The pouring rain soaked the ground.

Every time the wheels of the carriage squeaked every time they passed over the muddy road. The rain poured down throughout the entire journey, as if it wanted to take away all the vitality of the earth.

“We’ll be there soon. Akarna, is everything all right?”

At the coachman’s words, the dark-haired woman in the carriage raised her head as she heard the question directed at her. She watched the raindrops hitting the window dazedly and nodded a few beats later.

“We’ll be there soon, so please hang in there.”

He soon left the woman alone. The woman overheard the men’s conversations intermittently between the noises of the horses’ hooves, the carriage’s wheels and the mud’s splashes.

“The Akarna doesn’t look too good, do you think she’s alright?”

“Isn’t this the first time she’s going to the outskirts? She might be anxious.”

“Rather than that…”

The voice slightly died down.

“She must be upset that His Highness the Crown Prince got engaged.”

Strength entered her hand, which was neatly placed on her lap.

Engaged.

It was a word she did not wish to hear for a while.

Against the opposition of the temple and the imperial family, the man whom she had loved for five years was now engaged to another woman.

He was not an ordinary man. Rather, he was the crown prince of the empire, so he was not going to have an ordinary marriage either.

So it was natural for him to marry a woman from a good noble household.

And that woman was the eldest daughter of the most honorable margrave of the empire.

She hailed from a venerable household that was allies with the imperial family for hundreds of years, protecting the empire from the beasts that threatened the borders. In addition to the geographical location, there had not been a chance to form a solid alliance with their fief yet, but they seemed to have made a connection this time.

The master of the empire and the noble household that protects it.

The crown prince who has achieved brilliant feats even during his earlier years, and then the beautiful young lady who grew up like a princess and was loved by her noble family.

It was sufficient enough for people to come together and create a romantic story with them as the main characters.

But the woman here, sitting inside the carriage, was different.

The Akarna of the temple was a person held in high regard, but that didn’t mean that the temple was going to back her in everything she did.

Although the temple did treat her according to their responsibility over her, this was only when she would faithfully perform her ‘duty as the Akarna’. And, that duty was far from any noble task.

To leave and go to the outskirts with only such a few escorts.

To purify the earth as it was is being eroded by black miasma and save those who suffered from it.

This was the duty that the temple had to do for mankind, and it was also the duty of the Akarna to obey the will of the gods.

But the woman never wanted this job. It was only because she fell in love with the crown prince, and so for the sake of the empire that he would rule over, she forced herself to accept the pain. And she had no doubt that this love would one day bear fruit.

She loved for five years, very desperately so.

She loved for five years, very desperately so.

But her hopes were shattered as soon as he announced that he would be engaged to another woman.

She had also seen that lady from a distance.

She was a lovely noble lady who smiled brightly like a flower in full bloom, and she was being escorted by the crown prince.

An honorable and proud family. A personality that had no faults. A household that had an expansive territory and a high peerage. A fiefdom that would never see any scarcity. Even her outward appearance was something that everyone would be mesmerized by.

It was all so different from her gloomy and timid self.

“Ha……”

Rumble. Rumble, rumble!

The carriage kept moving forward. The rain was getting stronger and the trip was slower than expected. However, it was impossible to stop here in the middle, so the carriage dashed through the mountain all night long. The deeper they went into the mountain, the steeper it became.

She wondered if it was her fault for saying that she wanted to go to a farther place than usual.

However, even that shallow self-blame quickly disappeared because the carriage started shaking too much.

No, not the carriage. The ground itself was shaking.

‘What’s going on?’

As the woman in the carriage grew more nervous, she heard a panicked yell from outside.

“Turn the horses! It’s a landslide!”

“It’s already too late to turn around here! Just ditch the carriage and avoid it…!”

Rumble, rumble! Bang!

But before she could prepare herself, a huge pile of debris hit the carriage first.

And the woman’s vision also flipped over in an instant. The carriage shook as if an earthquake was wracking it. The woman tried to hold onto one corner, but she eventually rolled inside the carriage, and she screamed as the seat in the carriage fell and hit her back.

“Huhk…! Ugh…”

The woman barely clung to her consciousness.

The carriage was half-destroyed and barely hanging over the cliff.

The woman managed to hold on despite the increasingly tilting carriage. However, the floor on which she was barely standing was wet from the rain. It was too slippery.

“Aaack!”

In the end, the woman slipped. She grabbed a piece that barely jutted out of the carriage, but she didn’t know how much longer she could hold out.

Creeaak. The carriage leaned further, and the woman wasn’t very strong. Even the raindrops that kept pouring didn’t help.

