CH 1

Your Majesty, Your Holiness. She’s not the real saint.”

A grand celebration was held in gratitude for everything that God has bestowed upon us.

The temple was decorated with colorful silks such as gold and silver, symbolizing harvest and divinity.

The priests, nobles and royal family who wore the most splendid and extravagant clothes also came out to pray alongside with the pope and saint for the peace of the country.

However, the most shocking statement was suddenly uttered by one of them.

Is the saint a fake?

Everyone was shaking their heads at the absurd remark. But the emperor and pope didn’t show any change in expression.

Even the holy knight, Maynard, who was famous for being deeply loyal to saints, kept his mouths shut.

At this moment, the accused person, Saint Liliana was in a frenzy.

Liliana looked at Elena, who pointed at her with a pale expression on her face.

She was trembling as if doom was foretold.

“L-ies! That’s a lie!”

Liliana screamed desperately.

“That woman is crazy. Help me, Sir Maynard!”

Liliana looked at Maynard, as if he was her  lifeline, but Maynard coldly turned away from her.

“No, no!”

Elena sighed as she looked at Liliana.

It has been that way since childhood. Liliana always wanted everything. 

In the end, she coveted even the saint’s position, which was supposed to be owned by Elena.

That was what happened today.

The saint was a living god who is worshiped by all as they’re considered the daughter of our supreme god.

She was like a god who came down to the world.

Everyone adored her, and everyone was eager to receive her glance or touch.

Women longed for Her Holiness, and men secretly coveted her.

It was something Elena had already experienced once.

She tried not to live a second life as a saint. So, even though Liliana was impersonating her, she left it alone.

“Your Majesty the Great Emperor, and Your Holiness, who have the grace of God.”

Elena walked between them with an elegant gait.

With every step she took, her dark brown hair began to turn into a bright platinum blonde.

People looked at her in awe at the transformation of the shabby woman who had always bowed her head.

“I’ll prove it…”

Elena looked at the pope.

As expected, he did not stop Elena.

Elena did not notice the tenacious passion in the pope’s beautiful orange eyes.

“That the real saint is me, Elena.”

Elena untied the buttons that were fastened to her neck one by one and showed the pattern of God engraved just above her chest.

The dark green crescent pattern was definitely a sacred mark of a saint.

“Are you satisfied now, Arkan?”

Elena looked up with a dazed expression on her face.

A young black-haired young man sitting on a throne with a hand on his chin was looking at her with bright red eyes.

The emperor who ruled the empire, Arkan, was wearing a bright red cloak the same color as his eyes.

As the handsome-looking man smiled, he emitted a bewitching yet dangerous aura.

She knows the answer to that smile.

It was a positive answer.

The first life and the second life, he didn’t change. Saint Elena was caught again by that mad emperor.

***

After a revelation was given, the priests searched for the prophesied girl in a vassal’s fief.

Not long after, the saint was found.

The girl’s name is Elena.

She was a pretty fifteen-year-old girl with platinum blonde hair that stood out among ordinary people with dark hair.

The four priests took her to the capital.

So Elena began to live the life of a saint.

She was worshiped and admired by all. As a saint, she protected the world from evil.

She seemed to be happy on the outside, but she suffered a lot on the inside.

Anyone would naturally feel that way.

Because she, Elena, became a saint in order to die.

A few years after becoming a saint, she read the Book of Revelation. The content was simple.

The day Elena turns 25, the world will be destroyed.

Elena had to give herself to the world as the chosen saint, and beg god for mercy.

Elena did not run away. If that is her duty as a saint, she will gladly accept it.

This was the price she had to take to live.

For the rest of her life, however, she kept suffering. Life wasn’t easy and many things didn’t go as planned.

She had to throw away every desire, and had to fake her emotions as much as she could.

At some point, she felt that she was the ‘saint’, not Elena any longer.

And when she turned twenty-five, she was burned to death

That’s how her miserable life ended.

The fire climbed up her body and devoured her greedily, as she screamed in pain.

Then, the divine power in her body came out and started to save the world.

Screaming in pain, she thought that she had no regrets as a saint.

No, does she really have no regrets?

Elena thought.

There were so many things to regret.

She couldn’t stop the excessive loyalty of the Holy Knight* Maynard couldn’t stop the wrath of Pope Erich, and…she failed to convince the tyrant Arkan who had kidnapped her.

*TL/N: I hadn’t the slightest idea about what the knights of the catholics churches are called in english equivalent. Tried searching but had no idea what I’m reading lol. So for those of you who know, please do comment.

It was them who made the world go crazy.

‘Other than that…I’ve never lived as myself.’

Yes, she lived only as a saint, not as Elena. When she thought of that, the flames that fluttered greedily devoured everything.

Hence, the saint became one with the fire.

At that time, Elena must have been burned to death.

No, she must have been dead.

“Then why am I here?”

Elena muttered with a blank face.

She looked around.

It was a shabby but strangely familiar room that was different from the room she woke up to every morning.

“This is the house I used to live in.”

The house where she lived before becoming a saint.

But now, why is she here?

She still remembered the pain the moment she stopped breathing.

But why is she still alive?

Elena looked at her hands and feet.

Her skinny arms were clean, as if it never touched the flames.

“Did god really save me?”

Looking down at her body, Elena felt something strange.

Her hands and feet looked oddly smaller than usual.

“What?”

She got up and went to the mirror.

The one in the mirror looked much younger than Elena before her death.

Her cheeks were plump and her face was also fresh.

“I…what happened?”

Elena looked at her face in the mirror with a blank expression.

She thought she was dead, but she survived.

And she became much younger than before.

“Did I regress?”