To the Love Born in the Lowest Place

After that, Liv continued to eat delicious food, sleep in a soft bed, and wear comfortable clothes. All sorts of rare things piled up around Liv.

Her first debut in high society wasn’t a bad memory either. Originally, it was common to debut in high society in the late teens, but Liv was able to enter high society earlier than others due to being a ‘Saintess’ There, Liv met unbelievably beautiful noble ladies.

“Wow…”

When Liv expressed her admiration upon seeing their faces, they all approached Liv with sparkling eyes full of vitality and said.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Saintess.”

“Hello, Saintess!”

“You’re pretty…”

“You mean us? Haha, you’re even prettier, Saintess!”

Everyone took a liking to Liv. No matter how Liv acted, they tried to understand her. When she thought there could be no greater happiness than this, the next day, Liv could taste even sweeter happiness. Her life was filled with all kinds of colorful memories, becoming iridescent, and sometimes when she was overwhelmed with disbelief at that happiness, more wonderful things welcomed Liv as if saying it was still too early to be amazed.

Truly, every day was perfect.

“A revelation has come down!”

Until the real Saintess, Hildegard Hamelsvoort, appeared.

* * *

Originally, before the Hamelsvoort couple adopted Liv, it was said that the following revelation had come down to the temple.

A Saintess will be born in this land.

But about a year after Liv was adopted, an additional revelation came down to the temple.

The Saintess who will gain power

Will save the poor,

Heal the sick,

And pray for victory on behalf of God’s will.

Despite awakening as a Saintess, Liv couldn’t use any powers. At best, her fast healing was all. So when people were doubting whether Liv was the real Saintess, news arrived that a girl in the slums had awakened the power of healing.

“They say she healed sick people.”

“She made the blind open their eyes!”

Hildegard, who appeared with all sorts of heartwarming stories, was a child worthy of being called the real Saintess. Her bright golden hair, as if blessings had settled everywhere, and her mysterious and clear blue eyes reminded one of the angels in the scriptures. Wherever she walked, the filthy things were purified and the sick became healthy.

Finally, people recognized Hildegard as the ‘Real Saintess’, and the Hamelsvoort family adopted her.

But with Hildegard’s appearance, Liv became the ‘Fake Saintess’.

* * *

“Look at those red eyes.”

“They must belong to an evil demon.”

‘Strange.’

Liv thought as she walked down the corridor with anxious eyes.

The people who used to call her ‘Saintess’ and praise her now didn’t even want to exchange words with Liv. If Liv ever tried to ask them for something, they coldly turned their backs. Moreover, Liv’s deep pink eyes, which were previously praised for their pretty color, had now become ‘demonic eyes’.

‘Humans are strange.’

Liv found it difficult to understand the human heart. The gods always spoke their minds as they were, but humans didn’t bring out what was inside and expressed it through actions. It took her a long time to realize that they had come to dislike her.

Liv entered her room. She saw a room decorated with all kinds of luxurious items. But feeling like it wasn’t a place for her to be, Liv crawled under the bed. There was enough space for Liv to enter under the tall bed, and she felt relieved being cooped up in the darkness where not a single ray of light could be seen.

‘Why don’t humans take out everything that’s inside? Why do they say they like me before and now say they dislike me?’

Thinking that, Liv curled up her body in the darkness. She opened her mouth towards the gods as if whining.

“Why won’t you give a revelation that I’m the Saintess? Then people would recognize me again…”

Child, if you become a Saintess, you will have to take on all sorts of bothersome tasks. I don’t want to make you do such things.

In fact, she knew that the gods wouldn’t listen to her even if she whined. The will of the gods was absolute.

Liv’s whining only revealed that she was sad and suffering, and as if to persuade such Liv, the voice was heard again.

Child, if you follow the flow, you will eventually be in the highest position.

“You can give me that high position right now.”

It’s not time yet. Your fate is already determined.

There is a reason for everything, and now is not the moment for us to intervene. Ah, we can do all those things, but we can’t shake up human life as we please.

As Liv made a sulky expression, the voices of the gods continued to comfort her.

Child, human love is fleeting.

You are the most precious being in this world.

As the gods started chattering arbitrarily, it became noisy in her head, but being surrounded by the voices of the gods in the darkness was familiar to Liv. Feeling at ease, she quietly closed her eyes and dozed off.