“Akarna! Hold on! We’ll come down soon!”

Fortunately, the escorts came quickly to find the woman. They were supposed to protect the one and only Akarna properly, but in this way, they would be scorned by the superiors. Seeing them restless, the woman surprisingly did not feel any emotions.

If she was saved here now, then what?

Either way, she would just go to her original destination, fulfill her duties as the Akarna, and then she’d go back to the empire?

Waiting there was just boring and repetitive.

She helped people who came to the temple because they needed help. She also sometimes went to the contaminated land that had been eroded by miasma, just like what she’s supposed to be doing now.

She would also help the people there. Help. Help. Doing something worthwhile. She was being appreciated by countless people. She was revered as a saint.

And as she did that, a grand event would soon be held.

The wedding of the man she loved.

“Ha.”

She didn’t know why she was laughing.

The woman impulsively loosened her hold. The escorts shouted at the Akarna.

She was afraid of the sudden fall. But at the same time, she felt a sense of freedom for an unknown reason.

She closed her eyes.

That person she met secretly despite the temple’s opposition.

That person was the one who taught her how to read and write.

That person, even after being betrayed by him like that, was who she missed very much.

In a place where there was no one else but them, it was together with him that they whispered sweet nothings and held each other’s hands.

...

—In El Ragnile, it’s commonplace for one woman to be in command of a group. And, the average number in one group is about thirty people.

One day was enough to turn the whole world upside down.

One day, instead of the mechanical sound of her desk’s alarm clock, Seo Jiwoo woke up to many people watching her. She was inside a pure white building with the large columns behind those people. Without thinking deeply, she could tell that this place was like a temple.

She was at the center of all those people.

She was sitting in a place that was perhaps an altar. She was wearing the same pajamas she had worn before going to bed. But she was not bewildered by the sudden change of environment.

One of them came up to her. He seemed like a high priest.

An elegant robe. A high crown worn over his head. And the people around him bowed his head as he stepped forward.

Even though it wasn’t the type of clothes that she usually saw, she could tell that this was a place that people considered sacred. If this place was a temple, that person seemed to be a bishop. But as he bowed his head politely to her, Jiwoo became more confused.

He opened his mouth.

“It is nice to meet you, Akarna. What an honor it is to meet you.”

Surprisingly, she could understand him. He wasn’t speaking in Korean, but Jiwoo could understand the strange language.

“A, Akarna…?”

“You, the guardian Akarna who has descended from the heavens to enact the will of the Lord.”

“Ah…”

Jiwoo let out a rather stupid reaction, but it wasn’t because she agreed with what he said. She could only understand the speech, but she couldn’t speak the language.

Hearing that, the old man who looked like a priest smiled at Jiwoo, who was even more wary. And he pulled out a splendid dagger from his chest pocket.

Without a moment to react, he grabbed Jiwoo’s arm and cut off Jiwoo’s palm in an instant. Jiwoo flinched and let out a shallow scream. But surprisingly, the pain was not bad.

Compared to the deep cut left by the knife, the stinging pain she felt was like just a needle’s stab. Blood trickled down, but it stopped quickly. Not even a scar was left.

“This is the most sure proof that Akarna has been favored by the gods. And…”

The priest cut his hand this time with the dagger. The priest grabbed Jiwoo’s hand before she could even say anything, then guided Jiwoo’s blood over his wound.

The drops seeped into the wound, and his wound healed just as Jiwoo’s was.

“This is proof that Akarna came down to enact the will of God here on earth.”

The old priest smiled kindly at Jiwoo, who opened her mouth in surprise.

“Should I show you more?”

“……”

“You can say yes or no.”

“…No.”

He seemed kind at first glance, but he gave off the impression that this suggestion was not just a suggestion.

From that day on, Seo Jiwoo began to live in a temple in this unfamiliar world. Before she could adjust to the environment, she had to accept her position here.

The Akarna was a fairly high position in the temple. Before she could say what her name was, Seo Jiwoo was treated as Akarna and called Akarna. As she struggled to adapt, she almost forgot her own name.

Language was a really big problem. It was difficult to communicate well just by understanding the unfamiliar language. It was fortunate that she was able to pick up the words and listen, but whenever she tried to speak, what came out was just gibberish.

She couldn’t get rid of the feeling that the servants and priests in attendance were frustrated because she couldn’t speak properly, and sometimes she even got ignored.

Meanwhile, she had to fulfill Akarna’s duties. A duty to take care of the sick and rid the contaminated land of miasma.

The person named Akarna here was mandated to do that. The wounded and sick were fed with her own blood, and she had to help purify the land that was being eroded by miasma. She didn’t like that duty that was suddenly handed over to her. She was not the Akarna. Not even God’s guardian.

