The Cowardly Baby Saint Sees Ghosts - Chapter 56

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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 56.
New trainees arrived at the Temple each season.
Children not yet ordained as full priests.
They memorized prayers, learned how to polish Sacred Objects, and ran errands for the priests in the Herb Room or Records Hall, growing accustomed to life within the Temple’s walls.
Of course, not all of them would become priests.
Some entered the Choir, others spent their days in the Herb Room breathing in the scent of grass and leaves.
Still others took on record-keeping in the Records Hall, or helped in the Kitchen—and discovered that the most frightening person in the Temple was not the Pope, but the priest responsible for meals.
And some children came simply because they needed protection.
They had lost their parents on the battlefield.
Or they were bastards, erased from existence by their noble families.
Or they had been sent from poor villages to the Temple.
Or perhaps no one had ever come to claim them at all.
The Temple dressed those children in white clothes first.
It washed them, fed them, put them to bed.
Only after that did it ask.
What is it you wish to do?
I liked that.
That it didn’t ask for usefulness first.
That it saved them first, and only then asked what they wanted to become.
At least, the Temple I knew was that kind of warm place.
“Rest Order.”
Beki’s voice was firm.
“Holy Power Restriction. No outings.”
“No outings?”
“I just added that. But why did you follow that person there in the first place?”
The second day of the four-day Rest Order.
“Surely a simple walk is permitted?”
“No.”
“What about a walk down the Corridor?”
Beki answered by staring at me intently.
That was the most terrifying answer of all.
I cupped the Cocoa mug between both hands.
It was warm and sweet.
My fingertips still throbbed from overusing Holy Power, but the sweetness helped—I felt like I might recover after all.
Cheese sat beneath the window.
He had been watching the Main Gate ever since a moment ago.
That was what unsettled me most.
Spirits cannot enter the Temple grounds.
It was one of the few laws I knew for certain in this world.
This place was safe. It had to be safe.
And yet Cheese was staring toward the Main Gate as if something had just come through.
As if something had just slipped inside.
“Cheese.”
I called softly.
Cheese didn’t answer, only wagged his tail slowly.
“Your Holiness?”
Beki searched my face.
“Is something wrong?”
“No. It’s just…….”
I let the sentence drift and sipped my Cocoa.
Just then, a commotion arose outside.
The sound of carriage wheels scraping against gravel, children murmuring, a trainee priest calling out names to confirm.
It seemed new trainees had arrived.
I looked out the window.
Children stood lined up before the Main Gate. Most of them were much taller than I was—eight or nine years old.
They all held their freshly-given White Cloaks awkwardly.
The White Cloak was the first thing the Temple gave to new trainees.
Not an official priest’s robe, just a thin piece of cloth so they wouldn’t be cold.
Yet they all held it carefully, as though it were precious.
Because it was new. Because someone had prepared it for them.
I did too.
When I first came to the Temple, the Saint Robe was so oversized it dragged all the way to my ankles. Beki folded and tied it for me countless times, yet I wouldn’t take it off even when I slept.
It was warm. It felt like my very first possession.
But then.
There was one child among the crowd who wasn’t holding onto the cloak.
Brown hair, a girl a little older than me.
The other children were fidgeting with the hem of their cloaks or gazing down at their new shoes, but this girl was different.
Even as her cloak slipped from her shoulders, she didn’t adjust it.
Instead, she clutched an Old Bag tightly to her chest with both hands.
She held it so fiercely that her knuckles had gone white.
Was she anxious?
Was she cold?
Or was there something inside that she absolutely could not lose?
“Beki.”
“No.”
“But I haven’t even asked yet.”
“You’re thinking about going out there, aren’t you?”
She was right.
“That girl over there.”
“Which one?”
Beki looked out the window.
“The one with brown hair?”
“Yes.”
“She’s a new Trainee.”
“Do you happen to know her name?”
“I haven’t seen the roster yet.”
I watched the girl again.
She moved a beat slower than the others as they followed the Priest’s guidance.
She’d move only after the person in front moved, and she’d flinch whenever anyone brushed past her.
She was small too.
“Holy Maiden.”
Beki spoke.
“Absolutely not.”
I closed my mouth.
The moment Beki turned away to organize herb bundles, I quietly slipped down from my chair.
On tiptoes, as quietly as I could.
Cheese was watching me.
“Shh.”
Cheese’s tail struck the floor with a tap.
It wasn’t approval of my actions—just disdain, pure and simple.
I know this looks like sneaking out.
But I couldn’t just ignore it.
That girl kept staying with me, and I couldn’t help myself.
The moment my hand touched the doorknob.
“Holy Maiden.”
I froze in place.
I heard Beki’s voice from behind me.
Oh. I was caught.
“Where are you going?”
At my guilty expression, Beki fell silent for a moment.
That silence was far more frightening.
“Holy Maiden.”
“Yes?”
