Blinded by such forbidden love, Bayen helped Ibis dethrone his mother from her divine position.
He also killed all of his brothers who intuitively sensed their mother's danger and came running.
It was painful to know that he had to kill his blood-related brothers, following his mother, who had brought him into this world, but it had already happened.
Bayen rationalized his unfilial behavior by saying that it was something he had to do to save his poor lover.
But the carnage didn't end there.
Following Ibis' strong insistence that no regrets should be left behind, it was necessary to touch the Saint, who was the goddess's incarnation, and even the woman who was designated as her successor.
As more and more blood appeared on his hands, Bayen's heart became stained with guilt.
Even if the mother is paying the price for throwing her daughter's life into the mud, what crime did the others commit?
Bayen, who thought that everything would be resolved if he just got rid of his mother, was tormented by the weight of the countless lives he had killed.
But Elysia still didn't know the end.
She could not bear to be admired by all things in the world, even after the mother who abandoned her had disappeared.
“Hethel does not deserve respect. She should not remain in such awe.”
Despite her body becoming weaker from fighting the Saint, Ibis began to wreak havoc on the world herself.
Floods, earthquakes, plagues, and volcanic eruptions.
Catalonia, the blessed land that the goddess loved the most, has now become a hell for the living.
In the land where laughter had disappeared, thieves and robbers swarmed, and heartbreaking lamentations and tearful screams echoed endlessly.
Bayen, horrified at seeing his hometown being irreparably destroyed, belatedly decided to stop his lover.
“Let’s stop now, Ibis. Everything went according to plan. My mother is gone, my brothers are dead, and there is no one left to restrain you now. So leave the humans alone. They are innocent.”
“Janette, I have endured more than three thousand years in that dark and cold underground. The resentment I have endured for so many years will not end with the annihilation of Hethel. I will have everything she has.”
“If it’s everything...”
“Her subjects, her world, her place.”
“...”
“I will be the master of this world, Janette. I will sit in her place and rule over all things, and I will make my name known to her subjects. The affection, the admiration, the respect, the adoration she has received, I will make it all mine. And then..."
Ibis, who had been looking at him with a stern expression, smiled brightly.
“First, we must make those foolish subjects tarnish her name themselves.”
A smile that appeared occasionally on her usually expressionless face.
Although that smile was neither warm nor affectionate, it was so precious and beautiful that it always made Bayen's heart flutter.
But why doesn't it feel ecstatic now?
Why can't I feel excited when I see such a pretty smile?
Why on earth? Why?
Bayen took a step back without realizing it.
The woman in front of him looked unfamiliar.
It didn't seem like the woman he had loved.
She, the woman he knew, was the one who blinded his eyes with her dazzling brightness even in the pitch-black darkness...
All he could see from her now was darkness.
As if the light he had seen was nothing more than a mirage.
Bayen ran away as if he were running away.
He was stuck in his room like a scared rat, his mind constantly wandering around with fleeting thoughts.
What could have made her like that?
What could have made my lover so evil?
All she wanted was to escape from the underground that had bound her and roam the world freely.
Suddenly, his mother's words came to mind.
“Janette, they say that fate cannot be changed. No matter how much I am, I cannot change it. Sealing that child there was extremely painful, but it was an inevitable choice.”
Was that sad certainty true?
Ibis, is my lover really born with such a fate?
As he staggered in shock, his mother's voice echoed again in his ears.
“Look at that. Didn’t I say that it was a future that would eventually come true?”
The words spoken by his mother as she looked at him, her body empty and her life force absorbed. Her last words.
The eyes of his mother as she recited that will.
It was the look in the eyes of someone who already knew everything.
So his mother, the omnipotent goddess, knew that her son would fall in love with Ibis and betray her.
After his belated realization, an obvious question struck his mind.
But why didn't she stop it?
Why didn't his mother just kill himself a long time ago to prevent this outcome?
Even though it's a matter of life and death.
Bayen closed his eyes quietly.
He already knew the answer.
Even though the mother knew the consequences of her foolish children, and even though she knew that her own fate would be taken by them, she could not harm them.
It was definitely love.
At that moment, the guilt he had tried so hard to suppress weighed on his shoulders and his entire body.
He couldn't bear the thought of killing his mother with his own hands and ruining her world.
Endless regrets came flooding in.
He wanted to undo everything he had ruined. He wanted to go back to before he ruined everything.
But just as spilled water cannot be put back in, his sins could not be picked up again.
It was all too late.
Bayen, who was laughing in vain, left the house before dawn the next day.
It was a land that he had ruined.
He was not worthy to dare set foot there.
He wandered the world without a destination, with the heart of a sinner.
One day, 13 years later, he heard unbelievable news.
