The Magical Holy Woman Seraphina - Chapter 39

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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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Magic Saint Seraphina
Chapter 39
Part 5. The Ball Where Only Shoes Remained🐶
“A ball?”
“Yes.”
“The kind where people dress in gowns and tuxedos, laugh and dance around, and finish things off with a kiss on the balcony?”
“…Even if the sky fell, I wouldn’t be kissing anyone. But yes, that ball.”
Arden nodded, confirming that was indeed the one. Then, hesitating, he added softly:
“I absolutely won’t kiss anyone, but… perhaps I could dance with you instead?”
As he spoke, Arden’s ears turned bright crimson.
His face flushed all the way to his neck, as though he’d already kissed a hundred different people. He repeated his explanation from moments before.
“I’ve been appointed as an Investigator overseeing the Magic Saint’s arrest…”
Of course, it wasn’t only him—several new Investigators had been appointed, including those handling aristocratic corruption cases.
“To commemorate the appointment ceremony, they’re hosting a ball. I was hoping you’d be my partner there.”
“I see.”
I nodded.
So in the end, Arden had become an Investigator chasing after me.
Wait. Let me wipe away these tears for a moment.
‘This is a disaster.’
That Arden—I saw him clinging to my shoe with his bare hands last time. He’s got a venom most people don’t.
‘Bare hands! My shoe! And he’s obsessively clean on top of it all!’
If he ever actually caught me…
‘I can already picture it.’
He’d look at me with an expression of utter contempt: “Was this, jumping across rooftops in a skirt like that, who you were supposed to be? Disgusting!”
‘And he’s actually asking me to attend his own appointment ceremony ball with him.’
The very ball held to commemorate his appointment to catch me—and he’s asking me to attend.
Isn’t that just mocking me?
—Question.
Isn’t it strange that Arden asked you to go to the ball with him?
—Answer.
Not really…
‘He’s probably just asking me because he has no one else to take. Arden has no friends.’
The only women around Arden are me and the Magic Saint.
The problem being that we’re both the same person.
Pushing down the guilt that prickled at my conscience, I spoke up.
“But Arden.”
“Yes!”
“…Why do you answer so loudly?”
“Ah. No reason. Why?”
“I can’t dance.”
“I can’t either.”
“And I don’t have a dress to wear.”
Could I wear that unfortunate green dress from last time—the one you tore the ribbon off? When I suggested it, Arden shot back immediately.
“I’ll give you a gift.”
“…”
“A dress, gloves, shoes—everything.”
“…”
Going to such lengths, just for me?
“Arden, you really, truly have no friends…”
You should’ve lived well.
I patted his elbow sympathetically.
“It’s alright. They say a man with no friends at all makes the best husband.”
You’re going to marry well, aren’t you…
At my sincere words of commiseration, Arden ground his teeth.
“Yes. I don’t have a single friend.”
He clenched his teeth and continued speaking.
“So please, please, dear Miss Seraphina—would you please, please attend the ball with me?”
“All right.”
I agreed, stifling my laughter.
Having secured his answer, Arden exhaled a long, shaky breath. He pulled out a handkerchief and pressed it to his cheek as though he were sweating, and I spoke to him.
“But here’s the thing.”
“What now!”
“Have you ever bought a dress?”
“No.”
“I know because I work at the Dress Shop, and dresses are really expensive.”
They require a lot of fabric.
But you, Arden.
“You….”
You’re an Imperial Knight, yet you still live in the same Boarding House as me, which means you’re broke….
“To buy a dress just to take me to one Ball….”
Your wallet situation is…
I trailed off.
At that, Arden’s indignation doubled from what it had been before.
“I don’t have money?!”
“Well, um….”
“…….”
“…….”
“No, wait!”
Arden stopped mid-sentence and pressed his palm to his forehead.
“I’m serious. I’m not that incompetent! I could buy thousands of dresses if I wanted to…! Look, I don’t even know why I have to defend myself over this. Anyway. You don’t need to worry.”
“Sure, sure.”
“I mean it!”
“Mm-hmm.”
“No, believe me, will you!”
“I believe you, I believe you.”
Even though you live in the same
Boarding House
as me.
I believe you.
“You do pay your rent on time, right…?”
“That’s not what I mean at all! Let me show you how much money I have!”