“Does that girl really concern you that much?”
“Yes. She reminds me of myself from back then.”
“When you say things like that, I just can’t stay firm.”
In the end, Beki released me on the condition that she’d come along.
As we stepped into the Corridor, the Temple that was usually quiet even in daylight felt different today.
The soft whisper of children, the swish of cloak hems, the sound of someone adjusting the strap of an Old Bag.
“Seria.”
I hesitated.
Beyond the window at the end of the corridor, that child from before lifted her head.
Seria.
That was her name.
“Seria, come this way. Your room assignment is in the East Annex.”
“……Yes.”
A very small answer. It seemed like it might be swallowed by the wind.
Seria adjusted her Old Bag and moved forward.
But then she mistepped at the top of the stairs.
Her body lurched forward.
“Oh, be careful!”
My body cried out before my mind could catch up.
Seria barely managed to grab the railing.
The Priest rushed over in alarm.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes, I’m fine. I’m sorry.”
It was far too quick an answer.
The reflexive speed of saying she was fine when she clearly wasn’t.
I frowned.
Somehow, she really did seem a bit like me.
Seria lifted her head. Our eyes met.
In that moment, Seria went completely still.
I raised my hand first.
“Hello.”
At the same time, Beki drew a small breath beside me, and Cheese quietly stood up.
Seria confirmed who I was, her eyes widening, then immediately she lowered her head.
“Your Holiness!”
Her voice cracked.
She looked like a child caught in the act of something wrong, so I found myself frowning.
What had I even done.
……I am a Saint, true enough. But I’m only five years older than her — did she really need to tremble like that?
“Are you alright?”
“Yes. I’m fine.”
“You almost fell a moment ago.”
“I’m really fine.”
Fine.
That word kept grating on my nerves.
Why was that.
Was it because I said it so often? Had Beki and Liam felt this way every time I claimed I was fine?
Seria looked at me. Her eyes asked why I was standing here in silence. Even that look was wary.
Eyes that wouldn’t ask, even if they wanted to know.
“So…….”
I paused to choose my words.
I wasn’t trying to sound impressive, yet for some reason opening my mouth made me careful.
“There’s value in being honest.”
I regretted it immediately.
“……If you were scared, it’s okay to say you were scared.”
Seria couldn’t say anything. She had the look of someone witnessing something truly strange.
Or more precisely, the look of someone unsure if she was allowed to hear such things.
After a long moment, a very small reply came back.
“……Yes.”
Seria’s eyes flickered, just slightly.
‘I know I’m being meddlesome, but I was like this when I first came to the Temple too.’
Seria quickly lowered her head, as if hiding those eyes that had just wavered.
Just then, Beki gently pressed my shoulder.
“Your Holiness, we need to leave now.”
“But I’d like to talk a little more.”
“That won’t do.”
Beki sighed. I seized the opportunity.
“Is your name Seria?”
“Yes.”
“I’m Diane.”
The moment the words left my mouth, I felt a flutter of embarrassment. Of course she already knew—she was a Saint, after all.
I looked away, flustered, and caught Seria’s lips move, barely a whisper.
“Diane…….”
Beki stiffened slightly at my side. She probably thought I’d spoken the Saint’s name too casually.
But I didn’t mind.
It hadn’t been careless at all.
“Yes.”
I smiled.
“See you next time.”
Seria hesitated before answering, then bowed her head.
“Yes.”
Her voice was slightly less quiet than before.
I was satisfied with that.
Beki, however, was not.
“We should return now.”
“Of course…….”
As I turned to leave, I realized Cheese was missing.
More precisely, she wasn’t at my side anymore.
The little cat spirit who’d been trailing at my heels was now sitting at Seria’s feet.
Looking up at her with an intensity that seemed strange.
Unnaturally quiet.
‘Cheese?’
She didn’t respond.
Normally she’d have flicked her tail or closed her eyes shamelessly when I looked at her.
But she only had eyes for Seria.
As if confirming something.
“……!”
And in that moment, my breath caught.
Seria shouldn’t be able to see Cheese. No—she shouldn’t have been able to.
Yet Seria slowly looked down at her own feet.
With an expression that seemed utterly strange.
“Is something wrong?”
Beki too seemed to think something was amiss.
Seria slowly shook her head.
“No.”
“Are you hurt?”
“It’s just…….”
Seria stared at her feet for a long moment before speaking very softly.
“It’s warm.”
I looked at Cheese. She merely swished her tail.
Why did you go to her?
You hate strangers.
You were difficult even when Demian approached.
So why?
Beki gripped my shoulder firmly.
“Your Holiness.”
“……Yes.”
All the way back to my room, a sense of loss lingered.
Just before the door closed, Seria glanced back at me for the briefest moment.
Her eyes still cautious. But different from before—subtly different.
Even after the door shut, I stared in that direction for a long time.
‘Did she just sense Cheese?’
The thought unsettled 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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