Although She is a Blind Saint, She Can See

#1. Prologue

Justinas was an unusual child.

“Are you okay? You look sick.”

Cedric first met her on his eleventh birthday.

“Can you stand up?”

That day was particularly unlucky.

For two weeks, all he had eaten were weeds growing by the roadside and tree bark.

Even the restaurant dumpsters he usually scavenged had already been picked clean, not a single breadcrumb left behind.

His hunger had long since turned into pain. And then, carried by the aroma of freshly baked bread wafting from a shop, he lost control and stole a baguette.

“You filthy little rat! How dare you lay your hands on my bread!”

He got caught and was beaten to the brink of death.

Perhaps because he had been starving, his head was spinning.

His limbs felt weak, and the repeated blows to the back of his head left a dull ache.

But then, out of nowhere, a pretty girl around his age approached him and reached out with her small, delicate hands.

“What’s your name?”

“…You don’t need to know.”

“I’m Justinas!”

Ignoring his reluctance, she grabbed Cedric’s hand and helped his staggering body upright.

His stomach let out a loud growl.

Justinas, watching him intently, soon rummaged through her pocket and pulled something out.

It was a piece of stale, moldy bread.

“Here, eat th—Oh!”

Before she could even finish her sentence, Cedric shoved the moldy bread into his mouth.

It must have been there for a long time; the bread was as hard as a rock. But after two weeks of starvation, even that tasted unbearably sweet. He devoured every last crumb and even licked the remnants off his palm.

The kindness he had received after so long felt sweet, but one piece of bread was nowhere near enough to satisfy his hunger.

Justinas, watching him with wide, blinking eyes, soon asked in a gentle voice,

“Do you want to come to my house?”

Cedric nodded.

***

From that day on, Cedric began living with her.

Of course, they weren’t alone.

“Yus, noona! Marty stole my bread while I wasn’t looking!”

“Hmph, that’s because you were distracted while eating.”

“Now, now… both of you, calm down.”

Justinas’s home housed forty-two children.

“Here, you can have my bread. And Marty, from now on, don’t take other people’s food, okay?”

“…Okay. Sorry.”

As Cedric watched Justinas give up her share of the meal, he recalled a conversation from before.

“You’re the new kid, right?”

“…Yeah, so what?”

“Don’t be mean to Yus.”

A boy, three years older than him, gave Cedric a firm warning.

“The only reason the orphans around here can survive like this is because of Yus. She gave us her home.”

“…How did Yus get this house? Isn’t she an orphan too?”

“She wasn’t. Not until two years ago.”

That day, Cedric learned the truth.

Two years ago, Justinas had lost her parents and had been living in a run-down house on the verge of collapse.

Despite her circumstances, she took in the orphans from the streets. She gave them a home, albeit shabby but safe, meals to fill their stomachs, and love.

“Isn’t she amazing? It’s hard to believe she’s only nine.”

Cedric hadn’t responded at the time, but he agreed.

The bread Justinas had given him on his birthday was part of a ration—each child was allowed just one piece per day.

And yet, she had given that precious food to him, a stranger.

‘If it were me, I would’ve kept it for myself.’

To be honest, the house was far too small for over forty children. With babies growing bigger by the day, managing daily life became increasingly difficult.

Yet, Justinas didn’t seem to mind at all. Even when she had nothing to eat herself, she willingly gave up her share to the younger ones who begged for more.

‘How can someone like her exist?’

Cedric couldn’t understand her.

For as long as he could remember, he had lived in the slums. A complete orphan, unaware of what his parents even looked like.

Aside from the strange blank in his memory before he turned nine, his past two years had been nothing but a fight for survival.

If you’re weak, you get robbed.

If you’re strong, you take.

He believed the world operated on only those two principles.

“Cedric, why aren’t you eating?”

Lost in thought, he hadn’t noticed Justinas approaching.

Her clear blue eyes curved into a gentle smile.

Seeing her doll-like face, Cedric suddenly felt embarrassed and quickly turned his head away.

“You eat it. I’m not hungry today.”

“Hmm?”

The girl looked surprised as she glanced at the bread he was offering.

“Cedric…”

“You eat it.”

Before Justinas could say anything, Cedric got up from his seat.

‘She hasn’t eaten since yesterday.’

Watching her give up her bread again to one of the younger kids annoyed him.

‘She could be a little selfish for once.’

She was truly an incomprehensible person.

Just as he was about to step outside,

“Thank you.”

A small voice made him instinctively turn back.

“Thank you, Cedric.”

Justinas was smiling.

She was painfully thin from not eating properly, yet that smile was so…

“Tch. …It’s nothing.”

Cedric quickly turned away.

For some reason, his ears felt hot.

***

Three years had passed since Cedric started living with Justinas.

Now fourteen, he had gone from being the one receiving help to being the one giving it.

“Cedric, can you wash the blankets?”

“Yeah.”

By now, the number of children staying at Justinas’s house had exceeded fifty.

However, the old two-story house could only hold so many. These days, even Justinas has stopped bringing in more orphans.

‘This life isn’t so bad.’

Some of the older kids had started doing small errands for the nearby adults to earn money.

Soon, Cedric would join them.

‘I’ll do my best from now on, too.’

He liked it here.

He even imagined a future where he would stay with them as an adult.

“Hey, do you smell something?”

