Religious breakdown

This chapter's song is:God is a woman by Ariana Grande!

Sylvia's POV:

"Come on Sylvia, he can't be that bad," Violet says as she sips her tea. Right now, we're at the Ithila Cafe in the main square of town and currently me, Violet, Monique and Rin are having a mini girl talk.

"He questioned my leadership skills and accused me of having a backer. He basically called me a puppet and he's barely known me for an hour!" I rant as I rip off the head of a gingerbread cookie.

"Are you sure you're talking about the Silver Armada Argent Scilla, sole heir to the Scilla dukedom, general that helped face off against the radicals? I heard he was a hero," Rin says.

"The rumours couldn't be more wrong. To make matters worse, my parents are hosting a welcome home party to celebrate his return," I grumble.

"Wow, it's been so long since the Scilla dukedom has held any balls, am I right to assume that we're all invited?" Monique asks.

"Obviously, how can I handle my new annoying brother without the help of my best friends?"

"Oh my! I better order a new dress! It's going to be hard to top off the one I wore at the debutante," Violet says.

"I don't think I can ever top my debutante dress. Lucas did such an amazing job with the dress that no other dress will ever do it for me anymore," Rin sighs.

"This ball is set at the worst time! I still have to solve that Peremin problem!" I groan.

"Oh, you mean the strife on successorship. I heard that the Peremin family are split into two factions: The faction with the second daughter and the one with the first son," Monique says.

"There are factions already?!"

"Yes, the family is stuck on whether to follow societal norms and put the male as the heir or follow Peremin rules and put the child with the most pigmented features as the heir," Violet says.

"This situation is getting out of hand, I want to hurry up and solve it but the goddamned temple is taking so long to authorise my request!" I scream into the air.

"Calm down now Sylvia, think positive," Rin says as she cuts me a slice of red velvet cake and hands it to me. "Didn't you already issue an order that no one is allowed to officiate anyone as a successor until you were there?"

"Thank you, and yes. Luckily the royal family doesn't loiter around and just gives me what I need so I can sort this out. Otherwise, I'd be ripping out my hair in frustration... This is delicious," I say as I take a bite out of my cake.

"Focus on the ball for now, when are you sending out invitations?" Violet asks.

"I had them sent before I came here so they should be arriving to everyone this evening. I've sent letters to the royal family, the thirty highest ranked nobles, excluding ones with bad reputations, eligible women, the magi-"

"Wait, what do you mean eligible women?" Monique asks.

"It's my own little revenge against him. Silver still doesn't have a fiancee, and I intend to take care of that for him," I smirk.

"That's truly evil," Rin giggles.

"But also funny, I can just imagine those ambitious ladies eyeing the position of future duchess of Scilla," Violet giggles.

"Silver may have been a powerful general, but even he cannot do anything against a lady with a goal in mind," I say.

"Now all we really need to worry about is dresses," Violet says.

"Just so you know, the theme is monotones. Blacks, whites and greys. no exceptions, not even the royal family is excused."

"Hmm, that'll make things a little easier I guess, I'm not sure which colour would suit my hair though," Monique says as she flicks a lock of her Raven hair back.

"White would clash with your hair and make you stand out too much, grey is certainly not your colour so I guess black would be best. A really shiny black," Rin assessed.

"I'm going to be wearing a greyish blue dress as part of my family colour and gem," I say.

"I still haven't decided yet," Violet says as she reaches for another scone.

"I really don't want to invite the temple, but if I don't then it'll seem like we are on bad terms," I sigh as I slump onto the table.

"That's the norm. For balls like these where it's for the successor of a Dukedom, you must invite a representative of the temple. Since your status is higher than most dukes, your representative will most likely be of a Paladin or above," Violet says.

A Paladin is a soldier of the temple. Lemme explain the religion here a bit...

In this world, we have the faith of Paramis. This relates back to the Goddess Diphyllis who created this world for her children to live in. Her most beloved son, Paramis, fell in love with a mortal woman and they had a child. This child was blessed by Diphyllis with powers that could heal any wound and bring light to any inescapable dark.

However, the child was still technically mortal so it could die. Paramis begged his mother to allow his child to live somehow. Diphyllis agreed and when the child died, the goddess said that it will be reincarnated again and again. Diphyllis also said that the child will be worshipped as a saint, and will always be protected by the people.

The holy city of Paramis is located in Prevelia, the land of elves and dwarves. It was never specified if the mortal woman that Paramis fell in love with was human, elvish or a dwarf so naturally, the child's heritage was also a mystery. It's only known that the child grew up and died in the city of Paramis. And so, the elves had built a massive temple where the reincarnations of the child would spend the rest of his or her days in peace and luxury.

The only thing that's always a problem is how to find the reincarnated child AKA the saint or saintess. It can be a boy or a girl, and it doesn't always have to have light magic. Rin's mother: Diana was a contender for the saintess however she married Rin's father: Claude. It was later proven by the head temple that Diana wasn't the saintess and she was happily let go of so she can be with Claude.

The last saint died 36 years ago and the temple is anxiously trying to find the next reincarnation. There are many sub-temples in every country of every continent in order to spread out the search. They each have their own guesses of who the next reincarnation is but it's never correct.

As my family is one of the supporting pillars of our country, we are naturally familiarised with the temple and I regularly go there for crown princess work. I've even made friends with a few priests.

In the temple, there are ranks to show your importance. There are: acolyte, trainee apprentice, apprentice-priest, priest, holy knight, bishop, archbishop, head priest, Paladin, high priest and saint or saintess.

As you can see, Paladins are above head priests. There are a few head priests but high priests are such a rarity that there are barely seven high priests in the world right now. I mean barely because high priestess Eisel is suffering from her old age and diagnosed to pass away at any moment.

The Paladins are specially trained to guard the high priests and priestesses as well as the Saint or saintess. To become a paladin, you must have very strong magic or holy magic. That's the lowest requirement. Being a paladin is hard work: You train from 6 in the morning to 12 in the night. You must pray for an hour straight every day.

You must fast on holy days and celebrations. You must be pure, that goes for both men and women. Your diet is restricted to the basic of foods and a bunch of other really annoying rules you have to follow. The only thing good about being a paladin is the free shelter, food, and paycheck.

There are many Paladins however their rank is equivalent to a high ranking marquis. This means that nobility also has to treat them with respect. My family is no different. The last Paladin visit we got was when I was 4, at my parents' marriage anniversary ball.

The Paladin that visited us was a very tall, well-built man with a scar across his cheek. He had such a scary look that I hid behind my mother the whole time. My mother, the backstabber she was, was trying to push me into his gaze but I held on tight to the back of her dress. If looks carried weight, I bet I'd be squashed like a pancake.

"I could honestly care less about Paladins, I just want my goddamned request letter to be accepted already!" I yell as I bang my head on the table.

"Yikes, she's really stressed," Rin says.

"Leave her, she'll perk right up once the waiter comes with her chocolate fudge bite parfait with cinnamon waffle sticks," Monique says.

And whaddya know, she was right...

Hope that clears up the question about religion. This story is officially evolving into something way better than what I originally had planned...