Chapter 14: Rafina, Empress Prelate

Their talk continued well into the morning, and Mia stifled a yawn as she made her way to the cafeteria for breakfast. She'd left Bel in her room with instructions to wait for Anne, who should be bringing some breakfast back for her. After arriving at the cafeteria, she sat down at a table with her usual retinue and, after downing a mouthful of sweet milk fresh from the udder, promptly tuned out their chattering as she turned her mind to Bel's story.

Empress Prelate Rafina... What a tale that was. Even now, I still find it hard to believe.

The Holy Principality of Belluga was a small nation with no military. Rather, as the seat of the Central Orthodox Church, whose influence spanned the entire continent, its power was established upon a foundation of religious authority. Belluga had no king. Instead, it worshiped the one and only God as its lord and sovereign, making the Duke of Belluga — the highest ranking individual in the principality who was theoretically appointed by God — the functional head of both church and state. The absence of a military presence and refusal to claim the title of King was, therefore, an expected humility to offset the absolute power afforded the Duke. It was meant to be a check on the Duke's power...

And yet, Rafina still went and crowned herself Empress. Not only that, she raised her own army.

The conversation she'd had with Bel resurfaced in her mind.

"The Empress Prelate Rafina called for war against the heretical society of the Chaos Serpents," said Bel. "She militarized Belluga by recruiting volunteers from neighboring kingdoms and organizing them into the Holy Aquarian Army."

"Miss Rafina did that?"

Rafina certainly had made her intention to fight the Chaos Serpents clear. She'd even solicited the aid of Mia and the others. But that wasn't the same as raising her own army and heading off to war. The latter was something Mia hadn't expected.

"That's not all. She also renamed the Holy Principality of Belluga, turning it into the Holy Belluga Empire, and started demanding allegiance from nearby kingdoms."

"I-Isn't that half a step away from outright invasion? What in the moons pushed her to do something like that?"

"She wished to establish a thorough and absolute system of control, the enforcement of which would prevent all further acts of sabotage. Employing the Holy Aquarian Army as her personal military, the Empress Prelate sought the complete eradication of all latent heretics hiding amongst the populace... is what Mr. Ludwig said."

Mia grimaced at Bel's lackluster impression of Ludwig. Fortunately, the real thing wasn't here to witness it.

"The complete eradication of all heretics... The scale of that... and the violence involved. What a terribly disturbing thought. With Tearmoon in such turmoil, didn't Sion from the Kingdom of Sunkland do anything?"

"Unfortunately, Sunkland was dealing with their own internal conflicts. There was a faction of nobles that wanted the kingdom to join the Empress Prelate's cause, while the Libra King Sion and his allies were opposed to her methods."

Even Sion, known for his unwavering commitment to good government and just rule, was faced with a fractured kingdom. Such was the weight of the Holy Lady's words.

"The wave of division eventually washed over Tearmoon too. Out of the Four Dukes, two sided with the Empress Prelate, while the other two aligned themselves with King Sion. In the end, the faction that joined the Libra King lost. As a result, the empire fell under the control of the Holy Aquarian Army."

"You know, based on what I've heard so far, it sort of sounds like this was all Rafina's fault. I mean, all the problems seemed to have originated with her."

Mia had figured the Chaos Serpents would be the source of all this strife, but that didn't appear to be the case.

This is a total paradox. Rafina enforced a stricter system of control to get rid of the Chaos Serpents, but because she did that, the world ended up going downhill. That would make Rafina the ultimate source of all this chaos, and that just isn't right.

Even now, she still found it hard to believe that Rafina was capable of all that.

"Why? Why did she do it?" asked an incredulous Mia.

"Because..."

"Because?"

"...I'm sorry. I think Mr. Ludwig might have said something about that at some point, but I'd dozed off."

My, this girl's got some guts to be dozing off in the middle of a lesson from Ludwig. She must have gotten an earful from him afterwards.

The sheer audacity of the act was remarkable, and she couldn't help but be slightly impressed... until she heard what Bel said next.

"Ehehe, Mr. Ludwig's always so nice to me, so I kept falling asleep..."

Mia stared agape at Bel.

"N-N-Nice to you? Ludwig? Nice?" she asked in a trembling voice.

"Yes. He treated me very well. It was my fault for falling asleep, but he would always apologize and say he must have taught in a boring way. He would always praise me, too. Sometimes, he'd pat me on the head and tell me I was a good girl just for staying awake and listening until the end of the lesson. He was my favorite teacher and I loved him very much."

Wha— Hold on a minute, Ludwig! What is this discrepancy in attitude?! I won't stand for this! It's discrimination! I've been wronged by an egregious display of discrimination!

Of course, Mia had been somewhere between sixteen and seventeen when she was reprimanded for snoozing during lessons, whereas Bel had been about ten. That alone would warrant a difference in attitude, but such details were quickly incinerated by the flames of her dubiously righteous indignation.

By the time she'd finished her breakfast, the morning sun was well over the horizon.

I didn't really get anything useful out of her after that. Maybe she'll remember something else later though. That story about Rafina though... I wonder...

Coincidentally, just as she was prepared to leave the cafeteria, she spotted Rafina about to do the same.

"Good morning, Miss Rafina."

"My, Mia. Good morning to you too. What's the matter? You seem a little tired."

Rafina gave her a gentle smile, which Mia intended to return in kind, but with limited success due to a yawn she had to stifle.

"I'm... a little short on sleep today. More importantly, there's something I'd like to discuss with you. Might you have some time during lunch?"

"Why, how curious it is for you to say that. There just so happens to be something I'd like to discuss with you as well. I'll see you at lunch, then."

Whereas Rafina's expression brightened, Mia's turned into a puzzled frown.