I add points to Indian martial arts.

The next day, the morning light filtered through the veil of clouds on the horizon, casting a faint golden-red hue over the outlines of the eastern mountains.

Such morning light signifies the official start of the Torch Festival.

Sura sat upright before the bronze mirror, her two personal maids, Pushpa and Mara, busily attending to her. One used a fine cotton thread soaked in rosewater and sandalwood sap to clean the fine hairs from Sura's forehead, while the other used a small silver spoon to scoop out a mixture of orange-red and turmeric perfume from a mother-of-pearl inlaid lacquer box and carefully applied it to her smooth arms and collarbone. This was a traditional ritual for purification during the festival, and the fragrance was pure and sacred.

On such a day, Suleza naturally had to dress up in her finest attire.

After a while, once her makeup was finished, Suleisa nodded in satisfaction. She then said to the two maids beside her, "You two will come with me to the temple later. Also, you two go find the steward now and ask him to give you some pago in my name."

"Yes, Devi." The two maids nodded respectfully.

The pako is the name given to silver-copper alloy coins in Napur and several neighboring princely states. A standard pako weighs about three-quarters of a "tora" (about 8.7 grams). Because it is mixed with a sufficient amount of silver during its minting, the coin is often stamped with a profile of the ruler or a picture of Lakshmi seated on a lotus. Its purchasing power is quite considerable, and it can be exchanged for about half a year's worth of high-quality wheat for a poor family.

……

After a while, the two maids returned with the money. Suleisa took it and then led the two of them out of the house. Her mother did not accompany her to the Torch Festival because women who had given birth could not go out until the afternoon.

The first important ritual of the Torch Festival is for all unmarried girls and childless young women to go to the Lakshmi Temple, offer flowers to the goddess of wealth and good fortune, carve auspicious patterns on the stone slabs in front of the temple, and chant the ancient hymn "Shri Sukta" in unison.

The Lakshmi Temple that Suleisa was going to was built hundreds of years ago with money from all the surrounding villages, and twenty years ago, her father spent a large sum of money to renovate it.

Yes, her father was a generous and wealthy businessman. He funded the construction of the Lakshmi Temple in town and also paid for the maintenance and repair of the village temple.

Therefore, Suleisa always felt that her receiving the Dachmansi Holy Flower for several consecutive years was largely related to her father's wealth.

She knew she was the most beautiful, but she also knew that beauty was worthless without wealth and power.

Suleisa is certain that she wouldn't have been chosen if her father hadn't been Raqqa.

After walking for about twenty minutes, Suleisa and her two maids arrived at the temple. The square in front of the temple was already filled with laughter and chatter, with young girls and women gathered together, talking and laughing.

"Sulesa Devi, you've arrived." As soon as Sulesa arrived at the temple entrance, two temple servants dressed in clean white robes hurried to greet her and bowed deeply. "The blessing ceremony has not yet begun, and Navyadevi is resting in the inner sanctuary on the west side. Please move inside to avoid the sun and dust."

Before the prayer ceremony officially began, the daughters of wealthy merchants naturally had special privileges, since the temple still relied on their fathers for financial support.

Therefore, the daughters and women of poor and powerless Shudra and Vaishya families waited outside the square, while the daughters of wealthy merchants could go inside the temple to rest.

At these times, Suleza would have a strange feeling. She knew she shouldn't have it, but the sense of superiority just arose involuntarily. Especially when the temple servants greeted her respectfully, she could clearly feel countless gazes behind her—envious, flattering, and aweful—sticking to her back as if they were real. A strange feeling, a mixture of pity and superiority, would rise involuntarily from the bottom of her heart.

A sense of superiority is always born most strongly from comparison.

"Pushpa, you two take these pagos and distribute them to the poor families in the square. Remember not to give too many, one pago per person is enough." After thinking for a moment, Suleisa instructed the two maids beside her. The two maids nodded and immediately took the bags of coins and started walking towards the square.

In the square, there were some women who were dressed in tattered clothes, were dark-skinned and thin, and clearly came from poor families. There was even a dark-skinned and thin girl who was dressed in tattered clothes and was holding her younger sister, begging in the crowd, saying that she had not eaten for several days and that her sister was starving to death.

"Thank you for the mercy of Suran Shadvi, may the goddess always protect her well-being." The thin, dark-skinned girl of fifteen or sixteen years old hugged the paco that her younger sister had received, and tears streamed down her face. She had three younger brothers at home, and they usually didn't have enough to eat. But with this paco, her family could have enough to eat for six months, and if they used it frugally, they could even last a year!

