Chapter 372: Feckless Heathen (2).

’I hate this…’ Sevet thought to herself.

She was not particularly smart, nor was she gifted in the art of craftsmanship or prophecy.

She also believed she wasn’t beautiful by any means either, which meant she couldn’t even be married off to some rich noble house to spend her days in tranquil nothingness.

She sucked in a deep breath.

The Sacred Doctrine was something every child of nobility was familiar with. Education was the privilege of the wealthy and influential. The higher the status of a noble house, the better informed their children would be about everything.

It was often seen as a measure. A test of the strength of one’s lineage. As her background was obviously not very strong, Sevet did not know much.

Still, she had done her due diligence and studied hard. That meant the routine classes that thought Sacred Doctrine were a waste of time.

Both for her and everyone else here.

Well, almost everyone…

She turned her head slightly. Seated just a few rows behind her, staring intently at the tall bespectacled man standing on the raised dias at the front of the room was the handsome commoner boy.

Staring at him, Sevet felt her heart skip a beat.

’Beautiful…’

All her life, she had only known hardy men, with scruffy beards. She had never seen such a beautiful man before. His skin was white as chalk and snow. His hair and eyes were darker than her nightmares.

He was both mysterious and beautiful, but also terrifying and yet tragically lonesome.

In this moment, she could see something in the depths of his dark eyes. A burning curiosity. A desire for knowledge.

It was fascinating.

Almost immediately however, she was broken away from her reverie as she felt someone approaching from behind. She turned slightly.

Drev had appeared at her shoulder.

Drev Bolton of the House Bolton.

House Bolton was one of the more powerful and fairly more well off houses in Liedenstorm. The family even controlled two trade routes; one that led to Orm, and another that led to Beorstone, which made them very wealthy.

He had full brown hair and eyes, and always seemed to wear a humored grin. He was also handsome with a large physique compared to others. From what she knew, he didn’t have a very good reputation.

Still, there was no doubt he was a strong seeded candidate with a high chance of getting good support in the coming trials if not for his own ability then for the wealth of his parents.

She had barely had any encounters with him before this.

“You’re from the middle district, right?” he asked, though it didn’t sound like a question.

“Mm,” she said softly.

“Thought so.” His eyes drifted forward then quickly returned to her, “House Sorn, right? Your father handles merchant contracts for the inner district guilds.”

Sevet’s brows twitched,

“He does.”

Drev nodded slowly then hummed. “My family had dealings with him. Three years ago, maybe four. Salt trade dispute with one of the Verdant Ash Sea supply chains.” He paused.

“I know,” Sevet said with a small nod, “There was a request to reroute the distribution throughout the entire empire.”

Drev chuckled,

“Indeed. I heard he managed to earn your house quite a pretty penny from that. Our houses already have a good history of working together, it seems.”

She could already see where this was going.

A small smile appeared on her face,

“Of course.”

Drev grinned, “Then you wouldn’t mind working together during the trials, would you?”

A classic case of recruitment.

Sevet knew better than to refuse.

Sevet shook her head, “Of course not.”

Not only would working with the young master increase her chances of survival during the trials, it would also give her a modicum of a chance of better conditions after the fact. Getting thrown straight to the frontlines immediately after the trials concluded was no better than dying the moment it started.

If she could attach herself to the hip of this young master, then she had to grab the chance as fast as possible.

Of course, something like that would come at a cost. But she didn’t have much to lose. After all, this young master couldn’t possibly be after her for her body.

She had no redeeming qualities. If anything, she guessed he wanted her just to increase the numbers he already had around him, further strengthening his position.

She did not mind that at all.

As she spoke however, she couldn’t help her gaze drifting back to him…

***

After every morning training session, there would always be another training session around noon before lunch was served in the mess hall.

The second session was always harder.

Even ignoring the absolutely terrible weather and spiteful chill that gnawed right at the bone, the individual assessments, with each candidate cycling through a short combat sequence while Roth watched and marked his ledger and gave nothing away in his expression seemed even worse.

As future Templars, less could not be expected of them.

Sweat, blood and tears. They were meant to shed it all. To burn it as a sacrifice of suffering.

But even with how terrible it was, it still did reveal a lot of information. About herself, but mostly about the other candidates

Still, that amount of time was barely enough time to formulate something concrete. Still, she had what she had, which was less than she wanted and more than she’d had yesterday, and that would have to be enough.

Roth dismissed them once the cathedral bells rang across the yard.

Sevet glanced up at the sky. It had taken on a red hue as the sun began to descend down the horizon. Before she could even realize it, dusk had come.

She let out a sigh.

The candidates dispersed without much conversation, filtering back toward the Red House.

She walked into the shadow of the Red House as well. The cold stone closed around her.

The coming of dusk meant dinner and a long awaited rest after an eventful day.

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