{You’ve been through a lot, Belladonna.}

The short sentence was filled with many emotions. Belladonna felt something welling up deep inside her as she met the Saint’s eyes.

The Saint smiled gently and carefully tucked Belladonna’s disheveled hair behind her ear.

{I’m sorry for making you go through unnecessary hardships because of me.}

Belladonna shook her head.

Looking back now, everything that had happened to her felt distant and vague.

She was enveloped by a sense of relief that it was finally over, a hint of regret, and bittersweet emotions.

Momentarily recalling the past, Belladonna slightly raised her eyes to look at the Saint.

“Is the Saint’s experience over now? Am I going to heaven now?”

{What? Ahahahah!}

At Belladonna’s question, the Saint’s eyes widened before she burst into laughter, opening her mouth wide.

Bending over at the waist while laughing boisterously, she took a deep breath and straightened up.

{Haa, really… You’re so cute.}

Why… You said it was the end now…!

Belladonna looked at her, feeling somewhat wronged. Wasn’t it time to switch bodies back now that everything was over?

The Saint looked at Belladonna and shook her head.

{No, you’re not going to heaven. God hasn’t called for you yet.}

“Then…”

{What do you mean ‘then’? You’re going to continue living happily with your husband from now on, right? Everything has finally returned to its rightful place, were you going to give up just like that?}

“That’s not it!”

Belladonna shook her head immediately. After all the hardships I’ve been through to get here…

If she had asked to switch bodies back now, it would have been quite unfair. I might have even gotten down on my knees and begged to live a little longer…!

{That’s a good attitude. There are many people around you who wish for your happiness, so now you just need to live happily and meet their expectations.}

Belladonna met the Saint’s warm gaze. After hesitating for a moment, she slowly opened her mouth.

“Um… Saint, may I know why you gave me this opportunity? Why did you bring me back to life after I had already died once and let me live again as the Saint…”

At her question, the Saint blinked her eyes.

Oh, did I ask a difficult question? Belladonna hurriedly spoke again.

“Ah, you don’t have to answer if it’s uncomfortable! I was just curious… because in my previous life, I lived a life far removed from things like the Saint or the papal office.”

In her previous life, she was busy farming every day without fail.

It was a life that didn’t even allow the brief luxury of making a big donation or going to pray.

So it was hard to believe and understand that after death, she had awakened as the Saint and lived a new life.

Moreover, she didn’t have to go back? Before joy, she felt perplexed.

The Saint who received Belladonna’s question, made an ‘ung’ sound and closed her eyes. She seemed to be contemplating how to explain it to her.

{Now that you ask, I feel a bit shy to tell you…}

After pondering for a moment, she opened her mouth.

{You know, there are days like that. Days when you’re particularly tired and exhausted, wanting to give up everything. Days when life feels heavy and hard, making you want to run away into endless darkness.}

The Saint raised her gaze as if recalling that time.

{At that time, I was trying to take my own life. I thought that no matter how hard I tried, nothing would change. The daily influx of nobles to the confessional, the pressure for spiritual manifestation, and the violence and abuse that continued knowingly or unknowingly… I thought no one would understand my feelings because I couldn’t even speak.}

Take her own…?

Belladonna inhaled at the shocking statement.

Having lived briefly as the Saint, she vaguely understood how difficult that life was, but she didn’t know it was to that extent.

Recalling her difficult life made her feel sorry.

{I also harbored deep resentment towards God. I kept thinking, why didn’t He just let me live well, why did He choose me and take away my voice?}

“Saint…”

{Then I heard it too.}

The Saint said.

{One day, I ran out of the papal office, prepared to be scolded severely, but ended up getting lost. I walked around with my head bowed and face covered as much as possible, but people who knew my appearance glanced at me suspiciously. Frightened, I ran to a secluded place. I was about to end it all there… but then I heard it, someone’s singing.}

A song… Belladonna swallowed hard and silently waited for her next words.

{It was a beautiful work song. You know who sang it, right? Belladonna, your song had power. It soothed my desperately torn heart and gave me the courage to live again.}

“…”

{But by then it was already too late, so instead of just dying, I made a different decision.}

“Then that was…”

The Saint nodded.

{I knew that your previous life would end very regrettably and shortly. I wanted to gift you a new life. But the life I gave you wasn’t easy either, so was it more like a punishment to you?}

She said with a gentle smile. Belladonna quickly shook her head.

“That’s not true!”

{But you resented me a lot at times, didn’t you? Chilling curses echoed here.}

“That’s…”

Belladonna’s words got caught in her throat and she closed her mouth. Did, did I do that? I think I resented her sometimes, but I don’t think I cursed…

The Saint burst into laughter again seeing Belladonna’s subtle expression.

