Surviving as the Wife of the Swordsmanship Clan’s Troublemaker - Chapter 103

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 103

The worst possible place was the Courtroom. Casio stood alone in the center of the vast Hall.
I recognized him instantly.
Exactly as the original work described. Eyes devoid of spirit, a face reduced to leather stretched over bone.
The Priest with the countenance of the dead could be no one else.
‘Of all times, it had to be during the trial.’
Casio stood trial for the crime of stealing a keepsake from his mother, the Saint. Had it merely been a memento, no trial would have been held—but the problem was that the keepsake contained divine power and was being treated as a sacred relic.
Casio, refusing to surrender the keepsake, would be imprisoned and left to waste away until Docheop orchestrated his escape. Such was the narrative.
‘But this is before his imprisonment.’
His black priestly robes stood out starkly. Priests surrounded him on all sides, while an elderly man who appeared to be the Cardinal sat elevated before him, looking down.
“Surrender the sacred relic, and I shall forgive all charges. Where have you hidden it?”
His deep voice resonated with solemn authority through the chamber.
“…It is my mother’s keepsake.”
Casio’s voice was resolute.
I pressed myself against a pillar at the Courtroom entrance, observing the situation.
If he surrendered the relic, Casio would be released. But he would never surrender it. It was the only trace of his mother remaining.
That was why he would rot in prison until Docheop rescued him from the Grand Temple.
But circumstances were different now. I could not afford to cause trouble while backed by an intact Family.
‘I have to save him and bring him with me, no matter what.’
My mind raced.
Meanwhile, a heavy sigh echoed through the courtroom.
“Stubborn as always. Casio. I have no wish to punish you thus. We shall adjourn for now. Use this time to consider your choice—will you surrender the sacred relic, or will you go to prison?”
Casio, his head bowed, was led by the Priests toward a Holding Cell.
Though it had bars, the lock remained unfastened. He sat there as though escape never crossed his mind.
I stepped outside and found the small window of his cell.
Through the bars, I could see Casio. His head remained bowed, his hands clasped together. Whether it was prayer or resignation, I could not tell.
“Priest Casio.”
Casio slowly lifted his head. Only half his eyes were visible as he glanced up.
“…Who are you?”
“I’ll introduce myself later. I came because I have something to tell you. I watched the trial.”
“If you have business, seek out the Priests.”
Casio bowed his head again. I tapped lightly on the window.
“If I help you escape this trial safely, will you leave the Grand Temple with me?”
Casio’s hands stilled.
After a moment, he lifted his head. He regarded me with hollow eyes, then spoke briefly.
“…You speak nonsense.”
“Does it seem impossible?”
“Why would you do this? Coveting divine power? Despite appearances, I am a believer and a Priest. If this is mere pity, spare me.”
Casio lowered his gaze once more.
“Go back,” he insisted.
I refused to yield.
“So you’ll spend your entire life imprisoned because of your mother’s legacy? Is that truly what she would have wanted?”
Casio’s brow furrowed sharply.
“What could you possibly understand.”
“I’ll place your mother’s legacy in your hands. So you can protect it and finally be free.”
A long silence stretched between us.
Through the narrow gap, our eyes met. His gaze had shifted—no longer the same as before. It seemed as though he were weighing something, drawn toward an inexplicable force.
“…How do you intend to do this.”
“Leave that to me.”
“You give me no reason to trust you.”
“No, I don’t.”
I admitted it honestly.
“But will you trust me anyway?”
Casio studied me for a long moment.
He said nothing.
From down the corridor, the Priest’s voice drew closer.
I turned and made my way toward the sacred relic. Time was running out.
[Hallara. Where are you going now?]
“To do what I do best.”
A scene from the original story flickered through my mind—a dusty, neglected statue of the Saint tucked away in a corner of the Grand Cathedral’s warehouse. The other sacred relic hidden within it had only been discovered much later in the original narrative.
‘No one knows of this place yet.’
The statue of the Saint stood in the corner of the warehouse. Though called a warehouse, the light filtering through the broken window revealed how pathetic it looked—one arm shattered, the face worn smooth. Someone had once crafted it with devotion, but now only dust lay thick upon it.
No one paid it any attention.
I stood before it and gazed for a moment.
‘So it was here.’
In the original story, Casio discovered this much later—when his power as a Healer reached its zenith while saving lives, he sensed the relic’s presence.
His mother had hidden it. She had condensed her divine power into it so that only her son, when he fully inherited God’s will, could perceive it.
‘How desperately she must have hoped.’
I picked up a stone fragment from the ground.
A woman who thought only of her child even as she died.
That heart now rested in my hands.
“Forgive me.”
I struck the statue’s abdomen with all my strength.
Crack!
[Hallara! What are you doing?! You’ll be punished by God!]
“Be quiet.”
Twice, three times. The stone fractured and splintered, revealing a hollow space within.
Inside lay an object wrapped in cloth.
The moment my hand touched it and pulled it free, my palm burned with heat. Without needing confirmation, I knew with absolute certainty—it was a sacred relic.
[This is….]
Even Junel was at a loss for words.
“I understand. Let’s go.”
I cradled the sacred relic in my arms and slipped out of the Warehouse.

