Chapter 1
It was a day when rain poured down like a flood.
The shops on the street had been closed for days due to the continuous heavy rain.
I was wandering alone through the empty streets, where not even carriages were visible.
“Sigh…”
Was it because of the clothes soaked in rainwater?
It was as if someone was holding onto my ankles, making it difficult to move forward.
And then, it happened.
A bright light appeared in the midst of the murky haze in front of me.
As if a beacon, I was drawn towards the warm light sparkling ahead.
“Stop right there.”
A squire guarding the temple stood in my way.
“The worship time has already ended. Go back.”
Looking at my drenched appearance, he muttered as if disgusted.
“Searching for a temple in such a state.”
Pretending not to hear his words, I spoke with my head bowed.
“I want to see the priest. My younger brother…”
“He’s busy right now. And he’s not someone you can easily meet just because you want to.”
Ignoring his annoyed tone, I didn’t back down.
“My younger brother is very ill.”
“If the child is sick, find a healer. The temple is not a place for those without money to beg. It’s a place to reflect on the words of God.”
Curses swirled in my mouth at his cold voice.
Damn bastards.
“Please. My brother’s condition is very bad.”
As I pleaded, the man suddenly narrowed his eyes.
“Are you from the slums?”
“…”
“Oh my. You’ve got some nerve. Trying to step into the temple with your lowly background.”
His incredulous muttering made my fists tighten.
The moment when the tightly closed doors of the temple opened was right then.
Walking out with a small figure in a hood, a figure caught my eye.
The moment I saw the pure white priest’s robe, I dashed towards him without thinking.
“Priest, please. My brother…”
Before I could finish my words, my body weakly collapsed in the rain.
The dirty, collected copper coins I had scraped together at home spilled onto the muddy ground.
It had taken me months to gather that money.
As I hurriedly picked up the scattered coins, the priest frowned as if seeing something dirty.
Brushing off the mud splattered on his sleeve, he scolded the squire who had pushed me to the ground.
“Vern, make sure those kinds of people don’t loiter around the temple.”
Those kinds of people.
More than being covered in mud and sprawled on the ground, those words made me feel more miserable.
“I apologize. I’ll clear them away immediately.”
At the priest’s words, the squire who had been menacingly looming over me approached.
His strong hands firmly gripped my arms on both sides.
In that moment, sensing I would be dragged away, a scream of frustration burst from my lips.
“You damn bastards!”
The lump of anger that had always been at the edge of my throat poured out into the air as if spewing blood.
“You say God is a merciful being! That he saves us! That all life is precious!”
I know.
We are not included in their definition of ‘precious life’.
To them, a precious life is ultimately someone who can sacrifice a lot for God.
“Such foolishness…”
It was difficult to make out the words through the lump in my throat.
As if insulted, the priest’s face turned pale with anger.
I knew I should stop at this point, but once my mouth opened, I couldn’t shut it.
“Are we not worthy? Who decided that?”
Life was one where one couldn’t choose anything from the moment of birth.
Except to accept the predetermined future.
Even working to the bone every day, it was a struggle just to make ends meet.
To take care of my younger sibling, I had to earn money, and every time I left to earn money, leaving my sibling alone at home, they endured sickness after sickness.
It was a vicious cycle of nothing getting better.
Why was a life that nobody blessed born, anyway?
No matter how many times I asked, nobody would tell me.
And I still didn’t know the answer.
* * *
As I struggled to get up, my body groaned in pain.
Someone suddenly extended a white handkerchief toward me.
Staring at the handkerchief offered to me, I raised my head to confirm the owner of the hand.
Beneath a dark hood, warm green eyes gazed at me.
“Miss, it’s better not to get too close. You never know what mischief a woman from the slums might get up to,” the apprentice knight said, sending a scornful glance at her.
“Well, she doesn’t look dangerous to me. Rather, isn’t it astounding that a helpless woman like her was pushed to the ground? It’s hardly chivalrous,” the owner of the handkerchief remarked.
The knight’s face reddened at her observation.
“Can you stand? Hm, would you mind supporting this lady?”
“Yes.”
The man, called Hugh, lightly lifted me up.
Though not gentle, it was a much more courteous gesture than being pushed down by the temple’s apprentice.
But that didn’t mean he willingly accepted me.
Yet his gaze upon me was devoid of any chill.
“I understand your compassionate heart, Miss,” the priest, who had been observing, spoke up.
“The beggars here don’t come to worship the gods or offer gratitude with sacrifices. They just hang around seeking help like this. If we extend a helping hand every time, they might never break free from this lifestyle.”
It was simply because they couldn’t afford to offer sacrifices due to poverty.
With nothing to give, they asked for help.
Even that was a struggle, a struggle that led to barely spoken words of desperation.
As I glared, the priest, with a pretentious cough, added defensively, “I am planning to pray to the gods all night long… Surely you understand how important this is.”
“Oh, I do.”
The noble lady smiled gracefully.
“To pray to the gods all night long. With such overflowing divine power, surely you’ll be able to attend to the child.”
“Yes… Yes?!”
“The gods watch over everyone, empowering their servants to spread their mercy widely.”
The cheerful voice delivered a sharp jab, and the priest faltered.
“Isn’t that the teaching of the gods?”
Neither the apprentice knight nor the priest could say a word in response to the gentle rebuke.
With his piercing gaze now on me, I knew what was coming.
It was a familiar scene.
When humiliated by the strong and unable to speak a word, cowardly humans turned their anger toward those weaker than themselves.
And I was at the bottom of the food chain.
“The ‘teaching of the gods’ that you mentioned so impressively,” the gentle voice continued.
“If you were to show that mercy to the child as well, wouldn’t that be wonderful?”
“Well, um…”
The hesitating priest sighed.
“Well, then let’s do this. After morning prayers, if there’s time, I’ll come to see the child.”
I gritted my teeth, hearing his displeased tone.
“If there’s time?”
I had never left the slums since the day I was born.
From infancy to adulthood, that priest had never once glanced at the neighborhood where I lived.
Now, swayed by the noble lady’s words, he hesitated, but would he keep his promise after she left?
“He’ll probably come up with some excuse.”
Even if he broke his promise, I wouldn’t be able to protest properly.
As always, it would end with me receiving unfair treatment alone.
After experiencing it repeatedly, I had grown resigned to it.
Except at this moment, if I were to just accept it as inevitable…
What about my sibling, poor Oliver?
“Miss.”
I didn’t mind being insulted.
What mattered to me was my young sibling who was struggling to breathe right now.
If I could save that child.
I could endure any amount of blame.
I lifted my head and addressed her.
“Could you please lend us a carriage to bring my sibling here to show to the priest?”
The noble lady blinked at my words.
“His fever hasn’t subsided. Since my child is very ill, could you, Your Holiness, please take care of him?”
“Nonsense!”
Hugh, who had been silent until now, suddenly raised his voice.
I prostrated myself in front of the noble lady without regard for his reaction.
“I’ll do anything if you could just help us once.”
“What difference does it make what you do? You must leave here immediately!”
With a burst, he shouted, causing my body to involuntarily shrink.
The courage born out of desperation seemed fragile, wavering in the face of the knight’s anger.
The noble lady, who had been silently observing me, asked softly.
“It seems the child is very ill.”
“He’s my only family.”
My only family left.
In the poverty-stricken village where people died of hunger, cold, and illness, that child was my only hope.
