The Saint’s Manual for Redemption - Chapter 63

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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 63
“Are you perhaps a novice?”
The attending Priest’s hand, which had been unfastening the clasp of my cloak, froze. He looked at me with startled eyes.
I didn’t need him to answer aloud—his expression said everything.
The reason I’d identified him as a novice Priest was simple: the Brooch fastening his vestments was turned halfway around.
Here too, inversion—anything reversed—carried an ominous meaning. It evoked thoughts of the Demon Realm beneath us, or so they said.
That was why the Brooch stamped with Caritas’s emblem, which fixed the Priest’s robes, had to be oriented correctly without fail. Anything less invited harsh reproach, if not outright sacrilege. The Temple’s regulations were unnecessarily strict.
Of course, when I was the Third Saint, no such rule existed.
It made sense. A custom Brooch with such delicate, embossed patterning cost a fortune. Why would anyone buy one merely to fasten a Deacon’s robes? Back then, we simply used common pins and ties.
Even I, as the Saint, wore only an ordinary jeweled Brooch, yet now Deacon’s Robes came with an embossed Caritas emblem Brooch, and they worried about its direction and the Demon Realm and all else. The Temple must have money to burn.
Looking at it again, the robes I wore were the same Deacon’s Robes that Rillet had worn.
Following my gaze, the attending Priest hurriedly rotated the Brooch to the correct orientation. In that moment, I noticed the scar remaining on her ring finger. Seeing it, I was certain.
‘Yes, she’s a novice alright.’
Most Priests, once they gained enough experience, had such scars healed and erased. The presence of a scar meant she still had far to go before gaining that seniority.
Even though Lebon must have reported that the state of the Kroen Duchy was quite serious, they’d still sent a novice Deacon.
My thoughts naturally drifted in that direction. The theory that Kaliana was bait seemed increasingly credible.
Kaliana was bait meant to reassure me. Now that I’d become a high Priest, the Archbishop could maintain appearances by sending even his granddaughter.
If I filled the attending Deacons with novices, losses would be minimal. Novice Priests could simply be replaced. From the Temple’s perspective, they were the most disposable commodity.
Suddenly, the people in the room felt like dead weight. The fact that none of them would be genuinely useful was being proven so starkly that frustration welled up in me.
When Arden and I moved alone, at least there were fewer variables to manage. That man might pretend not to listen to me sometimes, but at least he wasn’t someone incapable of handling himself.
But this time there was Kaliana, novice Deacons, Priests, and the Holy Knight Order. The larger the group, the more it felt like my variables had multiplied rather than my safety increasing.
These were people the Archbishop had placed here, so they absolutely could not die. I had no way of knowing how the Archbishop would pressure me or attack me if they fell.
Even after changing into my robes, my mood didn’t improve. I left the room, thinking I should try speaking with Kaliana.
I needed to confirm how much the Archbishop had told her and why she’d come to follow me.
But at Kaliana’s door stood Johan.
“I have business with Priest Kaliana.”
Even to my words, Johan didn’t budge an inch.
“Priest Kaliana is currently at rest.”
I held his gaze steadily. His words sounded like courteous protection, but it was plainly a blockade.
“Since when has a Priest ranked above a Saint? And does a Knight not know the proper forms of address?”
At my stern rebuke, Johan’s eyebrows twitched. I stepped closer.
“It seems you’re deliberately preventing conversation. Has someone ordered you not to leave the Saint and Priest Kaliana alone together?”
Johan’s face hardened. He didn’t answer. His silence spoke louder than any reply.
At first, I’d thought it was simple disrespect, but thinking about it now, that wasn’t it at all.
A Saint comes calling, and he doesn’t even announce her—he simply blocks the door himself? No matter how much of a guard he claimed to be, this was a clear overreach of authority.
Kaliana had spoiled competition details for me before. Thanks to that, I could read the currents flowing within the Temple one step ahead. Perhaps they were preventing me from contacting Kaliana now for that very reason—afraid she might let slip the true purpose of this journey again.
Did that mean Kaliana knew the Archbishop’s intentions?
Was casting her out the punishment for that earlier incident? But then why elevate her to high Priest in the first place? If they’d wanted to punish her, silently demoting her to a quiet post would have been far simpler.
I studied Johan’s face directly. My mind branched into several possibilities.
The Archbishop sent Kaliana as bait. Johan’s role was to watch her.
Or perhaps Johan himself didn’t know the Archbishop’s full intentions, but at least he’d been given orders not to leave me and Kaliana alone together.
Either way, the conclusion was similar.
On this journey, Kaliana might not be a simple companion but a target of surveillance just like me. And I’d just now confirmed that fact.
I abandoned my attempt to enter Kaliana’s room and summoned Arden to mine instead.
A Holy Knight should know Lip-reading. If he said he didn’t, that was a problem in itself. How could a man called the Saint’s guard read lips if he couldn’t read mouth shapes when sound couldn’t be made?
Of course, Arden wouldn’t fail at something like that. The man was unnecessarily thorough and unnecessarily capable.
Johan’s presence felt beyond the door. I couldn’t quite hear his breathing, but I could tell someone was standing at the threshold. It seemed he was eavesdropping on our conversation.
Not only had he prevented Kaliana and me from meeting alone, but this man was less a guard for the Saint’s party and more of a watchdog.
I deliberately shaped my voice into something drowsy and spoke.
“Arden, come here.”
Arden stepped closer.
I immediately seized his wrist and pulled him toward the bed. It was famous how past Saints had kindled rumor with their guards.
In truth, I didn’t know if those rumors were all real. But people always wanted to link the Saint with her guard, and the Church, while openly denying such gossip, subtly exploited it. If they could profit from such rumors, why couldn’t I?
Thud.
Off balance from my pull, Arden caught himself on one arm against the bed. As a result, he ended up leaning over me, supporting his weight on his arms—a posture that, from the outside, looked exactly like something people would misinterpret.
Arden’s eyes widened very slightly.
I grasped his Holy Knight Uniform collar and spoke using only the shape of my lips.
‘When I signal, make sure Johan’s attention moves away from Kaliana, no matter what.’
Arden’s eyes changed instantly.
The bewilderment from moments before vanished, replaced by the coldness of someone grasping the situation. He’d clearly read my lips correctly, giving a small, precise nod. So he did know Lip-reading after all. For a Holy Knight, at least he was earning his wage.
I released my grip on Arden’s uniform collar and only then became aware of how close our faces had drawn.
Though our breath didn’t quite mingle, we were near enough that our reflections mirrored in each other’s eyes.
Arden’s deep blue gaze looked down at me from a distance I hadn’t expected to be this close. Had I ever stood pressed against this man like this before?
A strange sensation swept over me. The nearer I looked, the more striking the resemblance became.
To Valente Howelin.
Arden was certainly not Valente. Though he was a distant descendant, his features were not identical, nor was his bearing the same. Yet as our eyes met at this proximity, the face of someone once so familiar seemed to overlay his own.
Perhaps I felt this way because the distance between Valente and me had once been as intimate as this.
I came to my senses and quickly withdrew my hand from Arden’s collar.
Still watching him with a questioning gaze as he made no move to release his hold on my upper body, I froze at an unexpected sight that suddenly filled my vision.
Arden, too, wore an uncharacteristically vacant expression as he gazed down at me.

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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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