A Saint Who Was Adopted by the Grand Duke
chapter-154

“This snake, can’t you go away? Ugh…”

Albert, in agony, swung his sword at Shur, who bit hard.

However, because Shur was quick at dodging, no matter how hard he swung his sword, it only cut through the air.

“Good job.”

Esther smiled brightly at Shur who returned to her and distanced herself from Albert.

No matter how much poison was in his system, she wouldn’t know what he would do.

“Is this poison? Ha, I never thought you would bring a snake with you.”

In absurdity, Albert murmured to himself. His face was growing increasingly pale.

Shur’s deadly venom spread swiftly, and unable to bear it, Albert collapsed onto the ground.

“Shit.”

Albert groaned, his face still turning pale, and thrust his hand against his chest.

Even in the midst of writhing in pain, he did not take his tenacious gaze off Esther.

‘I have to run away.’

Feeling threatened, Esther quickly looked around.

“Esther, are you okay?”

Noah, who was closest to her, asked while wielding his sword with difficulty.

He was fighting better than expected against the adult assailants.

He said he had been training hard in swordsmanship recently, and the effect was clearly visible.

However, it must be emphasized that he endured better than expected, and if he was left as it was, it would not be strange for him to lose at any time.

For quite a while, he appeared exhausted and in danger from getting hit by a sword.

“I’m fine, so be careful… Ah, Noah!”

Halfway through her answer, Esther let out a shout.

A few seconds ago when Esther moved, Noah’s concentration was disturbed for a moment because he was worried.

As a result, the timing of his strike was a little late, and the opponent’s sword brushed his shoulder.

He was not seriously injured, but the clothes covering his shoulders were torn and blood was seeping out.

“Hurry up, everybody! Their captain has fallen!”

When the subordinate who saw Albert collapsed shouted, all the guild members began to increase their intensity.

In the end, Noah didn’t even have time to look at his wounds. He gritted his teeth and tried to stop the rampaging opponent.

“I will never let him reach you.”

“Noah…”

Esther bit her lip and looked around nervously.

It wasn’t just Noah who was hurt.

Victor and the other escorts were also outnumbered, so they were hurt and bleeding here and there.

Everyone was trying their best to protect her, and it was overwhelming.

But at a glance, it was fortunate that her party was not among the people who were motionless on the floor.

‘Should I ask Shur to attack the others too?’

Poisoning all the people who ambushed them might end this situation.

She couldn’t just run away anyway, and she couldn’t just stand and watch.

Right when she was going to issue an order to Shur…

Suddenly, there was the sound of something being unplugged from Albert’s side.

“……?”

Turning her head towards the sound, Esther frowned.

Almost completely flat on the ground, Albert was holding a bottle of unknown liquid.

He gulped it down.

“Did you think I would stay poisoned?”

Esther was sure she had seen his eyes turn blurry a little while ago, but before she knew it, they were clear again.

Albert laughed and tried to raise his body from the ground.

Even though his complexion was still pale, it seemed that Shur’s poison had been detoxified.

“…Holy water?”

“Yes. Would I have come without any emergency measures?”

In the case of poisoning, the surest method was to heal with divine power or to detoxify by drinking holy water.

Since he mainly assassinates, there were many dangerous situations.

So, when carrying out this tricky request, he made sure to carry the precious holy water, just in case.

And the person who gave holy water to these guilds was the Duke of Brions.

“Well then, shall we start over?”

He wasn’t completely healed, but he recovered enough to be able to move properly, with the exception of the leg bitten by Shur.

Raising his body, Albert limped towards Esther.

“I can’t be gentle anymore. I’m pretty pissed that I got hurt.”

While preparing to run, Esther quickly organized the situation in her head.

‘I can’t use Shur anymore.’

With her party and the guild members mixed together, she needed to focus to get Shur to attack properly, but Albert had made it impossible.

And if Albert had been healed with holy water, even if Shur bites him again, it wouldn’t work.

‘All I can do right now is run away.’

Fortunately, the leg which Shur had been bitten had not completely healed, causing Albert to limp, so it seemed possible.

‘If I move, they’ll be distracted too.’

The attackers were targeting her, so if she moved, everyone would have no choice but to pay attention.

Besides, if she managed to get out, she could call the knights waiting outside.

Esther immediately started running towards the temple’s main entrance, slipping past Albert who was nearing her.

“No, Esther! It’s dangerous!!”

Noah shouted that it was dangerous from behind. So did Victor.

Esther knew they were worried, but it was clear that if she stayed still, her party would be hurt even more and she would eventually be captured by Albert.

“You don’t have to get caught.”

