The Saint’s Manual for Redemption - Chapter 106

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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 106
“Swalen Plain, and the Second Prince’s excommunication. Is what I’ve offered insufficient?”
“If Your Majesty can spare surveillance of the Grand Duke, add to it the Second Prince’s excommunication, and yield the Empire’s greatest granary, surely that means you’re entrusting me with work equally perilous? It’s only fair that compensation match the risk — for both our sakes.”
I smiled lightly. The Emperor fell silent in thought, then drew a new card.
“You’re aware the First Prince maintains close contact with the Archbishop?”
I blinked without changing my expression, and whether the Emperor took that as confirmation or denial, I couldn’t say — but he continued.
“The Archbishop has been pushing the First Prince as the next Emperor for years. He’s gathering nobles inside and outside the Imperial Palace, leveraging the Religious Order’s influence to broaden his support base. If the Saint desires it, I’ll hand you those names on a regular basis.”
The Emperor spoke calmly, but his intention was transparent.
He meant to sow suspicion between me and the Archbishop, to fracture the power structure within the Temple.
If I was the Archbishop’s puppet, he’d make me seek independence; if I already clashed with him, he’d widen that rift.
The more the Religious Order fractured, the more it benefited the Imperial Household.
The Emperor was pushing both Swalen Plain and the Archbishop’s secret into my hands, drawing me to his side.
He meant to make me watch the Grand Duke while checking the First Prince’s connection to the Archbishop, managing the entire succession landscape in his grip and diminishing Divine Authority itself.
Yet the hand he offered was no bad one for me either.
I’d already suspected some collusion between the First Prince and the Archbishop, but the fact that the Emperor clearly perceived it was new information.
The Emperor hadn’t ignored the First Prince’s ties to the Religious Order — he’d been watching. And when the time came, he was prepared to sever that bond.
Most importantly, now that the Emperor had abandoned the Second Prince and begun to regard the Grand Duke warily, the Archbishop and I — willing or not — would likely face a common enemy in the Imperial Household for some time.
Though the thought of the Archbishop’s betrayal made me loath to cooperate willingly, revealing his fear that the Emperor aimed at the Temple’s division would rattle even that old man.
I could use that tension to seize his leash again.
I kept silent as though deliberating, but my calculation was already complete.
I would accept the Emperor’s surveillance proposal. I’d align all information with the Grand Duke beforehand and feed the Emperor only what we fabricated.
I’d take Swalen Plain to strengthen my position within the Temple, and use the information of the First Prince and Archbishop’s collusion to create fissures between them as well.
The Emperor meant to divide the Temple, but I could use the very blade he offered to check both the Archbishop and the Imperial Household at once.
I slowly set down my teacup and met the Emperor’s gaze.
“Observing what ambitions the Grand Duke harbors shouldn’t be difficult.”
I smiled softly.
“Though I remain merely a ‘contractual’ fiancée, so don’t be disappointed if the information I provide falls short of Your Majesty’s expectations. There’s always the possibility the Grand Duke harbors no ambitions whatsoever.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.”
“Of course.”
The Emperor seemed satisfied and rose to his feet.
“I’ll have the transfer of Swalen Plain begin shortly.”
“I’ll inform the Archbishop directly. Oh, and I do hope you’ll make a point of requesting Indulgences from the Temple.”
I stood and met the Emperor’s eyes directly.
The Emperor believed I had become the Grand Duke’s watcher.
The Archbishop still believed I’d been forced to choose within the game he’d laid out.
And the Grand Duke would soon learn how warily the Emperor regarded him.
Now all three would suspect each other.
From the center of that triangle, only I would decide whose information flowed to whom and how much. This was a far better position than I’d anticipated.
As I approached the door, the Emperor personally opened it to see me out. Watching his affable smile, I clicked my tongue inwardly.
Well, five hundred years and appearances may change, but the Imperial bloodline’s knack for sizing people up remains — that foolish tendency never fades.
