The Magical Holy Woman Seraphina - Chapter 21

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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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Magical Saintess Seraphina
Episode 21
“Sorry.”
That’s going to be difficult.
“There’s no space here.”
You feel that wall-like thing where your hand rests against my back? That’s an actual wall.
“It’s too cramped…….”
I looked up, my voice uncertain.
Despite the near-total darkness, he was close enough that I could read his expression. Arden, meeting my eyes mere inches away, squeezed his shut.
He looked like he was suffering.
“…….”
“…….”
“I know it might not help, but… I scrubbed myself pretty thoroughly this morning.”
“Yes, I can tell.”
Soap. Arden murmured it without opening his eyes.
His squeezed eyelids grew tighter still.
“…….”
“…….”
“Meow-meow! Meow-meow!”
Outside, some irritable staff member with a loud voice wandered past.
Inside, there was Arden, looking seriously uncomfortable.
I tried to ease his burden by lowering the hand I’d been pressing against his chest, attempting to make things less awkward—
“Please stay still.”
“Sorry.”
I placed my hand gently back on his chest at his words, which sounded like some mixture of pleading and threat.
“It just looked like you were so uncomfortable…….”
Whether uncomfortable or displeased.
“…….”
“…….”
If this space were only a hand’s breadth wider, this wouldn’t feel so strained. At the very least, if there were some light.
No, actually—if there were light, wouldn’t it be even more awkward?
I became acutely aware of his firm arms wrapped around me, his chest rising and falling with each breath, and especially the hand hovering near my lower back—unable to quite touch, merely trembling—and also his own visible flinching each time he told me to stay still.
‘How hard this must be for him. A man with his condition.’
I blurted out something pointless, trying to dispel the awkwardness.
“That actor playing opposite Rozena today—he was handsome.”
“…….”
“He’s about our age, I think? One year older than me.”
I’d seen his poster in the Lobby earlier, and he was definitely my type.
At that, Arden let out a sharp breath and spoke.
“Older men….”
“Huh?”
“die quickly.”
“…….”
“That actor’s a whole year older than you, so he’ll probably die thirty years sooner.”
Thirty years?!
“Surely one year doesn’t account for that much difference?”
I ventured the opinion cautiously, but Arden was immovable.
He sighed, then slowly opened his eyes. Staring directly into mine, he spoke each word deliberately, driving them into my ears with measured precision.
“One year is an enormous gap. Between one year lies an unbridgeable chasm that even death itself cannot cross. Thirty years might sound like an exaggeration, but with poor care, he could die forty years sooner.”
“That much?”
“That much.”
“……I’m sorry. I’ll die soon.”
I’m two years older than you, after all…….
If one year is thirty years, then two years would be sixty.
Arden is twenty-one now. So if I have to die sixty years sooner than him, that means—
I have to die now?
Goodbye, everyone.
This Magical Saintess Seraphina will not be able to save the world, so I’m leaving…….
Please save it for me, understand…….
Promise……☆
“Ah, I can almost see the path to the afterlife right before my eyes…….”
Though I hadn’t achieved a single dream, it had been a passably decent life……. I swayed as if losing my balance. Arden, taken aback, jumped straight up where he stood.
“That’s not what I meant!”
“Shh. Quiet.”
There are still people outside. I pressed down on Arden’s chest where he was supporting me.
“No. That is. What I’m trying to say. I—”
“I know, I know. I understand what you meant.”
I laughed against his chest, stifling the sound.
Trying to laugh quietly, I had no choice but to bury my face between his clothes. Arden, who had been rigid, tightened his hand that had been awkwardly resting at my back and let out a long breath.
His large hand found the Ribbon that had come loose and tied it skillfully back into place.
After cinching it tight, he hesitated for a moment, then grasped the long trailing end and tore it clean off.
“Hey, if you tear that—!”
“I’ll pay for it tomorrow. So please just…….”
Just stay still a moment, Arden whispered.
I wondered how much more time had passed in that stillness.
‘Hasn’t the performance started yet?’
About the time my unease began to peak, the staff member vanished.
“It’s safe now.”
At Arden’s signal, I kicked open the door and slipped outside.
A usher’s voice drifted down from above, urging everyone to take their seats as the performance would begin shortly.
By now, Rozena would already be backstage.
I’d have to save my snooping for after the show.
“Thanks. I should get going!”
Work hard! I waved to Arden, about to move ahead, when—
“Senior.”
“Hmm?”
Arden approached and pressed the black Ribbon he’d torn off into my hand.
“Trash belongs in the trash bin.”
“Oh.”
“And.”
“Yes?”
“It’s fine if the woman dies first. If a woman goes ahead first, the man can spend his whole life longing for her, and then follow after, so it works out.”
“…….”
“The Theater is cold, so wear this. I’ll take it back later.”
Arden, having said his piece, disappeared.
I stood there holding the torn Ribbon fragment and the Uniform Jacket he’d left with me, watching the direction he’d gone.
“…He didn’t say anything about the senior not dying first, did he.”
Farewell, everyone…….
Since I have to die sixty years sooner than Arden, I’m going ahead……☆
Holy Magic Maiden Seraphina!
Dead☆
* * *
“Arden!”
“Arden!”
“Where the hell did this guy go?”
“I’m here.”
“Where were you! I thought you slipped out because you didn’t feel like working!”
“My apologies.”
“But why is your face so red?”
Did you run here? the senior guard asked. Arden simply nodded and took his position.
“But Arden, why did you come in?”
A colleague beside him asked.
“Weren’t you only supposed to work this morning and then go home? The others said you suddenly showed up and volunteered for this shift. …Ah.”
He spoke to himself and answered himself. The colleague guard, who had nodded in understanding, grinned widely.
“You volunteered to see Rozena, didn’t you? You sly dog, acting like you didn’t care.”
“…….”
“But what good will it do? From where we’re standing, it’s too far away—you won’t be able to see her well.”
“…….”
“Don’t worry, I knew this would happen, so I brought this ahead of time.”
“…….”
“Voilà! Opera Glasses!”
Hold them up to your eyes and you can see everything on that stage, even the props backstage. His fellow knight offered them to Arden as if bestowing a gift.
Arden accepted the Opera Glasses hesitantly.
Without letting his colleague notice, he carefully wiped them with a Handkerchief.
Then raised them to his eyes.
“Hey, what are you looking at? That’s the Audience Seating over there. The Stage is this way!”
“…….”
“Arden, the Stage is the other direction, I’m telling you?”
“I’m looking at the right place.”
“Huh?”
His fellow knight tilted his head, bewildered.
Regardless, Arden soon returned the Opera Glasses to his colleague after watching only the Audience Seating for some time.
He didn’t spare a single glance toward the Stage, which had just had its curtain raised.
“Wow, she’s really beautiful.”
His fellow knight, marveling at the lead actress Rozena who had appeared on stage, noticed that Arden was looking elsewhere entirely, his eyes unblinking, and asked him.
“Arden, what are you looking at?”
“Yes.”
“But where exactly are you looking?”
Does she have a sweetheart or something? his colleague asked.
“Not a sweetheart, no.”
“Then what, a woman you like?”
“…….”
“You won’t even answer me.”
“…….”
“I tell you, she really is gorgeous. With all these people here, I can only see that woman, you know?”
“…Yes.”
I can only see her.

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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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