The Cowardly Baby Saint Sees Ghosts - Chapter 24

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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 24.
Liam, who had become almost like my personal guard, gazed at me with a worried expression.
“Saintess, are you well?”
“Yes.”
I recalled how, a few days ago, he had asked me to treat him like a child.
Since that day, things had felt slightly awkward between us.
After hesitating for a moment, I finally opened my heart to him.
“Actually, I’m not. I don’t want to go.”
Liam listened to me seriously.
“Is the Imperial Palace uncomfortable for you?”
“Yes.”
Very much so.
There are so many nobles there, so many members of the royal family, so many spirits, the Crown Prince who might kill me in the future, and a princess hiding her true identity.
‘I wonder if Gaitel is doing well?’
“The Crown Prince relies greatly on you, Saintess.”
“Mm.”
It couldn’t be helped, really. From his perspective, I must be something close to a savior.
“But you said he’s ill now, didn’t you? That’s why you’re going to treat him, isn’t it?”
I probed, playing ignorant, and Liam fell silent.
So the knight commander knew about it too.
He hesitated briefly before speaking low.
“Officially, His Highness is still in recovery.”
“And unofficially?”
“…He has improved considerably.”
“Then why keep pretending to be ill?”
“That is a matter of the Imperial House, and I find it difficult to speak of it freely.”
A matter of the Imperial House—likely politics. From what I remembered, there was a considerable faction supporting the princess over the Crown Prince, who was seen as physically frail.
Complicated, sordid matters of adults.
“You must be tired.”
As I murmured this, he smiled faintly.
“His Highness would be pleased if you showed concern for him, Saintess.”
“Concern is…”
“What then?”
“Well, just.”
I looked out the window. The white walls of the Imperial Palace were drawing closer.
“He’s just a child like me, so I feel bad for him.”
Though I’m hardly in a position to say such things.
Demian was only seven years old. Constantly tormented by spirits, thrown into the middle of political turmoil—I couldn’t even begin to imagine what that must feel like.
“Liam.”
“Yes, Saintess.”
A steadfast knight who always answered my call without hesitation.
A man who would die for me in the future.
“If I suddenly act strangely or say nonsensical things, could you still believe in me?”
Though Liam couldn’t see spirits, I didn’t want to disappoint him somehow.
Was I trying to convince him—to convince myself—that I was sane, that I hadn’t lost my mind?
“I have never, not once, taken anything you say as mere nonsense, Saintess.”
Ugh, that was too much pressure.
And yet it didn’t feel bad to hear.
I stroked Cheese’s fur absently to calm myself.
“Then I’m grateful.”
The carriage door opened.
I took Liam’s hand and stepped down from the carriage.
Unlike the Secondary Palace, the Imperial Palace was vast and immaculate.
But whereas the Temple had been warm, carrying the scent of sunlight and clean water, this place—
‘I hate it.’
Beneath the cloying floral fragrance lay a damp, musty smell—like old blood—that made my skin crawl.
I gripped Liam’s hand tightly, and he looked down at me.
“Are you frightened?”
“A little.”
When I went to Demian’s chambers before, the situation had been so urgent I barely noticed, but now I felt overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the Imperial Palace.
“I’m always at your side, so please don’t worry.”
Somehow, her words put me at ease.
We followed an Imperial House steward to Demian’s chambers.
“Your Highness, the Saint and the Captain of the Holy Knights have arrived.”
“Let them in.”
The door opened to a feeble voice.
It wasn’t the usual chaos. Papers were stacked across the desk. And sitting at the far end of it—Demian.
Seeing his pallid face and slumped shoulders, I’d have sworn he was genuinely ill—
‘He’s acting.’
The moment our eyes met, I knew.
His eyes brightened for the briefest instant when he saw me, then he immediately lowered his lids.
“Thanks for coming.”
“We greet Your Highness the Crown Prince.”
I bowed respectfully. Liam lowered his head behind me.
When the attendants showed no sign of leaving, Demian deliberately began breathing heavily.
“…I’d like to be alone with the Saint.”
“But Your Highness—”
“If I become strange again.”
He smiled very faintly.
“She’ll stop me.”
Yet one corner of his mouth lifted in a way that was almost bitter. A self-deprecating smile.
The attendants’ faces hardened.
‘He’s really good at this.’
I found myself genuinely impressed. And it worked—I could see the attendants bowing and withdrawing.
Cheese rubbed her face against my leg, then trotted off toward Demian.
Before I could even register what was happening, she’d already leapt onto his desk.
“…Why’d this one show up again?”
Demian looked at Cheese with barely concealed exasperation.
‘Huh, Cheese seems to like him.’
Maybe because they’d been introduced once before?
“I think Cheese is fond of you, Your Highness.”
“Me?”
“Or maybe not.”
His expression asked what I was supposed to do about it, and I could only shrug.
Cheese batted at Demian’s Ink Bottle with her paw.
Tap. It rolled.
Splash, splash, splash.
“Doesn’t look like she likes him.”
“Maybe it’s how she shows affection?”
He stared blankly as the carpet darkened with black ink, muttering under his breath.
“This is affection?”

