The Villainess's Reputation [Kingdom Building]

13 Years Ago, Solious Cathedral, Imperial Palace, Ancorna Empire

The golden rays of evening filtered through the cathedral's stained-glass windows, painting the marble floors in shifting hues of scarlet and gold. The vast hall was nearly empty at this hour, its silence broken only by the faint rustle of robes and the distant crackle of sacred braziers.

High Priest Caldus, weary from the day's duties yet calm as ever, made his way across the aisle, his footsteps echoing softly beneath the vaulted ceiling. But as his eyes swept the benches, he slowed.

There, at the very back of the hall, half-hidden in shadow, sat a young girl. Jet-black hair framed her delicate face, her small shoulders trembling. She did not look up at the towering statue of Solious, whose outstretched arms bathed the altar in divine light. Instead, she stared at the floor, her presence more an attempt to escape than to pray.

Caldus's heart softened. Quietly, he walked to her and lowered himself onto the bench beside her, his robes whispering against the stone.

"Doesn't your skin burn under the goddess's gaze, Your Highness Ravenna?" he asked in a voice as gentle as a summer breeze, his expression tinged with a smile.

Ravenna flinched but did not look away from her lap. "I… it does, Your Holiness. But…" Her voice cracked, faltering. Words failed her.

"You need not force yourself into becoming something you are not," Caldus said warmly, folding his hands upon his knees. "If Solious's radiance feels heavy, why not turn your prayers to Herptian? There is no reason to sit here, suffering in silence, trying to endure punishment that was never meant for you."

Her lips trembled. "How can I…? Father, he—"

"He is the Emperor," Caldus interjected softly, though his eyes flickered with pity. "And as Emperor, he must follow the Divine Concord to the letter." Slowly, deliberately, he reached into the folds of his mantle and placed a small, forbidden tome upon the table before them. Its cover was bound in scarlet leather, its surface etched with glyphs long banned within these walls.

"That," he said, "is a translation of Herptian scriptures from the Western Continent. Should anyone ask, you merely found it. Perhaps… it found you." His smile deepened.

Ravenna's eyes widened in shock. "Your Holiness… You can't… This could—"

"How could I turn a blind eye," he interrupted with a quiet chuckle, "to a child hurting before me? Am I not the servant of the Goddess of Justice and Kindness?"

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Her throat tightened. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes.

"So," Caldus asked softly, tilting his head toward her, "what is it that troubles you so deeply, my child?"

Ravenna hesitated, biting her lip. At last, she whispered, "Eldest brother."

Caldus's brow furrowed. "His Highness Nolan? What has he done now?" He slid the forbidden tome closer to her fingertips.

"He stopped me from visiting Mother," Ravenna admitted in a voice barely audible. "He said… that I would worsen her condition. That I was the cause of her illness…"

Caldus exhaled heavily, his lined face shadowed by sorrow. "That child," he muttered. "He was but an infant when he lost his first mother, never even knowing her face. And when the Empress he cherished also fell ill after bearing the youngest sibling, his grief curdled into anger. It is… understandable that he clings to blame. But…" He placed a hand gently upon Ravenna's trembling shoulder. "None of it was ever your fault."

She looked up at him, eyes glassy with suppressed pain.

"Tell me," Caldus continued, "why have you not visited her Majesty in secret? Surely Nolan cannot bar you when he is away at the Duke's estate for his lessons."

"I could," Ravenna murmured, "but if he found out, he would beat me again." Her small hands clenched in her lap. "He trains with the sword now, just like Landon, William, even Serena… Father permits them all. But me? Father says it is forbidden. That official training cannot be passed on to one of another faith." Her lips twisted bitterly. "As if being Herptian's Apostle, even if no one knows it, makes me cursed."

Her voice broke into a whisper. "The only thing I can do is read. Books, theory, studies on flowers for magic… nothing more."

For a long moment, silence stretched between them, the grand cathedral seeming too vast for such a fragile confession. Then Caldus's expression shifted, his eyes glinting with a spark of mischief beneath the calm.

"What if you do not learn the sword at all?" he asked.

Ravenna blinked. "What do you mean?"

"I know someone who can teach you: someone not bound by the Emperor's restrictions. Not with swords or bows, but with daggers. Weapons quicker, subtler, hidden in the shadows." His lips curved into a smile. "Would you like that, Your Highness?"

Ravenna's eyes widened, a mixture of surprise and something else: hope.

Present Day, Ravenna's Office, Lord's Castle, Kim City, Kim Island, Kim Dukedom, Ancorna Empire

The crisp morning air drifted in through the balcony doors of Ravenna's study, carrying with it the salty tang of the sea and the faint clamor of the awakening city below. She stood at the balcony's edge, her gown swaying in the breeze, the letter still clutched in her hand.

Her eyes lingered on the horizon, where dawn painted the waves in hues of rose and silver. But her voice, when it came, was low and heavy, tinged with something almost foreign in her: sorrow.

"So… High Priest Caldus is dead."

The words slipped from her lips like a prayer she had no desire to offer. Her fingers tightened on the parchment, knuckles pale against the wax seal that had arrived with the news from across the sea.

For a moment, she was the trembling girl in the cathedral, sitting beneath Solious's unkind gaze, comforted only by the quiet rebellion of an old man who had dared to slip her forbidden words.

Her eyes closed briefly, lashes trembling. Then she straightened, her usual smirk struggling to rise against the heaviness of her chest. "Rest well, old man," she whispered to the wind.