The Cowardly Baby Saint Sees Ghosts - Chapter 38

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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 38.
I was unsettled.
I couldn’t understand why I kept getting dragged into situations like this.
I returned to the Temple looking haggard, only to be met by Becky, who looked even worse—like she was dying on her feet.
“Becky? Is something wrong?”
“Oh, no, it’s nothing…….”
One of the priests who’d been watching Becky reached over and tapped her shoulder cautiously.
“Why not just tell her?”
So there was definitely something.
I grabbed the hem of Becky’s robe with a worried expression.
“Come on, tell me.”
“Well, you see……”
Becky squeezed her eyes shut and hung her head low.
“I have a younger brother who’s been ill, and his condition keeps getting worse. I just heard that he’s barely conscious anymore.”
Oh, I remember now.
I’d heard the most skilled doctor in the village was treating him.
‘Back then, I promised I’d look in on him, but I’ve been too busy and forgot all about it.’
Guilt crept over me. While I lived in comfort, Becky must have been losing sleep this whole time, worrying about her brother.
“I’m sorry. I should have visited sooner.”
I wrapped my outer cloak back around myself—the one I’d been about to take off.
“I need to see the Pope.”
* * *
“……and for that reason, I think I need to use my power. Will you allow it?”
I believed the Pope cared for me, and that he would care for Becky, who served me so faithfully.
So I’d thought he’d agree without hesitation…….
“Your Holiness?”
Unexpectedly, the Pope was troubled.
I felt a desperate urge to rush toward Becky’s younger brother right then and there.
In truth, I’d come to think of him much like my own mother.
But what if the Pope refused? What would I do then?
Anxiety mixed with urgency, and without realizing it, I began tapping my foot.
“Your Holiness!”
“Diane. First, calm yourself.”
At the Pope’s grave tone, I took a deep breath and tried to steady my emotions.
‘But Becky’s expression keeps flickering through my mind…….’
“The Temple does not judge a person’s worth by their station. We accept all—nobles and commoners alike—without distinction. That is our principle.”
Yet there were spaces where only nobles could come and go freely.
I was about to argue, but held my tongue. And my restraint proved wise.
The Pope’s face bore the weight of his own anguish.
“But I have always wanted you, who have lived such a difficult life, to enjoy some measure of comfort.”
I wiped my sweating palms on my robe and waited for his next words.
“That is why I postponed blessings that should have been performed more frequently, and concentrated instead on strengthening our ties with the Imperial Family. It is wrong to do so, but it was a decision I made with you in mind.”
“…….”
What was he saying?
So he’d deliberately fostered opportunities for me to bond with the nobility—all for me?
“From time to time, I have turned away people who came to the Temple seeking help. But for you—who have received such preferential treatment—to now perform a healing ritual that you have not conducted before, and to do so for one person based on private feeling, is deeply problematic.”
Now that I thought about it, after the consecration ceremony, I’d had few opportunities to see people living in hardship.
It had all been for me?
All I’d confirmed was that I could never belong among the nobility.
Like oil and water, I’d only come to understand that I could never possess what they carried from birth.
“No, Your Holiness. That wasn’t for my sake.”
The Pope flinched—as if he’d just heard something that could never have come from my lips.
‘Honestly. I’m disappointed.’
Anger flared in me.
“Wasn’t what you gained from the Imperial Family more valuable?”
“Saint! That remark is far too presumptuous!”
Michael, who had been watching, rebuked me, but the Pope silenced him with a gesture.
His expression invited me to continue, and I clenched my fists.
“I’m an orphan. Every night, I was beaten by the Orphanage Director, and I kept praying. Begging someone—anyone—to save me. To free me from that pain.”
My breathing grew ragged. As if I’d truly been transported back to that time, to those days.
“There are probably many people who grew up in circumstances similar to mine. People who suffer from the Absence of Saint as well.”
The Pope fell silent.
“I’m not a tool that exists only to heal the nobility and royal family.”
“Diane, we don’t think of you as a tool!”
I knew that. If anything, the days in which I received affection I’d never known before were so blissfully happy it frightened me.
Yet still, these words had to be said.
“You said you wanted to show me only good things. I don’t believe that’s right.”
“……!”
“Shouldn’t the Temple’s duty be to see the reality people face and devise countermeasures accordingly?”
My vision blurred as tears welled up.
“Your Holiness. Becky’s younger brother! The family that looked after me like a mother!”
“…….”
“From now on, please don’t turn away the commoners who come to the Temple. I want to give my Blessing equally to everyone.”
To be honest, the Pope had overstepped his bounds.
The Blessing was entirely the Saint’s prerogative, an ability bestowed by God himself, and the Pope had no right to restrict how that power was used.
The Pope knew this well, which was why he now sat there in darkness, simply listening to my words.
“I’m going to save Becky’s younger brother.”
The Pope bowed his head.
‘I thought at least you would be different.’
I clenched my teeth. Did the Pope’s love apply only to me?
“Forgive me.”
The Pope, pressing hard at the bridge of his nose, commanded in a trembling voice.
“But go in secret and return discreetly, keeping your identity hidden for the Temple’s sake.”
“……I understand.”
I turned sharply, about to leave his study.
A quiet voice spilled out.
“Diane. I’m truly sorry.”
“……!”
I faltered but moved forward anyway.
[Emergency Mission!]
Priestess, save Becky’s younger brother!
Reward: Good Deed Gauge +5
[Current Progress: 49 / 1000]
Failure will lower Becky’s Trust.
I’d suspected the Temple wasn’t wholly righteous. But the shock of hearing the truth from someone I’d trusted so deeply was considerable.
Becky, unaware of my turmoil, wept with joy upon hearing the news, her whole body trembling with delight.
“The Pope actually gave permission? I’m so grateful! Oh, merciful God!”
I couldn’t say anything watching her. I could only smile bitterly.
“Let’s go home together. I’d like to hear your story on the way — how you’ve lived all this time.”
“Yes, Saint!”
I felt for Becky, crying in the arms of a fellow priest.
I heard she’d sent every coin she earned to that doctor in her village.
‘How exactly did he treat him, only to make things worse?’
* * *
In the lurching carriage, I listened quietly to Becky’s stories of old.
Once upon a time, vast green plains stretched endlessly, and children played across them.
But everything changed when the Mana Imbalance began.
“My younger brother is very sensitive to Mana, it seems. So he’s more vulnerable to this environment.”
What did it mean to be very sensitive to Mana?
Reading my confused expression, Becky offered further explanation.
“He’d always dreamed of becoming a knight. But as his body weakened more and more, he had no choice but to abandon that dream.”
The Mana Imbalance caused by the Absence of Saint affected plants and animals alike.
Most people simply lost their vitality, but those sensitive to Mana frequently experienced life-draining flows of Mana that threatened their very existence.
Even those beautiful plains, she said, were now withering and dying.
“First, I should go and assess his condition.”
In any case, there’s nothing more certain than seeing it with my own eyes.
Clatter-clatter.
The carriage’s jolting was rougher than usual.

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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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