Raising the Princess to Overcome Death

Chapter 241

241. Childhood Friend - Meriel's Side Story

Over twenty years ago, Meriel Bailay was just an ordinary noble lady of the Bailay Barony.

She had an older brother who had married, a younger sister who needed her to set an example, and a younger brother who was obsessed with swordsmanship, determined to become a knight.

It was an unremarkable family.

Aside from the fact that the Bailay Barony was located in the southernmost part of the Aslan Kingdom, bordering the Bellita Kingdom, there wasn't much to say about it.

Oh, well, it was a fairly respectable knightly family. Due to the strained relations between the Bellita Kingdom and the Aslan Kingdom, the Bailay Barony, which stood on the frontline, received subsidies from the kingdom.

Their stubborn father spent every penny of that money to maintain the small number of soldiers, leaving the daughters of the barony, situated in a mountainous area with no income to speak of, to fend for themselves. They had to make their own clothes, cook their own meals, and even do the shopping.

"Big sister, you'll be getting married soon, won't you?"

On their way to the market, Meriel's younger sister, Marsha, asked. Since their brother had married, it must be her sister's turn now. Meriel smiled faintly as she replied.

"Probably.""Where will you go? Ugh, even if a man marries, he still stays with the family, but you’ll be leaving, right?"

"Oh my, listen to her. So, Marsha, do you want to bring a husband into our house? If so~"

"Kyaa!"

Marsha quickly covered her teasing sister's mouth. Her face flushed bright red at the thought of her future husband, a topic she was clearly embarrassed about.

Though Meriel’s match had not yet been decided, Marsha’s was somewhat settled. The suitor was the grandson of the chieftain of a native tribe that had settled in the Bailay Barony.

Given the Aslan Kingdom's mix of feudalism and tribal chieftaincy, most of those living in the Bailay Barony were natives, and they were ruled by both the Baron and the tribal chieftain.

As a result, the two families(?) maintained a very close relationship. With Marsha and the chieftain's grandson being around the same age, the idea of their marriage had been discussed for over ten years.

Meriel, laughing playfully, couldn’t resist teasing her younger sister, who had her marriage prospects decided before her. Marsha grumbled, wondering how the conversation had turned this way.

"I don't like him. He boasts about becoming a great warrior by slaying demons, but he’s all talk..."

"Then don’t let him go."

"And how would I do that if he insists?"

"Do you think he would ignore the words of such a pretty wife?"

"Eek! If you keep teasing me... huh?"

"Mm? Why are y—"

The bustling marketplace around them fell into an eerie silence. The natives stared blankly at the sky, and the only sound was the clattering of something knocked over by someone who had stepped out to look up.

Even the dogs had stopped barking.

The wind had ceased as well.

Meriel looked up to see the bright autumn sky splitting apart. Through the crack, she glimpsed a massive figure wearing a crown of thorns before a blinding white light poured out.

It was bright.

But not blinding.

Meriel didn't realize that the light enveloping the entire continent was slowly narrowing down to her. All she could sense was the overwhelming presence—

The presence of the Supreme God

."Sister…!"

"O Lord…"

Everyone except her sister fell to their knees. No, even her sister eventually knelt before the holiness of the newly born Saintess, and it wasn't just the people of the Bailay Barony who bowed to her.

The Cardinal of the Aslan Kingdom rushed over barefoot. The elderly king arrived, not in a carriage, but on horseback, and bowed his head, asking her to bestow the first blessing upon his newborn son.

The Saintess.

There was no one above Meriel anymore.

Even her strict father and mother bowed their heads, for they were no longer her parents.

How could mere humans claim to be parents to the daughter of God?

Meriel accepted this with ease.

She lost her family name, Bailay, and her parents overnight, but she effortlessly succeeded the recently deceased eighty-sixth Saintess.

This was because she had been overwhelmed by the fullness of experiencing the Supreme God. To her, God became everything, and human affairs, conflicts, and even love became irrelevant. She lived only to serve God with all her might.

'My younger brother Jensen and Marsha cried a lot at first.'

But perhaps not even the Supreme God could fully govern the human heart. Or perhaps the Supreme God allowed the human heart to remain as it was.

It took nearly twenty years for the presence of the Supreme God to gradually loosen its grip on the Saintess.

