The Cowardly Baby Saint Sees Ghosts - Chapter 19

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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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# Episode 19
People who were glad I existed.
By the time Peach Candy faded from view, I finally reached the Pope.
Liam, who had set me down before him, took a step back from my side.
“Three hundred years.”
The Pope’s solemn voice rang out across the Plaza.
Though he hadn’t spoken loudly—whether through magic or otherwise—everyone present could hear him clearly.
“After a full three hundred years, the Saint has come to us at last.”
A silent tremor emanated from him.
“Diane.”
He smiled at me.
“Greet them.”
As I hesitantly gathered the folds of my dress and curtsied, applause erupted.
That was when it happened.
“Saint! Please, Saint, I beg you!”
At someone’s desperate cry—almost a scream—my head snapped toward the sound.
A gaunt woman, held back by Holy Knights, was reaching toward me with tear-streaked hands, desperate to close the distance between us.
“My child—please!”
Only then did I look at the child she was holding.
It was so completely dark that I’d thought it was nothing, but now I saw it: a spirit was covering the child entirely.
Thump. My heart sank.
The Pope seemed startled by the sudden crisis, composing himself before speaking.
“Save my child, please!”
“How dare you interrupt the sacred Blessing Ceremony—”
“Let me see.”
I stepped forward decisively, cutting off Liam’s protest.
“I want to see. Please, let me see.”
The Holy Knights seemed to be waiting for the Pope’s signal.
The Pope sighed and nodded, and the crowd parted before me as naturally as water flowing around stone.
Everyone around us held their breath, watching my every move.
[Emergency Mission]
Help the child possessed by a spirit
Reward: Good Deed Gauge +2
Failure: Child dies + Reputation decreases
I stepped slowly in front of the child.
I was genuinely afraid.
‘I really hate spirits.’
But I had to do this.
“Leave.”
I whispered it barely audibly, and the part that appeared to be the spirit’s face rippled.
“Don’t cling to the child. Disappear.”
In the next moment, I gathered Holy Power to my fingertips and pressed it against the child’s forehead.
Burst!
Light exploded outward.
The spirit shrieked—a sound that would have split eardrums—and was thrown back.
Since only I could hear it, I was able to keep my expression composed.
The child’s body twitched, then slowly opened its eyes.
“Mother……”
At that single word, the woman collapsed and began to wail.
“Thank you. Thank you so much, Saint……”
“My goodness, he opened his eyes!”
“A miracle!”
“Long live the Saint!”
……This is so mortifying.
I took a step back, cold sweat running down my face.
But right then.
Ping.
My vision wavered.
A hollow feeling spread through my body.
“Huh?”
My legs gave way.
The Pope caught me up in his arms at once.
“You’ve overdone it.”
“No, I haven’t…….”
I mumbled and shook my head, but I knew the truth.
I’d burned through my Holy Power far more recklessly than I’d realized.
In fact, I’d even scattered the spirits that had been hiding in the crowd, just watching.
‘I need to learn some restraint…….’
“Your face is pale.”
“My complexion is naturally a bit―”
“I’m not joking.”
Ah. My head was spinning a little.
I leaned against the Pope’s arms and caught my breath.
Through my blurring vision, I caught sight of dark hair standing in the Imperial Palace’s reserved section.
I recognized the face.
‘The Crown Prince, Demian.’
The man destined to kill me.
He cut his usual neat, composed figure today.
‘But why that look on his face……?’
His red eyes looked clouded.
And I knew that expression of his.
‘No, it can’t be.’
The Holy Power I’d filled him with before the Blessing Ceremony.
‘How long has it been?’
I had a bad feeling about this.
Demian slowly lifted his head.
And our eyes met.
In that moment, his gaze flickered—just barely, just for an instant.
Then he lowered his eyes as though nothing had happened.
But it was already too late.
I was certain.
Something was about to break loose.
Just then, an annoying pop-up burst into view like a tiny firecracker.
[Good Deed Gauge: 29 / 1000]
* * *
After the Blessing Ceremony ended, I collapsed onto my bed.
“Mm…….”
My body was leaden.
My limbs wouldn’t obey me.
Becky placed a hand on my forehead and her face twisted with worry.
