Chapter 159: Chapter 159: Downfall, Windfall (XIII)

Pedrik’s eyebrows twitched at Deheen’s attitude, which treated people like walls.

“I want to sit down and talk. Because it’s important.”

“You can sit there.”

Deheen pointed to the empty sofa, indicating for him to sit wherever he wanted.

“I don’t have much time because you came here suddenly. Say it right away.”

Pedrik was annoyed, but he forced a smile when he remembered Derek’s words that he had to somehow bring the saint.

“I think you might already know why we’re here. The saint’s awareness appeared on Daina.”

“What?”

When the name ‘Daina’ was mentioned, Deheen’s head raised for the first time.

“It’s a great pleasure. Didn’t the Grand Duke hear about the test she took at the temple a few days ago?”

“What do you want to say?”

“As Your Grace knows, a saint is a being who needs to be in the temple. It’s been a while, but I request the return of Saint Daina.”

The tone was polite, but the content made Deheen doubt his ears.

He frowned and crumpled the papers he was looking at.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

There was a glint in his eyes.

Pedrik winced at the sharp dark green eyes and cleared his throat.

“It’s as I said. Didn’t you take the saint from our temple? I don’t know how you knew, but I thought it was strange when you said you were going to buy that lowly child.”

After Pedrik uttered those words, he recalled what had just happened in the garden, and for a moment was at a loss.

“…A lowly child.”

Deheen crossed his legs, seriously contemplating whether to slit his neck this second.

“She is the child I bought. Do you think you can simply take her back?”

“Originally, she belonged to the temple, didn’t she? Please return her. Our situation is now dire.”

It was a tone that saw people as mere objects.

The corners of Deheen’s lips curled up coldly as his patience reached the limit.

“Is it? There’s trouble?”

“Yes. I don’t know how you knew at the time… Your Grace was too generous to buy the saint for only 1 million erins.”

Pedrik smiled gently and talked needlessly, probably thinking he and Deheen were getting along.

Unable to listen to it any longer, Deheen uncrossed his legs and kicked the desk hard.

Kwak-kwang-!

With a tremendous roar, the desk shattered into pieces.

Broken pieces flew in all directions, dust rose, and the office became a mess.

“Your Grace!”

Ben came running, and so did the knights outside. But Deheen raised his palm to stop them.

“Grand Duke Deheen! What are you doing!!”

Shocked and afraid, Pedrik and Edwin shuddered at the dangerous energy radiating from Deheen.

“What am I doing? I’m protecting my daughter.”

Deheen didn’t stop there. He pulled out the sword that was laying beside him.

Pointing a sword at the priest was tantamount to declaring war on the temple.

As the situation turned critical, both the grand ducal knights and the paladins who had followed the priests raised their swords as one.

In an instant, the office was in a standoff, and tension rose on everyone’s faces.

“Listen carefully.”

In the middle of it all, an angry Deheen shouted loudly like a roar.

“It’s Esther, not Daina. And that child is not a saint, but my daughter.”

“Your Grace! It’s not possible!”

At that, Deheen strode forward and, without hesitation, struck down his sword.

There wasn’t even a second to react.

Pedrik’s left arm was cut off so very easily, like a radish.

It was the true form of Deheen, known as the ‘murderer’ on the battlefield.

While the rest froze, Edwin jumped between them.

“I, I have to attach the arm…”

Although he was flustered, Edwin successfully poured all of his divine power into Pedrik’s arm.

The flowing blood stopped quickly and fortunately, the arm was reattached, but Pedrik, who almost lost one of his arms, lost his senses.

“What is this… N-Now, cutting my arm off…”

“If you talk like that about my daughter one more time, then…”

Deheen stepped up to Pedrik’s nose, peering right into his dilated eyes. Then, with sincerity, he uttered ferociously.

“…War will be inevitable.”

Despite his fear, Edwin glared at Deheen. He was angry that they, who were temple officials, were being treated in such a crude way.

“We are agents of the temple. As soon as we return, we will report this as an act of hostility against the temple.”

“It doesn’t matter. Go ahead and tell them everything as it is. Don’t even dream of taking my daughter with you.”

Deheen finished what he had to say and kicked the two out. The paladins who came with them were also kicked out.

Having been thrown outside without having time to properly straighten himself, Pedrik was in a mess.

“No matter how he is the grand duke, let’s make him regret looking down on our temple. Hmph, to turn your back on the temple over a child like that?”

“Let’s go. He must be crazy to cut off your arm.”

Greatly frightened and upset by Deheen’s actions, Pedrik and Edwin returned to the temple.

Of course, Deheen’s reaction to the priests was not much different.

“I’ve lived long enough to see all sorts of crazy things.”

“They still believe that the power of the temple will protect them.”

“I’d rather fight directly. Wipe it all away.”

“Yes. That will be fine too.”

Earlier, Ben tried to dissuade Deheen, but it was merely an act; he, too, was furious at Pedrik’s words that crossed the line.

“Work… Now that it’s like this, I’ll just go.”

The desk was broken, so it was difficult to do more work.

With that, Deheen went to find his children, tightly hugged them one by one, and set off for the Imperial Palace.

★★★

In the temple, when Duke Brions did not visit even after several days, Rabienne’s residence was moved from a special room to a prison.

To Rabienne’s dismay, she ended up in a cold prison with only one mattress.

The old mattress sunk when she lay down on it. Her back was sore that she couldn’t sleep well.

“Let me out! This is no place for me.”