I had no words for this moment.
Demian groaned and rose to right the Ink Bottle.
“This is her third visit, then?”
“Yes, the second one was at the Secondary Palace not long ago.”
“I hadn’t shown her the Imperial Palace yet.”
Oh!
As my eyes lit up, Demian puckered his lips.
“You like it that much.”
“I was curious.”
I didn’t mention that as a commoner orphan, I’d never had the chance to see the Imperial Palace.
In truth, aside from when I see spirits, I don’t usually express emotion openly, so I understood his lukewarm reaction.
“How is your health, Your Highness?”
“I’m fine.”
“Truly?”
“There was that incident at the Secondary Palace recently, and I didn’t really call you here because I needed Divine Power. I just wanted to show her around the Imperial Palace, so—no, stop laughing.”
Ah. I was already giggling without realizing it. I quickly covered my mouth and asked.
“You’re quite good at acting, Your Highness.”
“Well, I—I had no choice.”
“Your voice was shaking quite a bit.”
“Don’t tease me.”
“It’s a compliment.”
“That makes it worse.”
His ears flushed a pale pink.
I giggled and extended my hand toward him. Without much resistance this time, he grasped it firmly.
“……Why?”
“Oh, no reason.”
Saying we’d grown closer felt a bit embarrassing, if I’m honest.
I found myself thinking how natural the contact had become—nothing like the terror I’d felt at first.
I let Divine Power flow slowly through his hand.
It felt like clear water seeping into a cracked vessel.
“There’s still quite a bit of Divine Power left.”
“But?”
“It’s depleting faster.”
“Perhaps it’s because this isn’t the Temple.”
“That could be it.”
I looked down at his hand.
“Your Highness’s body is so…”
I stopped myself.
Route unlocked: Spirit Salvation using the Crown Prince’s body!
The status window’s message—the one I’d been trying to forget—surfaced in my mind.
“…naturally inclined to lose Divine Power quickly.”
“Mm.”
Demian gently withdrew his hand and scratched the back of his neck.
“The Imperial Palace Garden is famous for its beauty. Would you like to go? I think you’d enjoy it.”
I did love flowers. At the Temple, I’d spent entire days admiring the blooms in the breeze until I nearly caught a cold and earned a scolding from Becky.
Had he remembered hearing me mention that I liked flowers in passing?
At the peculiar brightness in my eyes, Demian let out a startled squeak.
“I-if you don’t want to go, you don’t have to!”
“I looked at you like that because I wanted to—because I’m happy.”
Still, he couldn’t quite manage any response.
* * *
Diane followed behind the flustered Demian, stifling a laugh.
Meanwhile, Liam trailed after the two of them, his expression lost in thought. He stumbled slightly.
‘……Just now.’
Didn’t that ink bottle fall on its own just then?
Both the Crown Prince, picking it up as though nothing had happened, and the saint mentioning some unknown “Cheese”…
‘What did I just witness?’
Who is Cheese anyway? Is it actually a person’s name?
Or is it something only the saint knows about—
‘No.’
But having resolved never to doubt the saint, Liam steadied himself firmly, determined not to lose consciousness.
“I believe in you, Holy One!”
“……Pardon?”
Diane, who’d been walking ahead, came to a halt. Her small shoulders turned slowly.
Her expression asked: why so sudden?
Demian whispered something very quietly.
“Does that knight do this often?”
Diane replied in an equally low voice.
“Sometimes.”
Watching the two of them murmur together, Liam smiled contentedly to himself.
Indeed.
Their relationship has improved so much!

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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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