Priestess Of The Land

A few hours later, Lord Aten, Crei and Tria were on their way to Luna Lake. Tria did not put her face mask back on, however, she had changed her hair color to silver white.

On their arrival, they could already spot Noble Sabir and Lady Nadine awaiting.

"My Lord, " they had both greeted.

Noble Sabir and Lady Nadine both looked at Tria, however, their thoughts about her were different.

Noble Sabir was stunned at how similar Tria looked to the person he had always loved in secret, Elaine. If Lord Aten did not say she was his niece in advance, he would have thought that it was her.

Noble Sabir was also against Elaine leaving the Moon Land, but she had already left before he could try to stop her. When Elaine's friend returned alone, it was already forbidden by the Lord to mention anything about her, therefore he had never found about her whereabouts.

Meanwhile, Lady Nadine was clutching her fists to the point her nails had protruded into her palms. She has also noticed the resemblance to Elaine, her nemesis, she had always hated how beautiful she looked and how men were always trying to please her. Now, her daughter had come around with a man that she wanted to have. Nadine was infuriated, but she did not show it, because she already had a plan in place for her.

Tria did not miss any of the changes in their behavior, she was the priestess so of course, she could detect the animosity of Lady Nadine and the regret from Noble Sabir.

"Uncle, these people are?" she asked, pretending to be clueless.

"Hm, beloved niece, this is Noble Sabir, and Lady Nadine, " Lord Aten answered to her then turned to the pair, " This is my niece who has come from a long way."

"Ah, welcome, Miss...?" asked Lady Nadine, trying to get close to her.

Crei held Tria back and said to her, " You may address her as Princess."

"Princess?" Lady Nadine asked with an awkward smile, but she only got a stare from Crei as an answer.

She did not dare to ask any more questions, if Tria was a princess, what she had prepared to do to her could lead to the end her whole clan. She fell deep in thought at how to change her scheme against Tria.

Everyone noticed Lady Nadine's change in demeanor, which made the atmosphere heavy, but she was elbowed back to reality by Noble Sabir.

"Welcome, Princess, " said Noble Sabir awkwardly.

"Alright enough introductions, lead us to the temple, " interrupted Lord Aten.

These people were getting bolder and bolder, and he could not believe himself for letting them run rampant for so long.

'I must have truly gotten old,' Lord Aten thought to himself.

"Yes, my Lord, " answered Noble Sabir, as both he and Lady Nadine led the way.

The group walked around Lake Luna, which was named after the moon because it reflected its image, no matter its position.

Then they walked in between a few trees which led toward a large cave.

"This is it, my Lord, " said Noble Sabir, pointing at the large dark cave.

"This?" asked Lord Aten in doubt.

"Yes."

Tria furrowed her brows at the sight of the cave, she did not sense any purified energy around it, therefore there was no way that this was made by a priestess.

Instead, it was quite ominous, and the area surrounding it was too....clean.

"Have you had your men clean the area? It is extremely well taken care of..." asked Tria.

"Um, no Princess, where we are standing is the closest we can get to, this place has not been touched, and I actually did not notice this before, " Noble Sabir said as he thought of the remark.

"Interesting, and where are your men now? " asked Lord Aten. He had looked around and he did not see anyone, other than them.

"Ah, I usually have men keeping an eye for any changes but I have given them a break today since we are here," answered Noble Sabir.

"Is that right? How generous of you, so anyway, what happens when you try to get close?" Lord Aten asked.

Noble Sabir took a few steps and extended his hand forward causing a ripple in the space, showing a radiant transparent barrier in between the group and the cave. The barrier had rebounded his hand, indicating his denial for entry.

"Alright, so there is a barrier, but you also said only a priestess could enter. What made you think that?" asked Lord Aten.

That was what he was most interested about since it involved his niece.

"Over here, my Lord, " he answered while pointing towards the cave. Next to the entrance was a rune engraving a radiant sun with hands raised towards it in worship.

It was very similar to the engraving on the book inside Tria's golden temple.

Lord Aten did not know that but things became clear when Noble Sabir explained.

"That engraving was the symbol for the ancient priestesses, back in the day, this symbol would be on everything related to them," answered Noble Sabir.

"You seem to have researched quite a lot about the ancient priestesses," said Tria.

"Oh not at all, I am simply fascinated by them," he answered humbly.

"So fascinated that he had a hand in the killing of the last priestess," interjected Lord Aten.

"Oh my," answered Tria, acting shocked.

"Yes, you cannot trust him. He has even had his men surrounding us as we speak. I wonder why that is, Noble Sabir?" Lord Aten said as he turned to face Noble Sabir.

"Hahaha, trust me? When have you ever trusted me? And yes, I have my men surrounding you, when would I ever get another chance to do to you what I have always dreamed of? You know what? I have hated you since the day I went to ask for Elaine's hand in marriage and you had, not only rejected me, you had even had me trapped in a time loop for years, claiming it was because I was not worthy! Ha! Serves you right that she left, hahaha, " Noble Sabir had let out everything he has been wanting to say to Lord Aten.

However, Lord Aten was not surprised in the least. He was indifferently staring at the crazed Noble Sabir, while Tria stood by his side, along with Crei.

"I would reject you again and again if she had not left. You are still not worthy of her, you three-legged monkey!"

"Monkey?!" yelled Noble Sabir, being called a monkey was the worst insult for him and being called a three-legged one was not any better. He was now extremely infuriated, he brought his fingers to his mouth and whistled loudly.

Not long after, the sound of multiple footsteps had reached their location. Over one hundred men had surrounded the trio. Both Lord Aten and Crei had pushed Tria behind them while they faced towards the group.

However, unbeknownst to them, Lady Nadine had sneakily come behind Tria and had her hands up, preparing to cover Tria's mouth to drag her away.

Tria had long known that this woman had a bone to pick with her, but she did not know why, because she had never met her until today. However, that did not mean she will let herself fall prey to her, she knew she was coming up behind her, but she did not move.

Tria waited for Nadine's attack, but that woman was more sinister than she had imagined because she had blown some kind of powder behind her neck.

"Hahaha, you and your mother are always in my way, I do not care whether you are a princess or not. That handsome man can only be mine, " Lady Nadine whispered so only Tria could hear.

By the time Tria could understand what happened she had already inhaled the sweet smell of the powder, and she could not believe that it was an aphrodisiac.