The Saint’s Manual for Redemption - Chapter 98

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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 98
Before departing, the Grand Duke of Kroen asked me quite naturally.
“Your Highness, what sort of gemstone do you prefer?”
I paused to study him upon hearing the question.
When a man asks so suddenly about gemstone preferences, it’s hardly a matter of innocent curiosity.
He meant to prepare an Engagement Ring for show, now that we’d entered into a Contractual Engagement.
“I favor Aquamarine and Topaz more than Diamond.”
“Ah, you prefer the blue palette, then.”
“That’s the measure of it.”
“They would suit Your Highness’s eyes remarkably well.”
The Grand Duke laughed without a trace of shame. Looking at that face, I was certain—absolutely certain—he had something else brewing in that mind of his.
On the path toward the carriage, Sir Arden, who’d been escorting me, let slip a remark.
“I would have thought you preferred Opal.”
At those words, I nearly stopped mid-stride. I barely suppressed my surprise before asking.
“Why did you think that?”
“Wasn’t it the third Saint’s favorite gemstone?”
“I thought you disliked the third Saint. But from how well you seem to know such things, I suppose it was complicated affection after all?”
I laughed behind my hand, meaning it as a jest, but Sir Arden unexpectedly did not deny it. He simply nodded, his expression composed.
I found his response somewhat surprising, yet I pressed no further.
It was true that I loved Opal most of all.
But I had not mentioned it to the Grand Duke because the ring that Valente had pressed into my trembling hands while confessing his heart was an Opal ring.
That ring no longer rested in my possession, and Valente no longer existed in this world, yet the memory remained luminously clear.
I could not bear to let that cherished recollection be buried beneath something so mundane as a Contractual Engagement ring.
“Opal is rather troublesome to maintain, after all.”
At my hasty excuse, Sir Arden nodded as though satisfied.
Not long after climbing into the carriage, the Kroen Grand Duke Castle began to recede. The barren landscape of the Northern Territories visible through the window slowly slipped away behind us.
Sir Johan seemed aggrieved that he had not yet obtained the Imperial Intelligence.
“Your Highness, the moment we arrive at the Main Temple, we must pressure the Grand Duke. An unprecedented assassination attempt on your sacred person has occurred, yet he refuses to surrender him to the Main Temple—such defiance spits upon the Church’s authority and upon yours.”
Even within the carriage, Sir Johan kept bouncing in his seat and raising his voice as we traveled. When had he begun championing my authority like this?
It seems creating a common enemy truly is the supreme bond.
***
Perhaps fearing I might dig in my heels like I had at the Norbaldt Villa, this journey was conducted with minimal lingering at any waypoint—all haste and momentum.
My backside suffered considerably for it during those carriage rides, but we arrived at the Temple Boundary without serious incident.
As the Temple Boundary came into view, an odd sensation stirred within me.
Regardless of whether those who hunger to dispose of me stand watch here, this was the land where I spent most of my past life and the formative years of this one.
I cannot claim to love it, yet my body recognized the familiar before my mind could protest.
The carriage finally halted before the Main Temple. I descended with Sir Arden’s escort.
A cluster of Priests and several Cardinals waited to receive us at the carriage entrance.
After such grueling travel, rest took priority over reporting.
I headed straight to my chambers upon arrival at the Main Temple. Yet the moment I reached the corridor before my door, my vision filled with Lilies piled high.
Hmm, so someone had tried to wallpaper my chambers with Lilies again this time. Standing before them, Sub-Deacon Rillet greeted me with evident cheer.
“Your Highness, what a long time it has been!”
Her face shone with a peculiar sense of accomplishment.
“Those above had someone decorate your chamber with Lilies again upon hearing of your return, so I’ve had them all removed outside!”
“Thank you most sincerely.”
I offered genuine gratitude for Rillet’s diligence, then entered the chamber with Sir Arden and Sub-Deacon Rillet.
“While I was away, did anyone of suspicious character enter here?”
At my question, Sub-Deacon Rillet’s expression grew somewhat uncomfortable.
