The Cowardly Baby Saint Sees Ghosts - Chapter 26

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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 26.
The Imperial Palace Garden was both like and unlike the Temple Garden.
The Temple’s garden was comforting. The season felt almost unnatural—the breeze was warm and the sunlight so soft it made you drowsy.
The Imperial Palace Garden, by contrast, was utterly rigid.
Every tree, flower, and path arranged without a single rough edge. Even the ducks floating on the pond seemed poised to swim in perfect formation.
‘Even the garden lives up to Imperial standards.’
My breath caught.
Any branch that dared grow even slightly crooked would be pruned away at once—it was unmistakably a royal garden.
“Why are you looking at it like that?”
Demian asked from beside me. I lifted my head. He was walking at my pace, very slowly indeed.
Far too slowly.
It was considerate. Surely it was considerate.
Yet somehow it stung my pride.
“Your Highness.”
“What?”
“Please don’t slow down deliberately.”
“You can’t keep up.”
“I can manage.”
He hummed and looked me over from head to toe, muttering.
“You’ve looked out of breath since earlier.”
“I’m not.”
My breath betrayed me the instant I finished speaking.
“Hmm.”
……
……
Silence stretched between us.
The corner of Demian’s mouth lifted just slightly.
“Don’t laugh.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
“You’re… mistaken.”
“You’re terrible at lying.”
He covered his mouth, his shoulders shaking. At moments like this, he looked like nothing more than a seven-year-old boy.
The tyrant from the original story who was supposed to kill me?
Well, right now he was just a good-looking boy with a sharp tongue and an embarrassing lack of composure when needled—nothing more.
……Though I shouldn’t let my guard down.
I’m fated to die by his hand.
Still.
Probably.
“That way is the White Rose Greenhouse.”
Demian pointed deeper into the garden.
“It’s the only place in the Imperial Palace Garden worth seeing.”
“The only place?”
“Everything else looks the same.”
Pretty, yes, but not designed as a place to rest.
Demian spoke flatly.
His words lingered strangely with me.
“Hiss!”
Cheese suddenly rose up, fur bristling. The cold hairs brushing my neck made me stiffen too.
“What’s wrong?”
Demian asked immediately.
“Cheese is…”
Before I could finish, I looked toward the far end of the garden.
Near the White Rose Greenhouse. Black hair gleaming in the sunlight.
Crimson eyes, an awkward stance.
And a face that went rigid the moment she saw us.
‘Gaitel?’
I didn’t need a status window to know.
It was her.
The moment Gaitel saw Demian and me, she turned away.
And…….
“Oh.”
She bolted.
Unbecoming of a princess, she seized the hem of her skirt and fled as if her life depended on it.
Ah, I nearly tripped just now— Oh, your center of gravity is quite steady.
I hadn’t meant to speak aloud, but Demian had noticed. His expression shifted subtly.
“Just now—”
He stopped mid-sentence.
I didn’t know the princess, right?
“Do you know her?”
“……No.”
His answer came too slowly.
“Then why did she run away?”
“I’m not sure myself. I barely caught a glimpse of her face.”
I’ve never been good at lying. Demian clamped his mouth shut.
And a moment later,
a girl with familiar chestnut hair appeared from the side path near the greenhouse.
Her expression made it clear she had nothing whatsoever to do with the black-haired girl who’d just fled.
Chestnut hair, a modest dress, and a perfectly composed smile.
I admired her silently.
‘Wow, the speed on that wig change is no joke.’
Do members of the royal family learn things like that in their studies?
Crisis management, perhaps? Or the art of concealing one’s identity?
“I am honored to receive Your Highness the Crown Prince.”
Gaitel—or rather, Idel—bowed her head. Beneath her soft voice, she couldn’t quite suppress her rapid breathing.
Demian’s eyes narrowed.
“……Yes.”
It was terribly awkward.
‘Save me.’
Demian was staring intently at Gaitel, and she was deliberately ignoring his gaze.
“How delightful to see you again, my lady.”
Idel smiled toward me.
I returned her smile.
“Hello, Idel.”
At the sound of her name, her pupils trembled slightly.
But true to her station as a princess, she composed herself and spoke gently.
“What brings you to the Imperial Palace? Surely not treatment?”
“The Crown Prince said he would show me the Imperial Palace Garden.”
“Ah, I see.”
Idel’s gaze flickered to Demian for just a moment.