As I left the Imperial Palace, I glanced sideways toward the Separate Palace where the Second Prince was confined.
Tsk, tsk — trying to think half-heartedly like that is exactly how you end up a mess.
He’d involved the Imperial Secret Order, orchestrated a grand conspiracy of assassination attempts and eavesdropping, and couldn’t even clean up properly — now his own father was abandoning him.
I wondered if by now he’d deluded himself into believing he’d survive somehow, or if he’d already heard of the excommunication looming and the end of any hope for the succession.
Either way, it wasn’t my concern.
As I climbed into the carriage, Arden across from me studied my expression.
“Did the negotiation conclude favorably?”
“I got what I wanted.”
I answered curtly and turned my gaze to the window.
Having faced the Emperor alone, Arden hadn’t heard our conversation in the reception room. He didn’t know what conditions we’d exchanged, that the Emperor had demanded I watch the Grand Duke, that he’d directly mentioned the First Prince and Archbishop’s collusion.
It was time to begin keeping secrets from Arden as well.
This incident with the eavesdropping device had made one thing clear.
Arden was capable. Far more so than I’d supposed.
The problem was that such capability could just as easily become poison to me.
Someone who divined what I wished hidden too easily, who secured the necessary person before I could even anticipate the need — I couldn’t show him all my cards.
That Arden was on my side and that I could trust him completely were entirely separate matters.
During the carriage ride to the Temple, I reordered my conversation with the Emperor in my mind.
And the moment I arrived at the Holy Sanctuary, the Archbishop rushed to my chambers as though he’d been waiting.
“How did your conversation with His Majesty go?”
His very tone dripped with desperate curiosity about the outcome.
Fair enough—she’d made her calculation carefully. If I refused Swalen Plain, the Archbishop could blame me for robbing the Religious Order of its rightful profit with my own hands. If I accepted, the Archbishop would secure the empire’s finest granary as Temple property. Either way, he came out unscathed. A truly elegant transaction.
No matter which path I chose, the Archbishop stood to lose nothing.
I settled into my chair with a deliberately unbothered expression and spoke.
“Very well. I hear you’ve been trading Swalen Plain for the Second Prince’s indulgence. Have the indulgence brought to me for signature—let’s complete the formalities.”
The moment those words left my lips, the Archbishop’s face lit up.
“Truly, Your Holiness places the Religious Order above all else! That you have ascended to Saint is a blessing beyond measure for our church.”
How smoothly he lies.
Just moments ago he’d been shoving me toward direct negotiations with the Emperor, and the instant his schemes bore fruit, here he was praising me as the Order’s salvation. I swallowed a bitter laugh and smiled back just as falsely.
“Of course. I too wish for the Religious Order’s flourishing.”
“With you and me sharing such noble purpose, the Temple shall prosper all the more.”
“I hope so.”
The Archbishop and I exchanged smiles. The atmosphere was almost sickly warm.
To any onlooker, we must have seemed the most harmonious pair in all the world—a Saint and Archbishop of unshakeable accord.
They wouldn’t have guessed that one of us believed the other rested safely in the palm of his hand, while the other had hidden a blade beneath it.
For now, I decided, we would go on laughing together. After all, he had struck first.
***
Several days later.
Archbishop Marius sat in his office, contentedly reviewing the documents needed to transfer Swalen Plain to Temple ownership.
The Second Prince, saved from excommunication, would surely harbor resentment toward the Saint who had orchestrated this. His hands would remain clean of any direct retribution.
“Your Eminence!”
The door burst open and a priest stumbled in, breathless. Before the Archbishop could reprimand him for the breach of protocol, an unbelievable report tumbled from the man’s lips.
“The Saint has excommunicated the Second Prince!”
The Archbishop’s hands froze mid-shuffle. He lurched to his feet, his voice rising.
“What? The Imperial Household—?”
“They… they accepted the excommunication willingly.”
Confusion flooded the Archbishop’s face.

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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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