It wasn’t that her devotion to God diminished, but rather that she had grown accustomed to it. And with that familiarity, the Saintess began to regain her humanity.

The four avatars of the Supreme God: the silent and patient Namer, who upset her; the noble and sacrificial Goddess Boar, who felt like a familiar older sister; the battle and honor-driven God Lachar, who seemed like a stubborn older brother; and the admonishing God Binar, whose scolding was starting to sound like mere nagging—these feelings marked the moment Meriel could finally look around her.

After nearly twenty years, she wrote a letter.

She could have contacted the church in her hometown, but after becoming the Saintess, she hadn’t reached out once. What right did she have to ask for a conversation now? A handwritten letter felt much more appropriate.

The reply came back after several months.

Her younger siblings were overjoyed. Her little sister had gotten married—to the man they had expected—and had a child. But, apparently, he was still dreaming of becoming a great warrior, causing her no end of trouble... Nothing much had changed, Meriel thought with a contented smile.

Through the letters exchanged over the months, Meriel learned about the events that had taken place in her hometown.

Her older brother, now Baron Bailay, had safely navigated the civil war in the Aslan Kingdom, and her younger brother had become the captain of the knights in the Kingdom of Astin. She was pleased, but when she asked about her parents, the answer came in the form of an obituary, which saddened her. Meriel prayed for the souls of her parents.

She continued to fulfill her duties as Saintess while occasionally waiting for her sister’s letters. One day, as she finished her usual noon prayers and was moving on to her next task, the sun suddenly set.

For a moment, she thought she had dozed off.

But could she have really fallen asleep while walking? Time had changed. Not only that, but her clothing had also become thicker.

It had suddenly shifted from late autumn to winter—no, to the end of the year—and her sister's new letter had arrived.

What on earth was happening?

Meriel prayed to the Supreme God for answers but received no response. Only Binar, who was usually more talkative, said:

["You do not need to know yet. But more importantly, a war will soon break out. The Supreme God does not wish for the Church or the Holy Kingdom to be involved in this war."]

However, this did not resolve her confusion.

When she persistently prayed, the Supreme God and the other three avatars remained silent as usual, while Binar let slip a few more words:

["The time is approaching when the evil that has descended upon the mortal realm will be eradicated, so pay it no mind and carry out your duties. Human strength is valuable, but one must be mindful of time and place. The Supreme God, in his mercy, has set three mighty rivers on the continent to flow in accordance with divine providence... (excerpted)"]

...Binar spoke at great length, but the answers were shrouded in metaphors and did not help. Figuring she would understand someday, she continued with her life. Then, the following summer, it happened again. The season shifted from summer to summer—but to the previous summer.

Not just the season, even the time of day had changed.

It was early morning.

Meriel changed her clothes, folding the letter containing her parents' obituary neatly on the desk. She had already sent her reply.

"Has time reversed again?" she wondered. But then, just a few days later, she woke up in the middle of the night, disoriented. It was the early dawn, just before sunrise, when she suddenly found herself seated in the audience chamber.

To her surprise, she was in the middle of receiving a report from Cardinal Mihael, which she had actually received several weeks earlier.

"The task of expelling the natives who worship the Evil God is now complete. Shall we proceed with setting new goals for the Church?"

Cardinal Mihael asked. Meriel, still rubbing her sleepy eyes, replied:

"Discuss it with the other cardinals. Ah, Cardinal Mihael, you may embark on your pilgrimage as well."

She answered his request before he could even voice it.

Mihael, thinking he had received divine permission, left the chamber with a broad smile, unable to hide his delight.

Immediately after, Meriel returned to her room. When she checked the letters she had exchanged with her sister, the letter containing her parents' obituary was there on her desk—unopened this time.

She had returned to the same summer, approximately two weeks earlier. The last time it had been early morning; this time, it was midday.

And so it continued, with time rewinding several times. Meriel gradually began to recognize the pattern, though when she would be sent back was never certain.

Sometimes it was late at night, other times she would wake up in the middle of the night, or even during the evening, midday, or noon.

However, the destination times seemed fixed. One was winter at the year's end, while the other two were in the summer, each about two weeks apart. The summer rewind included one early morning.

"Winter at the year's end, early morning in summer, and midday in summer," Meriel thought, noting the sequence.