If there was such a thing as a real God and God entrusted her with these duties, shouldn’t she have been briefed beforehand? But in the temple, her opinions were not considered important at all. Deprived of the freedom enjoyed by modern people; when asked to go somewhere, she went, and when asked to come, she came.

Besides that, the temple needed the Akarna greatly, but they didn’t deem Seo Jiwoo’s safety as important at all. They believed that if Seo Jiwoo died, the spirit of the Akarna that resided within her body would just transfer to another body.

If Jiwoo neglected her duty as the Akarna, they would kill her without any hesitation, thinking that the spirit of the Akarna had found the wrong body. The old nobleman in the temple spoke in a gracious tone, but in the end that was what he meant.

She thought of escaping from the temple, but this world was too unfamiliar to Seo Jiwoo. This world was a place where a caste system existed, and if a foreigner like her, who was unfamiliar with language and culture, were to go out alone, she would immediately be turned into a slave. The only way for Jiwoo, who had no connection, the only way to live was to live in the temple.

In the end, as the days went by, she became more and more depressed.

When she barely had time to be alone, Jiwoo would squat in the shadow of the temple building and pass the time idly. Only the sky was the same as the Korean sky in her world. So she was able to forget her reality a little bit.

“Why are you crying in a place like this?”

That was when she first met him.

She didn’t even get up from her spot and turned her gaze to where the voice was heard. He was a stranger who was accompanied by a couple of knights. A face she had never seen in the temple where she had lived for over a year.

He seemed to glow as he stood with his back to the sun, and she couldn’t even look straight ahead at first. He was a beautiful person. He had impressive vivid black hair despite the light, and his neat forehead and bright red eyes under the thick eyebrows gave a reliable impression like the sun. His high nose bridge and angular jawline even made him look elegant.

Jiwoo rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. She thought the man was saying some weird things, but it really brought tears to her eyes.

“…Thank you.”

“Hmm?”

The man was not offended. He just looked curious.

Jiwoo didn’t know how to speak formally so she was sweating all over. The man did not question anything, but the knights behind him looked more surprised.

Jiwoo was restless during the bizarre meeting.

The person who ended this was the servant of the temple who was looking for Akarna.

“Ack, Akarna! You’re here!”

The servant rushed to Jiwoo’s front, as she was stunned. He noticed the situation and gave some excuse.

“Greetings, Your Highness the Crown Prince.The A-Akarna doesn’t know much about the earthly words yet.”

“Akarna? This one?”

The Crown Prince, who looked down at Jiwoo, smiled picturesquely after a while.

“If she doesn’t know the words yet, does that mean she is still in the process of learning?”

“Yes, yes. That’s right, Your Highness.”

“Then, Akarna, would you like to learn to read and write from me?”

Jiwoo and the servant were surprised at the same time. The crown prince did not stop smiling and held out his hand to Jiwoo, who was wary.

“Nevertheless, I came to meet the Akarna of this generation, and it seems that I came to the right place. The Empire is receiving a lot of help from you, Akarna, so I also want to be of help to you through this opportunity. I will be staying in the castle for a while, so spend some time with me.”

For Jiwoo, she desperately needed to learn the language that she could only understand.

In the temple, she was given just two choices—yes or no. Even if she occasionally tried to express a different opinion, she was usually rejected because the Akarna had to be the model of the temple.

Whether dispatched to the inside of the temple or to another area, they always had an attitude of supporting Jiwoo as the Akarna with such a burdened countenance. It was also because she didn’t make progress even when she tried to learn.

It was the first time anyone had approached the Akarna like that. Jiwoo yearned to form any human relationship at all, and so she took the Crown Prince’s hand.

His name was Aleph. Crown Prince Aleph of the Kaarbaude Empire. The largest and most powerful country in the world. He was the crown prince of the empire and a hero who led the war to victory.

He seemed to be the same age as she was, but he had already gone on the battlefield and led his army to victory. She was curious as well as longing to listen.

He was a good teacher to the Akarna. She had no problem understanding speech, and as she was determined to learn words and letters, the rest was easy.

“Akarna, you’re a fast learner, aren’t you? Have you ever studied before?”

Rather, when the crown prince offered to teach, he was amazed at Jiwoo as she learned quickly.

“I’ve been going to school since I was little.”

“Since childhood. Having an opportunity to learn at a young age is not an easy task even in the Empire… It seems that you have experienced it for a long time?”

The crown prince suddenly grabbed her hand.

