The Princess' Harem
Chapter 39: The Princess’ Smart Move

Chapter 39: The Princess’ Smart Move

Days passed, and the time for the ceremony finally arrived. The priests and paladins were busy with preparations, while the crowd had begun to gather inside the temple.

Everything seemed to be running smoothly until a sudden scream echoed from inside the temple. Panic ensued as smoke started rising from one of the side chambers.

"Fire!"

Priests rushed out of the temple, and several paladins could be seen trying to extinguish the fire, which had broken out in one of the temple areas.

Amid the chaos, Sina peered out from the door of the Princess’s chamber, noticing a female priest hurrying past the corridor. She quickly called out, "What happened?"

The female priest replied with urgency, "There’s a fire, quickly evacuate!"

Alarmed, Sina shut the chamber door without realizing it and followed the priest and others in a hurry toward safety.

Once everyone had left, Lindsay’s personal maid was seen sneaking down the now-empty corridor toward the Princess’s chamber. She opened the door and entered quietly.

Moments later, the sound of glass shattering echoed from the room. The maid emerged shortly after, leaving the chamber as stealthily as she had entered.

As the maid walked down the corridor heading out of the temple, a paladin spotted her and asked, "Hey, why aren’t you running outside with everyone else? We’re busy putting out the fire."

The maid froze, her face pale. She hadn’t expected anyone to be there, and she quickly tried to dismiss the question. "I was only checking to ensure everything is safe, Sir," she stammered, clutching the edge of her skirt tightly.

The paladin, seemingly unconcerned, waved her off. "Go outside immediately," he ordered. Without hesitation, the maid hurried out of the temple.

After half an hour of efforts to extinguish the flames, the fire was finally contained. The male priests and paladins inspected the area to ensure the fire hadn’t caused major damage or interfered with the ceremony.

Sina returned to the Princess’s chamber, but as soon as she stepped inside, she let out a scream that drew the attention of nearby female priests, who rushed to the room.

"What’s wrong now?" they asked, but their gaze froze when they noticed shards of colored glass scattered across the floor. The fragments came from a glass case and the ceremonial calice that was meant to be used for the ceremony.

The priests gasped in shock and hurriedly carried the broken calice pieces toward the ceremonial hall, where the High Priest, Viana, and Lindsay were waiting.

The female priests entered the hall, holding the broken calice pieces, and exclaimed in panic, "The calice in the Princess’s chamber is broken!"

Upon hearing this, the atmosphere inside the temple grew tense. The priests gathered in the ceremonial area, whispering amongst themselves.

Frightened, Sina moved closer to the Princess, who remained calm and composed. Viana leaned in and whispered something to Sina, who responded with a nod and quickly left the temple.

Meanwhile, Viana caught the confused gaze of Kaley, who was staring at her from across the room. She offered him a reassuring smile and nodded, receiving a hesitant nod from him in return.

The tension in the temple continued to rise as Lindsay suddenly turned to face the Princess standing beside her. With a sharp tone, she declared, "This is an unforgivable oversight! How could the calice have been broken under Princess Viana’s supervision?"

All eyes turned to Viana, who maintained her calm demeanor. "I don’t know how this happened," she replied steadily. "I’m confident my maid followed standard palace procedures, always ensuring the door was shut when leaving the room."

However, Lindsay was determined to seize the moment to undermine Viana. She placed her own calice on the table before the altar, a clear glass calice adorned with blue gemstones.

"That doesn’t absolve you of responsibility, Your Highness. You must take accountability since this ceremony is now at risk because of the broken calice," Lindsay said with a faint smile.

One of the paladins standing at the edge of the room suddenly spoke up, pointing toward Lindsay’s maid. "Wait. I saw that woman walking down the corridor from the direction of the Princess’s chamber while everyone else had evacuated the temple due to the fire."

The paladin’s statement caused a moment of silence as everyone turned to the maid. Feeling cornered, she glanced at Lindsay, who was now glaring at her, and tried to defend herself.

"No! I was only ensuring everyone’s safety, as instructed by My Lady!" she protested.

The murmuring among the priests shifted to discuss how strange it was for the maid to be in the temple’s right wing, where she didn’t belong. Her duty was to guard the calice assigned to Lindsay in the temple’s left wing.

Lindsay, now visibly flustered, quickly responded, "No, that’s impossible. My maid was only performing her duties. These accusations are baseless!"

Suddenly, the High Priest stomped his staff on the floor, demanding attention. "Silence, all of you! This is not the time for blame. The ceremony must proceed, and we only have one hour left. We must find a way to replace the broken calice!"

His face paled as Kaley, standing beside him, tried to calm him down.

The situation grew increasingly chaotic as no suitable replacement for the broken calice could be found.

Then, Viana’s clear, steady voice resonated through the room. "The broken calice in my chamber is just a replica. I had my Royal Guard create a copy as a precaution."

Everyone turned to her in astonishment, as Sina entered the ceremonial hall with a bright smile, carrying a wooden box.

She handed the box to the Princess, who opened it and revealed a glass calice with red gemstones surrounding it.

Viana lifted the calice before her chest and announced, "This is the real calice."

Then she placed the authentic calice on the altar beside the one Lindsay had brought.

The tension that had gripped the room eased as everyone breathed a sigh of relief, including the High Priest and Kaley, to see the real calice was still intact.