“How are you feeling? Is your body well?”
“I’m fine today.”
Demian answered tersely.
No doubt he was thinking internally, ‘What in the world is she doing right now?’ but he was adapting to the sudden improvisation in his own way.
“You mustn’t overexert yourself.”
“Don’t pretend to worry.”
“I mean it sincerely.”
…….
My goodness. Listening to them converse made me feel like I might choke.
In truth, the two of them stood opposed over the matter of Imperial Authority, so it would have been natural for them to harbor ill will.
Yet from what I’d heard Gaitel say earlier, she seemed to care for her brother considerably?
I rolled my eyes.
Respectful language, yes, but each sentence seemed to conceal a blade.
‘Is this how the royal family greets one another?’
Why does every conversation between them begin with both raising their shields?
“My lady.”
Lost in thought, I started at being addressed so suddenly.
“Have you seen the White Rose Greenhouse?”
“Oh, not yet.”
“If you are amenable, I would be honored to show you.”
Demian spoke coldly and sharply.
“I’m the one guiding you.”
“Your Highness needs rest, surely.”
“I told you I’m fine.”
“Officially?”
Demian’s mouth snapped shut.
Oh, she’s got a bite to her.
Though it might have been my imagination, I could have sworn I felt eyes watching us from the shadows.
Demian’s aggrieved expression—one I’d never seen before—was almost amusing.
“Then let’s all go together.”
The moment I spoke, both their gazes fixed on me at once.
What? Did I say something I shouldn’t have?
“The three of us can look around together.”
Gaitel hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
“All right.”
So the three of us made our way to the greenhouse in a row.
To be precise: me in the middle, Demian on my left, Gaitel on my right, Liam behind us, and Cheese perched on my shoulder.
The arrangement was nothing short of chaotic.
‘This might be awkward.’
I wanted to break the strained silence first.
“It’s truly beautiful.”
Gaitel, sensing my effort, responded in kind.
“Indeed. The late Empress held this place most dear, I’m told.”
I wanted to ask how she knew that, but I held my tongue.
The White Rose Greenhouse was even more magnificent up close.
The glass ceiling gleamed in the sunlight, and within lay rows upon rows of roses white as snow.
The petals were thin and pristine, as if carved from ice itself.
But the moment we opened the door—
“—Ugh!”
The air seized my lungs.
Beneath the overwhelmingly sweet floral scent came something acrid and choking.
Reflexively, I covered my nose. Demian stared at me.
“The fragrance is quite strong.”
“Is it?”
Gaitel tilted her head, her expression entirely unbothered.
“This is a variety grown only within the Imperial family. The scent lingers even at night, and it was once called the Nightmare-Repelling Flower.”
Nightmare. The word struck something in me oddly.
Gaitel was still smiling, yet something felt off.
‘What is it?’
Then I noticed it—a ribbon tied at the hem of her skirt, one that didn’t match her current attire at all.
I couldn’t tear my eyes away from that ribbon.
“That ribbon.”
Gaitel’s hand went rigid.
“Yes?”
“It’s lovely.”
She faltered for a moment.
“It’s quite old.”
“Who gave it to you?”
The answer didn’t come at once. The brief silence stretched unnaturally long.
Demian looked at me.
A warning in his eyes—stop.
But I was already seized by an uneasy feeling.
The cloying floral scent and that acrid, smoky undertone.
The suffocating air.
And Cheese trembling on my shoulder.
“Cheese?”
The small creature above me let out a low whimper.
Then, in that instant,
Click.
A very faint sound reached my ears.
I’d thought it was the sound of branches scraping against the glass from outside.
Screeeech.
Scriiiiich.
But it wasn’t. The sound was coming from inside the greenhouse, from the glass itself.
I turned my head slowly.
Behind the White Rose vines, there were small handprints on the glass wall.
Fine white ash was smudged across the pane, and above it, long fingernail marks scored the surface in jagged lines.
Screeeech.
Screeeech.
The nail marks kept multiplying, as if someone inside were clawing desperately to get out.
I stopped breathing.
A child stood among the rose vines, facing me.
She was a girl, slightly taller than I, her hair blackened by soot.
White ash clung to her white dress.
Demian nudged me when he saw me frozen, but I couldn’t bring myself to move.
When I opened my mouth, flakes of charred skin scattered downward.
‘Please.’
Why does this always happen to me?

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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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