The Magical Holy Woman Seraphina - Chapter 41

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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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The Magic Saint Seraphina
41
“But Arden, what are you going to do after you arrest the Magic Saint?”
The Royal Palace Banquet Hall.
A grand hall where, beyond a single wall, the city sprawled into view.
I slipped the question to Arden as we mingled through the crowd and entered the building.
“Well.”
Arden paused at my question before answering.
“I’ll throw the Magic Saint in the holding cell.”
“Throw her in?”
“And dress her in long pants.”
“Oh.”
“For a pervert, it’d be the perfect punishment.”
“Oh….”
This bastard.
“To do that, I’ll need your help, senior.”
“My help?”
“Yes.”
“What help could I possibly give?”
Besides embroidery.
“The Magic Saint must have some way of gathering information about the nobility’s corruption. So I’d like to observe the nobles who’ve come to the ball today.”
“You want me to help you gather intelligence?”
“I want you to have a conversation with me while tolerating how strangers’ spit flies when they talk.”
…….
I think I’ve just figured out why Arden doesn’t talk much with people he doesn’t know.
“But Arden.”
“Yes?”
“Then you and I have already tolerated each other’s flying spit hundreds of times?”
*Cough!*
“Why are you like that!”
You just sprayed spit!
I was patting Arden’s back as he bent at the waist, coughing, when—
“Arden!”
A pure, sweet voice cut between us.
What? I turned around.
And nearly had my eyes pop out of my head.
“It’s been ages!”
Cassian, done up so beautifully it made your eyes swim, was threading through the crowd from across the hall, heading straight for us.
Calling Arden’s name.
…….
I looked back and forth between Arden and Cassian.
They… know each other?
What is this.
‘Why do they know each other?’
I asked Cassian with my eyes.
“Who is this person?”
I asked Arden out loud.
‘What!’
Cassian, somehow understanding the fury in my eyes, laughed softly.
As Cassian approached us, he bowed gracefully to me.
“A pleasure to meet you, my lady.”
“Arden!”
I ignored him and just called out Arden’s name.
Arden, who’d stopped coughing the moment Cassian appeared and had been wearing a look of displeasure, now introduced him to me with obvious reluctance, his irritation bleeding through every word.
“Senior. Say hello. This is Cassian. The High Priest.”
…….
That’s it?
‘Who introduces a High Priest like that.’
And he’s supposed to introduce me to someone of such high rank first—he skipped that entirely.
But just because Arden was acting like an ass didn’t mean I had to as well.
“The High Priest?”
I feigned surprise out of courtesy.
“Arden, how do you know the High Priest?”
Had you known each other already? Is that why you visited the Temple back then? How did you come to know the High Priest, and how did you maintain your connection? I fired questions at him relentlessly.
Arden’s expression was decidedly flat.
“The High Priest is hardly anyone special.”
“What?”
If the High Priest isn’t special, then what is? What, are you a crown prince or something?
I was about to continue when—
“Oh.”
It suddenly clicked.
‘So that’s why Cassian bolts whenever Arden shows up.’
He didn’t want us finding out what he was up to!
The pieces finally fit together.
“Arden and I have been acquainted since childhood,” Cassian said smoothly, answering in Arden’s stead.
He spoke with an easy smile, the very picture of good nature.
“I wanted to say how pleased I am to meet you, but Arden seems rather reluctant to introduce us properly.”
He even played the part of meeting me for the first time.
“Might I have the honor of knowing your name, my lady?”
“…It’s Seraphina, Your Eminence.”
“A pleasure, Miss Seraphina.”
With effortless grace, Cassian took my hand and made a show of brushing his lips against the back of it.
“I rarely venture out and seldom attend balls, but meeting you today has made this outing quite worthwhile.”
“Oh, well…”
“Any friend of Arden’s is a friend of mine. I do hope we’ll see much of each other going forward.”
“Yes, certainly…”
Ugh, how cloying. I pulled my hand back.
Cassian caught the silent curse in my eyes and returned it with a knowing smile, then—as if he’d just remembered something—he turned to Arden.
“Arden, on my way here I saw the Knight Commander looking for you.”
“For me?”
“Yes. Seemed like urgent business.”
