Chapter 44
{And the people flocked to the prophet and asked, “Prophet, by what shall we know that a saint has come?”
And the prophet answered, “You will see many miracles and incomprehensible things, but more than all these, you will know he is a saint by this.
“He will stand with those who bear the world's pain and weep.
“He will stand with those who are weary and heavy-laden.
“So draw tears as your symbol.
“For the saint will see the world's pain and sorrow and grieve with them, and he will shed tears for the weak and the broken.
“You shall call him the compassionate one.
Eleos (ἔλεος).}
– Book of Grace, Chapter 19, Verses 19, 20-
***
When the curse began to burst out.
The Emperor first summoned the captain of the imperial guard.
"Activate the magic and miracles installed in the separate palace!! Right now!"
The moment the curse inside Iomene's body bursts out, the entire empire would be destroyed.
No.
It would be the same anywhere on the continent.
There would only be a time difference. In the end, everyone would be infected by the curse, their souls destroyed, and they would become beings that could neither live nor die.
So the separate palace was prepared with many devices for the worst-case scenario.
And now was exactly that worst-case scenario.
If the miracles and magic of the separate palace were cast, Iomene would die.
But there was no choice.
If the curse had burst out to the point where it could be felt on the skin, it had to be assumed that everything was already too late.
There was no way to save Iomene anymore.
The captain of the imperial guard hurriedly followed the Emperor's order and took out the artifact he always carried in his bosom and quickly activated it.
But the feeling of the curse on the skin was still there.
There was no vibration sound of miracles and magic being activated on a large scale.
Something had gone wrong.
"Are you sure it worked properly?"
"It's certain! Your Majesty! There's no problem with the artifact! The miracles and magic drawn in the separate palace are not activating!"
"Damn it! Of all times!! What are the priests and mages on duty doing!!"
While he was venting his frustration, the captain of the imperial guard's body flinched.
Black energy burrowed into his body like a snake and disappeared.
But because he was an excellent knight, he began to endure the pain of his soul being eaten away by utilizing the mana in his body.
"Your Majesty. You must hurry. We don't know when Your Majesty might be cursed too. You must abandon me and flee quickly."
The Emperor couldn't delay any longer at those words.
He headed towards Almene's room with the Empress, who had also woken up in shock due to the curse.
And there, the couple witnessed a terrible scene.
Almene was convulsing with foam in her mouth.
As if trying to prevent the curse that had already consumed Iomene from being transmitted to her, the magic circle drawn on her left eye was flashing violently.
But it was only a temporary measure. It was only a matter of time before she broke down.
"Almene!!"
The Emperor picked her up himself, and the three family members began to flee. They were thoroughly escorted by members of the imperial guard and court mages who had not yet been infected by the curse.
As he fled, the Emperor shed tears.
In the end, the worst result had come.
He had tried to prevent the worst case by using every possible method, but in the end, he had failed.
He would be forever recorded in history as the Emperor who ruined the empire.
No.
That would only be the case if humanity still remained.
In the end, no one would be able to escape this curse.
"God."
The Emperor closed his eyes tightly.
Why had it come to this?
What great wrongs had he committed?
He wasn't a tyrant.
Rather, he was a ruler who had led the empire's revival.
Like some rulers, his hands were also stained with blood, but that blood was only from fighting against evil god worshippers and demon cultists who were rampaging to overthrow the empire.
He had brought about an industrial revolution and was the one who created numerous technological advancements.
But at the same time, it was also true that many imperial citizens had starved, suffered, and died as factory workers and the poor.
Moreover, it was also he who had made many evil god worshippers and demon cultists move more actively to avenge their killed comrades.
Is that the mistake?
Is that why the gods of the Pantheon had abandoned me?
It was painful.
The fact that the empire, which had continued for so long, would collapse due to his mistake.
The fact that his daughter, whom he had tried to save somehow because of his greed, had only suffered pain and finally disappeared forever.
But no matter how angry and self-reproachful he was, there was nothing he could do except flee.
Just as they were about to rush out of the imperial palace in a limousine that had been prepared in advance at the end of a secret passage.
In the distance, they could see Iomene floating in the sky brightened by the morning sunlight, with black wings spread.
The Emperor and Empress looked desperately at their daughter floating in the air through the car window.
In the end, they couldn't save anyone.
Not the empire.
Not Iomene.
Not Almene.
At the moment when they felt like they couldn't even breathe properly, and their hearts weighed down by intense guilt and frustration…
They saw someone suddenly appear before Iomene.
Familiar white clothes.
It was Saint Amael.
"Stop!!"
The Emperor issued an order.
The driver hesitated at those words.
"Your Majesty! We mustn't stop here!! We must head to the hideout!"
"It won't make any difference whether we're in the hideout or the imperial palace the moment that curse spreads. Stop the car."
The car finally stopped according to the order.
The Emperor walked out of the car carrying Princess Almene.
The Empress also walked out as if enchanted by something.
The driver too.
The imperial knights and court mages who had boarded the limousine to escort the Emperor and Empress also.
Even the citizens who were trying to flee from the curse.
At some point, everyone was looking at the saint and Iomene fighting in the sky filled with the brightening morning sunlight.
As if enchanted by something, everyone quietly.
Looked at the saint and the fragment of the evil god.
