A figure stepped out from the shadows and Sylus’s crimson eyes went sharp and a slow appreciative smirk spread across his lips before he could decide whether to let it.
’Well well well.’ His mind snapped instantly to the character archives buried somewhere in thirty-seven episodes of devoted viewing. ’If it isn’t the Priestess of the Dawn.’
She was something else entirely.
A fitted obsidian-black nun’s habit that somehow hugged every single one of her curves with precision that should not have been possible in a religious garment.
The neckline dipped gracefully and a heavy silver holy crest rested right at the top of a deep pillowy cleavage that the fabric was working very hard to contain.
Beneath the flowing robes the outline of thick ripe thighs and broad flared hips moved with every poised elegant step she took toward them.
Mature. Gorgeous. Completely terrifying in the best possible way.
Rina and Kai bowed their heads immediately. "G-Greetings High Priestess," Rina murmured and pulled her coughing brother a little closer.
The priestess offered them a gentle serene smile and let her deep purple eyes move across the group before settling on the white-haired butler standing there with that smirk he hadn’t fully put away yet.
"How may the Sanctuary assist you today, child?"
Sylus cleared his throat and stepped forward with a polished aristocratic posture that he turned on like a switch. "Greetings Lady Priestess. As you can see this young boy is suffering from a rare advanced stage blood disease and the common antidote is absurdly overpriced so we came here hoping the holy light might grant him a second chance at a healthy life."
The Priestess looked at the frail coughing boy with her expressive purple eyes going soft with genuine sorrow and clasped her hands over her heart and let out a quiet regretful sigh.
"Oh my dear child..." Her sweet gentle voice carried real sympathy in it. "I am so terribly sorry but divine magic alone cannot purge a rare blood rot like his. It requires a specialized holy elixir made with sacred herbs and rare ingredients and because those ingredients are so costly to harvest our Sanctuary is forced to charge a fee to craft it. I can offer you a discount from what the commercial apothecaries demand but we simply cannot produce it for free."
The Priestess shook her head and looked down with a sad pained expression that somehow made her look impossibly sweet and delicate despite the very mature very voluptuous frame she was carrying it all on. "I am deeply sorry. If it were up to my heart alone I would heal every sick child in this city for free. But the Sanctuary’s resources are strictly managed and I have no authority to simply override that."
Cough! Cough!
Kai racked another harsh cough into his sleeve and leaned his full weight against his sister.
Rina pulled him close and her green eyes dimmed with the particular shade of despair that comes from hearing the same answer for the fourth time in a row. ’I knew it,’ she thought with her chest aching. ’Three different churches and countless medical guilds across the city and they all say the exact same thing. A noble butler’s word isn’t going to make a holy order hand over a fortune’s worth of medicine just because he asked nicely.’
"Is that so..." Sylus murmured and let out a quiet sigh and then a sharp enigmatic smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. "By the way Lady Priestess... would it be possible to speak with you in private for just a moment? The two of us."
The sweet Priestess blinked in mild surprise then gave him a warm agreeable nod. "Of course young man. We have a private reception parlor just through that archway and it is completely soundproofed so you may speak as freely as you need to."
She turned and her fitted black habit swayed gracefully over her lush sweeping hips as she led the way toward the quiet corridor ahead.
Before following her Sylus turned back to the siblings and gave them a cool easy wink. "Sit tight. I’ll be right back."
Rina stared at his retreating back with her brow furrowed all the way. ’What on earth is he planning now?! Is he going to try and negotiate with her?!’ A deeply unpleasant thought arrived right behind that one.
’Or worse... is he going to try his shameless seduction tricks on a Holy Priestess inside an actual cathedral?! In a soundproofed room?!’
Inside the cozy secluded guestroom the heavy oak door clicked shut behind them and sunlight filtered through a small stained-glass window and threw colorful patterns across the quiet floor.
Thud.
Sylus tossed a heavy cloth-wrapped pouch onto the small tea table between them. The top swung open and revealed a stash of rare illicit black-market herbs, high-grade narcotics restricted by the royal crown and very much not allowed inside a house of worship.
The Priestess went completely still.
The sweet innocent warmth drained from her face in about one second flat and what replaced it was something sharp and dangerous and nothing at all like the gentle holy figure who had greeted them at the altar.
Her purple eyes narrowed into cutting slits as they fixed on the contraband sitting there between them.
"What is the meaning of this filth?" Her voice dropped into something stern and genuinely menacing. "Are you trying to insult the holy order by bringing dark substances into a house of worship? What exactly do you think you are doing, boy?"
Sylus leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms and kept the completely unbothered grin exactly where it was.
"Oh drop the innocent holy maiden act, Luna," he said smoothly. "We both know you secretly rely on these exact herbs to refine your specialized high-tier light elixirs... and maybe enjoy a little private indulgence when the cathedral doors lock at night."
The Priestess’s eyes snapped wide open.
A visible shudder ran through her entire frame and her cheeks went bright crimson and every last layer of her composed holy-woman exterior shattered on the floor like dropped glass.
"Y-You..." Her voice came out trembling. "How do you know my true name?! Who sent you?!"
Sylus tilted his head and let his crimson eyes do the work for a moment and then stepped forward until he was close enough that she had to look up at him and the easy grin on his face had an edge to it now that had nothing casual about it.
"Not just your name, sweet Luna," he said quietly. "I know everything about you."