When warm hands wrapped around her back, the fear gradually melted away. The anxiety covering her body felt like it was being washed away by water. 

In the place swept away like low tide, a strangely sad emotion remained.

Lev, overwhelmed with grief, grabbed his shoulders.

“Laith. Can you hold me for a moment?”

Of course. Of course. Come here.

Solaith held Lev tightly in his arms like his chest was her home and patted her tender back.

Lev tried swallowing the tears that kept bursting out, but she couldn’t stop what poured forth.

She couldn’t bear how pitiful the snake was. To think there was such a story. Though it was only a dream, facing the other side of what she’d dreamed repeatedly made her heart feel blocked and heavy.

In reality, the snake was described in scripture as an ominous being that tempted the woman Lev. The snake that harmed the apple was a beast bearing ill fortune, whether viewed as a theological symbol or by the content of Lev’s dream.

That’s why Lev also recognized it as something ominous. Even though it was just a dream, she feared it might be a prophecy about the future, and she couldn’t deny that the snake’s appearance, which resembled Solaith’s beauty by half, bothered her even more.

But to think there was such a backstory.

“Sister… what kind of dream could you have had? I can’t even go in directly and resolve it.”

Solaith jokingly rolled up his sleeves. When Lev sniffled more, he enclosed her even more in his broad chest and stroked her hair.

“Solaith. I’m sorry…”

She atoned for having associated the snake with him and harboring subtle anxiety. She grabbed his warm, bewildered face and cried out apologies.

After a long while, Solaith, having heard the circumstances, embraced Lev with an unchanged expression.

“It’s just a snake and an apple. I don’t know what reason you’ve been having such dreams, but… it’s absurd for you to apologize to me. It breaks my heart that my tender-hearted Sister has been suffering alone all this time.”

Lev told him she was a bit anxious because she didn’t know the dream’s meaning. If this was something the Holy Spirit wanted to show her…

Guilt about the two of them escaping the temple began raising its head.

Then Solaith cut off that thought.

“It won’t have any meaning. Because… Sister will now be with me wherever we go.”

That it had no meaning. That meant the dream had no meaning regardless of what ending it prophesied. If she was with Solaith. Anywhere, it held no meaning. Understanding what he meant, Lev nodded.

If she walked a path holding his hand, she was confident she wouldn’t be afraid of any place.

“Sister, please rest comfortably today in the Holy Spirit’s embrace. I’ll offer prayers so you can sleep again.”

He gently laid the woman on the bed and stroked her head.

Though he’d lost both religion and faith long ago, he wore the transparent vestments only for Lev. 

Then she fell asleep making soft breathing sounds, until the room filled with quiet breaths. 

Solaith recited the blessing prayer that was embedded deep in his mind and would never be forgotten.

‘May you sleep comfortably without feeling any guilt because of me… Please.’

* * *

When they came out on deck, sunlight as warm as yesterday played overhead.

The anchored ship let the man and woman off at the edge of the new territory and departed again. The small territory’s harbor was somewhat elevated, revealing the view of the lower village all at once.

“Wow…”

Solaith placed a hat he’d prepared in advance in the cabin on Lev’s head. It was a light, airy summer hat woven from linen.

The woman who suited the hat so perfectly smiled brightly and looked back at him. Solaith gazed at Lev, filled with happiness.

Many things were contained in Lev’s eyes.

Excitement about a new world. Anticipation about new challenges. And love for the man she faced. Wanting to preserve this seemingly eternal beautiful moment, he looked at Lev holding her hair fluttering in the breeze.

Lev looked around. She saw many things.

They were apple trees, particularly abundant in this territory. Many brilliantly shining red apples hung from the trees. She saw many apples fallen on the ground too, but they didn’t look sad. 

They weren’t rotting while attracting insects either.

As Lev blankly looked around the village, something suspicious soon caught her eye.

“Solaith, over there. Under the tree…”

“Under the tree?”

“Didn’t you just see a snake there?”

“A snake? No.”

The man looked at Lev with loving eyes, seemingly asking if she hadn’t woken from her dream yet.

“Was it an illusion… But I definitely saw it. One snake wandering around and disappearing into the bushes.”

“Hmm. I was watching continuously too, but there wasn’t a single one.”

Unusually, Solaith answered curtly. He seemed hurt that she was looking more at other places than at him just because they’d come to a new territory. Then when Lev took his hand, he melted as though asking when that had happened.

“Solaith. Coming to this place, I suddenly think I understand. The dream’s meaning.”

Though it was a sudden topic, when Solaith listened, she explained.

If this was content the Holy Spirit had shown, it was a story about stigma.

The snake. The ominous animal that plunged the world into the path of sin evokes disgust by its very existence. Regardless of the individuals wandering the plateau. 

The same went for the apple. The pitiful sacred object of God swallowed by the snake became a symbol of purity, foolishness, or passivity. When the apples hanging there right now were living their lives robustly.

Lev realized everything had its own story. If one thought only according to what came from scripture, snakes and apples would only have negative meanings for life. The same went for women with the name Lev.

It closely resembled oppression of the weak. The weak subjected to strict standards in the religious world. For instance, marginalized classes like women, widows, and the sick.

Because scripture interpretation was done through the authority of specific classes, those with authority like Raoul could easily attack the weak. 

Rather than the essence of good, it was easily used to push the masses in the direction the ruling class wanted. Within the Holy Spirit’s embrace, class only became more entrenched.

People who believed in religion were neglecting something. That the essence they should practice here was love, not overthrow.

Such thoughts came to her. Then her fearful heart melted away. In the melted place, a small sprout grew, and it grew into a guide that whispered gently to Lev. What she would fill her life with going forward.