“The superiors prevented even me from entering while Your Highness was absent. Only a few hours before your return did they permit access, and I scarcely finished cleaning in that brief window.”
“They barred even you, who tend this chamber.”
“Yes. They cited security protocols.”
Security protocols.
A most convenient phrase. Affix that word to any act, and it becomes plausible. All the more so in a place like this Temple, where authority and secrets intertwine.
Sir Arden’s eyes sharpened as if sharing my thought.
He moved silently through the chamber, his gaze sweeping across the window, desk, bed, wall hangings, the small table beneath the religious icon—the air seemed to tighten and deepen with each point his eyes touched.
I too surveyed the room. They must have planted something here—something to watch me or bring me harm.
After all, this chamber is where generations of Saints have died, and using that legend, my sudden death would scarcely seem amiss.
“Let us search together for anything unusual.”
At my words, both Sir Arden and Sub-Deacon Rillet promptly nodded.
We combed through the spacious chamber methodically: beneath the bed, between mattress layers, desk drawers, the inner recesses of chair legs, curtain pleats, window frames, beneath candlestands, behind the religious icon, the reverse side of wall hangings.
But nothing appeared. The room was just as it had been when I left it. At least, within the range of what the eye could see.
After searching for quite some time, I finally dusted off my hands and, with a sigh heavy with exhaustion, sat down on the edge of the bed.
“I’ll call off the search for now.”
“Will that be acceptable?”
Arden asked.
“Less acceptable than it is pointless—there doesn’t seem to be anything left to find.”
I looked slowly around the room.
“If something were truly here, it would have surfaced by now.”
This wasn’t my first encounter with such things. I’d dealt with so many heretics who’d infiltrated under false pretenses that by now I could spot their tricks without thinking.
***
“Please rest well, Your Highness.”
Arden offered a brief farewell before quietly closing the door.
Even after the door had shut completely, he lingered in the corridor. The scent of lilies hung thick in the air.
It was because of the vases and potted plants that Rillet had prevented from being brought inside—they stood in neat rows before the doorway, their quantity excessive enough to decorate an entire room.
Arden’s gaze swept over them without particular interest.
White flowers bloomed abundantly in the pots and vases that filled the hallway. Moments later, his footsteps stopped.
His deep blue eyes fixed on one of the potted plants.
‘…What is this?’
Arden first looked around carefully, confirming that the corridor was completely empty, before slowly bending down.
Without hesitation, he unfurled the hem of his uniform cloak with one hand. Then, taking care not to touch it with his bare skin, he carefully wrapped the stone in the cloak and lifted it.
From the sensation transmitted through his fingertips, it was slightly heavier than an ordinary stone.
Arden’s expression turned cold. He concealed the stone completely within his cloak, then strode away without so much as a backward glance.
***
The moment I washed and lay down on the bed, exhaustion washed over me. While I bathed, Rillet had neatly organized all my travel belongings.
That night, I slept deeply.
When I woke after a single night’s rest, I felt all the Holy Power within my body fully recharged.
I clenched and unclenched my hand. This was it. How inconvenient it had been to be unable to recharge Holy Power in the Grand Duke Castle.
After proclaiming a Holy Domain in the Northern Territories and visiting the Dimensional Rift of the Demon Realm, my body had felt hollow for some time. But now that I’d returned to my room—little more than a Holy Power charging station—and rested properly, the power rose swiftly within me.
The next day, I summoned the Archbishop to my room.
It was time to stop visiting the Archbishop’s study. In matters of real power, advantage reveals itself in such small details.
Who seeks out whom, who bows first, who waits and who is made to wait—these were ostensibly matters of etiquette and custom, but strip away the surface and it was all about power.
When I first had someone deliver a message, the Archbishop naturally refused.
There was no reason for him to come to my room personally; if I had business, I was to come to his study instead.
It was exactly as I’d expected. The Archbishop still believed that despite my title of Saint, I remained beneath him in the hierarchy of the Temple’s internal authority.
So I threw a bomb at him immediately—one he could not help but bow to.

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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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