Chapter 151: Chapter 151: Downfall, Windfall (V)

“Where else? Home.”

Esther replied indifferently and naturally.

The confusion in the hall grew even more.

The reason for immediately depriving Rabienne of her position as a saint was to catch Esther, but she said that she would leave the hall… The elders were dumbfounded.

Either way, Esther didn’t care and walked slowly towards the door.

Sharon hurriedly followed to catch Esther.

“Please stop for a moment, Lady Esther.”

Almost at the door, Esther stopped and looked back.

It was because Sharon, who helped her greatly in uncovering the truth, was pleading.

“Didn’t you decide to join us?”

Sharon’s wrinkled eyes trembled slightly. It was filled with anxiety.

“I had no intention of joining from the beginning.”

“Didn’t you take the test? Showing all of your ability just to leave like this…”

Sharon was taken aback by Esther’s dry reaction, and she tried her best to catch her somehow.

“We’re only looking at the lady. For that, we immediately brought down the current saint.”

Esther tilted her head, wondering if she should take that seriously.

“If the lady goes away like this, the epidemic spreading throughout the empire will never be resolved. More people will die.”

“Why are you asking me to solve it?”

“W-What, Lady Es…”

“It happened because of your wrong choices. You have to figure it out. I don’t understand why you want to put it on me.”

Esther hated the temple, which changed positions as easily as flipping the palm of their hand and acted as it pleased, just as much as Rabienne.

“If we could fix it, we would have done it already. I can’t tell you the details here, but… Making the plague disappear is something only the saint can do.”

A contract signed by the first saint.

Sharon knew from an ancient language book that there was a barrier protecting the empire and a crystal ball which maintained it.

So when Esther came here, Sharon wondered if she should beg her to fix the crystal ball if she couldn’t succeed in kicking out the current saint.

But Esther said she would not do it. She did not want to sacrifice for the temple.

“Even if everyone resigns as an elder, the divine power remains. Did you use that divine power outside the temple to save even just one more person?”

“That…”

Sharon flinched and her lips shut, unable to say anything.

“I saw it on the way. In every alley, there was a fallen person left unattended. What in the world are the elders doing? Are you just waiting for someone to show up and take care of it?”

Esther’s cold voice became a dagger and pierced Sharon’s chest.

It was the same for the elders who were listening in the background.

“You guys are the ones who made things this way, by putting an unqualified person in that position in the first place.”

After calmly finishing her words, Esther quickly scanned the distraught elders one by one.

“Everything should be handled by the temple. Criticism, condemnation, and responsibility… Don’t try to lean on me. I have nothing to do with this place.”

It was painful, but nothing was wrong, so Sharon just sadly looked at Esther.

“…I apologize. We were greedy to want to hold onto you somehow.”

Sharon realized that Esther would not relent just through persistence, and knew she should not be forcibly imprisoned.

However, unlike Sharon, who wanted to let her go, some elders recklessly ordered the paladins.

“Catch her! We shouldn’t let her go like this.”

“Block her from leaving the temple. Now that this has happened, we can’t just let her go.”

The paladins who received their orders blocked Esther’s way.

“Is this your choice?”

With pity in her eyes, Esther faced the paladins.

But before Esther could do anything else, Sharon stepped in.

“What are you doing? Everyone, get out of the way. Let her go.”

“Godmother!”

“Are you trying to make the same mistake again? How could you do something like this even after hearing that? All we can do is apologize. Force is never okay.”

Stopping the group of paladins trying to capture Esther, Sharon asked vaguely.

“Are you going to Tersia?”

“Yes. My home is there.”

Only when Esther said the word ‘home’ did her expression soften.

It was a genuine expression that Sharon had never been given.

Watching the change, Sharon bitterly regretted not being able to prevent the priest from selling Esther.

“It’s not real. You were originally raised in the temple. We lost you.”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Esther shook her head at Sharon, who was sincerely and truly saddened.

“No. From the beginning, the place I was meant to be was not the temple. It was there.”

In the temple, where Esther had been turned away by everyone, the only person who held her hand was Deheen.

The temple had always been both a bystander and an aggressor. It was after meeting Deheen that Esther’s dry world changed.

“And the temple, which has already rotted enough, has no future.”

“It will change in the future. We will build a temple with a future. We’ll try to change it somehow…”

Esther cut off the desperate words of Sharon.

“Then, let’s see how fair the punishment is for Lady Rabienne this time.”

And she walked, standing in front of the hall’s door.

The paladins guarding the door hesitated and looked at Sharon, Esther, and the other elders in turns.

