The Lady Virgin Saint’s question received no answer.
God was merely looking down.
No words were spoken.
No intervention was made.
As it always had been.
It was then that the fire was ignited in the Lady Virgin Saint’s heart.
The surge of emotions erupted, intensifying her voice.
“Have you… always been watching me…?”
Stumbling, the Lady Virgin Saint rose to her feet.
Surprise and confusion rendered her sentence incoherent. Yet, even in broken words, it was enough to unleash the buried sincerity.
The emotions she had tightly held surged and shook her voice.
“When I… when I was about to fall… when I cried out your name, begging you to save me… when I screamed in desperation!”
With all her strength, the Lady Virgin Saint stomped her foot, and the veins in her eyes bulged.
Blood seeped from her bitten lips. In an instant, the heightened emotions swept away all her rationality.
“I’m asking if you were watching me… answer me! Why were you just watching?! How much I…!”
As she wobbled, the Lady Virgin Saint’s body tilted.
It was because she could not overcome her rage.
With a thud, the woman’s fist struck the innocent ground. Or rather, did the ground exist in this space filled with light?
That was not the woman’s concern. A mournful sob spilled from the cracks.
“How much, how much!”
The cry that squeezed her insides tore through the empty space.
Yet still, there was no answer from God.
“How much I have believed… But you have never answered even once!”
Her bloodshot eyes stared straight ahead, filled with intense resentment and hatred.
Still, there was no response.
“Why, why?! Answer me… answer me! Why did you just watch me suffer?! You said you loved me the most! You said you loved us! But why is the world in this shape?!”
Before God, the nameless woman was crying out.
“You said you were omnipotent! But why are you just watching?! The world you created is a mess… Is this your intent?! Your grand plan?! Why… why, why, why!”
The end of her thrashing and shouting.
The woman began to cry tears of anguish.
“Just once, just once, please answer… You can do that, I have served you my whole life! Your poor lamb begs like this… Just once, please answer… answer me!”
Crying, the woman clenched her fist.
“…Are you really a God?”
Swallowing the sob that rose to her throat, the woman slowly began to rise.
Her eyes had long since turned red and hot.
“You are no God! You are merely a cowardly spectator who throws us into the inferno and only watches! Do you find it amusing to see us thrashing about?!”
Driven mad by resentment and betrayal, the woman was no longer sane.
Without even realizing what she was saying, she took a step forward and continued her blame.
“I hate you… I deny you! Even if I fall to the ends of Hell, I must do so… because, because you betrayed me first!”
Yet still, there was no answer from God.
As it always had been.
The woman felt she was going mad. Her voice, steeped in excitement, rose again.
“Why did you push me into this cruel fate?! Why me… why me…!”
And then suddenly.
The woman felt the fact that God’s gaze was broader. The light’s target was not just the woman.
The pink eyes stared blankly at her own bosom. There lay a silver rosary, still radiating light.
Her breath caught in her throat.
A voice from her memory began to replay.
“Do you believe in me?”
“Why… why does it have to be me…?”
The man said with a smile.
“Because it’s you.”
Suddenly, the fog lifted.
Her mind cleared, and her head began to spin. Memories flooded back.
“You are the greatest gift that the Heavenly Deity has given to us… Until the world recognizes you, and…”
The heated voice suddenly subsided. The pink pupils wavered aimlessly, and the woman’s voice trembled.
“I… I must be the one…”
“…Live hiding your face until you meet someone who truly recognizes you.”
Tears welled up and streamed down her cheeks.
For the first time.
A person who recognized ‘me’ instead of ‘the Lady’.
My destiny, my love.
With a thud, the woman’s knees buckled, and she fell to the ground.
In retrospect, there was a boy with azure hair who once asked with a gloomy gaze.
“Sister, will there ever be a world where orphans like us are not discriminated against?”
What did I answer then?
“I will make it happen.”
Yes, that was it.
“We don’t need such pity… We must achieve it with our own hands. The gluttonous pigs can’t overturn anything.”
It must be me.
The only one who can truly understand the pain of those who have hit rock bottom.
It is I.
“…Must it really be me?”
