Chapter 1. The Saint of Astanya
2024.03.01.
Even though it was daytime, the room was dark, with no sunlight coming in.
Between two women sitting across from each other, a small voice trembled.
“Sob… So my husband, that bastard, had another affair with a maid again…”
The middle-aged woman, wearing a fancy hat with a veil, took out a white handkerchief from her bag.
She blew her nose with the handkerchief, then looked at the woman in front of her.
“No one in the world knows his real face. Outside, he is such a kind and respected scholar. No one would believe me, right?”
“……”
“But in reality, he’s nothing but a disgusting pervert…! Everyone is fooled by him… Ah, this is not even the first time…”
The middle-aged woman could not hold back her tears.
“How am I supposed to live now… And what about my children who know nothing? What am I supposed to do, huh?”
“……”
On the other side of the weeping woman, Belladonna sat quietly in her chair, like a painting.
With her eyes down, staring at the floor as if deep in thought, she looked like someone lost in her own world.
“…Saint?”
After wiping all her tears, the middle-aged woman called Belladonna again.
She squeezed the white handkerchief tightly and looked at her with pitiful eyes.
“……”
After a few seconds of silence, Belladonna slowly raised her eyes and looked at the woman.
She gently pulled her lips into a smile so beautiful that it almost hurt to look at.
“……”
“Ah…!”
When she saw Belladonna’s bright, shining smile, light filled the woman’s face.
The woman covered her mouth with both hands, as if she had just realized something.
“…I understand! You’re telling me I can do it on my own, right? That I’m not a weak person after all.”
Then she began to speak, stuttering a little.
“The Saint is right…! Rather than living with such a trashy husband, it’s better to live alone. No, I have two children, so I’m not alone!”
“……”
“I’ll go right now and file for divorce! And I’ll shout it in front of him! I won’t let myself be eaten up inside anymore!”
The woman stopped crying and jumped up from her seat.
“Thank you, Saint! You always give me such clarity.”
With a grateful look, she bowed deeply to the Saint in front of her.
Belladonna just smiled and said nothing, only looking at her.
The middle-aged woman looked at Belladonna with teary eyes one last time, then slowly turned and left the confessional.
“Well, I’ll be going now, Saint! I’m going to completely cut ties with that jerk I used to call my husband.”
As she left the room, her face looked so much lighter and relieved compared to when she had entered.
Outside the thick door of the confessional, people with large hats covering their faces were lined up.
They glanced at the relieved woman with envy, then quickly fixed their expressions and cleared their throats.
A large man, next in line, quickly opened the confessional door and came in.
Before even sitting down across from Belladonna, he started shouting.
“Saint…! Please listen to me! I’m going crazy from frustration…!”
Soon, another heavy secret filled the room.
‘The last Saint of Astanya who exchanged her voice for holy power.’
‘Astanya’s smile.’
‘Astanya’s living portrait.’
These were all titles that people used to refer to her, and they believed in her with unwavering devotion.
But a few people in the Ellinus Empire who didn’t believe in God would talk about her differently.
“The Pope’s puppet.”
“A tragic daughter who lost her voice and was trapped in her adoptive father’s politics.”
“The trash can for the nobles’ feelings.”
But Belladonna herself didn’t care at all about what people called her.
No, it was more accurate to say it just didn’t matter to her.
At least, that’s how it was until half a year ago.
After finishing her day, Belladonna returned to her room deep inside the Vatican and collapsed onto her big bed.
She buried her face in the soft pillow and let out a quiet breath.
“……”
Today, too, there had been heavy, complicated stories.
A woman with a scholar husband who cheated for the fifth time with a much younger maid.
A businessman who stole his friend’s idea and got rich.
A cold older brother who secretly took his father’s money behind his younger sibling’s back.
Even a noblewoman who became pregnant by her secret lover…
People from the Ellinus Empire always came to Belladonna to confess secrets and truths they couldn’t say to anyone else.
This was partly because she was the Pope’s only adoptive daughter and known for her upright character.
But the real reason was—
“The Saint Belladonna will listen to me without judging, right?”
“The Saint will never reveal my secret to anyone else, right?”
Because they believed so strongly in the Saint chosen by God.
People who received overwhelming holy power overnight from God would never do anything to harm others.
Telling other people’s secrets was also a harmful act, so the Saint could never reveal the truths people told her.
People want to spill out their painful stories, but at the same time, they never want anyone else to know them. For them, Belladonna was an escape.
Even if the Saint didn’t give a solution, just telling her their secrets made people feel better, and some found answers on their own and left relieved.
‘Are the people of the Ellinus Empire weird, or is the world just like this? How can people live with such scary secrets?’
Belladonna tossed and turned in bed, then sat up straight.
She checked to make sure no one else was in the room.
She listened carefully for any maids in the hallway.
Once she was sure she was alone, she let out a deep sigh and finally opened her mouth.
“Ugh, my ears feel like they’re bleeding.”
Today, of all days, the talkative ones all showed up.
She stretched her neck from side to side with a frown.
“Just sitting and listening to other people’s secrets is so tiring…”
Most of the stories didn’t move her at all.
She just wasn’t interested in other people, so their stories weren’t fun.
Often, she would space out, counting the hexagon patterns on the floor when she was bored.
Before she knew it, the story would end, and when she gave a little smile out of awkwardness, people would suddenly act as if they had a revelation and thank her before leaving.
Even though she had done nothing at all.
“How long do I have to keep doing this…”
Belladonna flopped down and blinked up at the ceiling.
She thought about all the people who cried or got angry while talking in front of her.
“……”
Maybe, if she were the real Saint Belladonna, she could have cared about everyone, listened to them with her whole heart, and given them wise answers.
If someone was sick, she could have used her holy power to heal them.
If she was the real Saint Belladonna.
Belladonna slowly closed her eyes, remembering half a year ago.
“…What is this?”
When she first opened her eyes, she saw an unfamiliar ceiling and bed.
She looked down at her awkwardly moving arms and legs.
Finally, she staggered to the mirror and saw a face she somehow recognized.
She was so shocked, she forgot to even scream.
“Th-the Saint…?”
Her eyes shone like blue jewels and her silver hair sparkled in the sunlight.
Her features were so beautiful that no one could forget that face.
The person in the mirror was definitely Saint Belladonna.
Even if she had only seen her from a distance, no one could forget such beauty.
She slowly raised her hands to touch her round, pale face.
“Is this not a dream…? My skin is so soft…”
So, she had been a nameless farmer’s daughter, struggling for twenty years, who died from an unknown fever…
“…So why did I wake up as the Saint?!”
Belladonna’s legs gave out, and she collapsed onto the soft carpet.
She stared blankly, grabbing the carpet with her long fingers.
“And I can talk…”
The Belladonna she knew—the real Saint—had fallen ill as a child in the monastery, but gained holy power afterwards.
But in exchange, she lost her voice forever and could never say a word again.
Her mysterious, sorrowful silence made people trust and love her even more.
“…So why can I speak so clearly? Saint? What is this?”
She murmured to herself.
“And I don’t seem to have any holy power either… I can’t feel anything…”
She looked down at her empty hands.
Her breathing got faster as she sat there.
She couldn’t accept what was happening, and soon she fainted right on the spot.
