President's Daughter's Bodyguard-Chapter 107: The Temple Of Waiting

Chapter 107: The Temple of Waiting

Argash entered the stone hall without making a single sound. Two ’Helenas’ were walking behind him, trying their best not to make him upset.

They were not sisters or had any relation. They were not even from the same region.

Yet inside this temple they were stripped of identity, stripped of names, stripped of the sound of who they once were. Every woman chosen for the cult became one thing.

’Helena.’

Helena was a vessel, a womb, a piece of flesh made for one task alone.

Argash’s nostrils flared up and this made the two women flinch.

One of them, who was a bit younger, pressed her forehead lower to the floor as if trying to make herself disappear into the cold surface.

The older one trembled but kept her back straight, desperate not to anger him.

Argash stopped and turned around to be in front of them.

He looked down with a face that held neither kindness nor patience, but it did have purpose and devotion.

"Raise your heads," he ordered.

The women obeyed instantly.

The younger one had tears drying on her cheeks. She tried to wipe them but Argash slapped her hand away. She gasped and kept her eyes down.

"You cry too much," he told her.

"I a-am so-sorry," she stuttered.

He struck her across the face with no patience. "Sorry is for people who fail once. You fail every day."

She swallowed and nodded, eyes filled with more tears.

The older Helena looked straight ahead, refusing to let the tears fall. Argash stepped toward her and grabbed her chin roughly.

"You," he called. "You were chosen three years ago. And yet you still have not given birth."

Her breath broke but she did not pull away. "I am trying."

"Trying," Argash repeated with disgust. "Trying is not enough. Trying is failure."

He pushed her away and she stumbled, catching herself on her hands.

He turned his back to them briefly, pacing with slow steps, and then his fingers clasped behind him like a teacher disappointed in his students.

"This temple is not a place for excuses. It’s not a place for weakness. It is a place for purity. The lord demands loyalty. The lord demands obedience. The lord demands children born under the sign. Yet you force him to wait."

The younger Helena sobbed quietly. Argash spun around and kicked the wooden bowl beside her, sending the stale food splattering across the stone floor.

"You don’t deserve to eat if you can’t fulfill your duty," he snarled.

The young woman trembled so violently she almost collapsed.

Argash crouched beside her and whispered near her ear, "Do you know what happens to a Helena who is useless?"

She shook her head in fear.

He smiled, a thin smile that had no human softness in it. "She is given to the faithful. Every hour. Every day. Until she either conceives or breaks."

The girl let out a terrified breath.

Argash rose again and turned toward the altar at the far end of the hall. Behind the stone slab was a tall metal frame carved with symbols of the cult. The candles around it flickered like frightened souls. The entire room smelled of incense.

He placed his hands on the altar and bowed his head.

"We are close," he whispered to the empty air. "The vessel is near. The true one. The ’Helena’ who carries the sign and the bloodline. The one we have waited for."

The older Helena dared to speak, but with a shaking voice. "You mean... the girl from the broadcast..."

Argash didn’t turn around.

"Yes...The girl they call Danielle. The one foolish enough to stand next to the man who mocks us. She carries what the lord desires."

He lifted his head slowly, and his eyes held a hunger that made both women recoil.

"She will return. They always return. The lord calls them."

The younger Helena whispered, "What if she does not come willingly?"

He walked toward her again and lifted her head by her hair.

"She will come...Because if she doesn’t, we will take her. And if the man tries to stop us, we will kill him."

He dropped her head and she fell forward with a small cry.

Argash paced again, his cloak trailed behind him.

"That man thinks he is untouched by fear," he murmured. "He thinks he is above us. He thinks he has control. But he does not understand devotion. He does not understand the lord. He does not understand that destiny does not bend for him."

He paused and glared at the two kneeling women.

"You think he can protect her. You think he can challenge us. You think he can stand before the lord."

The women shook their heads quickly.

Argash nodded with cold approval. "Good. You are not completely useless."

He stepped behind the older Helena and placed a hand on her shoulder. She flinched but did not move away.

"You will try again tonight," he said. "You will not sleep. You will not rest. You will pray until your voice breaks. And you will conceive, because the lord demands it."

She squeezed her eyes shut. "Yes."

He moved to the younger one and gripped her jaw again.

"And you will be taken to the purification room. If you cry again, I will remove your tongue. If you fail again, I will give you to the faithful."

"Yes," she whispered in panic.

Argash released her and walked toward the entrance of the hall.

"Prepare the altar," he said without looking back. "The lord must be honored. Candles must be renewed. Blood must be spilled. We will not greet the true Helena with an unclean temple."

The older woman bowed her head low to the ground. "We will prepare it."

Argash paused at the doorway. The torchlight made his shadow stretch across the stone floor like a serpent.

He spoke quietly, but with enough cold force to freeze the air.

"She will come tonight. She has no choice. The lord waits. And the lord does not wait kindly."

He left without dismissing them.

The door closed behind him with a heavy echo.

The two Helenas remained on the cold stone floor, their bodies shaking.

But Argash didn’t care.

He walked deeper into the temple, toward the chambers only the highest devotees were allowed to enter.

His heart beat with the satisfaction of a man who believed he was right, who believed he carried the purpose of something divine.

And as he stepped into the dim hallway, he murmured to himself,

"She is coming. The true Helena is coming. And the lord will not be denied."

Darkness swallowed his smile.