Chapter 3 (Part 3)

After the prayer, he guided the participants to their accommodations. Each of them was assigned a private room, with their names written on the doors.  

Upon entering her assigned room, Cecilia found that while the furniture and decorations—such as the bed, table, sofa, and fireplace—looked old, they seemed sufficient for living comfortably for 100 days.  

Cecilia opened her bag and carefully hung up the dresses she had brought with her on the wall.  

According to Priest Gilbert, they were required to wear the clothes provided by the temple, so there would hardly be any occasion to wear her dresses during the event. Still, she hung them up to prevent them from getting wrinkled.  

The reason for providing separate clothes was to distinguish between participants and non-participants. During free time, they were allowed to move around the temple freely, but the rule was in place to prepare for any situation where control might be necessary.  

After organizing her room and changing into the temple-provided clothes, Cecilia joined the other young ladies as they headed to the dining hall. Since maids were not allowed, they had to move on their own, receive trays of food, and sit at their designated seats.  

For dinner, they were served a warm stew with bread and salad.  

“The food is quite modest.”  

While Cecilia ate quietly, the young lady sitting next to her wore a dissatisfied expression.  

“Indeed.”  

The young lady sitting across from her agreed. It seemed the modest food, combined with the strict rules and the old accommodations, had left them feeling discontent.  

Cecilia merely listened silently to their complaints. She had already anticipated that the treatment here wouldn’t be good from the moment her father suddenly decided to send her to the temple. It didn’t surprise her. She only hoped to get through the 100 days without trouble.  

But such hopes were nothing more than fleeting expectations.  

When Cecilia returned to her room after dinner, she saw some young ladies who had arrived earlier arguing with Anna, the Priestess in charge of their accommodations. Once again, it seemed they were dissatisfied with the instructions they had received.  

“Why should I have to do such a thing?”  

“Maids are not allowed here. You must do your own laundry. Everyone is responsible for their own belongings.”  

Unlike the agitated young ladies, the Priestess responded calmly.  

“How does that make sense? I’ve never done laundry before. How am I supposed to do it? Isn’t there someone at the temple who handles laundry?”  

“There is, but we are short-staffed, so it’s difficult to take care of the participants’ laundry as well.”  

“Then at least let us bring our maids here!”  

“That is not allowed.”  

“Then can I at least have my maid come by every day to pick up my laundry?”  

“That is also not allowed.”  

“What’s the problem now?”  

The protesting young lady looked visibly frustrated.  

“Temple garments cannot be taken outside the temple.”  

“Damn it!”  

She let out a curse unbecoming of a lady, shouting in anger.  

“Please watch your language. This is the temple.”  

After reprimanding her, the Priestess turned to the other young ladies and continued,  

“You’ve heard the conversation, haven’t you? You must do your own laundry, but there are some rules to keep in mind. There are specific times when you can use the bathroom and laundry room, so you cannot use them outside of those hours.”  

“Why are the times restricted?”  

One of the young ladies asked, raising a question about the Priestess’s statement.  

“Because the facilities are not reserved for the young ladies alone. The schedule is designed to minimize overlap with others.”

After finishing her words, Priestess Anna politely bowed and walked leisurely down the hallway.  

Until the sound of her footsteps faded, the young ladies in the hallway remained silent, glancing at one another nervously. It seemed they were flustered by the mere thought of having to do something they had never done before.  

When their protests proved ineffective, the young lady who had been yelling earlier gathered her acquaintances and began whispering in hushed tones.  

Seeing them plotting something gave Cecilia a sudden sense of foreboding. She felt that if she stayed here, she might end up in trouble, so she hurriedly tried to return to her assigned room. That was when it happened.  

“Hey, you there, the blonde girl with the single braid, stop for a moment.”  

Among the people in the hallway, Cecilia was the only blonde girl with a single braid. She couldn’t ignore their call, so she slowly turned her head back.  

“What is it?”  

“It looks like you’ll have to do our laundry. Oh, not by yourself, of course. You there, and you too.”  

They pointed at two other young ladies besides Cecilia. Like her, they were young ladies from humble families in remote regions.  

In an instant, the hierarchy among the young ladies was established, and they picked those they considered the lowest-ranking to do their bidding.  

“You can each take care of two people’s laundry.”  

The expressions of the young ladies who had been singled out darkened immediately.  