“Then I suppose…”
“Go ahead. I’ll keep Miss Seraphina company.”
He said it with such shameless ease.
Arden regarded him with evident distrust, then turned to me.
“I’ll return shortly.”
The moment Arden disappeared, I stepped on Cassian’s foot.
“Why didn’t you tell me you knew Arden?!”
“You didn’t ask.”
“What?”
I hadn’t asked because I didn’t know in the first place!
“How do you two even know each other?”
“I told you—childhood acquaintance.”
……
“Our parents kept in touch, so we saw each other fairly often.”
I see.
Wasn’t Cassian’s father some sort of duke?
To think Arden knew people of that standing.
I could have sworn he was a commoner.
“So tell me, Magic Saint—how does it feel attending a ball while being pursued by an investigator?”
“Not great.”
I felt like a con artist deceiving an innocent younger man, and my conscience was pricking me. Cassian laughed at that.
“You needn’t feel guilty about it. Arden might be hiding things from you as well, after all.”
……
Such un-priestly meddling didn’t deserve a response.
“In any case, since we’re here, we ought to tend to our own business.”
Cassian leaned in close and whispered near my ear.
“Beyond the hall, slip out into the corridor to the side. There’s a side room where certain people gather to play cards. Go and see which one has the face of a criminal.”
“Now?”
“Now. While Arden is away.”
“Ah.”
“I’ll smooth things over with Arden when he gets back.”
Cassian said with a smile.
I didn’t trust him one bit.
I shot him a glare and turned away.
* * *
“Surprised?”
“…….”
“Give me an answer, Arden. Your brother is embarrassed.”
“…You didn’t say you were coming.”
“It’s your appointment ceremony. I had to see it.”
“…….”
“So why did you suddenly decide to arrest the Magic Saint?”
Cassian asked, still wearing that smile, as he noted that Arden had appointed himself as an investigator for this very task.
“Can’t you just tell your brother a little?”
“…….”
“Don’t you trust me? The Temple and the Magic Saint are completely unrelated to me, I promise.”
“…….”
“Hmm? Hmm? Arden.”
“…Before the Coronation Ceremony, I need some achievement.”
“Ah, so you’re going to arrest the Magic Saint and demonstrate your abilities?”
“…….”
“But something tells me that’s not the real reason.”
Cassian drew out his words, as if suggesting our Arden had some other true motive hidden away. And then some more.
“Don’t talk to me like I’m a child.”
Arden’s expression hardened.
The cold look he never showed in front of Seraphina.
He scanned the surroundings, paying no attention to the grinning Cassian beside him.
Yet Cassian persisted in addressing him.
“Seraphina went to the restroom.”
“…….”
“She seemed like interesting company. You must be quite close?”
“…….”
“Are you postponing your Coronation Ceremony because of Seraphina?”
“When did you ever…”
“Hmm?”
“When did you ever see her that you’re calling her name so familiarly?”
“Well.”
Cassian winked annoyingly.
“I became close with Seraphina too while you were gone.”
“…….”
That had to be a lie.
Arden thought to himself.
‘I wasn’t even gone for a hundred years. They couldn’t have become that close in such a short time.’
Or could they?
Even if Arden himself lacked social grace.
Others might manage it, couldn’t they?
Arden’s mood plummeted sharply, and he bit his lip.
“Seraphina and I found we have a lot in common.”
Unable to bear watching this man prattle on without a care, Arden opened his mouth, emotion welling up.
“Is that why you kissed the back of her hand?”
“Huh?”
“Should you really be doing that to a woman you don’t know?”
“But I do know her.”
“What?”
“You just introduced us. You introduced her to me. So now I know her.”
“…….”
He was completely serious about it too.
Since the day he’d met Cassian at five years old, Arden had never found him quite this unbearable.
“Because I’m older….”
“What?”
“You must be used to dealing with women, being older than you are.”
“Cassian, I’m only three years older than you.”
Three years older and he should be dead by now — why was he even attending the ball, causing all this fuss?
Arden, who had made that retort silently, closed his mouth.
‘I wish he’d gone home.’
Cassian, oblivious to Arden’s inner thoughts, continued his insufferable spinning and suddenly tilted his head in question.
“By the way, Seraphina, isn’t she running rather late?”

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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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