“The Saint has returned to Catalonia? Does that mean the terrible disaster is over?”
It was ridiculous.
How can a Saint be born when there is no god?
It was clear that some fearless person was trying to profit from his mother's name.
An enraged Bayen returned to his homeland of Catalonia after 13 years.
He vowed that he would not leave alone any woman who dared to use his mother's name for personal gain.
But surprisingly, the identity of that worthless person was none other than the daughter of the 29th saint-to-be.
The daughter of a woman who died at the hands of Ibis and was abandoned by him.
Bayen thought back to the little girl he had met at the funeral, where he had gone to offer condolences to her guilty conscience.
That six-year-old child, whose heart was torn to pieces by the grief of losing her mother, but who could not even cry out loud because of the weight as a successor, held back tears by biting her tender lips until drops of blood fell.
His heart was heavy.
Because the child was a remnant of his sins.
How can he, who killed an innocent woman and took her child away from her mother, dare to punish that child?
But despite that, he went to Catalonia to see the child.
Even if it's fake, a child who claims to be a Saint will become a target for Ibis.
So he tried to scare the child a little bit to get her to come down from the constellation on her own.
But the child made an unexpected request.
“There are many reasons. I want to know the cause of the disaster that has been plaguing the empire for 13 years, and I also want to know the whereabouts of the goddess who disappeared in an instant. However, the real reason I came to find the noblewoman is...”
“Why?”
“It is a holy relic.”
Even the object of punishment with that holy relic was Ibis.
How did this child notice the presence of Ibis?
A child who bonds with his mother's beloved beast and tries to find the holy relic to restore his mother's glory.
Could this really be a coincidence?
Bayen had his doubts, but he couldn't allow the relics.
It was natural that if an unauthorized person coveted the sacred object, divine punishment would be meted out.
He didn't want to hurt the child anymore.
But the child always came back to him.
“If I lose this game, I’ll die anyway. Why should I be so afraid of that divine punishment in this situation? Please give me one last chance.”
How determined that expression is.
There was no way to stop it since there was nowhere else to retreat.
He had no choice but to give the child a chance to be judged by the Holy Relic.
He hopes that Adam doesn't punish that poor child too severely.
But, incredibly, Adam accepted the child.
That means the child has his mother's will.
Could it be that Mother foresaw this far? Could it be that this child was truly Mother's arrangement?
Maybe that kid...
Bayen clenched his trembling hands tightly.
He also killed all of his brothers who intuitively sensed their mother's danger and came running.
It was painful to know that he had to kill his blood-related brothers, following his mother, who had brought him into this world, but it had already happened.
Bayen rationalized his unfilial behavior by saying that it was something he had to do to save his poor lover.
But the carnage didn't end there.
Following Ibis' strong insistence that no regrets should be left behind, it was necessary to touch the Saint, who was the goddess's incarnation, and even the woman who was designated as her successor.
As more and more blood appeared on his hands, Bayen's heart became stained with guilt.
Even if the mother is paying the price for throwing her daughter's life into the mud, what crime did the others commit?
Bayen, who thought that everything would be resolved if he just got rid of his mother, was tormented by the weight of the countless lives he had killed.
But Elysia still didn't know the end.
She could not bear to be admired by all things in the world, even after the mother who abandoned her had disappeared.
“Hethel does not deserve respect. She should not remain in such awe.”
Despite her body becoming weaker from fighting the Saint, Ibis began to wreak havoc on the world herself.
Floods, earthquakes, plagues, and volcanic eruptions.
Catalonia, the blessed land that the goddess loved the most, has now become a hell for the living.
In the land where laughter had disappeared, thieves and robbers swarmed, and heartbreaking lamentations and tearful screams echoed endlessly.
Bayen, horrified at seeing his hometown being irreparably destroyed, belatedly decided to stop his lover.
“Let’s stop now, Ibis. Everything went according to plan. My mother is gone, my brothers are dead, and there is no one left to restrain you now. So leave the humans alone. They are innocent.”
“Janette, I have endured more than three thousand years in that dark and cold underground. The resentment I have endured for so many years will not end with the annihilation of Hethel. I will have everything she has.”
“If it’s everything...”
“Her subjects, her world, her place.”
“...”
“I will be the master of this world, Janette. I will sit in her place and rule over all things, and I will make my name known to her subjects. The affection, the admiration, the respect, the adoration she has received, I will make it all mine. And then..."
Ibis, who had been looking at him with a stern expression, smiled brightly.
“First, we must make those foolish subjects tarnish her name themselves.”
A smile that appeared occasionally on her usually expressionless face.
Although that smile was neither warm nor affectionate, it was so precious and beautiful that it always made Bayen's heart flutter.
But why doesn't it feel ecstatic now?
