A Saint Who Was Adopted by the Grand Duke

Chapter 164: The End Is Where It Begins (III)

“It feels dangerous.”

It felt like she was going to be attacked by the black energy.

Nervous, Esther moistened her parched lips with her tongue.

‘Did the goddess tell me to destroy the crystal ball because it’s already contaminated?’

Thinking hard, she released Shur, who she had brought, to the floor.

Then Shur stood upright as if wary of the dark energy.

“Egos.”

Esther stretched out her hand towards Shur and shouted.

Surrounded by bright light, Shur immediately turned into a long sword.

It was a bigger size than the last time she tried it in her room.

As she gripped the sword, she felt something like vibration.

And at the same time, the skin tingled and the menacing feeling deepened.

Esther sighed and looked around.

As if the black energy had noticed she was holding a sword, it gathered from the surroundings and rushed all at once.

Esther was wrapped in divine power, so it couldn’t come into direct contact with her body, but it still appeared threatening enough.

“I can’t waste time.”

Esther, who had become trapped in a black lump, immediately raised her arm to strike the crystal ball down.

Taking a deep breath, her eyes turned bright gold.

Esther swung the sword, aiming at the gap in the broken crystal ball.

However, the crystal ball did not break as easily as she thought, and a tremendous recoil was transmitted.

“Ugh.”

She had to grab the sword with all her might so as not to drop it.

The radiant energy flowing from the sword and the murky energy stored in the crystal ball collided tightly.

Black energy flowed continuously and encroached on Esther’s surroundings.

“Just a little, a little more…”

Esther pushed the sword harder into the crystal ball, clenching tightly to avoid being thrown.

Eventually, the tip of the sword reached the center of the crystal ball and it felt like it had stabbed something that was probably a nucleus.

“Is it done?”

The moment Esther opened her eyes wide to confirm, the tremendously condensed power inside the crystal ball exploded.

Since she was close to the crystal ball, she couldn’t withstand the blast and flew to the other side.

“Ahh!”

Esther felt a tingling pain through her body and clenched her teeth.

She wasn’t hurt thanks to the shield, but she couldn’t escape the aftermath of the shock.

After barely managing to control her body’s tremors, she raised her head to check the crystal ball.

Broken fragments of the crystal ball were scattered all over the floor.

“Thank goodness.”

Breaking the crystal ball was a success.

However, all the black energy trapped inside was let loose, and some of it leaked out through the broken door.

Esther instinctively thought she shouldn’t let it escape, but she was already in a state where she couldn’t move her body at will.

It was then.

It was unknown if it was because of the black energy that went out, or because of the impact caused by the crystal ball exploding, but Saint’s Palace shook greatly.

Kwak-kwang—

A tremendous roar was heard from all sides, and the entire palace began to collapse.

In an instant, the ceiling was pierced, the walls shattered, and a huge amount of debris poured down.

It was terrifying to think of what would have happened if Esther hadn’t been covered by divine power.

“It was good to let Dad out.”

Lying in the basement of the collapsing palace, Esther took in this scene in a daze.

Seeing the destruction of the Saint’s Palace, the symbol of the temple, somehow made her laugh.

“I wanted to destroy it with my own hands, but I didn’t know it would come true this way.”

The purpose was different, but it was still the thought of destroying the temple.

Both large and small stones fell on Esther’s shield.

She was blocking all of them now, but since she had already put all her energy into breaking the crystal ball, she didn’t have the confidence to keep it up for long.

“If the shield disappears, will I really die here?”

Somehow, an empty laugh came out.

She couldn’t even remember the time when she only wanted to die.

It was almost unbelievable the feelings of wanting to live could deepen like this.

“…I have changed a lot.”

Now, she was afraid to die.

She finally had the confidence to live happily ever after, and I thought it would be really sad if it ended like this.

“I want to see Dad one more time.”

Esther muttered in a low voice, like a sob, and glanced toward the door.

‘I have to go back.’

The father who came with her, the twin brothers who she didn’t properly say goodbye to, and Noah, Dorothy, Victor… Everyone’s faces passed by.

She tried to force herself up for them, but as expected, she couldn’t muster up strength.

Even in the midst of this chaos, an insurmountable desire for sleep poured and her eyelids drooped.

Just before her eyes completely close…

Somehow, it felt like she saw someone running towards her through the collapsing rubble.

‘…Noah?’

He was someone who could never be here, but somehow she thought of Noah, instead of her father.

‘It can’t be…’

Esther’s thoughts stopped here and she fell into a deep sleep.

In the meantime, the Saint’s Palace continued to collapse, and eventually swallowed up the basement where Esther was.

★★★

Almost the same time…

Deheen and Sharon were standing in front of the Saint’s Palace and having a light conversation.

Sharon suggested getting some tea, but filled with concern for Esther, Deheen declined.