***

When I returned to the Courtroom, Casio was standing before the judge once more.
I steadied my breath and walked into the Courtroom.
“Wait, please.”
Every eye turned toward me.
“Who are you?”
“I am Hallara. I’ve come as a believer to make a donation to the Grand Cathedral.”
“I’m afraid you cannot simply enter a divine trial without permission.”
The Priest politely asked me to leave.
“I meant no disrespect to the divine. I apologize for entering uninvited, but——”
I widened my eyes and cried out loudly.
“I have something to offer you.”
As I pulled back the cloth, the Holy Grail caught the light and gleamed with a soft radiance. The Hall stirred with commotion.
“In exchange, I have one condition: do not pursue charges against that person, and return the Priest Casio’s mother’s keepsake to him.”
A brief silence fell.
Then one of the Priests stepped forward, his eyes narrowing with suspicion as he examined the sacred relic.
“You present something of unknown origin so carelessly. If it’s a forgery, that would be blasphemy.”
“Please verify it yourself.”
I held out the sacred relic. The Priest before me reached out with a reluctant expression.
That was the moment.
The Priest’s hand, which had touched the relic without expectation or initial sensation, burst forth with light the instant it made contact.
“….”
The surroundings fell silent.
The Priest’s hand began to tremble. His eyes widened, and tears welled up in an instant as he slowly knelt down.
“My God.”
No one could speak.
The Priest handed the sacred relic to the Cardinal with trembling hands.
The Cardinal reached out expressionlessly. These were hands that had handled countless sacred relics over long years. He was not a man easily shaken.
Yet the moment the sacred relic touched the Cardinal’s hands, he too froze.
“This is….”
His expression changed. It was the face of someone who had, for the first time, truly encountered the divine—a visage mingling wonder and reverence.
The Hall became completely silent.
After a long moment, the Cardinal slowly raised his head.
“…Where did you find this.”
Every eye in the hall turned toward me.
I hesitated for a moment.
“It was inside an abandoned Saint statue.”
The Cardinal’s eyebrows rose slightly.
“Something no one has found in years. How?”
I smiled with feigned composure.
“If I tell you, will you release Priest Casio?”
The hall stirred again.
The Cardinal stared at me for a long moment before speaking.
His stern expression had returned.
“The Saint belonged to the Grand Cathedral. Any relics she left behind belong to the Grand Cathedral as well—no individual may possess them.”
The hall fell silent.
I was at a loss for words.
‘I never considered that sacred relics would be claimed like this.’
I looked at Casio. He bowed his head as if to say this was enough. Seeing him like that, I couldn’t bring myself to retreat.
I stepped forward.
“May I ask one thing?”
The murmuring in the hall ceased.
“Everyone here must be God’s children.”
I swept my gaze slowly across the courtroom.
“But in the beginning, you were all raised in your mother’s hands. Not God, but your mother fed you, put you to sleep, and called you by name.”
My quiet voice made the hall grow still.
“The Saint was the same. Before she was a Saint, she was someone’s mother. When she gave birth to a child alone in a corner room of the Grand Cathedral, what do you think was the first thought that crossed that mother’s mind?”
No one spoke.
“How will I feed this child? Will this child suffer from the cold? What if this child is left alone?”
I paused for a moment.
“Did the Saint use her divine power for herself? No. Not to survive, not to escape. Because she knew she could not be there beside him, she instead gathered her last strength, hoping that this child would live forever under God’s protection.”
I looked directly at the Cardinal. My body trembled at the weight of his presence.
“That is what a mother is. And that is the heart contained within the legacy she left for Priest Casio.”
My voice wavered slightly.
“How can something made with such a heart belong to the temple? How can something created for this one child alone become something no individual is permitted to possess?”
Yet I hoped that even this small voice would reach them.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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