Chapter 17 - Serien Aust Basilica

While Athena was enjoying her night with Nimo and Anemo was dying in frustration and jealousy of Athena while Fotiá slept.

In Basilian, the royal capital of the Basilica kingdom, south of Reiden, Serien was visiting her father, the king. And it wasn't one of the nicest visits.

She was the fourth princess of the current kingdom of Basilica, daughter of a concubine, the least loved daughter of her father and High Priestess of the temple of light who worships the goddess of creation.

This is Serien Aust Basilica.

A girl who at age six was sent to live in the temple, where she was whipped for childish behavior, where she had to work, and where she had no time to play and be a simple child.

At ten years after her magical aptitude test, Serien began to receive a real education and be treated better. That's because the amount of holy mana Serien had was higher than that of an adult and her status within the temple was elevated to apprentice.

As soon as Serien turned twelve, the war against Elsna was beginning to come to an end with the defeat of Basilica.

Serien went to the battlefield where many were left behind to die and cast the greatest healing spell that humans have no seen since the disappearance of the immortals.

In this way, Serien saved thousands of fallen soldiers both Basilians and Elsnarians and this contributed to her being recognized as a saint at an early age and at fifteen, Serien was at the top of the chain of command of the temple of light.

Having the same level of authority as the king, Serien never lowered her head to the king, her father, and started to look him in the eye.

After getting to know Athena a little, Serien felt the hope of his people reborn and went to talk to the king.

"...And you want this saint who was absent during those hundred years of war, with us being slaughtered on the battlefields while she lived peacefully, to receive title of nobility?"

The king was a man of completely white hair with age, his face was covered with fur and wrinkles, his eyes were a dead gray, and his voice was deep and coarse.

"Yes. If she feels welcome in the kingdom, maybe she'll want to fight for it."

"Dad, I think you should hang this woman in the public square." Said the crowned prince. "She had the power to fight and defend the realm where she lives and yet-"

"Lived." Serien interrupted.

"How is it?!"

"Before I came to Basilian, I stopped by her hut and she was already gone. It will be our luck if she is still in the kingdom."

"Then you should have had her arrested, you useless!" The prince said as he got to his feet.

Serien remained calm and her face expressionless, she looked at her brother.

"What are you looking at?"

"I should have you beheaded for your audacity to raise your voice to me and insult me." Serien said and the knight at the door pulled half the sword from its scabbard.

The prince widened his eyes, startled, and looked at the king who kept his eyes on Serien.

"D-dad are you going to let her threaten someone of the royal family?"

"Serien, you've already proven your authority, don't give the order." Said the king and then looked at the prince. "Perhaps I should rethink your coronation. Knight, get the prince out of here."

Serien stared at her father for a few seconds until she signaled for the knight to do as the king ordered.

However, the prince was not happy with the king's insinuations. And like a spoiled child, the prince began to complain.

"Father, what do you mean rethink? I am your firstborn and rightful heir!"

"Not when you behave like a child in front of your king and the high priestess." Retorted the king. "Quick, get him out of here."

"All because of a bitch born of a whore?!"

At that moment the king looked at Serien. She had power equal and at times even greater than that of the king himself. One of those occasions was when one of the clergy was attacked in some way.

"Wh- What do you think you're doing?"

The knights grabbed the prince by the arms and began to drag him out of the meeting room when Serien rose.

In that short period of time she pondered what to do. She loved her father even though she wasn't loved back, and her father loved the prince more than himself. She didn't want to make her father sad, but it was too late for the prince.

"Take him outside." Serien ordered.

"Serien, please reconsider?!" The king asked. However, he had no turning back.

"D-dad! Make her stop! Dad! I'm the first prince of this realm! What you're doing is treason! I'm going to be the king!"

The prince's screams were heard throughout the castle, drawing the attention of other knights, guards, maids and nobles.

In the garden of white roses, the prince had been brought to his knees in front of a bloodstained log and his authoritative cries had turned to tears.

Hearing the cry of the man about to be executed on the path to the garden, the king and Serien meet a woman in tears.

A woman with red hair and green eyes, young and pretty, in her early forties, this was the queen.

"My king, I, your queen, beg you! I don't know what my son has done, but spare him!"

The king looked at the woman with a grim face and looked away.

"I can't help it. He insulted the High Priestess twice." Said the king in a choked voice.

The queen glared at Serien who glared back with eyes as cold as the winter lands of Phentus and the queen's fury froze in fear.

"Take the queen to her chambers." The king ordered one of the knights to follow the queen.

People huddled and whispered among themselves as the prince wept amidst the roses with two knights on either side.

Two knights had the symbol of the temple of light, a radiant star, stamped on their armor and the other two had the symbol of the royal family, a crown on a sword, on their armor.

This showed that both the temple and the crown were in agreement with the sentence. The king was a wise man, hateful, but wise, and he didn't want a civil war right after the end of a great defeat in a long war.

"Aren't you really going to change your decision?" asked the king.

"Did you change when you sent me to the temple? Ah! This isn't revenge, it's duty. Just to make it clear." Serien said in a full smile.

"The crown and the temple have decided to execute the first prince, Hure Aust Basilica, for treason and an act against the faith. If anyone has anything to say, speak or be silent for eternity." Said the steward.

At that moment the prince looked in all directions and everyone looked at him, from the lowest servants to his brothers and sisters, all in silence.

"So be it. May the goddess have mercy on your soul." The steward finished speaking and looked at the king and Serien who nodded.

At the steward's signal, the knights of the temple pierced the prince's chest with their swords while those of the crown cut off his head.

Serien was satisfied with her duty and sad for her father that as soon as the prince's head rolled, left the place and disappeared into the corridors.

Once again, Serien loved her father and loved her country and people, but the prince's execution was her mistake and later she would know that.