Jiwoo thought her heart was pounding, but he only looked at the traces that remained deep in her hand after holding the pen too long. Jiwoo tried to calm her noisy heart and said.

“Yes, um… About 16 years?”

“You look young.”

The empire developed faster than other places and was ahead in every way, but public education was not as developed as in modern Korea. How could this place compare to a country in her world? Looking at people’s appearance and lifestyle, would it be correct to say that she was in medieval Europe?

In the end, Jiwoo chose her words and gave an answer.

“It’s common in my birthplace.”

“Anyway, it’s delightful that you’re fun to teach.”

The crown prince not only lived in the court, but also traveled around the battlefield and met a lot of people. So, Jiwoo was able to learn not only one language but also many kinds of languages ​​and accents through him.

But that wasn’t the point. While Jiwoo was being dragged here and there, the crown prince appeared and not only gave the Akarna a tight schedule, but also gave her a moment’s reprieve.

In fact, Jiwoo, who was accustomed to Korea’s overtime culture, lived her life without realizing that it was difficult. No, actually, even if she knew it, it would have been of no use.

The temple did not actively try to solve the Akarna difficulties with communicating. To the extent that she thought it’s intentional. So, although it may not have been a big deal for the crown prince, Jiwoo felt great gratitude to him.

Then one day, during class, he said,

“You can’t always study like this. Why don’t we go out together?”

“How? Where…”

“Follow me. The temple imposes a rule on you that’s too old-fashioned.”

“But…”

“Right now, at a time like this, just say ‘Let’s go, Your Highness’.”

He led Akarna, speaking like a good teacher.

....

She couldn’t forget the memories of that day.

It was wondrous to find out which part of the temple had a hole where a single person could escape through, where a dark robe could be found to hide her appearance, and the reason why the escorts who were always attached to her suddenly became friendly. Then, everything that flowed like water was just so strange…

The Crown Prince, who had changed his dark black hair to the more common brown in some way, quickly changed his attitude and acted like a commoner.

Her heart was pounding again as he took off his splendid clothing and became like an ordinary young man from the village.

As she went outside, Jiwoo felt refreshed. As an ordinary person, not Akarna, she escaped the stuffy temple for the first time.

When the Crown Prince went into the bar without hesitation and ordered a grilled sausage and dark-colored beer, it frankly brought tears to her eyes.

In the temple, she was forced to live a frugal life, so she was forced to eat a small amount of food, but she was originally a present-day human on Earth who had chicken delivered and drank beer on days when there were good things.

The meat was dripping in fat and the dark liquor tasted really good.

It has been a long time since she could describe the feeling of heavy chewy food with juices and a pungent scent going down her throat, which could only be described as exhilaration.

Jiwoo savored the food with an excited face, but she soon heard a light chuckle.

The crown prince rested his chin on his hand and smiled.

“I didn’t know our Akarna could drink so well.”

“Well… Is it okay to say something like that…?”

“What? Ah, the word Akarna? It’s okay. Akarna is not only a temple Akarna, but also a slang term for a lovely lover.”

The crown prince smiled as he reassured Jiwoo, who was looking around in surprise.

In addition, he has a face like a young man in the mountains, when he grumpily responds to the knights who say he’ll say all sorts of cheesy things when he comes to such a place.

Maybe it was because she was drunk after a while, Jiwoo’s heart raced even when he looked like that.

After that day, the times he went out with the crown prince increased more and more. This is because it was easier once the door was opened.

Besides that, this experience was much more effective in letting Jiwoo learn more words than teaching her the letters and words in a classroom setting.

She felt a lot better as she got along with the crown prince, and although the time he spent with him increased, there was no sign of opposition from the temple.

Sometimes, she went to the market and had fun.

While looking at cheap items, she also received a gift from the crown prince.

The necklace made of pure blue stones resembled the sky of that day. A clear sky without a single cloud.

It was like receiving a gift from the memories they had together on such a good day.

If she carries it with her, she may lose it or break it, so Jiwoo kept it hidden in her bedroom.

One day, she learned how to ride a horse instead of learning the language from the crown prince, and for the first time she rushed through the grasslands of this country. It was scary at first, but she soon got used to it.

She started to feel more relaxed enough to enjoy the cheerful sound of horses’ galloping, the rapidly changing scenery, and even the wind that would scatter her hair.

“How is it? Isn’t it beautiful?”

In the distance, a large windmill was spinning over a vast farmhouse.

Red and blue colored roofs and wide curved rivers passed by, and large tower-shaped grain silos were lined up in a row.

The scene of white clouds floating in the deep blue sky was like a scene from a fairy tale.

Looking down on that part of civilization from a high hill, the crown prince introduced her to the country he would rule over.

