Once the child started crying, she wouldn’t easily stop. The way she tearfully sobbed seemed as if she was releasing all the tears she had been holding back until now. Arianne carried the baby into the hallway and stopped a priest who happened to be passing by the holy maiden’s room.

The priest watched with serious concern as the normally quiet holy maiden cried breathlessly, then was startled by Arianne’s explanation that she had fallen from the bed and rushed off to call a doctor.

Arianne returned to the room. She continuously rocked and comforted the baby, but there was no sign of the crying subsiding. While patting the crying child, Arianne looked out the window. The dense raindrops struck the window so hard that the outside scenery was barely visible.

Since the holy maiden’s birth, the sky had been consistently clear except for the occasional necessary rainfall. Moreover, until Arianne had been nodding off, the weather had been cloudless and clear. She couldn’t understand why such torrential rain was suddenly pouring down. It was weather reminiscent of those nightmarish times before the holy maiden was born.

Perhaps…

Arianne looked at the baby who was still crying until her voice grew hoarse. While the baby hadn’t cried and had only smiled brightly, the weather had been dreamily gentle. Arianne recalled the day the child was born. The falling snow hadn’t stopped at the moment of the baby’s birth. It had stopped when the crying baby in her arms had quieted and fallen asleep.

Thinking that the holy maiden’s crying might be related to the sudden change in weather, Arianne began to comfort the baby more desperately.

“Holy Maiden, I’m sorry. If only I hadn’t dozed off… Please don’t cry. Soon the doctor will come, and everything that hurts will be fine. Your pretty face will be a mess from tears. Please don’t cry…”

Arianne whispered softly into the baby’s ear as if she could understand. But despite Arianne’s desperate voice, the baby continued crying until, by the time the doctor arrived, she finally fell asleep from exhaustion. Teardrops still hung from the tips of her eyelashes.

Both the doctor and the priest who had gone to fetch him rushed in, completely soaked by the rain and looking terrible. The doctor attended to the holy maiden first without even properly drying himself. Fortunately, the baby was just quite startled, with no other injuries.

Arianne couldn’t take her eyes off the sky, where the rain had instantly stopped the moment the child fell asleep. A beautiful double rainbow now hung in the sky.

Except for the raindrops dripping from tree branches and the shining rainbow, one would never have guessed that such rain had fallen—the sky was cloudless and clear. Just as it had been before the rain.

The priest who had gone to fetch the doctor wiped his wet body with a cloth and spoke worriedly:

“Wasn’t the sky perfectly clear since the holy maiden came to this land? Why is such ominous rain suddenly falling again…”

Arianne turned her gaze from the sky outside the window to look at the priest. Her expression was neither happy nor sad, but rather enigmatic. She spoke quietly:

“Priest Chris.”

“Yes. Do you have something to say?”

“…the same.”

“Pardon?”

The priest, unable to properly hear Arianne’s voice that seemed about to break off, asked again. Arianne swallowed and spoke once more, this time more loudly and clearly:

“The rain today seems to be related to the holy maiden’s crying.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Arianne explained in detail what she had observed on the day the holy maiden was born, and how today the rain had started pouring the moment the holy maiden burst into tears and stopped as soon as she fell asleep. Priest Chris seemed to be pondering something deeply.

“If that’s true, then the holy maiden is more pitiful than anyone. She can’t cry even when she wants to.”

The two priests looked at the soundly sleeping holy maiden. They could now understand why the holy maiden was uniquely docile and didn’t cry compared to other children.

♣ ♣ ♣

Six years had already passed since the holy maiden sent by the goddess Amir had descended.

But the tremendous calamity that had nearly destroyed the vast empire had mercilessly scraped through people’s hearts, leaving deep scars that would never disappear.

People remembered those times clearly. Black storm clouds that blocked the sky so completely that day and night were indistinguishable. Snow, rain, and hail falling without pause. Floods that devoured dozens of low-lying villages in the blink of an eye. Blizzards that swept around all living things as if trying to extinguish the energy of life.

The calamity that seemed about to destroy the world quickly subsided with the holy maiden’s arrival. Snow and rain instantly seeped into the ground or evaporated into the sky, and pale green sprouts that seemed lost forever poked up from the earth. As many people were born anew as had died, and collapsed dams and buildings were rebuilt stronger than before.

People bowed their heads toward the great temple several times a day, offering thanks to the goddess and the holy maiden.