“I’m going to leave, can you move away?”

“Yes? Yes.”

An atmosphere flowed from Esther that I dare not dare to touch.

Flinching, the paladins immediately stepped aside.

Esther pushed the huge door with both hands.

It was heavy, and after a while, a bright light from outside poured in.

As soon as the door opened, familiar faces appeared before Esther.

It was Noah and Victor, who were waiting outside because they couldn’t directly enter the test venue.

As Esther walked toward them, the people who had gathered outside the hall like a cloud hesitated and retreated.

There was a mixture of curiosity and awe, or fear and wonder.

In an instant, a road was created between the crowd.

Esther took that path without hesitation, straight to Noah and Victor.

“Good work, Esther.”

“You’ve worked hard, Lady Esther.”

After receiving their kind greetings, it felt like her body, which had been frozen all the time, was melting.

Noah spoke to Esther with a bright and friendly smile as always.

“Are you done?”

“Yes.”

Having escaped from the specter of the past, Esther looked at him and smiled beautifully.

It was an angelic smile that could never have appeared inside.

“Then let’s hurry back. I can already see the grand duke spitting fire at us for not bringing you back sooner.”

“Haha, that’s right. Dad will be waiting for me.”

In Esther’s mind, the last time they all gathered by the front door waiting for her was pictured.

…Unbeknownst to her, Deheen and the twins couldn’t wait this time, to the extent they had headed out to pick her up themselves.

Esther couldn’t even imagine that the horses ran so fast that they were already right near the temple.

★★★

Khalid was anxiously awaiting the results along with the other paladins in the hallway outside the venue.

‘What is this all about?’

As a paladin of Rabienne, he followed her to the doors of the hall, but was not allowed inside.

To begin with, he was surprised to hear that she was going to take a saint qualification test, and the surprise increased by the sudden appearance of Esther.

While the two were taking the test, Khalid saw Esther’s unbelievable divine power through the open door.

Anyone could see that the saint was Esther, not Rabienne.

When the door was closed for the elders to discuss the results, all the people watching murmured in amazement.

“Whoa…”

Confused, Khalid was cooling his head when the door of the venue suddenly opened again.

He quickly ran to the door.

And he was shocked more than anyone else by what he saw inside.

“Saint…”

Saint Rabienne, whom he served, was miserably sitting on the floor.

While the elders were trying to hold back Esther, who opened the door.

“Daina.”

Involuntarily, Khalid muttered Esther’s old name.

Returning to the people who came with her, Esther radiated happiness, which Khalid had never seen before.

After a moment’s blink, Esther had already moved away.

Khalid quickly followed Esther, rushing so as to not let her leave his sight.

“Esther!”

Esther looked back at the urgent call, and her face hardened as she recognized him.

“It’s Khalid?”

“Looks like he has something to say to you.”

“…I’ll be back soon.”

Esther didn’t want to talk, but she decided she should do so for a while because she didn’t want him to make a fuss. So she stopped and waited for Khalid to catch up.

Gasping, Khalid fondly looked at Esther and asked.

“I saw you take the test earlier. Are you really a saint? Did you know that?”

“Well…”

Khalid was flustered at Esther’s cold reaction. He rambled on.

“Then you can come back to the temple. Where are you going? Just stay here.”

“Everyone is crazy. Back then, telling me to, and now, wanting me to stay. Am I easy?”

When Esther spoke like it was funny, Khalid’s eyes filled with sadness.

“I just want to stay with you. I hope you don’t go.”

“Sir Khalid, this is not where you should be. Your master is still in the venue.”

Esther had wondered why he was following her, but when he didn’t say anything more, she stopped talking and went back to her party.

Khalid, who could no longer hold on to her, stared at their backs and belatedly realized Noah’s identity.

“His Highness the Crown Prince?”

He didn’t pay attention to him earlier because the hair color was different, but he was definitely the crown prince.

“Don’t tell me, you two…”

He was the one who talked to him last time.

Khalid felt even more shabby when the thought of wanting to know what the two of them really were crossed his mind.

His heart throbbed like he was jealous that the person next to Esther was not him.

‘Is it…’

Khalid noticed at this moment.

The feeling that he thought was compassion for the poor child, maybe it was something different.

But it was too late to realize it now.

“Yes. I have to go back.”

Khalid recited to himself. He was lonely.

As Esther had said, the place he should be was next to his master, Rabienne.

Ame: I have a lot of things to say as I was translating but I seemed to have forgotten them all by the time I’m done… so… with that… ESTHER MA BABY! YOU DID A GREAT JOB SWEETIE!