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Rain and clouds are both evil things which cover the sun.

"Livius the first should not have been born.”

—chapter, 004

Rani Aristels is the high priest from the Ministry of Priesthood of the Sun Kingdom who rejected the engagement of King Livius and Princess Nike while attempting to assassinate the latter. His grudge towards Livius seems to be driven by fanatic racism as his mother was a "barbarous concubine."

Appearance[]

Rani Aristels has dark silver hair that is short but the right length is braided. He has brown eyes and a fair complexion. He dons the standard Sun Priest attire.

Personality[]

He has a low opinion of the Sun Kingdom royal family, particularly Livius, whom he despises for being the child of a concubine yet became king and used his authority to strip the Ministry of Priesthood of its many privileges. This hatred extends towards Nike, whom he regards as a bad omen and will bring misfortune should she marry Livius and become queen. He is shown to have severe xenophobia, as he regarded Nike and Livius’ mother as bad omens who would bring misfortune to the Sun Kingdom due to them being foreigners.

History[]

By law, the Ministry of Priesthood has final say in who a member of the royal family can marry. When Livius and Nike announce their engagement, the Rani Aristels and the other priests refuse to accept Livius and Nike’s engagement on the grounds that Nike is a foreigner and foreigners have long been perceived to be bad omens. Nike and Livius are adamant they will marry and the priesthood offers Nike to take the "Rite of Illumination" to prove that she is worthy to be the wife of Livius. She must venture into a cave and navigate through an old temple to find an ancient ring to give to Livius as his wedding ring. Even though Livius is apprehensive as previous princesses have died during the ritual, Nike agrees to do it.

However, upon entering the cave to retrieve the ring, Nike finds the ring is missing and she is surrounded by Ministry of Priesthood members, including Rani Aristels, revealing that the Priesthood has used the Rite of Illumination for hundreds of years as a method of assassinating princesses they deemed unworthy to marry into the royal family. Rani Aristels attempts to assassinate her but she is saved by Livius, who snuck into the cave via a tunnel only the royal family knows about. Livius attempts to kill one of the priests but Nike stops him.

At the engagement party, neither Livius or Nike have an engagement ring, and Rani Aristels argues the engagement can’t be accepted since neither has a ring. Nike uses her power to create a white rainbow in a perfect ring around the sun, which angers Rani Aristels and he furiously reveals that Livius had entered the cave with Nike, which is against the law, also accidentally revealing the truth of their attempted assassination. Although Livius has the right to execute him, Nike offers Rani Aristels her forgiveness if he allows the engagement to proceed. When he finally agrees to accept the engagement, Nike punished him by punching him in the face and, as his future sovereign queen, she removes him from his position of the Ministry of the Priesthood. He tearfully acknowledges that Nike has made Livius a better king.

When the Ministry of Priesthood learns Livius has brought Cassandra (a witch) into the kingdom (which is considered sacred to the Sun God) to heal Nike after she is poisoned from an assassination attempt, they hastily call for a meeting to annul Nike and Livius’ marriage on the grounds of heresy. Rani Aristels disrupts them and reveals he knows the priests have been committing theft via hiring thieves to steal from noblemen and using the stolen taxes to enrich themselves. He offers to keep this a secret from Livius on the condition the marriage be allowed proceed and the priests reform their department, which the head priest begrudgingly accepts.


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