{I’m joking.}

“…”

{Belladonna, I knew you would do very well. Unlike me, you’re a very strong and kind person.}

After finishing her words, the Saint gazed at Belladonna with gentle eyes for a while, then took a step back. Feeling her moving away, Belladonna unconsciously reached out her hand.

“Saint…!”

{As regrettable as it is, it’s really time to part now. Today is the last day I’ll be watching over you to see if you’re on the right path.}

“What do you mean?”

Belladonna asked with an anxious voice. The Saint said with a playful smile.

{Actually, God has been calling me for a while now. I’ve been ignoring it, pretending not to hear, but I’ll probably have to listen to some nagging when I go back.}

Belladonna grabbed her hand with an inexplicable sense of regret.

“Saint, thank you for giving me this opportunity. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have been able to live this second life.”

{I’m grateful that you say that?}

“Thanks to you… I was able to feel various emotions that I didn’t know in my previous life. Although there were many hardships, there were far more joyful things.”

The Saint, looking at Belladonna with a proud face, firmly grasped her hand. Bringing her face close to Belladonna’s, the Saint asked.

{Belladonna, are you happy?}

Belladonna nodded without hesitation.

“I’m happy. Very much so.”

{Then I’m happy too.}

The Saint said with a bright smile, slowly moving their clasped hands up and down.

{I hope you’ll always be happy from now on. I won’t be able to watch over you from now on, but I know you’ll do very well.}

“Thank you.”

Belladonna nodded. Somehow, her eyes were getting red and her nose was tingling.

{Don’t cry! I don’t like wet goodbyes.}

After uttering her last words, the Saint hugged Belladonna tightly. Belladonna sniffled as she leaned into her embrace. Not wet!

{Thank you, Belladonna. Thanks to you, my life was meaningful enough.}

With her final words, the space-time began to crumple rapidly from the outside.

Belladonna closed her eyes tightly and buried her face in her shoulder.

As she slowly lifted her eyelids, she saw a familiar ceiling.

Belladonna blankly stared at the ceiling pattern. This was the bedroom in Gribblata Castle.

Looks like I’m back… It seems Escalion safely brought her back after she lost consciousness from an unseemly slip while coming down the mountain.

“…”

She was lost in thought for a moment.

Somehow, it felt like she had a very long and impressive dream.

Although there wasn’t a single thing that remained clearly in her memory, the vague emotions that lingered made her feel as if everything had returned to its place and a stable knot had been tied.

What was certain was that there was nothing left to trouble her now, and she was convinced that only happy days lay ahead.

As her thoughts somewhat cleared and she tried to slowly raise her upper body, her left hand felt heavy, held by someone.

“Huh…?”

Turning her head, she saw Escalion’s crown, who had fallen asleep on the bed while firmly grasping her hand.

Belladonna let out a silent laugh and raised her right hand to slowly stroke his crown.

The black hair moved softly under her fingers.

Even though it had only been half a day since she last saw him, it felt like she was seeing him after a very long time.

“Bella?”

Despite it being just a small sensation of her touching his hair, Escalion immediately woke up and raised his head with a start.

Opening his eyes wide and barely focusing his golden eyes, he exhaled a trembling breath as he saw Belladonna in front of him.

“Have you regained consciousness? Really, I… I thought I was losing you right before my eyes…”

“I just lost consciousness after slipping while coming down the mountain. Did I hit my head when I fell…?”

It was meant as a joke, but Escalion stood up from his chair and touched the back of Belladonna’s head.

The chair he pushed back made a loud clattering noise.

“Are you dizzy? Does anything hurt?”

“No, I’m fine.”

Belladonna said with an embarrassed smile as she grabbed his arm. She felt sorry and ashamed for worrying him so much when she had just fallen due to weakness.

“I thought I was going to lose my wife because of my vain greed. If that had happened, I… I would never have forgiven myself.”

Escalion said in a trembling voice. He took Belladonna’s hand and pulled it to his heart.

Under her palm placed on his firm chest, she could feel his heart beating very rapidly.

“You know what? There’s just one bad thing since I brought you here. My heart drops like this even at the smallest thing related to you. Even for things I could be calm about with others, I become irrational when it’s connected to you.”

“I’m sorry for startling you.”

“You don’t need to apologize, it’s just that I’ve become a coward.”

After finishing his words, Escalion pulled Belladonna into his embrace.

Belladonna buried herself between his thick arms, feeling his still rapidly beating heart with her whole body.

Her own heart, too, was pleasantly pounding.