Chapter 34: Tempered Fury
As the high priest’s words echoed in the room, insinuating that I belonged to the temple and was its property, a fire of anger blazed within me. I couldn’t tolerate being reduced to a mere possession, especially by someone I had just met. My patience evaporated instantly.
"Yeah, I said you belong to the temple. You are the temple’s pro—" The high priest’s sentence hung in the air, left unfinished, as my reaction took him by surprise.
Before he could complete his thought, I found myself holding a sword as if it had materialized out of thin air, its sharp point dangerously close to his throat. My hand was steady, unwavering, a testament to the years of training I had undergone as a holy knight. It was a swift and precise movement, the sword poised threateningly.
"Duchess, what are you doing?" The high priest’s voice quivered as he spoke, his eyes darting nervously between me and the blade that hovered inches from his throat.
"What kind of behavior is this toward a priest?" Another voice chimed in, filled with shock and disapproval.
"Don’t you know how to respect a priest?" Yet another voice admonished me.
Despite the accusations and reprimands, I held my ground, my gaze locked on the high priest. His throat was in my sword’s crosshairs, a clear sign that I was not to be trifled with.
"So, did you only come to know you are a priest?" I demanded, my tone cold and unforgiving, my eyes locked onto his pupils dilated with intensity. "Or were you aware before, too, and still chose to insult the Duchess of Ablia, the North Duchess of Duclea? So, you are still aware and still choose to disrespect me?"
The room was charged with tension, the air thick with uncertainty. The high priest stammered in an attempt to explain himself, but his words seemed feeble in the face of my righteous anger.
"Duchess, I didn’t—" He began, but his voice faltered, realizing that an explanation might not be enough to quell the storm he had unintentionally stirred.
My grip on the sword remained resolute, and my gaze remained unyielding. I had asserted myself, refusing to accept any form of disrespect, even from a high priest.
"What you didn’t? Didn’t you just say I’m the property of the temple? Didn’t you just say I belong to a temple? Didn’t you just say I can only do what the temple tells me to? Then how the heck do you say you didn’t disrespect me? Or do you think I’m so easy for you to mock, unlike others?" My voice dripped with fury as I closed the distance between us, my presence looming over the high priest, who trembled in my shadow.