The servant could only imagine its interior, while Lady Evelyn found it dull and uninspiring, since it looked like any other Gothic cathedral.
What might Lucidism offer in terms of architectural design?
Other than that, the walls were plastered with posters of missing men and women, alongside warnings of creatures that prey upon innocents in secluded places.
More morbidly, multiple signs repeated the same messages with increasing urgency: Illicit substances are a poison to mankind! We must unite to stop it! Protest against the nobility! We must fight back!
"My Lady, it looks so depressing," Silvie remarked. Evelyn withdrew her hand from its gesture and chuckled softly.
"It is. Observe its condition, how filthy it has become. Truly a shame." Lady Evelyn's gaze fell upon the plastered posters, and a small smirk curved her lips, as if she were silently amused by their written contents.
Outside the cathedral were large, rusting dark gates. Its street was lined with tall, aesthetic, dark lamps, and people in the dullest black attire gathered for the upcoming mass.
"Can you guess which deity these people worship, Silvie?" Lady Evelyn asked. Silvie was taken by surprise, as her attention was still fixed on the cathedral and its disturbing posters.
"These people, My Lady?" Silvie had never once thought of the idea of a creator, but if she had to answer without hesitation...
"My Lady, they worship none..."
Lady Evelyn never ran out of amusement when it came to her new servant, yet the latter mistook her mistress's expression for perplexity.
"I... I am sorry if I have offended you, My Lady," she said, bowing in apology.
Silvie acknowledged to herself that religion played a vital role in a person's life, and she had neglected to consider it.
Lady Evelyn faced her, an alluring smile on her lips. "Raise your head. There is no anger in me. I am not particularly religious..."
The servant let out a quiet breath of relief as she steadied herself.
"You gave quite an interesting answer. Why is that, Silvie?" Lady Evelyn asked casually.
Silvie almost considered lying, brushing the question aside, but something told her Lady Evelyn valued honesty above all else.
Taking a slow breath, she said, "What kind of deity would allow this world to drown in ink and allow slavery to persist, My Lady?"
Lady Evelyn, at Silvie's words, wore a contemplative expression. She let her servant's thoughts reach her mind, carefully considering her next words. After a pause, she said, "I don't necessarily oppose the idea of a deity, but here in this empire, you might be surprised, many people... do not worship one."
The servant was understandably confused. "My Lady, if there is a cathedral, then there must be a religion, and wouldn't it be natural to assume that behind that religion lies a deity...?"
Lady Evelyn let out a deep breath as she gazed at the cathedral. "Unfortunately, these people do not worship a god."
Before Silvie could voice a question, her mistress cut her off. "Are you familiar with the belief of Lucidism?"
The servant shook her head in denial, though the word itself stirred an odd familiarity within her.
Perhaps it was nothing more than a coincidence, Lucidism might simply be the most dominant belief in Umbridge, a name she had overheard in passing during her forgotten past.
"Lucidism is the belief that a higher is absolute, and that those beneath it must merely follow. It is the firm law of hierarchy, established by the first Empress of Umbridge..." Lady Evelyn explained carefully, though her voice carried a faint undercurrent of bitterness.
Silvie's voice was low, "So it isn't faith in a god at all... It's obedience to absolute power..."
She hesitated, glancing at the cathedral again. "My Lady... do people truly accept such a belief without question?"
"...They do, and they have no choice. As you can see, these people are worshipping the Empress herself..." Lady Evelyn revealed, her words catching Silvie by surprise. The servant sought more context.
"My Lady... is the Empress like a goddess?" she asked, uncertain whether the sovereign could truly be worthy of worship.
From Lady Evelyn's change in demeanor, it was clear she held little respect for the current Empress. "Unfortunately, no. The Empress is a far lesser being, scarcely worthy of worship," she scoffed.
She paused before continuing, her mature voice was shaded with something between the emotions of reverence and regret. "The current Empress is a shame, Silvie. The first Empress... she was someone you might well consider a deity."
Silvie realized how much Lady Evelyn favored the first empress. Perhaps it was a difference in political ideology. She asked what had happened to the first empress, and Lady Evelyn shared a rumor, that she had been assassinated so the second Empress could ascend to the throne.
Silvie's curiosity deepened as the act of assassinating the previous empress went against the teachings of Lucidism. That was when Lady Evelyn immediately followed up, saying that the second empress had committed an act of blasphemy and did not follow the teachings of Lucidism.
"Then... the second empress must be an untrustworthy person..." the servant remarked. Lady Evelyn's eyes brightened with approval, a faint smile tugging at her lips as she praised Silvie's keen sense and intelligence.
"My Lady. The Empresses, may I know their names?" To Silvie's surprise, Lady Evelyn did not answer directly; she remained vague.
"The second empress is named Velisandre..." she said, though she did not reveal the name of the first empress, nor even the royal name of the second.
She explained that the true name of the first empress was a well-kept secret. She was known only by her title: "The Lady of Melancholy, Ego, and Pride..."
"What an interesting name..." Silvie remarked, solemnly.
In the middle of their conversation, Lady Evelyn gazed into the distance at the cathedral, her eyes rising toward the somber sky.
"Silvie, look up at the sky. What do you feel?"
Silvie obeyed, her blue-silver eyes alight with curiosity, until they fell upon a sight that momentarily stole her breath.
The graveyard above Gravenhurst...
"My Lady. Why does the sky... feel so empty?" She clutched her chest. A void, an unfathomable loneliness that lies behind the sky. It was too agonizing for her feeble heart, while a single teardrop escaped.
Lady Evelyn drew nearer, her fingers closing gently around Silvie's pale hand.
"At night, it becomes far more terrifying, enough to make you question whether any god exists at all..."
Lady Evelyn had promised to view it with her tonight, but Silvie felt it again, her mistress's chilling, corpse-like hand.
Yet in this moment, that touch pulled her out of the unexplainable isolation of merely gazing at the sky; for an instant, her lady felt like her mother.
"We should get a move on; we're gathering an audience here." She leaned in to whisper urgency in Silvie's ear.
"Isn't it hilarious that we're standing here while being followed?"
Chapter End...