The Cowardly Baby Saint Sees Ghosts - Chapter 22

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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 22
The black water still rippling before my eyes felt like a phantom, wavering at the edge of my vision.
‘That’s it!’
So that was it. Now the pieces fit.
Perhaps it was for this reason that it had first claimed Demian’s vacant body.
‘To save the prince?’
That was when it happened.
[Ascension Condition Confirmed]
Enter the closed Sacred Repository.
Warning: The entity may target the Crown Prince’s body again.
Ah.
Now I understood.
“Where is Prince Ruel?”
“His Name Plate has been enshrined there, I’m told. It’s a sacred space, yes, but also a place of remembrance.”
“I’ve been there only once myself, and from what I recall, the Royal Family’s portraits were arranged with their Name Plates displayed beneath them.”
Demian’s elaboration painted a picture of the place in my mind.
“Please guide me there, Your Highness.”
“……It will be dangerous.”
Liam clenched his teeth at Demian’s murmur.
“That won’t do.”
“Liam!”
“I saw with my own eyes how much the Holy Maiden suffered just now. I cannot send her back into such a place.”
“……But.”
“Moreover!”
Liam dropped to one knee and met my eyes with formal respect.
“You’ve already overexerted yourself today, Holy Maiden.”
“……?”
I felt Demian’s gaze on me.
“Something seemed off about you—different from your usual self.”
“I’m really fine.”
“Enough.”
Demian pushed past me and walked forward.
“I’ll do it alone.”
“Your Highness!”
“You’re out.”
“Besides, there’s nothing you can do by yourself anyway.”
The words had slipped out without thought.
“What?”
His crimson eyes gleamed with lethal intent.
Oh—he’d heard my private thought.
I ducked behind Liam and let out an awkward laugh.
Liam was undoubtedly a good man. Even in the novel, he was the one who gave his life to save the Holy Maiden.
That’s what made it hard sometimes. Especially when he stood in my way with that worried expression.
‘But the Status Window……’
“Liam, I have to go. If I don’t, His Highness will be in danger.”
“Then I will have the Crown Prince moved to the temple.”
“If something remains in the Sacred Repository, we must deal with it there.”
Liam’s gentle expression faded. He knew what I said was true.
But knowing it didn’t mean he wanted to let me go.
“We can’t just run from this. And Liam… I trust you.”
I cradled both his cheeks in my palms. His blue eyes wavered.
“You’ll protect me, no matter what happens—won’t you?”
“……If you will permit it for the rest of my life.”
“Then that’s enough.”
“…….”
Demian broke the awkward silence with an irritated voice.
“Paladin Commander.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Are you saying you’ll only look after the Holy Maiden and abandon me?”
“……That is not my intention.”
“Easy enough. So I just have to protect both of you.”
After a pause, he asked back.
“Is it difficult?”
Wow, that tone. It gets under my skin.
Liam’s expression darkened as expected.
“You’re both still children, after all.”
“I’m the Crown Prince.”
“I’m the Holy Maiden.”
“Which makes it all the worse.”
He spoke in a low voice.
“Both of you treat your own lives far too lightly.”
We both fell silent. He was right.
Just then, something struck the door from outside.
Thud.
Thud.
We heard the knights we’d expelled earlier murmur in surprise.
“The, the floor is wet?”
“Did someone spill water?”
I met Demian’s eyes and spoke firmly.
“We have to go.”
Liam too seemed to be thinking hard, having heard the commotion.
“We have to go, Liam.”
“Stay directly behind me, Holy Maiden.”
“……!”
Demian grinned and nodded.
“The Crown Prince will lead the way, then.”
“……What?”
“I don’t know this place. And I exist only to protect the Holy Maiden―”
“And me?”
…….
“And me?”
Liam opened the door again, meeting Demian’s murderous gaze without flinching.
The corridor was already flooded.
Black water lay thin across the floor, and footprints were pressed into it.
Splash.
Splash.
Splash.
The footprints led deeper into the corridor.
Toward the Sacred Repository behind the Eastern Annex.