The temple they paid homage to was the central one among the many temples in the Empire of Akelan, which believed in Amir as the one true deity. It was where Ceres, the head of the many priests serving Amir, and the young holy maiden who had ended the year-long calamity resided.

The great temple, composed of several smaller temples and buildings, was symbolic as the place honoring the empire’s one true deity. Its scale was so vast that it resembled a small village. At the innermost part of the temple stood an elegant marble building that shone particularly white compared to other buildings, having been built relatively recently. The entire building was intricately carved with angels serving the deity, though some parts were still being worked on.

The owner of this building, also called the Santarium, was none other than the holy maiden whom everyone praised endlessly.

Priests passing in front of the Santarium could occasionally see the young holy maiden clinging to a second-floor window, poking her head out. She would peer out endlessly at the world outside, and if a passing priest happened to notice her and greet her, she would shyly acknowledge the greeting and quietly close the window.

There were countless times when priests passed by without noticing her. This was because her glossy white hair, silver eyes, and equally transparent skin blended with the marble, acting as camouflage, similar to how small reptiles hide themselves. When priests passed without noticing her, she didn’t bother to make herself known, but simply continued to earnestly capture the clear sky with her silver eyes.

Today too, she sat with her knees bent on the soft bed, resting her chin on the windowsill. The rustling light pink sheets brushed against her smooth skin. The pink sheets were among the colorful pastel furniture that Priestess Arianne had strongly insisted on replacing everything with, arguing that having everything white would not be good for the holy maiden’s emotional development.

“The sun is dazzling. It’s perfect weather for a picnic, isn’t it?”

The child spoke. But no answer came. This was because, apart from the young holy maiden, there was no one else in this excessively spacious room. But the holy maiden paid no mind to the silence.

Carefully climbing down from the bed that was enormous compared to her size, she picked up a somewhat shabby teddy bear placed on a stand that came up to her waist. Although she could have bought any number of new dolls, she treasured this teddy bear that Arianne had bought for her when she was four years old.

Holding the doll preciously to her chest, she used her free hand to pull the bed sheet down onto the marble floor. She sat the teddy bear on the sheet.

The young holy maiden closed her eyes and imagined.

The white, wide marble floor was a green meadow. In the small lawn in front of the Santarium that she looked out at every day with her chin on the windowsill, tiny wildflowers smaller than her pinky nail bloomed. In her imagination, she made such pretty flowers bloom on her marble meadow. She imagined the moist grass smell that invariably came through the window after a light rain. Her marble meadow would smell like that too.

The bed sheet was a mat to prevent grass stains on her white clothes and teddy bear. Arianne had once told her about noble ladies’ picnics, saying that ladies always spread pretty tablecloths or fabrics on the ground when they went on picnics.

‘She said picnics should have delicious snacks and sweet-smelling tea.’

Recalling Arianne’s words, the holy maiden looked around for something similar. Just then, a small tea set for playing house on the shelf caught her eye. Her face brightened.

“Wait, Mari. I’ll bring some fragrant tea.”

The holy maiden, speaking to the teddy bear, stood up and walked to the shelf. She stretched out her delicate hand. It was quite high, almost out of reach.

Since Arianne had always taken it down for her and she had never tried to reach it herself, the holy maiden was surprised to find the shelf so high.

The holy maiden rose onto her tiptoes, lifting her heels. Her balance wasn’t properly centered, and her body wobbled. She quickly grabbed the shelf with one hand to steady herself. She stretched her other hand toward the toy teacup. The cold, smooth texture of glass touched her fingertips.

Even on tiptoes, she was still slightly too short. Her fingertips barely reached the saucer. The holy maiden pushed the saucer, slowly turning it. The teacup gradually moved closer to the edge of the shelf. Her legs began to tingle, but she endured, imagining the fun picnic game.

Although the cup had already been pushed out enough to grab with her hand, the holy maiden continued to push the saucer. She thought that if it moved just a little more, it would be easier to grab. Finally, the tea set, pushed to its limit, tilted precariously and fell to the floor.

Startled, she lost her grip on the shelf. Her body tilted. The holy maiden put her hands down toward the floor. It was a reflexive action.

Her body fell onto the broken glass. Her small, delicate hand pressed down on the glass pieces. White glass fragments cut into her flesh.

First came the cool sensation of something sharp digging into her flesh. Then, the stinging pain rushed in.

“Hnngh!”

The terrible pain was more than a six-year-old child could bear. The holy maiden was in too much pain to even scream, and she held her breath after inhaling sharply.