The Cowardly Baby Saint Sees Ghosts - Chapter 74

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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 74.
As night deepened, Seria found herself huddled in a dark corner of her room once again.
The moment she withdrew the fragment from her bosom, it began trembling faintly, as expected.
“The investigation has already begun.”
[Faster than I anticipated.]
A parched voice scraped through her mind.
Seria felt her spine grow cold as she forced her mouth open.
“…Yes. But I haven’t come under suspicion.”
[As time passes, circumstances will turn against you.]
……
[When do you intend to deal with Hanna? Two days remain.]
Seria bit her lip.
“……For now, the entire Temple is under watch. If I move now, it will only invite greater danger.”
[I thought I told you excuses were unnecessary.]
The chill in that voice deepened.
Seria felt her breath catch as she forced herself to speak again.
“……It is not an excuse. If I move with patience and caution, I can ensure it is done properly. If I rush now and fail, everything will come to nothing.”
Silence stretched between them—an eternity in Seria’s ears.
[……Very well. But if you cannot finish within that time, I will resort to other methods entirely.]
“Understood.”
[I have faith in you. After all, you were the finest candidate—surely you can manage this?]
The voice faded. The fragment’s trembling gradually stilled.
Seria finally exhaled the breath she’d been holding. Her entire body was damp with cold sweat.
‘……Two days.’
There was so little time left.
Seria stood in the darkness, eyes closed for a long while.
Her mind tangled with countless thoughts: how to dispose of Hanna, how far the investigation would reach toward her, and what would happen if Diane ever discovered any of this.
‘……What becomes of me then?’
The fact that she could not know the answer terrified her most.
* * *
One of the two days passed in this manner.
Seria sat alone in her room, staring at the dark wall for a long time. The candleless chamber was dimly suffused only by the pale moonlight bleeding through the window.
‘……I have to do it.’
She repeated this to herself again and again in her mind, yet her body would not obey.
Seria remained huddled there, knees drawn to her chest, unmoving.
It had to be done the same way as with Basil—tampering with the guards’ water in advance, then moving quietly through the darkness while everyone slept deeply.
She had succeeded with this method once before; there was no reason not to use it again.
She had neither the luxury of devising a new approach nor the mental fortitude for it.
And yet her body would not move.
‘……Did that person also make such a choice out of desperation, just as I am?’
Each time such a thought arose, her chest tightened painfully.
Seria shook her head again and again, trying to dispel the notion.
There was no room in this moment to consider another’s circumstances.
If she began to understand such things, she would ultimately be unable to act at all.
‘Is there truly no other way?’
Seria searched her mind again and again for alternatives.
Secretly smuggling Hanna out of the Temple, destroying the fragment, or simply confessing everything to Diane.
But each imagining crumbled the moment it met the wall of reality.
If she destroyed the Obsidian Fragment—the device of communication—she could not know what would happen to her body in that instant.
From all she had witnessed, it would certainly not be unscathed.
If she spirited Hanna away, the moment that fact was discovered, she would be dealt with in far more terrible fashion.
And the thought of confessing everything to Diane made her breath catch entirely.
Seria could not bear to imagine that kind face turning toward her with disappointment and disgust.
‘……So I have to do it.’
The conclusion remained the same.
Seria shut her eyes tightly, then opened them. Slowly, she rose and withdrew a small box from deep within her drawer.
Inside lay the vial of Sleeping Draught left over from the time with Basil.
The small glass bottle holding its transparent liquid, Seria placed upon her palm and stared at it for a long while.
‘The moment I use this, there is no turning back.’
It was already a line she had crossed once before.
But that knowledge made this moment no easier.
If anything, it made it harder.
The first time, she’d had the excuse of necessity. Now even that excuse had worn away to nothing.
‘How much further will I have to go on like this?’
Seria found no answer to the question.
Only one thing was clear: she didn’t have time to find one now.
Seria’s grip tightened on the vial in her hand.
The cold glass bit into her palm.
That chill seemed to transmit to her the full weight of what she was about to do.
‘I’m sorry, Hanna.’
She whispered the words to herself, then slipped the vial deep into her pocket.
Straightening her clothes, she moved toward the door.
At the threshold, Seria paused. Just before touching the handle, doubt washed over her again.
‘Could I stop now?’
But the question always ended the same way.
If she stopped, the thing beyond the Fragment would find another method.
And Seria already knew who that method would target.
Perhaps people even closer to her than Hanna. Diane and the others at the Temple.
‘I can’t.’
With that resolution, Seria opened the door and slipped outside.
* * *
By daylight, the Temple was more bustling than usual.
Even as the investigation continued, ordinary duties had to go on. When the guard rotation coincided with supply distribution, the area around the Confessional Hall filled with constant traffic.
Seria had been counting on that chaos.
She’d volunteered to help with supplies, and now moved back and forth near the Confessional Hall carrying wooden crates.
Outwardly she was just a diligent candidate, but inwardly she was constantly checking her surroundings, watching for her chance.
‘Not yet. Too many people.’
She passed the water barrel several times, but each time someone was nearby, leaving her no opportunity.
As time wore on, her anxiety grew. Her palms had begun to sweat.
Then, finally, came a brief opening as the guard rotation took place.
The knights stepped away; the next shift hadn’t yet arrived. That narrow gap was all Seria needed.
“I’ll refill that water for you.”
She spoke casually to another candidate passing nearby, then moved toward the barrel.
Her hand trembled slightly as she lifted the lid.
The moment she drew the glass vial from her pocket, Seria hesitated one final time.
It was only a second, but in that second a hundred doubts flickered through her mind.
‘Is there truly no other way?’
But the answer was already fixed. Seria squeezed her eyes shut, opened them, and tilted the bottle.
The clear liquid poured into the water and vanished without a trace in moments.
Seria quickly replaced the lid and walked away as though nothing had happened.
“Thank you for your trouble.”
Even as she offered the light smile, it felt alien on her face.
Cold sweat trickled down her back. In this very moment, was someone watching her? The fear choked her.
* * *
When night fell, Seria hid herself in the shadows of a dark corridor that led to the rear entrance of the Confessional Hall.
The Sleeping Draught she’d administered that morning had worked—the guards who should have been stationed throughout the area were nowhere to be seen.
‘Everything’s on schedule.’
The Fragment in her pocket trembled faintly.
As if urging her on. Seria steadied her breathing and moved cautiously toward the door leading into the Confessional Hall.
‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry.’
She repeated the words like a prayer with each step.
Her hands shook so badly she fumbled with the handle several times.
Finally her fingers found the cold metal.
The chill of it bit into her palm.
Then came the moment.
“That’s far enough.”
A low, firm voice cut through the darkness behind her.
Seria’s heart stopped in her chest.
The blood drained from her body in an instant.
Slowly—so very slowly—she turned. Diane stood in the shadows.
“……Your Holiness, Saint?”
His voice trembled beyond control. He couldn’t even begin to fathom how, or since when, she’d been standing there.
Seria froze where she stood, unable to form a single word.
Her mind went blank.
The shock pierced through her entirely—so complete that she momentarily forgot what she’d been about to do, where she’d been, everything.

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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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