He insisted that he would stay in front of the Saint’s Palace until Esther came out.

“I heard that the Brions family was expelled from the four great families this morning.”

“Yes. He will soon face a public trial with his daughter. Can I say that she used to be a saint?”

“Of course.”

“The temple officials involved in this matter will not be able to avoid responsibility either.”

“Naturally, we also have to take responsibility. I am determined.”

Sharon was keenly aware of the fact that the current temple needed reform.

For the past few weeks, she had been trying to revive the rotten parts, but if they refused to be fixed, she would have to cut them out.

Sensing Sharon’s determination, Deheen said nothing more.

A few seconds later, he glared fiercely at the Saint’s Palace with his arms crossed.

“How long do you think it will take?”

“I can’t even imagine breaking the crystal ball…”

Deheen suddenly turned to Sharon as she blurred the end of her words.

“You weren’t lying to me, were you?”

“Actually…”

Sharon, who was constantly worried about leaving Esther alone, finally confessed the truth.

“Anyone can enter the room with the crystal ball, but earlier, the lady asked me to take Your Grace outside, so I lied.”

“Me? Even if it’s dangerous…”

It was at that moment that Deheen, feeling something strange, was about to run, thinking that he should go to Esther.

Kwak-kwang—

A tremendous roar was heard from the basement of the Saint’s Palace. At the same time, the ground around it shook greatly.

“What is this sound?”

While Sharon froze in shock, Deheen ran madly towards the Saint’s Palace.

“No!!!”

However, the collapse of the Saint’s Palace was already proceeding unstoppably fast, and the entrance had already collapsed and disappeared without a trace.

Deheen watched with devastation as the entire Saint’s Palace collapsed.

“Esther…”

At the thought that Esther would be down there, the blood in Deheen’s whole body went cold with anxiety and nervousness.

When he recklessly tried to enter the crumbling palace, all the escorts grabbed him and barely stopped him.

“Your Grace! Not now.”

“It’s too dangerous. The building is still collapsing.”

“My daughter is still inside.”

However, they had to bow my head in guilt after a glance at Deheen’s face, which appeared like he was about to cry.

“…We will go in. Your Grace should stay here.”

“No, I am coming along.”

But Deheen shook off all the escorts and headed forward again.

“Your Grace… the lady… She should be fine…”

Shocked and bewildered, Ben followed Deheen.

But the sight of the collapsed rubble made it hard to believe that someone would still be alive.

“Please.”

On the verge of going mad, Deheen stepped on the broken statue of the goddess and randomly grabbed a pile of stones and set them aside.

“Dig. She is definitely alive down there. We must find her.”

Deheen’s subordinates began to pull out the wreckage, wary of further collapses so that no one else would get hurt.

Sharon, who was slower at running, and the priests and paladins who came after hearing the sound joined in the same way.

“The saint is trapped inside.”

At the word ‘saint’, everyone put their strength into digging up the Saint’s Palace.

Khalid was among them.

He was horrified to hear that Esther was buried inside, and moved faster than anyone else to remove the debris.

When everyone wished for only a tiny bit of hope in an atmosphere where only silence fell heavily…

Khalid, who was closest to the crystal ball’s room, removed the heavy ceiling debris and noticed a bright light leaking from below.

“I think it’s here!”

All the people who heard the cry ran over and gathered.

As they dug down using the light as an indicator, the identity of the light was gradually revealed.

“Unbelievable…”

A curtain of light was created in the shape of a round sphere.

Esther was in it.

Even in this explosion, she appeared to be completely unscathed.

The priests and paladins knelt down in awe at the sight that was hard to believe even after seeing it with their own eyes.

“The goddess has been here.”

Deheen didn’t know nor care whether it was the case. He covered his face with the palm of his hand, just glad to see that Esther was alive and well.

“…It’s very fortunate.”

As relief flooded in, his eyes grew hot and tears welled up.

He pressed his eyes to stop the tears from flowing and quickly moved towards the sphere.

“Wait a minute…”

But Esther was not alone.

Inside the barrier of light, there was another person, who was sleeping with his arms wrapped around Esther as if to protect her.

Squinting, Deheen was startled to see that it was Noah.

“Why is the crown prince here?”

It was a difficult situation to understand, but first, they had to get the two out of the sphere.

However, his hand could not infiltrate the barrier of light. Even if he tried to tear it apart with a sword, it was useless.

“Is there nothing I can do about this?”

“It’s not a power that we dare to touch. It seems that Lady Esther is now under the protection of the goddess.”

Likewise, the puzzled Sharon examined the sphere and couldn’t find any solution.

Ame: …I was tearing up till the last bit AHAHAHA what in the world!? How did Noah get there? HAHAHAHAHA oh and one more thing, the icon at the top of the episode, is it just me or is the size different from the usual/what I set!?