Four distinct seasons, fertile land, abundant resources and wise people.

The empire had developed independently and was the subject of envy and obedience by other countries.

Then, there was the holy city where the voice of God could reach, and this was also within the empire.

The Akarna also came down through the empire. Therefore, the empire was not lacking to be called the land blessed by the gods.

“But the Empire wasn’t such a prosperous land from the beginning.”

“Really?”

“As the Akarna, you clean up the land eroded by miasma, right?”

“Yes.”

A land that was eroded by the dark energy that the beasts left behind.

It had once been a barren land where crops could not be planted and other facilities could not be built.

When humans lived in such a place for a long time, they became ill.

The disease that slowly turns the body black and then spreads miasma to the surroundings at the moment of death. Therefore, being afflicted with the disease was like a sentence to be banished from the human world and to die in loneliness.

It was no exaggeration to say that the borders of the country consisted of the land eroded by miasma.

The garrison of the frontier protected the people in the fight against the beasts rather than human invaders.

However, the Akarna is not affected by the miasma.

Rather, she was able to heal the sick and purify the land stained with miasma. It was thanks to the Akarna that the empire was able to expand its territory when other places were threatened by the beasts.

In an empire with such strong conditions, it was a natural order for many countries to bow their heads.

“It is said that in the past, most of the land was barren. The soldiers of the Empire drove out the beasts that threatened people, and the saints purified the land polluted by it. That long history made the Empire it is today.”

As the crown prince said this, he seemed to be proud of the ancestors who made this land, the imperial family where he was born, and the people.

His pride for his country was etched on his hard and strong cheeks, but this expression disappeared quickly as he showed a worried expression.

“But… the land polluted with miasma is getting bigger and bigger. If you let your guard down just a little bit, the beasts can come to overwhelm you. What do you think of the act of saving the suffering and increasing the land on which they can live in peace?”

Jiwoo was a little surprised because she didn’t know he would ask for an opinion.

Jiwoo pondered for a long time, not wanting to give the impression that she was taking it lightly. It was easy to judge when she remembered what the temple was asking her to do.

Sick people kissed the hem of her clothes in tears as she healed them.

It was difficult to drive the miasma out of the ground, but she felt proud when she received the crops that were experimentally grown in the first year on the purified land as a gift.

She thought it would be difficult, but… looking back, it was worthwhile.

“I think it’s the right thing to do.”

“Yes…But there are still many people in this land who can’t accept that help.”

“Have they not received help yet?”

“No, they don’t accept it. These races don’t even want to believe in divine power, and the alchemists on the outer wall think that it’s blasphemy to use divine power.”

The crown prince looked at the distant horizon and said so.

She didn’t really understand it well. Jiwoo had never seen a beast with her own two eyes. However, she had seen some paintings of them, and the appearance of those monstrous people looked exactly as they were described, and how terrible those who were affected by the miasma turned into.

It was because she couldn’t think of any reason to forcibly refuse to save them from that.

“You also don’t understand, do you?”

Jiwoo thought briefly about the religions that existed on Earth.

As in the world in which Jiwoo originally lived, if the reality of divine power was not visible, the atheist’s cause was justified. Even Jiwoo didn’t believe in gods. But here, the temple really healed the sick and drove out the beast.

So she didn’t understand.

“Well. If you don’t have first-hand experience of God’s miracles yourself, it would be more rational to not believe. No one has the right to violate people’s freedom.”

“…You sometimes say surprising things. Is it because you’re the Akarna?”

The crown prince was startled, and soon he smiled lightly and spoke.

“I want to make this world a little bit better place to live, not just the empire. You might say it’s stupid, but I think you want to save them too. They look different from us and they have a different worldview from us, but they are also people who have to live and coexist in this land.”

The light of the sun shone on his straight forehead and the bridge of his nose. A gentle breeze ruffled his hair. There was a scent of warm sunlight coming from somewhere.

“I think that’s cool too.”

“Thank you.”

The Crown Prince held out his hand.

“Then will you help me?”

The wind swept through the wide meadow and his hair once more. That cool and refreshing wind stirred even in her heart.

She doesn’t know when. She must have been in love with him since then. But it was definitely from then on that she became aware of the love that had taken root in her heart.

She was unable to attach her heart to this world and the temple, but because of the crown prince, she was able to love this world. And so she dedicated herself and strived to the best that she could.

As her heart followed him and was rewarded, she even cried uncontrollably. She was happy.

Although the Akarna’s duties were difficult, it was much more rewarding considering that it was the process of creating a future with him.

But who could ever guess that she would be betrayed so horribly?

...