episode_0124

Side story EP 3. Saint Catherine

The moment she was born into this world, the gods blessed her, and humans remained silent.

― Excerpt from the biography of Saint Catherine.

◈

When Catherine was born and reached the age where she first began to recognize ‘people’, there were only priests by her side, not her parents.

As she grew up, she naturally learned that the place where she was born and raised was called a temple, and she also thought of becoming a priest like those who raised her.

I knew that I was a little, no, a lot different from ordinary people, but life in Shinjeo when I was young wasn’t bad… … This evaluation is Catherine’s personal review.

Looking at it objectively, her childhood could be seen as a combination of abuse and neglect.

It was when Catherine opened her eyes to divine power that she began to be treated humanely.

No, it is something that should not be expressed simply as opening one’s eyes. From the moment she first wielded divine power, her divine power exceeded that of most high priestesses.

Whatever the process, Catherine became a famous priest at the temple where she was born and raised.

Unlike other priests who devoted themselves to the business of noble families, Catherine’s divine power was probably directed at the powerless commoners.

Even today, the back gate of the temple was crowded with patients and their guardians lined up in a long line.

It may have seemed even more so because they were sick people. The patients in the long line all had shabby looks and dirty clutter everywhere.

In fact, it is somewhat ironic that a temple built to ‘worship’ a god has different doors for nobles and commoners to enter and exit, but nine out of ten priests who happen to see such a procession of commoners at the back door of the temple will frown. He did not hide his disapproval.

However, it was even more ironic that a smile never left Catherine’s face as she dealt with commoners who were frowned upon by priests.

“Thank you. Saint Catherine.”

“Oh my. mister. I am not a saint. He’s barely a trainee priest. If you say something like that, you’ll be in real trouble.”

Hearing Catherine’s words of concern for the man who said she was a saint, the man smiled even warmer and bowed before walking away.

Now this was a daily occurrence.

Some people volunteered to help Catherine with their own hands, and it has now become a very common practice to offer bread from one’s own to Catherine in lieu of medical expenses.

It was about two years after Catherine was appointed from a trainee priest to an official priest that this seemingly happy and beautiful scene was shattered.

Even when she was an apprentice, her sacred power was enormous, but when she became a full-time priest, her sacred power increased exponentially, as if she had nothing to worry about anymore.

Some people gain weight just by drinking water, but Catherine’s divine power quickly increased just by drinking water.

Eventually, the existence of Catherine, whose divine power had grown to a level comparable to that of the pope of the time, became known throughout the kingdom. Moreover, her divine power was so pure that it could not be compared to that of the Pope, so it was probably natural for the nobles to seek her out.

That day was the same as usual, when patients were treated at the back entrance of the temple.

After becoming a full-time priest, she was able to come and go a little more freely, so she sometimes visited slums in person to check on patients who had difficulty moving.

However, after the rumor about her divine power spread, it was almost like Catherine was banned from going out. Even so, it was unexpected that they were allowed to treat those who had no money.

“Priest Catherine.”

Just around lunchtime, Catherine was puzzled by the sound of a voice calling her from the direction of the temple, not from the road where the patient was standing, so she briefly asked for understanding from the patients and got up.

“Huh? High Priest Aise? What’s going on?”

“Get ready to go. Priest Catherine.”

“Yes? Now? Where?”

“The second daughter-in-law of the Count Blanc family is unwell.”

Catherine lived in a temple from birth. The statement that a member of a noble family is ‘unwell’ does not refer to a patient in the context.

I literally feel unwell.

Like waking up in the morning and feeling stiff in your shoulders, or just not feeling well today.

“There are a lot of patients outside. And a person like me who has just become a full-time priest comes from a count family. It would be a blemish on the temple’s reputation for no reason.”

In response to Catherine’s answer, High Priestess Aise only made a groaning sound.

If Catherine’s tone had been sarcastic or had other similar intentions, she would have said something, but the fact that Catherine’s words were sincere was what drove High Priestess Aise crazy.

Other commoners were listening, so I couldn’t say anything, but the discomfort felt by the count’s daughter-in-law that High Priest Aise was talking about was the discomfort felt by any mother with a child.

Discomfort felt throughout the body as the stomach gets full.

The easiest way to solve this problem is to receive a so-called ‘holy power shower’ from a priest with high holy power.

It is a very luxurious treatment that spreads pure divine power from head to toe and seeps into every part of the body. No, a luxurious massage would be an appropriate expression.

The problem is that Catherine is the person the count’s family wants. High Priest Aise thought that their request was reasonable since the purity of Catherine’s divine power was incomparable to his own.

“Priest Catherine!”

“And I think such a precious position is more suitable for the high priest than for me. I still have a lot to learn, and… … . Because it’s not enough.”

At this point, High Priestess Aise began to become confused as to whether this noble orphan with a lot of divine power was truly rejecting her, or whether she was trying to defeat him with luxurious skills.

