A ghostly silence prevailed in the High Priestess' office air as I waited on the granite table. While I waited, I scrutinised Vittoria's work on a stove in a corner, making tea for both of us. I couldn't see what she was doing precisely but judging her; I needn't know what she was doing. I knew what she was up to and why I was sitting here.

"Where's Matriarch?" I asked calmly.

"She's on the shore with the senior priestesses," She replied calmly as well. I nodded to myself and waited, scouring my eyes on her back. I observed her every movement as she finally turned with the cups and teapot and swayed her hips to the granite table. 

My unblinking eyes remained focused on her like a beam of the sun, making sure that not even a flick of her hair went unnoticed by me. I noticed how she poured into her cup first. When she had poured into both of our cups from the same teapot, she gently moved my teacup towards me, maintaining eye contact and... then she waited. I gave her a long lingering look, and I placed my hands around the cup. Her shoulders drop slightly.

Did she think that I was that foolish?

I didn't drink the tea yet. I waited, feeling her eyes on me. I gazed at the colour of the tea, breathing in its aroma, but I still didn't drink the tea. 

"Where did you go yesterday?" She inquired. I glimpsed at her shortly but turned to the tea again.

"I went down the mountain," I mumbled, still staring at the tea... noticing how the heat rose from it. Yet, I didn't drink it. On the other hand, I heard her sip from her cup a bit too loudly... as if urging me to drink my tea.

"After that?"

"I remained there until sunset,"

"What made you go to the dead mountain?" She asked pointedly.

"It started raining out of nowhere, so I took shelter in the hut," I answered, still staring at the cup. I hadn't taken a sip from it yet. Meanwhile, I could see that she had finished half of her tea. Her eyes lingered on me in a preying manner— she was waiting for it. An ephemeral silence descended between us as she finished her tea. At the same time, I fiddled with the cup, running my fingers over its lips, again and again, imagining rune patterns in the tea water.

"It's getting cold," Vittoria urged.

"I know," I sighed.

"You like your tea cold?" She asked cooly, though there was an unmistakable undertone of impatience in her voice. I ultimately looked up at her and deadlocked my serious eyes with her patient ones. 

"I'm a Royal, Vittoria," I reminded her.

"What does it has to do with the tea?" She asked.

"I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but..." I trailed off, tilting the cup towards her until the tea spilt over the table, "Us Royals learn about poisons the first thing as a child," She gripped her jaw as the spilt poisoned tea reached the edge of the table, dripping on her cloth. "And it would be such a shame killing me after you've spent so much time and effort on me...you've misjudged me so far," I stated grimly.

Fury flickered in her eyes; she demanded, "What did you see in the grave?"

"I saw what I saw," I responded, tacking her with my eyes. I could feel the rage running via her veins from across the table. She was almost shaking with it. All of a sudden, the cup in her hand shattered. The sound made me jump back, dispelling the tension in the air just a little. She skimmed the broken shards of the ceramic and noticed a small cut in her thumb.

"You make my blood boil," she sighed.

"I'm glad," I smiled while she collected the broken pieces.

"What made you go beyond the hut?" She inquired further, tossing the pieces out of the window before coming back to the table with a cloth to wipe the spilt tea.

"I just went," I shrugged. She stopped wiping for a moment and narrowed her eyes at me.

"You're telling me..." she began, "that you just went onto the dead mountain and dug out the former High Priestess purely on a whim?" Even though the tone of her voice was normal, her words injected the air with tension again.

"When I went to see my brother for the second time, I met Herran," I recalled. She cocked an eyebrow as I added, "He told me to go back and do some digging,"

Her body grew tense. I couldn't ignore how tightly she was clutching the cloth as she glared at the granite slab with such fierce glare; I was afraid of a crack emerging on that granite table. 

"What else did he say?" She asked, finishing wiping.

"He said," I swallowed, "The High Priestess lies masterfully, especially this young one, but the dead ones don't,"

"He seems to think too lowly of me when he is a Noble," Vittoria hissed, getting up and washing the cloth in a sink nearby, "Betrayal runs in their corrupt veins,"

I clenched my teeth but said nothing.

"But..." I trailed off for a moment as I thought about it, "how did he know about the dead High Priestess? I believed the Shrine matters weren't supposed to leave the Shrine,"

"Things have a way of finding their way to the outer world," Vittoria answered, arriving at the table again. A pensive look shrouded her face. "There are traitors everywhere," She muttered to herself.

"Traitors in the Shrine?" I asked, stunned.

"There always have been, and there shall always be," She replied and waved her hand dismissively. "But Herran is stepping his line. The Nobles aren't supposed to question our ways,"

"Even if there's something sketchy about the new and the youngest High Priestess to have ever reigned?" I incited.

"Even if I wake up one day and decide to end your existence," 

I chuckled and remarked, "I dislike Herran immensely, but I'm glad that he told me to dig," 

"Don't be so joyed that you know my secret. You still know nothing," she stated calmly, "What you saw in the grave was just the edge of the wedge,"

"Are you implying you have more scandals?" I gasped. She glared.

"I am merely warning you not to get yourself involved in something you know nothing about," She snapped.

"So you do have a lot of dirty laundries," I mused. 

"Everyone does, don't they?" She snarled.

"But you—the High Priestess of the Eternal Lagrifiri, the youngest one ever. You must have a lot more than everyone, especially due to the mysterious circumstances under which you were crowned the High Priestess," I mocked. She sat across the table, calmer than ever, but I could see the wheels spinning behind her eyes, plotting something... maybe my death? 

I'm not afraid of her anymore. 

"I've been crowded the High Priestess by the laws of nature. I don't know what mysterious circumstances you talk about,"

"I meant mysterious death of the former High Priestess,"

"You seem to have a death wish today,"

"Even if I had, I'm sure today's not the day I become resident of the dead mountain,"

"Of course not. I'm not done with you yet," she stated, making my eyes wide.

"What do you mean?" 

"I'm planning to send you to the mainlands next week again," she declared. "and I'll be accompanying you this time," 

"As an equal," I added. 

_