from the hallway, leaving the Bishop once again alone.