But as to why time kept rewinding, the gods remained silent, leaving Meriel with no way of knowing. However, she did come to understand why the average lifespan of Saintesses was so short.

"This didn’t only happen to me."

While some Saintesses seemed to live out their natural lifespan, others aged rapidly and died within days of becoming Saintesses.

Outwardly, it appeared that they had lived normal lives, but in truth, they had likely lived out their full lifespans.

Just as time was now passing for Meriel.

So Meriel, too, aged within the repeating flow of time. But then, strange things began to occur, things that hadn’t happened before.

"The son of the Swordmaster, Gilbert Forte of the Bellita Kingdom has been assassinated. The culprit has not been found."

This was the first time it happened.

Though Meriel had no particular interest in the son of a Swordmaster, she remembered him because Gilbert Forte had been a frequent visitor to the capital's church.

He was the son of a notable figure who came under the guise of political asylum, and his frequent visits were always reported to her. But now, he was suddenly dead.

What was going on?

Then, in the dead of night, an urgent report arrived. A grotesque hole had opened in the sky above Lutetia, a message from Cardinal Verke, who was stationed in the Conrad Kingdom.

It was the emergence of the Evil God.

Meriel asked if he needed assistance, but Cardinal Verke insisted he could handle it. Shortly thereafter, time rewound again.

"What exactly is happening? Should I not intervene?" Meriel questioned. This time, God Binar responded that there was indeed something for her to do, but that she should not leave the capital's church until autumn of the following year.

"What could I possibly have to do in autumn?"

All she could think of was officiating the ceremonies for the new apprentice priests. But then, when the Apostle of the Evil God appeared in the Orun Kingdom, Meriel finally realized what her task was. The only question remaining was...

"Why am I being told to wait?"

Shouldn’t the Apostle be stopped before more harm is done?

Yet, the Supreme God allowed it to unfold, almost as if He wanted the Apostle to reach the capital's church...

And eventually, autumn arrived.

The city of Nevis was reduced to ashes, and the Holy Knights and priests who were sent out, along with the knights from the Holy Kingdom of Jerome, were annihilated. Even Cardinal Verke from the Conrad Kingdom and the secret priests he had trained were killed.

As things spiraled out of control, the Apostle of Barbatos charged toward the capital’s church at an alarming speed.

It was incomprehensible behavior.

There were countless sacrifices available elsewhere, so why?

The reason soon became clear.

Lachar, the god of battle, who had returned from an unsuccessful fight, instructed her to retrieve the brass chalice from the library. Today, he said, she would face a battle.

But the Apostle who entered the capital's church was not a woman. It was a young man, staggering, and—what was this?

Instead of heading straight for Meriel, as expected, the Apostle of Barbatos veered off in a different direction. He unexpectedly headed to the library and encountered a priest apprentice there. It was then that Meriel understood.

"He’s being punished. And someone is being tested."

Realizing that the Apostle was the first of the three great rivers, Meriel bestowed a blessing upon the pitiful soul.

The young man, whose body had been twisting into wood, burst into flames from the blessing, and the girl, an apprentice who had been consumed by the Evil God, screamed with fury.

"You've come, you filthy whore of the Supreme God! You will pay for killing my followers on behalf of your god... Ugh! Damn it! I thought not dying would be enough!"

Meriel could see it clearly.

The souls of the young man and the strange entity soared high into the air, and she understood that this was why time had been repeating.

- Clink.

The Supreme God's twenty-sided die enveloped the two ascending souls. Meriel braced herself for time to rewind again...

But it didn’t.

The girl who had become Barbatos herself spoke in a voice filled with anger. She clutched her (Lena’s) throat and screamed in a frenzy.

"Why? Did you think time would rewind? Hahaha! You know nothing. Nothing at all! Now I understand. This world is in this cursed state because of you! Just because of a..."

"Silence."

Meriel aimed the Holy Scepter at Barbatos. The brass chalice of Saint Azura resonated, cutting Barbatos’s overwhelming divine power in half, and then half again.

A lowly triangle of divine power was no match for her. And the truth was...

Unless the Supreme God deliberately caused her to lose, Meriel could not be defeated.

This world belonged to the god.

Even the Evil God was merely a possession, a pawn, in the divine scheme.

*

Meriel smiled faintly and told the two rivers to take their seats. Lev and Leo Dexter sat down.

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