Ever since she entered prison, she had been bawling and denying reality, but no one had come to look after her.

Once in a while, a priestess would come as she was obliged to deliver food.

“Wait a second! Is my father still not in touch? What happened to the high priests? What are the elders doing by leaving me here?”

Feeling it was unbearable, Rabienne moved closer to the priestess who had come to deliver her meals and grabbed her through the grate.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know anything. I was told to not answer anything.”

However, the priestess responded coldly and quickly left the prison.

Rabienne’s face turned bright red as she was thoroughly ignored.

‘They must have not told Father the news. But what about the kidnapping? Did it fail?’

She thought that if they succeeded in kidnapping Esther, all her problems would be solved.

But seeing that she was still imprisoned, things must have gone wrong.

An anxious Rabienne was biting her nails when someone walked up to her prison cell.

“…Khalid?”

Rabienne’s eyes flashed when she confirmed that the person was Khalid.

No one came to visit Rabienne when she was in the special room, and it was the same after she was transferred to prison.

At the test venue, Khalid turned away from her, but he was the only person who came to her.

“Oh! You have no idea how happy I am that you came. Can you tell me what’s going on outside? My father…?”

Rabienne smiled very kindly, as the only person who could help her now was Khalid.

“Duke Brions doesn’t seem to want to come.”

“No way… Was my situation conveyed to him correctly?”

“Yes. The temple has sent people several times, but it seems that the ducal mansion has recently been vacated. He must have gone somewhere.”

“Nonsense.”

Shocked, Rabienne bit her lip and circled the inside of the prison cell.

‘Did he abandon me because I’m no longer a saint… It couldn’t be, right? It wouldn’t be. I need to see my father.’

Rabienne’s expression hardened as she recalled her father, who always said she should be a saint.

“Khalid, you need to help me. Just let me out of here.”

Rabienne thought that since things had come down to this, she must somehow get out of the temple and meet her father in person.

“Since you’re still a paladin, you can secretly take me out. Yes?”

However, Khalid’s answer was frosty.

“Why should I?”

“You…! Aren’t you here to help me?”

“Yes. No.”

“Hey, then why are you here? Does it bring you joy to see me like this?”

“I need confirmation. Back then, what was the liquid you asked me to deliver?”

For an instant, Rabienne’s eyelids twitched, and her eyes trembled as she turned her gaze to the side.

“If it’s poison, then you tried to harm the crown prince. Whether he is harmed or not, the already precarious temple will be greatly involved.”

“You gave it directly to Prince Damon. What are you going to do when they find out about this? Do you think you can get out?”

“I have no intention of running. If it’s really poison, I will go straight to the Imperial Palace and tell the truth.”

“Are you crazy? The moment you announce that, you’re done. You can’t even remain as a paladin! What are you sacrificing for?”

Rabienne glared at Khalid. Her face showed she couldn’t understand at all.

“It’s not a sacrifice. If one has committed a crime, one must pay the penalty. That’s how we can be confident in front of Espitos. At least, if we are worshipers of the Goddess.”

“…I have nothing to do with it. What I gave you then was holy water.”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“I already saw the truth in your expression. The answer is complete.”

The reason Khalid came to prison was to talk to Rabienne and see her reaction.

Having heard that Rabienne had fed poison to the previous saint, he had guessed that it might be the same thing.

When cornered, Rabienne reacted more than usual, and Khalid was convinced of that.

“Even if it wasn’t really poison, there’s nothing wrong with being careful.”

“Khalid, please don’t do that. It’s not like this. What did I live like this for? Everyone said I was a saint. Is this my fault?”

Khalid sadly gazed at Rabienne’s broken figure as she screamed and shouted desperately.

“Not everyone is like you.”

With that, Khalid left.

“It can’t be. What happened to Father? He will definitely come to take me out. That’s natural.”

Rabienne, her eyes blank, sat on the mattress and kept repeating herself, never giving up hope that her father would come to pick her up.

★★★

The next day.

It was the day that the meeting called by Deheen was promised to be held.

Instead of the main gate, Deheen entered the Imperial Palace by a different route, following the knight sent by the emperor.

So did the heads of the other two great families.

The place where everyone was guided was the oldest garden of the Imperial Palace, which was normally off-limits.

“Welcome.”

The emperor, who had come earlier and was spending time leisurely in the garden, raised his hand when he saw Deheen.

IMPORTANT! I’m going on a trip for about 2 weeks. Updates will be as normal as I’ll schedule the posts. That being said, it means that you might see “broken” links in the projects page or in the next button. Rest assured, they are not broken, they will work in due time.

Ame: YESSSS KHALID! Like, finally! I’ll be counting on you to burst into the trial and take both Rabienne and Damon down!

Uh, it’s midnight and my crazy braincells are screaming for attention. I don’t think I’ve done this nonsense for this project yet, kindly let me indulge ^^ (I = Khalid, you = Rabienne)

I am not the kind of guy

Who should be rudely barging into a serious courtroom

But you are not the kind of girl

Who should be getting off scott-free

I sneak in and see your high priests

And your snotty little family all dressed in rags

And you, are yelling at the emperor

Something ’bout how you’ll certainly

Make him regret it

This is surely not what you thought it would be

I brace myself to expose you

And I stand and say

I will not, run away now

I accuse Rabienne of trying to poison the crown prince

Hold on, there is one more rat

You need to hear me out

And they said, “Speak now”

Please don’t be misled by my terrible musicality. Speak now is an amazing song/album! by the time this chapter goes up, Taylor’s version is most likely out already~