“Why should I do it?”  

“I don’t want to.”  

“Isn’t everyone supposed to take care of their own chores?”  

The young ladies targeted along with Cecilia were the Lady of Norfolk and the Lady of Orkney. They all expressed their refusal. Even though they didn’t come from prestigious families, they were still treated with respect within their own households—except for Cecilia, of course.  

“What’s the problem with doing ours along with your own laundry?”  

“Didn’t you hear what the Priestess said? Everyone is supposed to handle their own tasks.”  

“That rule applies to people from insignificant families like yours, not to us.”  

“Excuse me?”  

As the argument grew heated, the voices of the young ladies became louder and louder.  

“What’s going on here?”  

Hearing the commotion, Priestess Anna approached them once more.  

“Let’s discuss this later.”  

Knowing that fighting in the temple would lead to trouble, the young ladies glanced at one another before quickly retreating to their rooms before the Priestess arrived.  

Sigh.

Cecilia also entered her room and closed the door, letting out a deep sigh. Reflecting on the tense atmosphere from earlier, when a fight nearly broke out, she couldn’t help but think that her life in the temple would not be easy.  

I hope nothing happens….  

***

As if her ominous premonition was correct, the bullying started the very next day. Even the young ladies who hadn’t participated the day before joined in, targeting Cecilia and the other two young ladies.  

It began with tripping them whenever they passed by in the dining hall. It seemed their intention was to humiliate them in front of everyone.  

Avoiding a foot while carrying a tray of food was no easy task. As a result, Cecilia ended up falling to the floor along with her food, showing an unsightly appearance.  

“Oh my, I’m so sorry.”  

The young lady who tripped her smiled as she offered an insincere apology.  

“It’s fine.”  

“You should have been more careful. Haha, look at that ridiculous sight.”  

Although an apprentice priest came to clean up the spilled food and broken plates, Cecilia couldn’t continue wearing her soiled temple garments.  

Because of that, she had to skip her meal to change her clothes.  

Missing a meal wasn’t a big deal, but falling over and failing to maintain her dignity as a noble young lady was humiliating. She had been taught that a true lady should never fall, no matter who tries to trip her.  

After that, she became more cautious while walking. This time, instead of tripping her, they began stepping on her feet.  

Although the temple-provided shoes had low heels, making it less painful, being stepped on was still uncomfortable.  

The harassment was petty and not severe enough to report to the Priestess, so Cecilia had to endure it. The same went for the Lady of Orkney and the Lady of Norfolk.  

When their methods didn’t seem to work, the bullies changed tactics. Avoiding the eyes of the Priests, they surrounded Cecilia in groups and began threatening her.  

“Hurry up and take my laundry! How is it fair for me to wash my own temple garments?”  

“Mine too!”  

Their harassment grew more blatant and severe as time went on, eventually escalating to physical threats. They began targeting areas that wouldn’t leave visible marks, using violence to intimidate Cecilia.  

Unable to bear it any longer, Cecilia reported the situation to Priestess Anna, but nothing changed.  

“Didn’t you just trip and fall? Noble young ladies wouldn’t behave in such an ungraceful manner.”  

Through her conversation with the priestess, Cecilia realized a few things. First, not all priests were pure-hearted.  

Some priests openly showed greed for money, while others looked at the young ladies with inappropriate gazes.  

It seemed their assigned priestess belonged to the former category. Perhaps the bullies had bribed her, as she ignored their harassment despite knowing about it.  

“Should we try bribing her too?”  

Although the Lady of Norfolk didn’t want to stoop to their level, the situation left her with little choice.  

“How much do you have?”  

“Not much.”  

“Me neither.”  

After checking, they realized that none of them had much money. It was now clear why the bullies had chosen them—they were all from lower-ranking noble families.  

Of course, Cecilia was in the worst position of all. She had come to the temple completely penniless.  

“I guess we’ll just have to do their laundry.”  

“Yeah, seems like it.”  

Realizing they had no means to fight back, the three young ladies decided to comply with the arrogant young ladies’ demands. They thought it was better to do the laundry than to continue enduring the harassment.  

Fortunately, the only task they were ordered to do was laundry. After taking on the responsibility, the bullying stopped as if it had never happened.  

Considering all they had endured, it seemed unlikely that things would end so easily, but for now, they were relieved that it was over.