Chapter 734: Insider News
“Thorns?”
“Not many people use thorns!”
“Gephra’s Catholicism is a bit different from yours. In religion, thorns symbolize penance.”
“When clergy believe they’ve done wrong, they whip themselves with thorns until they feel they’ve atoned.”
“In older laws, there were punishments involving thorns. Some people would be stripped and thrown into a thorn bush—if they could walk out the other side, they wouldn’t face any further penalties.”
“In the cultures of this island, thorns are seen as too serious. They’re associated with crime, guilt, and punishment, so few people use them.”
This is also a cultural issue. In Gephra, the religious symbolism of thorns has turned them into a cultural icon.
In many religious paintings, God is often depicted lying in thorns, bleeding. The meaning behind such images has made ordinary people distant from thorns.
After hearing all this, Lynch thought for a moment. “I’ll go with it.”