“Smell what?”

“Something… burning?”

Up until that moment.

“Fire! There’s a fire!”

“Get the babies out!”

The old wooden house turned into an inferno in an instant.

The older children quickly grabbed the younger ones and rushed outside.

Cedric was no exception. Gasping for breath, he held a two-year-old child in his arms.

“Is everyone out?”

“Oh, no… what do we do?”

The fire had spread in an instant, throwing the surroundings into chaos. Amidst the commotion, a girl cried out, her face deathly pale.

“Luca! Luca is missing!”

Luca was a five-year-old boy. At those words, the children turned their eyes to the house, which was now collapsing in flames.

“I’ll go in.”

The first to step forward was Justinas.

“I’ll be right back. It’ll be okay.”

Cedric wanted to stop her.

But he didn’t have the chance.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Justinas ran into the burning house.

‘How can she do that?’

She was only twelve.

Even he, at fourteen, was terrified, frozen in fear at the sight of the blazing house. Yet she acted as if her life didn’t matter.

‘No, but… it’s Yus.’

Justinas was extraordinary.

He believed that someone as exceptional as her would, of course, find Luca and come back out, unharmed, like a hero.

But he shouldn’t have believed that.

“T-The house is collapsing…!”

“Yus! Luca!”

It all felt like a nightmare.

His heart pounded wildly.

“Luca! It’s Luca!”

Just as the entrance collapsed, Luca was suddenly shoved outside, as if thrown from within.

And Cedric saw it.

“Yus, no!”

Beyond the collapsing wooden beams, Justinas was trapped.

She had pushed Luca out—

And was now buried beneath the wreckage.

She said something.

Cedric ran toward her.

But it was hopeless.

No matter how much he screamed, the fallen beams didn’t rise, and the fire didn’t die down.

Her final moment kept replaying before his eyes.

“Cedric, become a good adult.”

Even her last words.

***

Another ten years passed.

After losing Justinas, Cedric rose to become the ruler of the underworld.

Assassination. Illegal trade. Tracking.

For the right price, he would do anything.

As a highly skilled fixer, his name had become well known in the shadows.

“I have a request for you.”

It was an unusual day.

The client who came to see him was a priest dressed in pure white robes. A man who didn’t belong in the backstreets at all.

“What business does a man of faith have here?”

“We require your assistance.”

The priest held out a pouch of money.

Cedric accepted the hefty bundle with a slight nod. Then, the priest spoke again.

“Please escort the Saintess.”

“…The Saintess?”

The unfamiliar word made Cedric pause.

‘I’ve heard rumors that a Saintess has reappeared in the Eastern Continent.’

With the advancement of magical engineering, the authority of the divine had crumbled.

So when he heard that some woman had been declared a Saintess, he had scoffed.

Just another desperate attempt by that backward continent to cling to power.

That was the extent of his thoughts.

‘A mere puppet of the Pope, no doubt.’

There was no such thing as a Saintess.

A mere human performing miracles?

Unless she was some masterful fraud.

But money was money.

Since he had already taken the payment, there was no reason to refuse.

Snatching up the pouch, Cedric gave a curt nod.

“I just need to go to the Eastern Continent, then?”

***

“Is this your first time at a temple?”

“That’s a pointless question.”

He was called the ruler of the underworld, but in the end, he was just a hunting dog cleaning up after the elite.

Following complicated rituals didn’t suit him.

Frowning, Cedric eyed the pristine, white temple.

“What’s the point of such an inefficient building? It would be more useful to tear it down and build a food factory to help the poor.”

“Do you not believe in God?”

“No. I don’t.”

His answer was blunt.

“The Saintess is inside. She is currently praying, so you will have to wait a moment—”

Cedric ignored the priest’s words and pushed open the door to the prayer room.

‘White hair.’

An old memory surfaced.

But nothing beyond that.

Whoever this poor woman was, being used as a propaganda tool by the Holy Kingdom, it didn’t matter to him. He would simply do the job he was paid for.

“Is that her?”

A woman knelt before the statue of the goddess, draped in a white veil, deep in prayer.

Cedric regarded her with indifference and spoke in a blunt tone.

“I will be serving as your escort from today. I look forward to working with you.”

“Ah.”

A small gasp escaped her lips.

Up until that moment, everything was fine.

But then, as she slowly turned her head—

“Greetings, brother.”

The gentle voice that followed—

“My name is Justinas.”

And that unchanged smile, untouched by the passage of time—

“I look forward to working with you.”

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

His heart pounded violently as if it would burst.

It was his first love—the one he had yearned for over a decade.

He thought she had died.

And yet, why was she—

“Y-Yus…”

The words came out broken.

With a trembling voice, Cedric reached out to her.

But she did not move.

As if she hadn’t even noticed the raw emotion on his face or the hand extended toward her.

Then, the priest beside him spoke.

“Sir Cedric, the Saintess cannot see.”

“…What?”

Only then did Cedric, eyes filled with disbelief, take a closer look at Justinas.

‘Her focus…’

Those beautiful glass-like eyes were still, unmoving.

Sensing the heavy silence, Justinas fidgeted her fingers anxiously.

“Ah, I-I’m sorry. Did I do something improper?”

“…No.”

Cedric clenched his fists tightly.

“There’s no problem at all.”

His first love, whom he had met again, could no longer see him.