"Saint. Save us," someone sobbed and muttered quietly.
But because it was so quiet, everyone could hear that voice.
When one started speaking, two started speaking.
"Saint. Chosen one of grace!"
"Saint of Healing!"
"Saint Amael!"
"Save us! Save us!"
And before long, everyone was calling out the saint's name.
The Emperor and Empress were no exception.
Everyone was cheering for the saint.
"Please."
The Emperor was also begging.
He was begging while shedding tears.
Hugging Almene, who was trembling and convulsing with foam in her mouth, the Emperor begged as earnestly as he could possibly be.
"Please grant a miracle. Grant a miracle."
At some point when everyone was praying like that with one heart and mind.
A light more brilliant than the rising sunlight burst from the saint's body.
Everyone closed their eyes because it was so bright.
And when they opened their eyes again.
They could see incredibly beautiful lights falling from the sky to the ground.
The lights settled one by one on people's bodies.
Those who had been suffering from the curse stopped screaming and stood up, and those who had collapsed in fear looked up at the sky in surprise and ecstasy.
"It's a miracle!! A miracle has been granted!!"
"Long live Saint Amael!"
"Long live Lilia of Grace!"
As the citizens' cheers began to ring out.
The Emperor and Empress were running like mad.
What happened to Iomene?
With anxiety and hope mixed.
With earnestness and pathos mixed, the ruler of the empire ran and ran back into the imperial palace.
"I-I'm healed!"
"My body is healed!"
"My goodness, how…!?"
The Emperor arrived at the separate palace where Iomene had been, passing by numerous servants and knights of the imperial guard who were marveling.
And he could witness.
The saint who had been floating in the sky descending to the ground, walking on air with the princess with black wings.
The saint shed tears after descending to the ground, then placed his hand on the princess' head and performed the miracle of healing.
The hideous black wings that had grown on her back slowly began to wither.
The bruises covering her body faded and her wounds along with them.
All of it disappeared.
Beautiful lights were still slowly falling from the sky to the ground.
And two of those lights carefully fell on Almene and Iomene's bodies as well.
With that, the twin princesses opened their eyes simultaneously.
"Father?" Almene murmured quietly and rose from the Emperor's arms.
The Emperor hugged his daughter tightly.
"I can no longer feel the pain that was being transmitted from Iomene. How…? What happened?"
The Emperor and Empress didn't answer.
Almene also didn't try to hear an answer anymore.
She looked in the direction her father and mother were looking.
Princess Iomene, who had been in the crying saint's arms, slowly raised her body.
Old clothes.
Clothes with her back exposed because wings had grown there.
But no one blamed the princess for her attire.
The priests and holy knights guarding the separate palace.
The imperial knights.
Mages and witches and various maids and butlers.
Not a single one could breathe as they looked at Princess Iomene.
Iomene carefully separated from the saint and set foot on the ground.
She carefully balanced herself as she staggered.
And looked at her father and mother.
And Almene.
"Fa... ther?" Iomene said in a faint voice.
It was a clear and clean voice that everyone could understand, though clumsy.
"Mother? Almene?"
It wasn't a voice that screamed like a beast.
It was still clumsy and stammering, but clearly.
It was a human voice.
Iomene spoke in the very voice that the Emperor and Empress had dreamed of.
The Empress reached out her arms towards Iomene.
Iomene slowly moved her steps and snuggled into her mother's arms.
The Empress, who had been blankly staring at the sky, suddenly started shedding tears at some point.
"My daughter. My daughter Iomene."
"Mo... ther."
"God. Thank you. Thank you."
The Empress hugged Iomene as if to crush her.
Princess Almene and the Emperor also carefully approached the two and hugged Iomene.
Sobbing.
The four family members hugged each other and wailed, pouring out emotions too deep to express in words.
They cried mourning the 19 years of lost time, cried mourning the pain Iomene must have suffered, and cried with apology for being parents who had tortured their daughter.
Everyone around watched that scene.
All the priests, court mages, imperial knights, and servants watched that scene.
It was an unseen side of the Emperor, but no one was surprised.
Because they too had been saved.
The brilliant morning sunlight was falling onto the garden of the separate palace in a way that couldn't be more holy.
The Emperor and Empress, and everyone gathered in the garden, turned their gaze towards the sunlight.
A halo.
A majestic and holy halo that was too bright to look at was surrounding the saint.
Among the people quietly watching that scene, one priest unconsciously fell to his knees on the ground and muttered, "The compassionate one. Eleos."
At those words, everyone began to follow that phrase.
"Eleos."
"One who sheds tears for the weak and the broken."
The Emperor muttered the same thing while shedding tears, "Savior. Eleos."
As if enchanted by something, everyone.
"Savior! Eleos!"
"Savior! Eleos!"
Began to shout that slogan.
Savior Eleos.
At the fervent cries, the saint closed his open eyes.
The tears flowing from his eyes increased even more.
In a scene more majestic and beautiful than any painter could capture, he silently wept.
As if comforting this world.
He wept like that.
Everyone saw hope and salvation in that scene.
"Savior! Eleos!"
"Eleos!!"
"Eleos!!"
Now there was no one crying in grief.
Everyone was smiling.
Tears of emotion and laughter began to fill the garden of the separate palace.
There was only one person crying.
Only the Saint of Healing, Amael.