But regardless of whether the High Priestess did it or not, Catherine focused on the patients lined up again.

This kind of ‘interference’ towards her became more and more frequent. So much so that it can be said often.

In the end, both Catherine and the temple staff began to feel hurt towards each other.

And usually, immediate action in response to these hurt feelings comes from those with vested interests.

It started with high-ranking priests, high priests or bishops. However, unexpectedly, the person who reacted most sensitively to this atmosphere was the Pope.

The Pope developed a pathological dislike for Catherine, who was not under his control in the church. And it became even worse after seeing with my own eyes that Catherine was even more pure than him and possessed an enormous amount of divine power.

Although others do not know, or rather, only the Pope knows, the divine power that Catherine possesses is twice that of the Pope himself and has continued to increase.

“This dirty seed… … .”

The headquarters of the denomination.

The Pope bit his lip and continued to babble like that for a while, trying to suppress his rising anger.

While spitting words with unknown meaning, such as ‘dirty seed’, towards Catherine, who is revered as a saint.

And with bloodshot eyes that were not at all priest-like, he muttered something creepy.

“Okay. anyway. That’s it. If I can’t have it, I can just throw it away. Should I kill him? No, with that ignorant divine power, you won’t die. ah! okay. Corruption! Because white tends to get dirty easily.”

Fortunately, no one heard the cruel and creepy mutterings.

And so began something cruel and horrifying.

◈

That day was the day when Catherine’s ban on going out was lifted for the first time in a long time. As soon as she received the news, Catherine took potions and herbs and headed to the slums.

Originally, the first thing that greeted Catherine when she entered the slum was the stench emanating from the sick and the poor.

“Huh?”

But that day, strangely enough, she did not feel any foul odor, nor did she hear any sounds that greeted her, so she felt puzzled, and before she could take the next step,

“Kya!”

Her vision darkened. I haven’t lost my mind.

If I had lost my mind, it wouldn’t have been this scary. I felt like something was attacking me, and the feeling of floating in the air and moving somewhere increased my fear to the point of going crazy.

As time goes by, more and more.

When she saw the light again, that is, when her captors arrived at their destination, her eyes were filled with dozens of men.

All but Catherine were men.

“Why, why are you like this… … .”

“Hehehehe.”

“I am number 1.”

…

…

that day.

Catherine accepted a man for the first time. Countless times. Dozens of times.

Nevertheless, the overflowing divine power did not tire her out and gave her more vivid nightmares, but Catherine did not blame God.

Was her nobleness wrong?

A man who appeared to be the leader of the group let out terrible words from his mouth.

“Are you just pretending to be clean? On the subject of being the daughter of a prostitute with a lowly status! what? Forgive us? Why should we be forgiven? The one who ordered us to violate you is the highest among the priests who serve the god you asked for forgiveness!!”

The man who screamed with a red face as if he had been hit by evil, a vein on his neck, and tendons standing out on his forehead, took a moment to catch his breath.

“It’s the Pope!”

“… Everything, you. lie… … !”

“Lie? Well, it’s not that I don’t do it at all. Not this time. It’s been a while since I told you the truth about 100% purity.”

But there’s something strange about that man. As if he didn’t realize it, black spots were spreading all over his face and body. As if drops of dark ink were dropped on rice paper.

“So, the person you wanted to be defiled is the Pope… … . Why is my body?”

“Stay still. I will treat you.”

“Go away!! It’s because of you! Embrace the dirty you!”

The man was astonished and walked away from Catherine.

No matter how much Catherine seemed like an angel, she had just heard an incredibly gruesome sound, and seeing the person who had attacked her say such a thing, she couldn’t help but be dazed for a moment, as if she had been mentally attacked.

That short period of time where I couldn’t do anything about the other person’s actions and just looked at them blankly.

The man died.

“Ah… … .”

The men collapsed from exhaustion after an intense sexual act and died at the same time, and at that moment, as if they had been waiting for them, the capital guards broke down the warehouse door and stormed in.

“Damn, she’s a witch!!”

The guards immediately captured Catherine. No, to tell the truth, I should say that he was afraid and hesitated for a while, and when Catherine came up to him with sad eyes and knelt down, he then hesitantly approached and captured him.

In this way, she went from being a saint to being a prostitute and a witch who preys on men, and was imprisoned in the most heavily guarded place in the capital of the empire. In the dungeon of the imperial palace.

Catherine, like this brat, was not upset by the actions of the commoners or the temple that criticized her. I wasn’t even angry. I just quietly prayed to God in the dark dungeon.

That appearance contrasted with the dark and gloomy atmosphere of the imperial palace’s dungeon – I don’t know why there was a prison in the imperial palace – and made her seem even more sacred and noble. It also made it more beautiful.

That was the beginning of further misfortune.

The third son of the emperor of the empire, the 3rd Prince, was a person with a very unique personality. Rather than being a chaste and virtuous woman, it is a wall that is similar in some ways to the Munchausen Syndrome, in which the woman gives cheap sympathy to those who have a hard time living from day to day and gets excited when she feels herself being embraced.

