Lumi
I was once the Pythia, an oracle of Apollo. After marrying the late king, I became known as the Oracle Priestess.
When my husband died in battle, I faked my death and returned to the temple. From then on, I devoted myself to protecting the capital with the gods' blessing.
Then one day, they brought my daughter's body into the temple. She was covered in raw, unhealed wounds, and her eyes were still open.
The attendants tossed her body, wrapped in nothing but a straw mat, onto the floor. Then they stood nearby whispering.
"Poor princess. The king cared more about the Rose of Highcourt than his own sister. He let her suffer until her wounds became infected and she died in agony.
"King Theron was the one who sent her to the beastmen for a marriage alliance. Duke Charles was supposed to marry Princess Callista, but he later fell for Naia instead."
So that was what had happened. While I was hidden away in this temple protecting Ostan, my son had turned his back on his sister for another woman.
He let Naia take Callista's place, then sent his sister to live among savages.
Callista survived the beastmen and everything they did to her. When they were finally defeated, she must have thought she could come home and put it all behind her.
But Naia still wouldn't leave her alone. She bullied Callista every chance she got. Then she framed Callista for plotting to hurt someone, and Theron had her thrown into the dungeon.
As I held my daughter's body, I couldn't bear to imagine what she had gone through in that dark, waterlogged dungeon, where prisoners were interrogated on the upper level and executed below.
A corrupt kingdom like this didn't deserve the gods' protection. I begged the gods to forgive me.
If this was how they treated my daughter, then I no longer cared what happened to this country.