Chapter 25 – A Race Against Time

For the next three days, I waited to see if any royal funeral rites would be held. But it seemed the Royal Family had chosen their reputation over mourning their only princess.

And so, Claire Cassandra vanished from this world silently – a cruelty that bordered on the farcical.

The only thing that mattered now was how much longer Rachel had to live.

If I were the King, I wouldn’t want to keep such a loose end around for long. Sooner or later, they would orchestrate an “official” death for the “Princess.” The most effective way would be for her to fall in battle; it would highlight the Royal Family’s ultimate sacrifice and bolster the people’s faith.

With Rachel’s abilities, she could easily escape on her own. The only problem was her younger sister, who was still being held hostage.

If I didn’t find where Sophia Hustler was being kept before the next mission was issued, Rachel would undoubtedly be the next to die.

It seemed this hostage rescue mission had to be moved to the top of my priority list.

I had originally intended to wait a while longer, until I was stronger and had established a solid network of connections. With my current standing, there was precious little I could do.

But the die was cast. Whether I liked it or not, it was time to move.

That night, I sat at my desk to compile every clue I had gathered.

Rachel and Sophia had grown up in a Church-run orphanage. The Royal Family had always kept Sophia under their thumb to force Rachel to serve as their shadow guard. When the Awakening Day arrived and Rachel received the Holy Mark, Sophia was officially moved into hiding.

Rachel mentioned she had searched throughout the Royal Palace and the estates of high-ranking nobles but couldn’t gain access to the Church’s secret facilities.

Furthermore, Claire seemed to be a favorite of the Church – she was always accompanied by serving priestesses. Perhaps it was because Claire’s appearance, with her golden hair and blue eyes, closely mirrored the traditional image of the Goddess Halunar. The Church likely wanted to exploit that iconography later on.

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Thinking back to my first isekai life, the fact that I was able to “accidentally” slip into the coronation and the divine blessing ceremony so easily was highly suspicious. I used to attribute it to luck, but looking back, it was likely because the Church’s efforts to pave the way for a fraud like Claire had created the very loopholes I slipped through.

So, one thing was certain: Sophia was in the hands of the Church.

The question was… where in the Church?