The Saint’s Manual for Redemption - Chapter 23

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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 23
I blinked my eyes a few times, wondering if I’d misread the situation, but Calianna’s gaze remained unchanged.
Well, I’m grateful that she’s helping me avoid the burning stake, but the moment those words left her lips, it was as good as the upper echelons of the Main Holy Temple knowing I’d been promised a Special Pardon.
‘What good is shutting out the deacons? They’re hearing everything anyway.’
Every word exchanged in this room would reach the ears of the Church’s upper leadership.
If I lost tomorrow and Calianna ascended as a Saintess, granting me a Special Pardon wouldn’t matter—I’d already be ash in the burning ground before she could issue it.
And besides, it was questionable whether the Church’s upper ranks would even obey a puppet Saintess’s command.
“If you’re not going to tell me what’s happening tomorrow, speaking in such vague riddles doesn’t really sink in. It’s a shame.”
I shrugged and started to rise, when Calianna spoke urgently.
“They’re going to ignite the Judgment Flame in the Main Holy Temple Plaza!”
Well, she’s actually telling me? That was surprising.
I’d expected her to speak in indirect circles all the way through, never saying anything outright, wasting my time and frustrating me until I stood in the plaza tomorrow and suddenly thought, ‘Ah, so that’s what she meant?’
My expression must have shifted in an unexpected way, because Calianna added something more.
“The Sacred Flame that has burned since the temple was built—they’re going to light it in the plaza and have you walk through the fire.”
So they’re skipping the Inquisition and Heresy Interrogation entirely, sending me straight to the burning stake.
For what it’s worth, that Sacred Flame didn’t exist during my time as the Third Saintess.
What does that tell you?
It means the degenerates who came after I died created it as a theatrical fraud.
Caritas, no matter how lazy you are or how heavy your backside, shouldn’t these fake sacred relics—these blasphemies masquerading as God’s will—be purged by your hand?
If you’re going to leave this to me, how am I supposed to manage? I’m about to become a handful of ash tomorrow because of your laziness.
In short, the Archbishop was planning to burn me up spectacularly in front of everyone tomorrow.
He’d naturally rigged it so only Calianna could make it through.
And my fate would fall into one of two paths: burn to death in the fake sacred flame tomorrow, or fail to walk across the fake sacred flame and burn to death bound to the stake.
Judgment Flame from God, I curse you. You should be renamed the Torch of Mortal Manipulation.
As I clicked my tongue inwardly, after hearing such a dramatic confession, I asked her the question that had been nagging at me all along.
“Why did you tell me?”
“Because I don’t want you to die.”
An unexpected but simple answer. The kind of feeling any person ought to have.
Faced with such genuine sincerity in her clear eyes, I let out a laugh despite myself.
That’s right—what fault could you possibly have? It’s the upper echelons who put you in that Saintess seat and want to manipulate The Church at their whim.
“Thank you.”
I offered my thanks to Calianna with equal sincerity.
At least tomorrow, when danger strikes, I won’t be tearing my hair out wondering how to survive, crying out to Caritas in desperation.
“Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Wait—I explained everything! Tomorrow will be too late! This is your last chance!”
“May Caritas’s blessing be with you.”
Unable to stop me, Calianna could only shift her weight from foot to foot as I offered her a light blessing and left her room.
After seeing her spacious chamber, my own quarters seemed cramped by contrast—though they were actually quite large compared to the room I’d had at the Orphanage.
I worried slightly whether these corrupt successors might make me keep this small room even if I ascended above the rank of Saintess.
***
The deacons’ report came late into the night.
Archbishop Marius set down his wine glass and gazed quietly at those who’d brought the report before gesturing for them to speak.
“It concerns the conversation between the Saintess candidates.”
One of the deacons began his report in a low voice.
“Calianna summoned Siela to her room and recommended that she withdraw. She even offered to protect her from being brought before the Inquisition.”
The Archbishop’s eyebrows twitched ever so slightly.
“And?”
“She mentioned what will happen tomorrow—that the Judgment Flame will be ignited in the plaza.”
At the reckless behavior of a leading Saintess candidate who’d disclosed confidential information, silence fell over the Archbishop’s office.
The Archbishop rolled his walking stick between his fingers once. A faint smile played at the corner of his mouth.
“Calianna was rather impatient, it seems.”
There was no reproach in his tone, nor surprise. It was closer to the gentle rebuke of one who knows a blood relative well.
Calianna Grealton was Archbishop Marius’s great-niece.
The reason Marius had chosen Calianna as this Saintess wasn’t only because she was his close relative, but because she was the simplest and most easily manipulated of his great-nieces.
Look—she’d failed to devise a single proper scheme, ending up feeding information to her rival instead. Had she thought that hearing such a tale would frighten her opponent into withdrawal?
But this flaw wasn’t unwelcome. What better temperament could one ask for in a puppet Saintess to position and control?
“What was Siela’s response?”
“Nothing remarkable. She didn’t answer, but instead asked Calianna why she’d told her such a thing.”
The Archbishop nodded.
“So she didn’t snatch at the rope Calianna offered. Clever girl—her mind works after all.”
Sent to a village to die, yet he returned having impressed his own existence more firmly than God’s.
But with indignation rising in his chest, these days of grinding teeth and sleepless nights would end tomorrow.
An orphan of unclear origins had few options available in this game. Even if he attempted to flee tonight, he would never escape the Main Holy Temple.
There were many doors leading out of the Main Holy Temple, but not a single path lay open.
The Archbishop had already laid all his traps. Guards, surveillance, lockdown. Everything, including what the eye could not see.
“Has there been any movement from Siela’s quarters?”
The deacon responsible for the report shook his head.
“There has not, Your Grace.”
“……No movement at all?”
“Correct. Since returning to her own chambers from Calianna’s room, she has not left once. She has not approached the windows or doors, and no contact with anyone else has been detected.”
The Archbishop, his brow furrowed slightly, spoke in a low murmur.
“She has not attempted to flee…….”
She was sharp enough to have realized that she could not escape the Main Holy Temple today. Was that it?
……Or had she never intended to run in the first place?
The Archbishop quickly shook his head, muttering as though convincing himself.
“A meaningless supposition.”
He lifted his goblet and drained the remaining wine in one draught.
“That she does nothing means she cannot do anything. Even if she scraped through the first Trial by mere cunning, one cannot expect fortune to smile twice.”
The Archbishop gazed out the window. Tomorrow, at last, everything would be set right according to divine order.
As long as everything within the Main Holy Temple lay beneath their hands, there was no possibility that even one chosen by God could rise above their heads.
So he ought to feel reassured, and yet…….
Archbishop Marius could not fathom why his heart harbored such unease.
He had not yet realized that the Rosary he always wore about his neck was growing, ever so slightly, heavier.
***
“Judgment Flame…… Fire Walking……. Hmm…….”
Sprawled flat on the bed, I muttered ceaselessly. I had a sense of how those Church bastards would orchestrate this. The problem was finding a way to break through it.
“This blessed water pool—I’ve already used it twice, so the impact has completely worn off…….”
I was lying awake, wrestling with how to perform the showmanship that would cement my image as a true Saintess before the assembled faithful tomorrow and navigate this crisis.
Knock-knock.
The knock pulled me from my thoughts.
I reached out and seized Wilson Junior, then carefully eased the door open.

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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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