Ch 1. Saint of Astanya
A dark room where the sun does not enter even though it is broad daylight.
A small voice rang out between the two women sitting facing each other.
“Huh…..So. My husband, This bastard, is having an affair with the maid again….”
A middle-aged woman wearing a hat with a colorful veil took out her white handkerchief from her bag.
She lifted her handkerchief, blew her nose once, and looked at the woman in front of her.
“People in the world won’t know his true identity. To the outside world, he is a famous scholar who is loved and respected by the world. No one will believe me, right?”
“………”
“His true form is that he is an extremely ugly perverted sexual fanatic…..Everyone is deceived by him…ah! How many times has this happened….”
The middle-aged woman couldn’t hold back her tears.
“How can I live now….What do I do with my children who don’t know anything? huh?”
“…….”
Across from the woman who kept shedding tears, Bella sat quietly in her chair, like a painting.
At first glance, she looked like she was thinking deeply as she lowered her eyes to the floor as if lost in thought. At the same time, she also seemed like she was in a completely different world from the woman in front of her.
“…..Saint?”
The middle-aged woman, who had completely wiped away her tears, called Belladonna once more.
She looked at her with her pitiful eyes, clutching her white handkerchief which she held on to.
“………”
After a few seconds of silence, Belladonna lifted her eyes and made eye contact with hers.
She slowly pulled in the corners of her mouth and looked at the middle-aged woman with a dazzlingly beautiful smile.
“……….”
“Ah……!”
Soon, a ray of light flooded the middle-aged woman’s face as she encountered Belladonna’s bright smile.
She lifted up her hands and covered her own mouth, sighing like one who had attained her enlightenment.
“…..I got it! Are you telling me I can do it myself? I, I am such a weak person…no.”
Then she opened her mouth and began to stutter.
“What the saint said is right…! It’s better to live alone than to live with such a trash husband. No, I have two children, so I’m not alone!”
“………”
“I’m going to go back and file divorce papers right now! And I’ll shout it in front of him! I will no longer do anything that undermines myself!”
Soon, the middle-aged woman stopped crying and stood up from her seat.
“Thank you, Saint! The saint always gives me enlightenment.”
She bowed deeply towards the saint in front of her, her face filled with emotion.
Belladonna just looked at her and smiled at her without saying a word.
The middle-aged woman looked at Belladonna with her eyes moist, then slowly turned her body and left her confessional.
“Well, i will just go now, Saint! I am going to completely cut off ties with that damn bastard who is disgusting to even call him husband!”
When she left the room, she looked very refreshed and relieved, unlike when she came in.
As she opened the thick door of the confessional, people with their faces covered with large hats lined up in front of her.
They looked at the middle-aged woman with a cool face as if they were envious of something, then quickly managed thier expressions and cleared thier throats.
The next person in line, a large man, quickly opened the door to the confessional and entered.
He was impatient, so he opened his mouth and shouted before even sitting down on the chair across from Belladonna.
“Saint….! Please listen to me! I’m so frustrated it is driving me crazy…!”
A moment later, another heavy secret filled the room.
***
‘The last saint of Astanya who traded her voice for sacred power.’
‘Astanya’s Smile.’
‘A Living Portrait of Astanya.’
Both were her epithets by which she was referred to, and her expressions of devotion by her devotees, who admired her and believed in her.
However, among the people of Eleanor’s Empire, a small number of people who did not believe in God said this about her:
‘Puppet of the Pope.’
‘A misfortunate girl who lost her voice and got caught up in her adoptive father’s politics.’
‘The emotional trash can of nobles.’
Belladonna didn’t care of her name.
No, it would be correct to say that she didn’t care at all, rather than that she wasn’t interested.
That is, until just half a year ago.
Returning from her day’s work to her own room in the innermost part of her papal palace, Belladonna threw herself carelessly and collapsed onto her wide bed.
She lay face down on a soft pillow and quietly exhaled.
“……….”
Today too, the stories were heavy and dizzying.
The story of a woman and her husband’s fifth affair with a maid.
The story of a businessman who steals an idea from a friend and becomes a huge success in business.
The story of a heartless older brother who took his father’s wealth without his younger brother’s knowledge.
Even the story of a noble wife who unexpectedly became pregnant with her lover’s child….
The people of Eleanor’s empire would always pour out secrets and intimate truths to her that were difficult to reveal in front of others.