How much time had passed? When she opened her eyes again, her body felt groggy, and her legs were numb from being curled up in a tight space. Liv was momentarily confused about where she was, then realized this was the Hamelsvoort family and crawled out. And she discovered the darkness outside the window.

“It’s night…”

Even though it was past dinner time, no one had come looking for her. Realizing that fact, her heart churned as if something would come up from her throat.

“It used to be like this all the time…”

Not being able to eat was a normal thing for Liv. Yet becoming distressed over such a trivial matter, perhaps she had become too weak after adapting to a luxurious life.

“You’re just going back to your original life, Liv…”

Even though she muttered like that, the bitter feeling didn’t go away. In the end, to bury this churning deep inside again, Liv buried her face in her knees.

* * *

Hildegard was a kind child. She always came to Liv first, who was cooped up alone in her room, and struck up a conversation.

“Sister, won’t you come with me to the temple?”

Liv liked that she talked to her. Because now Liv had come to know what loneliness was.

But conversing with humans was a difficult task.

“Isn’t it the same no matter where you pray?”

Hildegard seemed to easily get offended by Liv’s words. Liv knew there was a problem with her own way of communicating, but it was also difficult to suddenly adjust to the ‘noble woman’s way’ after living her entire life according to the gods. Liv thought she was trying in her own way, but even that effort seemed slow by the world’s standards.

As if to drive the point that Liv was the problem, an incident occurred.

“Oh my, the Saintess has come!”

“She’s the real Saintess, right?”

It was when Hildegard brought Liv along to a tea party hosted by noble ladies she had been invited to. She may have acted that way out of consideration for Liv, who was always at home, but as a result, it wasn’t a good thing for Liv.

“Oh my, how can she still hold her head high?”

“If it were me, I would leave the Count’s family… It’s strange that she has been shamelessly staying in the house until now.”

“Right, that’s why she didn’t say anything when we called her a Saintess, isn’t it?”

As soon as Liv appeared, the ladies at the party began to stare at her and whisper. It was a very different attitude from before when they were happy when Liv called them pretty.

Liv sat among them, feeling a little timid. The ladies looked at Liv with displeasure, but Liv couldn’t respond in any way and could only stare at the teacup with a golden rim and a red flower painted on it.

“Come to think of it, you said you can use healing powers, Saintess?”

“Yes, that’s right…”

“My, that’s really amazing!”

“You can just call me Hildegard…”

Unlike Liv, Hildegard seemed to quickly blend in with them. If one looked closely, one could also find Hildegard being intimidated by the nobles, but Liv was too shrunken to see the situation properly.

When Liv was sipping tea with her mouth tightly shut while being mindful of others, one lady who had been frowning and glaring at Liv from earlier opened her mouth.

“Miss Hamelsvoort.”

“You can call me Liv.”

Liv tried saying the same thing as Hildegard, but now people were looking at Liv with even more ridiculous eyes.

“…Alright, Miss Liv. Anyway, there’s something I want to ask…”

She curled her red lips and smiled.

“You said you’ve never gone to do volunteer work even once, right?”

“Mm, yes.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the ladies simultaneously made an expression of disbelief.

“How could that be…”

“Is the Hamelsvoort family allowed to do that?”

The state religion of the Holy Hilysid Empire, the Holy Church, was an indispensable part of the lives of the imperial citizens. All the people of the Empire believed in the Holy Church, and people never missed attending banquets related to the Holy Church.

Likewise, for noble ladies, going to volunteer activities to help the poor and sick was also one of their obligations. It was a natural thing for a citizen and a member of the ruling class of the Holy Hilysid Empire.

Above all, the Hamelsvoort family had devoutly worshipped the Holy Church for generations. They routinely performed good deeds.

“I’m sorry, my sister is a bit ill…”

Hildegard tried her best to defend Liv, but the other ladies had already lit up their eyes, thinking they had found a target.

“Miss Liv, does that make sense? The Supreme God will send down divine punishment.”

Liv slightly frowned at those words. The Supreme God she knew would never bring down divine punishment on her.

My beloved child.

Even now, the Supreme God was whispering affectionate words to her.

“That can’t be.”

Liv spoke in a resolute tone. If they dared to insult the gods’ affection for her, there was no telling what decision the angered gods would make, so she was somewhat desperate.