As the two maids distributed the pago, soon a chorus of praise and gratitude for Suleisa filled the square.

Suleisa watched this scene with satisfaction, thinking, "Even the gods can't feed them, but I can."

So, my tiny bit of superiority is something that can be forgiven by the gods, right?

……

The temple is spacious. In the west wing, a huge banana leaf is laid on the ground as a natural plate, on which are arranged the temple’s prepared Pulsda: golden fried sweet dumplings, cheese balls coated with frosting, pink balls soaked in rose syrup, and rice mixed with coconut flakes.

Several wealthy merchants' daughters who had arrived early were already sitting around banana leaves, eating delicious food and chatting. They were all dressed in very luxurious clothes.

"Suleisa, you've arrived." A round-faced daughter of a wealthy businessman stood up happily when she saw Suleisa enter. This was Navia, who was Suleisa's closest friend.

Suleisa greeted them with a smile. She was classmates with Navia and the other daughters of wealthy businessmen. Back then, their fathers paid for them to learn etiquette and classical poetry from the goddess attendants at the temple.

Thinking of that goddess attendant, Suleisa pictured the cold face of a strict middle-aged woman; the goddess attendant had been very harsh on them back then.

She wondered at the time, why is someone so beautiful so rigid and strict?

Suleisa smiled slightly and sat down next to Navia. The group chatted and laughed, talking about trivial matters between women, such as the colors and patterns of this year's clothing fabrics, and a certain new Parvati musician.

A moment later, a sharp, insulting female voice suddenly rang out from outside the temple: "Are you blind? How dare you block my way!"

Navia craned her neck to look outside upon hearing the sound: "It looks like Napri has arrived. It seems a woman is blocking her way, and she's ordering her servants to attack."

"Honestly, you don't even need to look outside to know it's Naples from that sarcastic voice. Ever since she married Piro, she's become so irritable and arrogant," said a wealthy businessman's daughter with dissatisfaction. She had been mistreated by Naples a few days ago.

"Sigh, who can blame her for being so successful right now? She's married to Piro and is favored, and she even helped her father get control of the Blackstone Mine. I heard that in a few years, her father might become the richest man in our area," said another wealthy merchant's daughter, glancing cautiously at Suleisa as she spoke.

Laka is now the wealthiest businessman in this village area.

Suleisa remained silent, her face expressionless, and simply picked up the copper cup in front of her and took a sip.

The copper cup contains "Rasi," a drink prepared by the temple. It is a traditional cold drink made with fresh buffalo milk, rich curd, a little honey, crushed cardamom, and saffron. Served in a copper vessel, it has an added touch of metallic coolness and is a perfect treat for cooling off during festivals.

The coolness calmed Suleza's slightly agitated state of mind caused by Naples.

The commotion outside the palace didn't last long. Soon, a series of hurried and slightly heavy footsteps sounded, accompanied by the tinkling of jade pendants, approaching from afar. The next moment, Napuri, dressed in a bright pink sari with gold trim, walked into the inner palace with her head held high.

To be fair, Naples was quite pretty, especially her large eyes. Her skin was a little dark, but it didn't affect anything. Overall, she was quite beautiful.

Of course, Napri's beauty is only relative; compared to Suleisa, she appears ordinary.

As soon as Napu entered, the wealthy young women who had just been criticizing her for being mean instantly changed their expressions, greeting her with enthusiastic smiles.

"Sister Napuri, you've arrived." Several wealthy merchants' daughters offered flattering welcomes, leaving only Surasa and Navia unmoved by the banana leaves.

Napriy demurely enjoyed the company of her companions, her gaze inadvertently sweeping over them and seemingly casually landing on Suleisa, who remained seated and sipping her Lasi. A barely perceptible smile played at the corners of her lips.

"Sister Napuli, the jewelry around your neck is so beautiful, where did you buy it?" asked the daughter of a wealthy businessman.

Napu smiled reservedly and said it was so-so. She casually mentioned that it was a favorite among the noblewomen of Brahman and Kshatriya cities like Labdah. As she spoke, she glanced at Suleisa.

Surisa's fingers, gripping the copper cup, stiffened for a moment, because she recognized the jewelry around Prie's neck as the one her brother had given her that day. And what's more, this annoying woman actually used her lines!?