Why can't I feel excited when I see such a pretty smile?
Why on earth? Why?
Bayen took a step back without realizing it.
The woman in front of him looked unfamiliar.
It didn't seem like the woman he had loved.
She, the woman he knew, was the one who blinded his eyes with her dazzling brightness even in the pitch-black darkness...
All he could see from her now was darkness.
As if the light he had seen was nothing more than a mirage.
Bayen ran away as if he were running away.
He was stuck in his room like a scared rat, his mind constantly wandering around with fleeting thoughts.
What could have made her like that?
What could have made my lover so evil?
All she wanted was to escape from the underground that had bound her and roam the world freely.
Suddenly, his mother's words came to mind.
“Janette, they say that fate cannot be changed. No matter how much I am, I cannot change it. Sealing that child there was extremely painful, but it was an inevitable choice.”
Was that sad certainty true?
Ibis, is my lover really born with such a fate?
As he staggered in shock, his mother's voice echoed again in his ears.
“Look at that. Didn’t I say that it was a future that would eventually come true?”
The words spoken by his mother as she looked at him, her body empty and her life force absorbed. Her last words.
The eyes of his mother as she recited that will.
It was the look in the eyes of someone who already knew everything.
So his mother, the omnipotent goddess, knew that her son would fall in love with Ibis and betray her.
After his belated realization, an obvious question struck his mind.
But why didn't she stop it?
Why didn't his mother just kill himself a long time ago to prevent this outcome?
Even though it's a matter of life and death.
Bayen closed his eyes quietly.
He already knew the answer.
Even though the mother knew the consequences of her foolish children, and even though she knew that her own fate would be taken by them, she could not harm them.
It was definitely love.
At that moment, the guilt he had tried so hard to suppress weighed on his shoulders and his entire body.
He couldn't bear the thought of killing his mother with his own hands and ruining her world.
Endless regrets came flooding in.
He wanted to undo everything he had ruined. He wanted to go back to before he ruined everything.
But just as spilled water cannot be put back in, his sins could not be picked up again.
It was all too late.
Bayen, who was laughing in vain, left the house before dawn the next day.
It was a land that he had ruined.
He was not worthy to dare set foot there.
He wandered the world without a destination, with the heart of a sinner.
One day, 13 years later, he heard unbelievable news.
“The Saint has returned to Catalonia? Does that mean the terrible disaster is over?”
It was ridiculous.
How can a Saint be born when there is no god?
It was clear that some fearless person was trying to profit from his mother's name.
An enraged Bayen returned to his homeland of Catalonia after 13 years.
He vowed that he would not leave alone any woman who dared to use his mother's name for personal gain.
But surprisingly, the identity of that worthless person was none other than the daughter of the 29th saint-to-be.
The daughter of a woman who died at the hands of Ibis and was abandoned by him.
Bayen thought back to the little girl he had met at the funeral, where he had gone to offer condolences to her guilty conscience.
That six-year-old child, whose heart was torn to pieces by the grief of losing her mother, but who could not even cry out loud because of the weight as a successor, held back tears by biting her tender lips until drops of blood fell.
His heart was heavy.
Because the child was a remnant of his sins.
How can he, who killed an innocent woman and took her child away from her mother, dare to punish that child?
But despite that, he went to Catalonia to see the child.
Even if it's fake, a child who claims to be a Saint will become a target for Ibis.
So he tried to scare the child a little bit to get her to come down from the constellation on her own.
But the child made an unexpected request.
“There are many reasons. I want to know the cause of the disaster that has been plaguing the empire for 13 years, and I also want to know the whereabouts of the goddess who disappeared in an instant. However, the real reason I came to find the noblewoman is...”
“Why?”
“It is a holy relic.”
Even the object of punishment with that holy relic was Ibis.
How did this child notice the presence of Ibis?
A child who bonds with his mother's beloved beast and tries to find the holy relic to restore his mother's glory.
Could this really be a coincidence?
Bayen had his doubts, but he couldn't allow the relics.
It was natural that if an unauthorized person coveted the sacred object, divine punishment would be meted out.
He didn't want to hurt the child anymore.
But the child always came back to him.
“If I lose this game, I’ll die anyway. Why should I be so afraid of that divine punishment in this situation? Please give me one last chance.”
How determined that expression is.
There was no way to stop it since there was nowhere else to retreat.
He had no choice but to give the child a chance to be judged by the Holy Relic.
He hopes that Adam doesn't punish that poor child too severely.
But, incredibly, Adam accepted the child.
That means the child has his mother's will.
Could it be that Mother foresaw this far? Could it be that this child was truly Mother's arrangement?
Maybe that kid...
Bayen clenched his trembling hands tightly.
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