Drip, drip.
Tears fell, making a clear noise. God was still silently gazing at the woman.
She cried silently.
The woman’s right hand, groping inside her robe, clutched the silver rosary painfully. With every sting that struck her mind, countless deaths replayed before the Lady’s eyes.
Skulls smashed, intestines ruptured.
A man who stood up hundreds of times.
“Is this your will…?”
Still, there was no answer from God.
As it always had been.
“Are you saying that even if I fall hundreds or thousands of times, I must rise again? This cruel fate! On the thorny path prepared with suffering and trials, you want me to be torn and shattered according to your will?! Must it truly be so?!”
In the silence, the woman’s voice rang out clearly.
Clenching her teeth, the woman stumbled and rose again. Her body, finally standing on two feet, trembled.
“If it is true… if this is my destiny…!”
And she took another step.
With a thud, the woman knelt and pressed her hands against the ground.
Her head slowly drew nearer to the earth.
Deep and deep, the servant of God bowed her head and cried.
“…I will obey.”
Grinding her teeth, the woman did not raise her head again.
“I will roll in the inferno according to your will, hundreds and thousands of times… willingly taking the stones from the blind and enduring the scorn of the deaf… because this is my path!”
Swallowing her tears, the woman spoke again.
“It is the path I have chosen…!”
And once again, stillness surrounded them.
God silently gazed down at the nameless woman. For a long time, just as it had always been.
How much time had passed?
The clouds covering the ground parted, and light poured down from all directions. Even facing the pure light, the woman merely closed her eyes and cried.
Right then.
Just before her consciousness faded, as if a hallucination.
“…Emmanuel.”
The Lady Virgin Saint felt she had heard such words.
And then, a fall.
And her consciousness faded to black.
The flames of the ‘purification trial’ burned throughout the night.
During that long time, no one left the Mountain Court. Neither I-an, nor the Holy One, nor the judges standing on the mountain and the countless crowd.
They were merely watching the central flame with a mixture of anxiety and expectation.
And slowly, as dawn broke.
“…Huh?”
A stunned exclamation escaped from an unknown person’s lips.
Soon, thousands of pairs of eyes turned towards the sky. In an oddly synchronized manner, the crowd looked up, and they were compelled to exclaim.
“It’s rain clouds!”
“Dark clouds are gathering!”
The rain clouds that began to loom one by one soon unleashed a torrential downpour.
The sudden change in weather left the Pope and the judges exchanging bewildered glances. Meanwhile, I-an, also looking around with a confused expression, saw that only the Holy One was quietly gazing at the burning flames.
Swish—
The pouring rain met the flames, creating white steam.
It did not take long for that soaring flame to be extinguished. In just a few minutes, all that remained in the center of the Mountain Court was charcoal and vapor.
A gulp was heard as someone swallowed hard.
I-an slowly rose. His face was already devoid of life.
A breeze blew in from somewhere.
Then the vapor covering the wood dissipated. On top of it sat a woman in a white robe, with both hands clasped in prayer.
Without a single speck of dust on her.
No, not just unharmed; not even a fiber of her clothing was damaged. The thousands in the crowd, unable to utter a sound, widened their eyes, trying to capture this miracle.
As the dark clouds slowly cleared and a ray of sunlight began to shine,
“Oooh…”
The Pope exclaimed, immediately kneeling there.
A radiant golden halo shone above the Lady Virgin Saint’s head.
Halo.
It meant a new saint had been born.
Starting with the Pope, thousands in the crowd began to kneel one by one.
Thud, thud, thud.
When the sound that echoed like a torrential rain finally ceased,
The nameless woman’s eyelids slowly opened.
On her pink pupils shone a divine golden glow.
Looking down at the multitude bowing their heads, the nameless woman spoke only one sentence.
“Now, do you believe (arti pisteuvete)?”
Then the thousands of followers shouted,
“…Emmanuel!”
For the first time in a thousand years of the Holy Kingdom’s history.
A nameless woman proved her innocence in the blazing flames.
This news would spread across the continent through the testimonies of thousands of witnesses.
It was truly a miracle of God.