Look at this! Arden stripped off the coat he was wearing and thrust it at me, pointing frantically at the label embroidered on its lining.
He had no idea that this display only reinforced my conviction that Arden was poor because he spent every last coin on his wardrobe.
“I’m the richest unmarried man in the entire Empire…!”
“Mm-hmm.”
I ignored his nonsense and asked instead.
“So when is the Ball?”
“So, are you going to the Ball?”
“I have to. If I don’t go, my junior will be even more pitiful without a partner. Besides.”
“Besides?”
“When else will I ever get to attend an Imperial Ball?”
In a couple of years, once I become a Palace Administrator, I’ll just be busy arranging Balls for others.
“Everything is experience. And I get a free dinner out of it, so there’s no reason to refuse.”
♡☆♧Yes, I suppose I am rather shabby.♡☆♧
“But there’s one more reason I need to go.”
After I’d notified him that I wouldn’t be at the Dress Shop that day because of the Ball, Cassian had been wearing a displeased expression the whole time. I pulled something from my pocket and showed it to him.
“I took this from the parlor at the Tram Mansion last time.”
“What is it?”
“A Social Club Badge.”
On the back of the badge, shaped like a white-haired eagle made of gold, the words “Men of the Center” were inscribed in an ornate script.
“I saw this badge on that unfaithful man at the Dress Shop before.”
On the day I first awakened as a Magic Saint.
“…Really?”
“Yeah. Really.”
Of course, any man of standing in the Empire belonged to at least one social club, so it wasn’t particularly unusual.
Even Skitter, the journalist who was fired from the Imperial Daily News, had gotten himself into that mess because he was desperately trying to join one.
“I think it’s worth looking into.”
What exactly are these people doing that keeps putting them under my nose?
“Maybe they’re the ones behind the attack on me and Tofu.”
And more than that.
“I’m curious what the faces of these self-important fools who brazenly call themselves the ‘Center’ actually look like…….”
I let my gaze blur, pushing focus away.
Cassian burst out laughing at my words and clapped his hands together.
“All right. Then I’d better go too.”
“…You?”
To the Ball?
“Why, am I not allowed to attend?”
“It’s not that you can’t.”
(I suppose I did say he could only love one person for his whole life, but) he can still love, he can still marry, he can still attend a Ball…….
“What kind of priest are you?”
…….
“Live with more propriety.”
I clicked my tongue disapprovingly.
Cassian’s expression twisted.
Tofu, who’d been gnawing on a piece of gum beside him, let out a breathy laugh.
* * *
Meanwhile.
In some mansion in the Capital—one that desperately could use a few more lights turned on.
“My lord, why did you merely observe this time as the Magic Saint made her move? She’d even sent a warning notice beforehand—it was the perfect opportunity to strike her down!”
The Red-Eyed Man, sprawled prone on the floor, pressed the question.

“Fool.”
The figure seated in the chair before him—a thing that looked like a throne—clicked his tongue.
“And that’s precisely why you’re useless to me. Can’t you see why the Magic Saint sent the warning notice?”
“To draw the attention of the crowd, was it not?”
“Exactly. And on that day, hundreds of people swarmed the Tram Baron’s House.”
How could one possibly strike down the Magic Saint with that many people milling about?
“Then…!”
“Yes. The Magic Saint feared us and sent the notice precisely to evade our reach—calling the masses to use them as a shield.”
The Magic Saint, conscious of our existence, turned the people into her own barrier!
“Truly, you are beyond comparison, my lord!”
“The Magic Saint will show herself again, mark my words. There will be opportunity aplenty—so long as you don’t bungle things like the witless fool you’ve been.”
“Grant me one more chance, my lord. This time I shall not…!”
“Very well.”
When the Magic Saint appeared again.
The eyes of the master seated in that strange chair gleamed with sudden intensity.
The master extended a hand, fingers brushing the Crystal Orb within reach.
“This time, we’ll lay our own trap and lure the Magic Saint into it.”

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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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