It was perhaps natural that he visited this place located in the basement of the imperial palace.

“Raise your head.”

Even though she spoke in the softest voice possible, the woman did not even raise her lowered head.

No, there was no movement, as if I hadn’t heard what he said. Just a constant inaudible muttering and divine power subtly shining outward.

“Turn your head… … .”

Catherine’s indescribable appearance made the Third Prince just stare at her in fascination, not even noticing that the food tray in his hand was tilting.

Wow!

The 3rd prince finally came to his senses when he heard the scream from the bowl rolling on the floor and retreated in a panic.

He stopped backwards due to the chill felt from the hard, cold wall and stood like that for a while with a mysterious expression that was difficult to express in words.

“Do you have any business for me?”

Catherine’s voice sounded more mysterious and sacred than any choir’s singing.

A miserable and miserable dungeon.

A woman called a witch with a sacred atmosphere within her.

The voice is reminiscent of an angel, but it also sounds erotic as it echoes off the walls of the dungeon.

The ultimate fantasy that the 3rd prince desperately wanted was right in front of him. The environment was also a miserable dungeon.

The 3rd prince rushed at her like a dog in heat and raped Catherine.

Are you saying this is a tragedy?

no. The tragedy that befell her had just begun.

The emperor came in. in front of the emperor

So, was it a true tragedy for Catherine that the Emperor discovered that the Third Prince had raped her?

no.

“! Dirty bitch! I wasn’t meant to give birth to something like you! no! I shouldn’t have gone to see the saint that day in the first place!”

Catherine did not understand for a moment and had to look at the emperor blankly.

“It’s not my fault. Dirty saint bitch! Those four dirty bitches who inherited that dirty blood are wrong!!”

“Oh, father? What is that… … .”

Catherine’s ears could not hear them screaming at the top of their lungs. As she hears her tinnitus, ‘Beep!’, the sense of loss she has been enduring envelops her.

Tragically, as if a tower that was barely standing was collapsing, she lost consciousness.

Probably so. If only her divine power wasn’t so vast that it surpassed the level of her mother, a former saint, as we now know.

Wounds, pain, loss, and tests ironically provide priests with extremely pure divine power when they overcome them.

Just like Catherine is doing now.

When she, who was in danger of collapsing, managed to come to her senses thanks to the exponentially increasing divine power, time in the world stopped.

A man fully moving in a world that had stopped appeared before Catherine.

“You too in my body… … .”

She couldn’t ask me if you wanted my body too.

The moment I met the man’s eyes, I realized that there wasn’t an ounce of sexual desire or desire in them. Rather, he was filled with pity.

“Your body is in danger. If you leave it like this, your body will not be able to withstand the pure and tremendous divine power and will explode.”

“I see.”

“Yes.”

The man’s eyebrows twitched for a moment when he saw Catherine answering as if it were someone else’s business, but he answered as if it was no big deal. After a moment of silence between the two, it was the man who spoke first.

“I can’t just watch the dimension fly by, and I feel like it’s somehow unfair that you die. So live.”

“… … .”

“Because one day, a man will definitely appear who will tell you, ‘It’s not your fault.’ ah! Of course, your body will be pure white and have never been touched by a man. Don’t worry.”

Before Catherine could even wonder what the man said, she disappeared from the dungeon.

The man looked at the place where Catherine disappeared, but where traces of pure white divine power remained, as if she had stayed there just a moment ago,

“And I think so too. Oh my.”

She muttered that as if she were still standing there.

“It’s definitely not your fault. There are some bastards who have made real mistakes and committed sins that are disgusting to even talk about.”

Kukukung-.

“Shouldn’t they receive the punishment and suffering?”

that day.

The main oracle was given to all the temples on the continent where the saint was accused of being a witch.

[The sinner who called my precious Catherine a witch will be punished.]

[The sinner who pointed a finger at my precious Catherine will be punished.]

[The sinner who dishonored Catherine, whom I loved, will not rest even to his soul.]

On that day, the god’s angry oracle fell across the continent, and a plague named Divine Punishment began in the imperial capital.

Actually, it wasn’t a plague. Because it wasn’t contagious.

However, the reason why history recorded it as a plague is because more people died than any other plague and the pain was more severe than any other plague.

Above all, the imperial family and the imperial palace were all included in the conditions of the sin mentioned by the chief priest, and received the most severe punishment, unable to live or die, shedding tears of blood in pain every minute and every second.

The priests of the corrupt temple lost their divine powers and suffered from pain as well.

Not only did the Pope lose all his divine power, but he also suffered the same level of divine punishment as the emperor, so much pain that he could not even scream properly every minute and second, shedding tears of blood.

But the emperor, the pope, the corrupt priests and the royal family.

lived a long time

For a very long time.

While suffering terribly.