It was erasing stigma. Gradually smashing the good and imbalance created by those wearing the mask of faith. When that was accomplished, some Lev somewhere would finally be able to love some Solaith somewhere.

Everything was realized like magic as soon as they arrived in Edaive.

Lev took Solaith’s hand and stepped inside the territory. The pleasant smell of grass and trees filling the area came deep into her body.

The two later chose a well-sunlit mansion as their new sanctuary. And raised the curtain on a new life.

Lev advanced to the academy and studied law. And she attended citizen trials and religious trials as a juror, pouring out good thinking. 

There were many hardships and high barriers before her voice was heard. But she constantly maintained courage, conveyed new thinking to people, and began breaking away from the symbols and contradictions the church had stigmatized.

Rational faith based on the essence of love. She tried to uncover the Holy Spirit’s will with that. 

She tried to break down one by one the evils that used religion as a shield to disturb the world. She helped those suffering in the crown of thorns humans themselves created.

Solaith opened a hospital near their home and worked hard for people with sick bodies. 

When traveling the continent with Lev, he made rounds helping victims of religious trials and patients. Then when Lev had difficult matters or needed secondary support, he spared no effort.

When busy they were busy, but when idle they were languidly idle—happy days continued. Of course, what they devoted the most time to was each other.

“Solaith, thank you. For always firmly guarding my side.”

“Those are the words I want to give you.”

“Being able to view the world from such an open place is thanks to you.”

The two looked at the territory’s panorama from the mansion’s second-floor balcony. The times at the Demaret Plateau came to mind anew. 

The mountain range that would be beyond the continent, invisible even under the now wide-open sky. Solaith placed his hand on the back of her hand.

“It’s not my doing. I knew Sister would come to this place.”

He lowered his gaze and denied it softly.

“No. Really. I saw something in you, Sister. Since you were young.”

“Since I was young… I was even more foolish when I was little. It’s hard to imagine.”

“From when you hid in the cabinet to watch my worship, I felt it. Though you were crying over a single caterpillar, your heart was stronger than anyone’s and overflowing with curiosity.”

Lev’s face reddened further, remembering the past when she’d shed tears over a caterpillar. By the way, did I hide in such a place to watch worship?

The woman smiled brightly and caressed Solaith’s arm.

“Praising me like this again. Solaith might really be my guardian angel.”

“Guardian angel. That’s right.”

Solaith wrapped his hand around Lev’s waist and embraced her from behind. Her hair fluttered in the cool breeze and Lev’s pure fragrance came to his nose tip, making him happy.

‘Sister. Actually, I had lost religion. But I found it again. My lovely one…’

‘In a desolate world, there’s only one way I can live without loneliness. I’ll look at the same place as you forever.’

Closing his eyes and breathing in the woman’s scent, he strongly interlaced his fingers and held Lev in his arms. Then he asked.

“How shall I heal you tonight?”

“Healing? I don’t have any particular pain… Ah… ahh…”

Lev, understanding Solaith’s fishy intention, smiled awkwardly, ears blushing red. 

The woman who mechanically and faithfully blushed whenever talk of physical union came up was so cute and funny he could go crazy. When she’d soon be lewdly crying out as though asking when that had happened.

“I know a very effective long-term healing method for menstrual pain.”

“What is it?”

“Um… You see, I stopped taking the medicine I’d been taking. So I think we can do it properly from now on.”

Over Lev’s face showing she didn’t understand, Solaith smiled softly and said.

“If you kiss me, I’ll start.”

What? 

Lev made a suspicious expression, then stood on tiptoe and carefully pressed her lips to his lips. The moment she did, Solaith wrapped his large arms around her waist and overlapped their lips more forcefully.

The wind entering between the terrace’s arched railings made the white tunics they wore flutter. The kiss surrounded by gentle wind was amazingly ecstatic.

What they faced after betraying purity was another purity.

Love. The decision that inevitably followed it changed both their lives greatly.

Later, the territory where they stayed became the focal point of the new religion’s emergence. 

The closed and corrupt religion gradually found light, and the faint light shining down on the bell tower slowly but gradually brightened. The tilted scales also moved very gradually toward equilibrium.

Not everything was smooth or happy.

Miracles that came true as wished and despair that went against wishes equally penetrated between the cracks of life. But Lev and Solaith endured together because they had hope holding them.

They held hands and only walked forward. Even if they rested when there were hard times, even if they stopped for a long time, they didn’t go backward.

Until they fell asleep again in one cradle.

* * *

Epilogue

That day, Lev had the same dream for the last time.

It was the appearance of the apple and snake. If there was a difference, they were in a completely different place.

“I thought I’d be born again at the mountain’s edge. I don’t see the landscape I knew.”

“Right. It’s all warm and full of light.”

“Indeed. I don’t know well yet, but it seems much warmer than the world below.”

“Yes, yes.”

Gentle voices flowed, then silence came for a moment. The apple said.

“Snake, I’m an endlessly lacking being, but do you still like me unchanged even in this place?”

“Of course. My heart has been the same since the moment I first saw you.”

“If I cry because I’m sad, can you bestow your kindness again? Can you bite me with your fangs or comfort me?”

“Of course. I’ll always make the same choice. But you have to love me too. As much as time allows, you have to ease my loneliness. That’s the only way I can be happy…”

“Okay. Just leave it to me. I’m confident this time.”

However, contrary to worry, that place was somewhere pain, loneliness, time, and death didn’t exist.

A unique space existed where light could breathe even without darkness.

The two slowly walked out.

Into the vast and eternal light that opened its arms to them. Slowly.

fin.