Because I have only recently Awakened, I have to return to the temple and stay for the lessons given to newly awakened Inheritors. It has only been five, maybe six, days since Mother died, but there's nothing I can do because no newly awakened Inheritor is allowed to leave the temple without having their newly discovered magic explained to them. I'm not sure how I got away with it; maybe Mariana told the High Oracle to let me see Mother one last time, or maybe it was because of Father’s influence as the king. Regardless, I was grateful to be able to see her for the last time, even if I won't be able to see her buried or mourn her properly.
“Mariana?” When I return to the Temporary Residence, I call out to Mariana, hoping that she will respond this time. “I won’t get mad, promise. I just want someone to talk to right now.”
Still no response from her.
I shift in my bed and turn to face the wall to my right, dissociating myself from the other girls staying in the dorm room with me, who are trying so hard but failing to remain silent. The small squeaks of the floor from the bed whenever they move and the muffled voices seem to amplify due to the room's silence and stillness.
“Did you know that my mother died while giving birth to my younger brother? I haven’t even seen him because seeing a newborn after seeing a dead person is considered unlucky. They say it will bring bad luck to the newborn,” I continue to speak to Mariana, even though I'm not sure if she can hear me. “But what if they claim he already had the bad luck from the midwives and healers who were present in the delivery room when she died? Will he be shunned by the public? What will happen to him, then? … Please… hey…” I plead for her to respond, but still nothing.
“I cannot wait to get into the House of Hundred Doors once the lessons are finished,” I overheard Lady Ayarinhi say quietly.
“Hadidi. I heard from my brother that it will be of great assistance to all of us because that place will allow us to gain experience,” says a cute, high-pitched voice that I am not familiar with.
“And also, whatever treasure we find is ours,” adds another, making everyone squeals. They try to keep their voices as low as possible, but I can still hear their conversation.
“Uhm…” A meek and quiet familiar voice that lightly shook interjects. “Could you please explain what House of Hundred Doors is? I am not well versed in anything relating to magic because I’m the first person in my village who isn’t a Zilch.”
“Hah! What are we going to do with you, you filthy peasant?! You don't even understand something so basic?” an irritated voice exclaims, forgetting that she is supposed to speak in low tones.
“Shkrishi!” Lady Ayarinhi hushes the person. “The princess…” She reminds everyone.
“So, what? She’s a filthy commoner, so I’m sure Dayang Iris is disgusted by her as well,” the other reasons.
My eyes shut open instantly after hearing what that person said; I stared intently at the wall, unmoving, waiting for her to continue what she was saying. I am already in a bad mood, and her remark added fuel to the fire. “Say more and I’ll punch you in the mouth,” I think to myself.
“I-I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have asked,” the girl with the meek voice says, embarrassed and humiliated.
“Hah! Of course, you should be sorry, asking such a simple question that everyone already knows the answer to.”
“Enough of that, Hayanara. You might wake the Princess.”
“I told you that there’s nothing to worry about. With all that has been happening to her recently, I’m sure that she won’t have time to busy herself with us. She is tired, so she must be in a deep sleep,” the Hayanara girl tells Ayarinhi.
“Even so, we cannot disturb Saridayang—”
“You’re the one who’s bothering me, Taotarus! Could you please stop bugging me? It irritates me. Also, how dare someone who isn’t even an heir to a title that has been bought speak to me in that manner?”
“I just— I was just…”
“Come on, spit it out, you fake!”
That’s it!
“And how dare someone who has taken etiquette lessons still be as stupid and as shit of a person like you?” I sit up in my bed and fix my gaze on Lady Hayanara. I have no idea who she is or where she comes from; all I know is that I’ve had enough of her. “You give Tutris Ayda a bad name,” I added when I finally remembered who she is. “Hayanara Romantika of blood I-don’t-care y Shut-the-fuck-up.”
“Eerk!” She accidentally bites her tongue out of shock that I've heard everything she's said and that I'm not sleeping. “Eurgh!” I can see beads of sweat forming on her brows and on the frame of her face. She is terrified, humiliated, and enraged all at the same time.
It is obvious that she intended to use me as leverage to bully others, given that the other children’s statuses are far lower in the hierarchy than hers. Because she is the only member of the upper nobility in the room, she may have assumed she is automatically my lackey. I'm pretty sure she did it to impress me, believing that I share her feelings about commoners. The way her eyes quiver, as if she were reading a book at ten times the normal speed of a person who reads normally without a rush, tells me she's racking her brain for excuses.
