bChapter /bb90 /b

    Valencia

    I didn’t have to wonder who that voice belonged to. I had just gotten an earful a few minutes ago.

    And now, that grumpy woman was back again to torture us.

    “Sarah is not feeling well,” I said, but the woman shut me down.

    “Get started on the work. You have to finish it before you leave.”

    Tignored her words and looked at Sarah, who had already reached for the quill and was trying to write on the scroll. But her hands were trembling.

    “Can you not see her condition? She is sick and needs rest!!” I eximed and the woman had taken a few steps to cross the distance between us. She ced both her hands on her hips and didn’t even bother looking at Sarah.

    “Should I remind you again of your utterck of mannerisms or do you do it purposely because you are a street rat?”

    For someone iming to be a temple keeper- a ce of calm and harmony she sure did have a foul temper and mood.

    “Please, just let me take her to her room and let her rest a little.”

    But she shook her head with that scowl permanently etched on her face to glower on me as if I was the reason for all the unpleasantness in the world.

    “She is as at fault for this as are you,” Senior Priestess Nina said while picking up a scroll from the desk.

    Someone was passing by, a group of other Novices I had seen but not really interacted much with. They had been chatting with each other very qu but upon hearing Senior Nina’s voice, they simply cut short whatever discussion they were having.

    The grumpy woman looked sideways and muttered.

    “Freya, is that you?”

    The girl in the middle of the group immediately ran forward and bowed to her.

    “Yes, Senior Priestess Nina. How may I be of assistance to you?”

    She asked while bowing so low that her hand was almost touching her feet. Senior Nina looked at her and then at me before asking.

    “Have youpleted your work for today?”

    Freya straightened but didn’t look up. She kept her gaze on the floor and answered.

    “Yes, Senior Priestess Nina. The books on the leftmost wall of the library have been sorted, dusted and arranged alphabetically and further categorized from their date of creation. Older books are ion /ithe top shelves, and the rest are arranged in descending order. Your mediation room is also prepared withvender candles ced on the right shelf and the bowl of water ced on the left side of your mat.”

    Freya continued to state a few more very detailed things of meaningless stuff she had done but with each word she spoke, the smug smile of Nina seemed to grow deeper.

    She was ted that she had found someone to bully, and the person was doing everything she asked without so much as a sigh escaping her lips.

    “Good. Who are you roaming with? Isn’t it your time for prayers now?”

    Freya seemed to have a guilty expression and replied.

    “Yes, Senior Priestess Nina. I was heading to themon prayer chambers with Novice Irene and Novice April.”

    She motioned to the other two girls, who came inside to stand beside their friend, all in the same pose, hands folded in front and heads towed

    “You are alreadyte for the prayers. I might as well ask you to do one more task. If you do it well, I will ensure that you get good marks in your Cleri exams.b” /b

    This wretched woman!

    She was using marks and exams as a carrot to make these girls do her bidding.

    They all exchanged surprised nces, but I could see hope shining in their eyes already.

    Freya bowed deeply and muttered.

    “Please tell us what the task is, Senior Priestess Nina. We will do our best to perform it well.”

    That made the old hag’s chest swell with pride. She kept shooting smug nces at me as if to say,

    ‘Look, this is how you should respect me. I am the one in charge here‘

    She had opened her mouth to interrupt, but Sarah almost copsed on the floor againb, /bso I interrupted.

    “Can I please take her to her room? She is hotter than a furnace right now!”

    I asked loudly, and the woman looked at me as if I had asked her for her kidney.

    “You dare ignore work and the decorum of this temple and then have the nerve to demand things from me?”

    Her voice rose to a sharp tone, and it bounced off the walls. The other girls and even Sarah shrunk back as if she had physicallynded a blow on them

    all.

    “I was only trying to bring your attention to Novice Sarah’s declining health…” I began, but she roared.

    “And whose fault is that, Novice Valencia?” She asked, and her tone indicated that it was all because of me.

    “I was not even in the temple until you saw me outside the door,” I said, pointing outside, and she stomped her feet like an angry toddler who was not used to hearing no and always got whatever he or she wanted.

    But the woman pulled up one scroll after another and began opening it.

    “Of course you are not in the temple, at least not in a true sense. Because if you are sitting with her and doing the work assigned to you, how do we have so many scrolls left to copy?”

    She was breathing hard through her nostrils like an angry bull, and I felt she would grow horns and attack me any second..

    Sarah tried to answer weakly.

    “We are extremely sorry for the dy, Senior Priestess Nina. We will work overtime toplete the work.”

    I turned back to look at her.

    “No, look at yourself. You are sick and you can’t even keep your eyes open.”

    “You are not the one who decides who does what here, Novice Valencia!!” That bitch of a woman banged her hand on the table hard and all the girls stepped back subconsciously.

    Nina was livid, and it looked like she was going to tear my head off. But I didn’t care. In fact, she was reminding me more and more of that bevil /bbwoman /bback at the office, Mrs Briggs.”

    This woman was short and plump like her and loved to make the entire office dance to her tunes. I had not bowed down bto /bbthat /bstupid woman, band /bbthere /b

    *312

    b12:05 /bMon, 25 Aug?U

    was no chance I would bow to this piece of shit either.

    b“/bYes, I am not the one in charge here. But if anything happens to Sarah, I will ensure to report it to the Crone whenever she is free enough to meet me

    I said in a fuming voice.

    The mention of the Crone had all the girls look at me in surprise.

    Even the old hag looked taken aback that I pulled that card out of nowhere. She had probably forgotten I was going to meet her sooner orter.

    Nina looked at me and then at Sarah before taking a step forward to ce her hand on her forehead.

    She immediately pulled it back and looked at the other girls. “Take her to her room and try to get her to cool down. Go!”

    The girls huddled around Sarah, and the three of them managed to make her stand up while throwing her hands on their shoulders for support.

    I tried to join as well, but the miserable woman shot her hand out to block my way.

    “Not you”

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