EITAB - Chapter 3 New Saintess

Even it is Trampled and Broken

Then, as if he had read her insides, Aslan spat out the following words.

"No... I am... I didn't want this. So open your eyes."

But after that, Hestia couldn't hear him properly. She just guessed that the sound to open her eyes was continuing. Hestia was so exhausted that she didn't want to do that anymore. As she shook her head with a weak movement, Aslan hugged Hestia and spoke in a more desperate voice.

"....Sun. I, I.... I will..."

Her voice cracks. Hestia realized that the death God was striding forward with a scythe of death. Curiously, she wasn't scared.

'I can finally rest.'

Rather, it was expected. Hestia's lips moved upward smoothly.

'Now, I guess I can cry.'

Hestia's eyes slowly closed. Even after her thin, faint ray of light that connected her to the world was swallowed up by the darkness, a tear she had always been holding back ran down Hestia's cheek.

"Princess! Open your eyes...!"

Hestia could feel his thick hands wiping away her hot tears, but that was all. Suddenly, her hand fell helplessly. And Hestia's purple eyes were locked in eternity.

***

She heard birds chirping. Hestia thought with her eyes closed. 

'He said I wasn't His child, but He still felt sorry for me. Seeing how generous you were to rest in the land of eternity.'

Maybe that's something to be thankful for. After taking in her light breath, she slowly lifted her eyelids.

"...Uh?"

The moment she realized what caught her eye first, Hestia's forehead furrowed like a thin sheet of paper. The ceiling is painted with cherubs blowing trumpets. A multi-layered white drapery hanging from the bedpost in a gentle curve like a wave. They were all familiar pictures that Hestia saw first thing every morning when she woke up.

"How did this happen?"

She just blankly stared at her ceiling, not even thinking about getting out of bed. She opened and closed her eyelids several times, but that did not change anything.

"The land of eternity," she said, "is an endless green field. Could it be they produced royalties as they were?"

In fact, she already knew that it was nonsense, but she dared to say that because she thought it would be less absurd this way. But at that moment, two knocks were heard from the outside the room, as if to indicate that her speculation was a vain delusion. Even this was very familiar to Hestia.

When she couldn't bear to answer because she didn't realize it, the person outside knocked twice more after a while.

"... Come in."

Only then did she allow her to enter the room in a small voice, and the door opened quietly. 

"Saintess, are you awake?"

If there is Angela, her handmaid, in her palace, there is Nacia, an apprentice priest in her shrine, who plays the role of helping Hestia with her chores. It was only after checking Nacia's face that Hestia lifted her upper body upright, using her elbow on her bed for the first time. She still felt like she was lost in her dream. She then looked at Nacia with her hazy eyes.

"Nacia?"

"Yes, Saintess? Is there anything you want me to do?"

The answer comes back. Hestia again failed to answer. She was so startled that as she stood still and unresponsive, Nacia approached her with a serious face.

"Saintess, are you okay? Aren't you sick?"

Hestia even saw Nacia's hand reaching out toward her, perhaps to measure her fever. The moment the apprentice priest's small hand touched her forehead. Hestia felt goosebumps all over her body, It was because the touch of skin against skin was so vivid. It was only then that Hestia realized that all of this was real, not an illusion or imagination. Her eyes are getting longer as Nacia looks at her strangely. Hestia shook her head, raising the corners of her mouth trying to get out of this situation first.

"Oh, no! I'm fine. It's just that, I can't sleep well today."

Then Nacia smiled and gave her a big nod of her head.

"There are days like that! I have a problem with that almost every day!"

Nacia quickly turned around. Watching her approach the window to ventilate her, Hestia quickly caught her breath.

' How could this be?'

She had a perfectly calm face on the outside, but on the inside, she was extremely agitated. 

'I must have been coughing up a lot of blood'

Hestia realized that she was on the verge of death,

' I can still vividly see the pain that entangled my body like a noose bade off her thorn bushes until the last moment of her life. Those feelings disappear like lies as if I had turned back time...'

Suddenly, Hestia stopped thinking for a moment.

"Turned back...time?"

She just repeated it in her mind once more, and she stopped breathing on her own. First, she needs confirmation. Hestia quickly caught her breath so that her agitation would be noticed, and then asked Nacia in the most plain voice.

"Nacia, what day is today?.... How many days was it?"

"Today? It's March 11, 1099. It has been exactly one year since Saintess Anette came to our temple."

March 11, 1099.

The moment she heard that answer from Nacia, Hestia felt the illusion that ice-cold water was pouring from the top of her head. She involuntarily swallowed her saliva and held her breath.

'It's been one year since Anette came...'

Hestia took a deep breath and chewed on the answer Nacia gave her. She acted like that to hide her agitated heart, but she was already wrong. It was because she could feel the fluttering of her eyelashes through her skin. Involuntarily, she remembered the day when she first met Anette.

***

Two years ago from the day she died, the year 1098 of the Ellsworth Kingdom calendar. A woman appeared before Ellsworth. Her name is Anette. 

"She came with a revelation from God."

With a confident expression, she claimed that she was another Saintess of Ellsworth. As a result, the High Priest and other priests, as well as the people of Ellsworth and even Hestia, were perplexed.

'She's the new Saintess?"

Hestia couldn't believe it.

That's right, Ellsworth's Saintess is Hestia Ellsworth. Because the Saintess was her. 10 years ago, the year she turned 12.

"You are my representative. Go ahead to establish my beliefs right. That would be your vocation and glory. Plant faith where it is lacking, and let it grow. May He also be your golden glory?"

She received a direct revelation from God, was enshrined as a Saintess, and has lived in the temple ever since. She was the Saintess for the longest 10 years. But after that, Hestia couldn't hear God's voice. No matter how earnestly she prayed, she never got the answer.

It is unprecedented for two Saintesses to appear in one era. In Ellsworth's history, there was always one Saintess in every century. Even that, the Saintess was never born at all, so she often skipped it. But suddenly a new Saintess? Everyone couldn't believe it, but they couldn't take Anette's words as lies. Because she was seen in front of everyone. Hestia sees that she is clothed with the radiance of God, and that green grass and small wildflowers boom profusely in her path.

"She is a real Saintess!"

The High Priest was the first to kneel at Anette's feet. Then the others followed him, bowing their heads at Anette's feet and worshiping her. 

Only Hestia and Anette were standing. Hestia just stared blankly at her, while Anette smiled leisurely. In this way, Anette's room was prepared in the temple, and she acted as a Saintess right away. She was very natural, like someone who had been doing it before. 

At some point, when the modifier 'real' began to appear in the form of Anette's name, Hestia was quite embarrassed. If Anette is real, what about Hestia? She could not free herself from such thought.

'Really... Am I fake?'

If so, what is the voice she heard when she was young, this holy power that though lacking, is definitely present within her?

'Is this also a test given to me by God?'

Hestia really didn't know. So, more and more, she began to doubt even the meaning of her own existence. However, God still did not listen to Hestia's voice despite the numerous questions, so she never got an answer. She was distressed.

Why is Anette overflowing with strength that Hestia lacks?

'Because I couldn't set the dignity of God right? Because my capacity is not enough to accomplish the task He gave me? Is that why He sent a new Saintess?'

A maiden in name only. Hestia couldn't find a better expression for herself until the moment she died. So, her place to stand became narrower and narrower. 

Ellsworth, where two Saintesses appeared. Some considered it a blessing from the Gods, but most considered it a harbinger of misfortune and disaster. It was because the situation surrounding Ellsworth was not good.

"One person's strength is not enough, isn't that's why God sending another?"

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