“Dayang Iris, I was just trying to discipline this ignorant commoner for you.”
“Hah!” I rolled my eyes, amused by what she said. “Even as a member of the Royal Family, I dare not imitate or say anything in the name of another, yet you, an outsider, dare to use my name and put dirt in my mouth, you filthy blue blood. You may have been misled by your title as a member of an upper-class House, but keep in mind that everyone else here is a commoner with no golden blood. It just so happens that you have more money than she does. Bark more and I will show you what a true noble is, you peasant.”
“What do you mean—?!”
“And it’s Saridayang,” I told her. “Know your country’s customs. Seeing how you flipped at someone you thought had a lower rank than you, I take back what I said; not only did you disgrace Tutris Ayda, you also humiliated not only yourself but also the House to which you belong.”
She had no choice but to retreat to her bed after the cat got her tongue, but I raised an eyebrow at her. She grinds her teeth, yanks her belongings, and drags her feet to the last bed near the door, away from everyone else.
It was only then that I noticed the heavy atmosphere in the room.
To lighten the mood, I smile at the others and greet them. “I am Iris, the first Princess and the eighth child of the King. I apologize for my sudden outburst.”
Lady Ayarinhi waves her hand in frantic. “No need—no need to apologize, Saridayang. It was our fault for waking you up. It is me who needs to apologize; I apologize, Saridayang.” She tips her head and bends her knee.
The others follow too and bend their knees as well. “Y-yes. We apologize.”
This isn’t my intention at all. Actually, I know I was harsh with Hayanara, but my damn pride won't let me apologize to her. They may be children, but they are not like children on the modern day Earth. These children are taught at a young age and are programmed to be mature at the age of ten, which is comparable to a modern Earth person in their late teens or early adulthood; they understand what I said. They can and are able to dissect the underlying message of everything — that they are nothing to me. That's not what I meant to say, but it came out that way because I opened my mouth before thinking. Stupid me. Good thing that they don’t resent me for what I said… Do they? I hope they don’t.
“There is no need for formalities; we are not in the Royal City, and status is irrelevant inside the temple,” I tell them. Did I just contradict myself? "Sit and relax." To put them at ease, I took the initiative and sat cross-legged on my bed with a pillow between my legs.
“Thank you, Saridayang Iris– I mean, Iri– Lady Iris,” Lady Ayarinhi stutters.
“Then shall I also address you as Lady Ayarinhi?” I ask.
“Ah! You know of me, Princess?” she asks, her face flushed with surprise.
“Hadidi, Lady Ayarinhi. You were next to me on my right during the Awakening Ceremony, and if my memory serves me correctly, you are now a Wind Elementalist. Oh, by the way, congratulations.” I smile.
“Waaah…!” Her face expresses her awe and admiration. “Thank you for remembering me even though we were only beside each other for a brief moment.”
I give her a friendly smile and address the others I recognize, while those I don't recognize one by one introduce themselves to me.
“You can call me Felicia, Saridayang. I Inherited a portion of Lupine’s powers. I am the first in my village to ever become an Inheritor,” she informs me with her meek voice, and I nod at her. “I was also beside you at that time, Saridayang. I was on your left,” she continues.
“I know. Your magical abilities were so powerful that some of the pebbles from when you awakened even flew in my direction and landed in my eye, despite the fact that we have more than enough space to avoid collisions. But don’t worry, everything turned out fine in the end.”
“Ah, you too, Saridayang. I was blinded for a second when the iris in your palm formed at last. Also, thank you for your kind words.”
“Please, do not address me as such. I already told you that you can address me as Iris here; if you’re uncomfortable still, then you can call me Lady Iris like everyone else.”
“I-I– I’m also included in that? I can also call you Lady Iris even though I’m just a villager?”
“But you own all the land in the village, though,” I comment, tilting my head as I put a finger on my chin.
She is shocked, but does not refute. I was right. Felicia is one of the characters in the book. Of course she is familiar.
“Really? Is that true Lady Felicia?”
“A—uhmm…” She contemplates a bit before timidly responding, “yes?”