This was because she was the only adoptive daughter of the Pope, who was as powerful as an emperor to the people of the Eleanor Empire, and her personality and character were excellent. But a slightly more precise reason is….
<No matter what I say, Saint Belladonna will listen without criticism, right?>
<Saint Belladonna will not reveal my story to anyone in the world, right?>
It was because of thier firm faith in the saint chosen by God.
People who were so loved by God that they gained overwhelming Holy power overnight were unable to do anything harmful to others, perhaps because of the influence of the God who gave them that power.
Carelessly revealing other people’s secrets is also an act that harms people in a large sense, so the saint could not tell anyone the truth that others wanted to hide.
People wanted to tell anyone the stories that bothered them, but on the other hand, they didn’t want to be found out by anyone. And for those people, Belladonna was like an escape.
Even if the saint did not specifically find the answer or solve the problem directly, people found comfort just by telling her their secrets, and some even left the confessional refreshed after finding the answer themselves.
Are the people of the Eleanor Empire strange, or is the world like this? How can you live with such terrible secrets?’
After tossing and turning on her bed for a moment, Belladonna raised her upper body and sat upright.
She looked around her room and carefully checked once again that no one was there.
After listening quietly and checking to see if there were any maids passing by in the hallway, she let out a deep sigh and opened her mouth.
“…..Oh, I really thought my ears were bleeding.”
Today, Only people who talks alot catch her.
She stretched her neck to either side of her and did her best to relaxing.
“It’s really tiring to sit still and listen to other people’s secrets…”
If you listen closely to people’s stories, you will often find that you cannot empathize with them at all.
I’m so uninterested in other people that their stories seem uninteresting…
Today again, she sat blankly, half lost in other thoughts. Sometimes, when she was too bored, she quietly counted the number of regular hexagon patterns on the floor.
Then, before you know it, the boring story will come to an end, and if you give a sneaky smile out of embarrassment, people will suddenly exclaim as if they are possessed by something and say that they have achieved enlightenment, and then leave saying thank you.
Even though she didn’t actually do anything.
“How long do I have to do this…”
Belladonna was lying on her back, looking at the ceiling and blinking her eyes.
She recalled people who shed tears or became angry while talking in front of her.
“……..”
Perhaps Saint Belladonna could have cared for them all, listened sincerely, sympathized with them, and shared wise solutions.
If there were sick people, She could have used her holy power to perform a miracle of healing them.
This would have been possible if she were the “Real saint” Belladonna.
She slowly blinked and closed her eyes completely, recalling how she was at this time half a year ago.
***
“…..What is it?”
As soon as I opened my eyes, I saw an unfamiliar ceiling and bed.
When I slowly lowered my eyes and looked down at my limbs moving awkwardly.
And when I finally stumbled forward and saw a face that looked somewhat familiar in the mirror I faced.
Belladonna was so shocked that she even forgot to scream.
“Well, I’am a Saint?”
Beautifully shining eyes reminiscent of blue jewels and silver hair that shines brilliantly in the sunlight. The facial features are so clear and concave that anyone who sees them once will be mesmerized.
Clearly, the image seen in the mirror was Saint Belladonna. Even though I’ve only seen it a few times from afar, I couldn’t forget this beautiful face.
She slowly raised her hands and touched her white, round face.
“Isn’t it a dream…? The skin texture is very soft…”
therefore….I am a nameless woman who was born as a very poor farmer’s daughter, suffered for about 20 years, and finally passed away in vain from an unknown fever….
“…..Why did I become a saint when I opened my eyes again…?”
Belladonna lost strength in her legs and flopped down on the wide carpet on the floor.
She muttered absently, moving her long fingers and I touched the soft carpet.
“Besides, i can talk…..”
The saint that she knows, Belladonna, she is a real saint, is someone who grew up in a monastery and suddenly gained holy powers after suffering from an unknown illness when she was very young.
However, in exchange for her Holy powers, she lost her voice forever, and she has not been able to utter a single word since.
Although she had a beautiful and holy appearance, she had the mysterious and pitiful appearance of not being able to make a voice, and because of her spiritual power that was greater than anyone else’s, she received the trust and love of people and was revered as a true saint of this era.
“…….But why does my voice come out so clearly? huh? Saint? What is it all about now?”
Belladonna muttered.
“Besides, I don’t think I have any holy powers….I can’t feel anything….”
Bella also lowered her head and looked down at her empty hands.
She sat still for a moment and her breathing began to become increasingly labored.
Unable to accept the sudden reality, she fell backwards and fainted.