“I told you that you’d overextended yourself!”
“No, I didn’t…….”
“You couldn’t even climb the stairs just now.”
“That was because my legs are short.”
“Which only makes it sadder. I really should have a word with Lord Liam!”
“Liam hasn’t done anything wrong…….”
I didn’t finish the sentence, just buried my face in the pillow.
Truthfully, the physical exhaustion was bad enough, but something else kept gnawing at me.
Demian, as I’d seen him in the Plaza.
‘He looked bad.’
I fidgeted with my fingertips.
“Becky.”
“Yes, Your Holiness.”
“About the Crown Prince—do you know if he wasn’t feeling well?”
Becky’s expression grew uncertain.
“I didn’t see it myself, but I heard that after the Blessing Ceremony ended, he returned to the Imperial Palace right away. And apparently his face was very pale…….”
As I thought.
Demian’s body was originally depleted of Holy Power.
That’s why spirits kept coveting the emptiness within him.
When I forcibly infused him with my Holy Power, he’d be all right for a while—the Holy Power filled the gaps and shut them out.
The problem was happening now.
During the Blessing Ceremony, I’d scattered Holy Power all around me.
Some of that energy had seeped into Demian’s body as well.
But it wasn’t filled completely—not enough that he could see spirits, not strong enough to push one out entirely.
In other words, it was like an empty vessel that had merely absorbed a sweet scent.
‘This is the worst.’
Or maybe it had already possessed him.
There was nothing he could do against it.
‘Please, anything but that.’
I pleaded silently.
But my premonitions had a strange way of never being wrong.
Bang!
The door burst open.
Becky spun around, startled out of her skin.
“W-who—Your Highness?”
The Pope stood in the doorway, his face ghastly pale. His platinum hair, usually so immaculate, was disheveled.
The Priest who’d followed him was equally ashen.
The Pope approached me directly.
“Diane.”
Just from his tone, I could tell nothing good was coming.
I gripped the blanket.
“A message came from the Imperial Palace.”
“From the Imperial Palace?”
I tried to sit up straight.
Or rather, I tried. My body wouldn’t obey.
“…What?”
The room spun. Becky cried out and caught me.
“Saint!”
“Don’t get up.”
“I have to go.”
“Your condition comes first.”
“But His Highness is more urgent.”
Only after the words left my lips did I notice my voice was trembling.
The Pope studied me for a long moment, then exhaled and spoke softly.
“Since the Crown Prince returned to the Imperial Palace, he’s been showing abnormal symptoms.”
Demian had said he couldn’t appear completely recovered at the Imperial Palace.
Too swift a recovery would raise suspicion, and besides, it was to avoid the eyes of factions that sought to constrain him.
“It doesn’t appear to be an act.”
“…!”
“He keeps trying to go toward the back of the Secondary Palace. They can barely stop him.”
“The Secondary Palace?”
In that moment, a status window popped up before my eyes.
[Emergency Mission Triggered!]
Vanquish the spirit that has approached the Crown Prince!
Current Status: The Crown Prince’s Holy Power reserves are decreasing rapidly.
[Reward]
Good Deed Gauge increases by 5
[On Failure]
The Crown Prince’s trust will shatter, and his death probability will spike dramatically!
The Pope looked at the empty air, then at my rigid expression, seeming to wonder—but that wasn’t important now.
‘Damn it.’
Every time I turn around, they’re playing with my lifeline!
“Diane?”
“I need to go.”
“…I’ll have Liam accompany you.”
The Pope didn’t press further. I was grateful for that, though it also weighed on me with responsibility.
The Pope reached out to smooth my hair. I flinched without thinking, and when I laughed awkwardly, he withdrew his hand.
“I wish I could go with you. If I move directly, it will draw unwanted attention—”
“It’s alright.”
“If you find yourself in danger, I will command him to bring you back at once.”
I nodded.
The Pope doesn’t know.
Not about the ghost, not about the status window floating before my eyes right now.
Yet he worries about me anyway, knowing nothing.
I never thought someone’s concerned gaze could feel this ticklish.
“Diane.”
“Yes.”
“If you judge that a task is beyond your capacity, you must withdraw.”
……
“I need an answer.”

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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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