“That’s why! I now remember. Your family’s plot of land is larger and more valuable than the Silivilas’,” Lady Kallipa says, referring to the House Lady Hayanara, the girl from earlier, is a member of. “And because the rule of inheritance differs from that of nobles, you would still have your own land in the future no matter what order of birth you’re in!”
“... Yes, that is indeed correct,” answers Felicia, her confidence growing as she realizes that people recognize her.
I look at the covered Hayanara near the room’s entrance and see how the sheets moved as she trembled in rage beneath it after hearing Felicia’s answer. Serves you right; having eyes but failing to see. Tsk!
The girls gather around her and ask her a lot of questions, making me feel invisible, which is nice because I can no longer bear the sparks in some of the children’s eyes who are just waiting for an opportunity to get close to me because I am the King’s daughter.
“But, uhm… I still don’t know what the House of Hundred Doors is; could you please enlighten me on this?” Felicia inquires after some time has passed.
“The House of Hundred Doors is a circular house with a hundred doors — excluding the entrance — so, in reality, the House of Hundred Doors has a hundred and one doors,” explains Lady Kallipa. “On the first floor, not counting the entrance, there are twenty-five doors, twenty-six if you include it. Each floor has exactly twenty-five doors, all the way up to the fourth.”
The symbols of the five gods are found at the top of each door. The Harmony of Five Elements is the large symbol on the door's entrance; at the top of that door is the symbol of Kismet. There are four doors on each floor with the same symbol, for a total of twenty identical doors in the House of Hundred Doors,” adds Lady Ayarinhi.
“The inside is different each time, and as we previously stated, you will be able to gain experience on using your magic under the guidance of the temple. This is a great opportunity for us who have only recently Awakened to control and hone our magical abilities,” another girl, Lady Aisha, says.
“That’s correct,” I say. “If you happen to enter the same door as someone else, don't worry; your trial isn't the same as theirs, so you won't see them inside.”
I already know what the House of Hundred Doors holds because it is on Inamorata, so this information is useless to me. There’s something that they didn’t know, the one hundredth and one door.
“There is, however, a rumor…” Lady Ayarinhi begins to speak in hushed tones, piquing our interest.
“Oh, yes. That rumor,” Lady Kallipa says, leaning her body towards us.
“What rumor?” I ask.
“It was the rumor of the one hundredth and one, Lady Iris,” Lady Ayarinh tells me. “They say the House of Hundred Doors has a secret door — the one hundredth and one — with the symbol of Kismet at the top. And when you enter that door, you will be confronted with a gift specifically designed for you from the Deity of All Creations himself; there are no challenges or quests to complete, because finding the one hundredth and one door is already the quest.”
Oh, they know about it.
“But those are just rumors, based on a story passed down from generation to generation. The door the story is referring to is actually the entrance itself, as it is the only one with the symbol of Kismet. Also, many people had wandered around and counted the doors on each floor, and there are exactly one hundred doors, one hundred and one if you count the entrance.”
... Maybe not.
The next morning, before the crack of dawn, an Oracle wakes us up and orders us to make our beds. And as we do, she stands motionless at the doorway, moving only her eyes as she watches us. “Follow me to the bathing area,” she says as she walks away without looking back, expecting us to follow.
When we arrive at the bathing area, we notice all the boys are already waiting with an Oracle in front of them. Out of the twenty-one children who succeeded in the Third Evaluation, eight are girls and five are boys, for a total of thirteen.
“You may bathe and then proceed to the dining area to eat your breakfast. You have until past sunrise to do as you please. However, do not wander off on your own. Those who do so will be punished and will be excommunicated. Keep in mind that there is no exception,” the Oracle assigned to our room announces before leaving us alone with the other Oracle.
“She always says that,” Lady Aisha remarks. “Same words, pacing, and pronunciation since the day we arrived.”
I crack a smile. “Seeing her expressionless face as she says those words with no emotions is better than hearing the High Oracle's creepy voice that seemed to be coming from six feet under.” Just thinking about it makes me shiver.
The girls, with the exception of Lady Hayanara, laugh quietly as we enter the bathing area. We all take a quick and silent bath in order to have more time to eat breakfast. It's my first time going to the temple's dining area, but thankfully, the girls didn't abandon me after they finished bathing and instead waited for me to finish bathing so that we could all go together. Lady Hayanara, as usual, is left out of the group.
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