She stopped looking at the indistinct faces in the crowd and paid no heed to the guards' shouting.
Her gaze turned to the sullen sky, as though it were weighed down by lead, toward the place she had prayed to countless times before battle.
"Lord..."
Her voice was faint and trembling, a plea from someone near death, yet it still held one last spark of faith that refused to go out:
"Do You see me? Do You hear me? Your servant... Jeanne... has never turned her back on You... never turned her back on this land You have blessed..."
At last, tears poured down her face, mingling with the cold rain and washing away the dirt and blood.
"Everything I have... my courage, my faith... came from You... Please tell me... what was it all for?"
Her voice broke in the wind, filled with utter confusion and helplessness.
The steadfast faith that had once sustained her as she led armies to victory now teetered under the weight of betrayal and injustice.
No divine revelation came. No answer.
Only cold rain, pitiless stares, and the guards' rough hands.
"Enough of your holy act!" A guard seized her hair and hauled her off the ground. "Move! Stop wasting time!"
Jeanne was dragged forward like a lifeless rag doll.
She no longer struggled. Her blue eyes, once bright as stars and full of hope and fighting spirit, held only hollow stillness and wounds that would never heal.
The despair of betrayal, the pain of being reviled by the very people she had sworn to protect, cut far deeper than the guards' blows or the shackles on her limbs.
She had fought for freedom, only to end up in chains.
Yan Huan watched her golden figure disappear into the muddy curtain of rain at