Demian adjusted his glasses.
“There.”
A woman stood in the darkness at the end of the corridor.
Wet skirt hem, limp hair, empty arms—yet her hands held the shape of something being cradled.
She saw us and smiled.
No—her mouth split open as if grinning.
‘Why do ghosts always smile like that?’
“Come here, child.”
The sound of Demian swallowing was crisp and clear.
“Come to me.”
“Go, just go!”
Demian spat out a curse through gritted teeth and forced his reluctant feet forward.
“Why exactly do you swear like that?”
Liam, oblivious to everything, whispered to me.
“……I don’t know either.”
The Sacred Repository was at the very end of the Eastern Annex.
Splash.
Splash.
The black water the woman left behind lay thin across the corridor floor, and each step we took produced a wet sound.
‘So that’s where.’
I walked directly behind Liam.
“Hurry up and follow me.”
Demian glanced back over his shoulder as he led the way.
The glasses slipped down to the bridge of his nose, looking as though they might fall at any moment.
“I’m right behind you.”
“Your breathing is too loud.”
She flinched.
“I’m frightened.”
“What am I supposed to do if the Holy Maiden is frightened?”
“The Holy Maiden is human too.”
Demian let out a soft scoff.
Yet he did not quicken his pace.
‘Is it a small kindness of his?’ she wondered.
Liam walked without seeing anything, his hand resting near the hilt of his sword.
He was a man who sensed wrongness by instinct.
Now that she thought about it, the corridor had fallen silent again—deathly silent.
Honestly, this frightened her more.
“There.”
Demian stopped.
At the end of the corridor stood a single iron door, old and heavy. The area around its handle looked peculiar, so she drew closer to examine it—
She caught her breath.
Fingernail scratches covered it densely.
‘The Nanny must have clawed at it.’
For some reason, a chill crept up the back of her neck.
“Your Highness.”
“Yes?”
“You said only the Royal Family can open it?”
Demian hesitated for a moment, then nodded and placed his hand on the door.
Click.
The lock opened without a sound.
Liam was stuffing a key he’d brought along into his pocket, just in case.
“Liam.”
“Yes?”
“Don’t go inside.”
Liam’s lips parted as if to protest, but she was resolute.
“Only the Royal Family can enter.”
“Holy Maiden—”
“It’s fine. Just wait here at the door.”
Truthfully, Liam was the person she most wanted to rely on. Yet I could only refuse him, tears brimming in my eyes.
‘Of course. He could become a variable.’
Perhaps the ghost would ascend to Nirvana the moment it entered this place. It had longed for that so desperately.
“I’ll call you immediately if anything happens.”
Liam studied her for a long moment, then slowly nodded.
“You must call me.”
“I will.”
She looked at Demian.
“Let’s go inside together.”
“That was the plan.”
* * *
The interior was far colder than the corridor outside. Portraits lined the walls densely, dozens of Royal Family faces gazing down upon them.
Beneath each portrait lay a small Name Plate, arranged in neat rows.
‘How strange.’
They could never have gathered like this while they were alive.
She stepped slowly inside.
“There.”
Demian pointed to one spot.
In the center, a single Name Plate far smaller than the others lay alone.
Ruel Belium.
A single flower rested upon it, dried and brittle, moments away from crumbling to dust.
“When did someone place that there?”
“I don’t know. I’m seeing it for the first time too.”
Demian spoke briefly.
I see.
I crouched down in front of him.
Just then, I heard a splashing sound from outside.
Why couldn’t it come in?
The door was open, so it should be able to enter.
“You can come in.”
“What?”
“Not you, Your Highness.”
I mean the ghost.
Demian’s eyes wavered.
But I only heard the splashing continue; it didn’t seem to come inside.
Too afraid to look behind me, I fixed my gaze on the Name Plate—the one with no Portrait hanging above it—and spoke.
“It’s all right. You can come in.”
In that moment, the Status Window flashed and burst open.
[This being does not believe it has the right to enter this space.]
Why?
[Because it failed to protect the young prince.]

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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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