Esther gritted her teeth and ran. However, no matter how hard she ran, Albert quickly followed.

It was impossible to beat the well-trained man even if he was one leg short.

“Don’t waste your strength, stop. Aren’t I going to catch you soon anyway? Or do you mean to play tag with me?”

Albert shouted at Esther as he furiously gave chase.

Thanks to Esther’s efforts, the front gate began to come into view.

‘It’s not long now.’

However, she glanced back and nervously bit her lips.

The distance between them was too little. Esther wondered if there was any other way.

She didn’t have a way to attack people with divine power, but she came up with a way to buy some time.

‘If that’s the case…’

As Esther ran, she focused her divine power on her fingertips. Just in case Albert caught up with her.

And, predictably, before Esther was even close to the door, Albert was almost right behind her.

Her heart skipped a beat as he felt his closeness.

“Got you! Is the chase over now? Heh…”

With a cackle, he stretched out his arm to grab Esther.

At that moment, Esther turned around and burst out the divine power she had been concentrating on her fingertips right in front of Albert’s eyes.

Albert, who momentarily lost sight due to the tremendous explosion of light, began to panic.

“What, what? Why can’t I see…?”

Fortunately, it was a success, buying some time. Esther resumed running towards the door.

However, Albert’s sensitivity from working as an assassin for the guild for a long time was very good. He persistently pursued Esther by sound alone.

Finally, after a while…

Albert, who had regained his blurred vision, reached out again, and Esther used her divine power to defend herself.

“Please.”

She had never done it before, but in her head, she imagined putting her divine power around her body like a protective shield.

The next moment, the divine power became a soft light just as Esther had hoped, covering her entire body.

Not knowing what it was, Albert violently reached out to grab Esther, but the force bounced back.

“…What?”

Then, having no way of knowing that the light surrounding Esther was divine power, Albert charged head-on.

As a result, the two flew to opposite sides.

Esther’s dress was covered with dirt.

But thanks to her divine power, there was not even a small wound.

“Really… there’s all sorts of things. How am I going to take you?”

Still blind, Albert faced Esther’s general direction with his eyes narrowed in bewilderment.

“Why are you doing this? Did Rabienne order it?”

Now knowing that Albert could not force her, Esther regained some composure.

“Customer information is absolutely confidential. So let’s go. You will go in the end. The time you run out of divine power will come.”

Brushing the dirt off his body, Albert was about to get up.

Suddenly, someone ran up to him at breakneck speed and kicked him.

“Ugh! Ack, now, wait a minute…!!”

Very hard too. Keuk!

Albert was not one who wouldn’t notice someone approaching, even if he was preoccupied with Esther.

But he didn’t even sense it.

Embarrassment and shock rose as he rolled on the dirt floor, hardly understanding what he was going through.

★★★

Earlier…

Hearing the sound of the whistle, the blue bird flew away and to the shadow knights who were resting outside the temple.

Because it was a sign that something happened, the knights jumped up.

“We have to save the lady.”

He showed his identity card and said he would enter the temple immediately, but was blocked.

“You cannot enter. As said before, the number of escorts is fixed.”

“It’s an urgent situation. If you don’t let us in immediately, we will have no choice but to use force.”

“What will happen inside the temple? You’re worried for nothing.”

The shadow knight and the paladin guarding the main gate were deep in their argument when the sound of horseshoes was heard.

“What’s going on?”

“Your Highness!”

The shadow knight bowed his head with a mixture of surprise and delight.

With an eye-catching graceful posture, Deheen came down his horse at once.

In front of his overwhelming presence, the paladin swallowed his saliva.

“Where is Esther? Why are you guys here?”

“We are waiting because we were told that only a certain number could enter, but a blue bird just appeared. I think something is wrong with the lady inside, but she won’t let me in.”

“A blue bird?”

Feeling uneasy, Deheen walked up to the paladin guarding the door.

Confronted with an angry Deheen, the paladin flinched and involuntarily took a step back.

“I will go in.”

“Each person can only be accompanied by up to seven people.”

There was no reason to stop Deheen, who had just visited the temple.

Deheen nodded at Ben, implying that he would go on his own, and then he hurried past the front door.

“I’ll go first.”

With those parting words to the twins, who were still on their horses, Deheen started running.

His anxious premonition was right.

Not far away, Esther was lying on the ground, wrapped in a particularly bright light, and he saw a man reaching for her.

“What kind of madman is messing with my daughter?”

Deheen’s eyes turned cold, and he ran towards them with his fists clenched so hard that all the veins in his hands were bulging out.

Swiftly reaching them, he put all his strength into his right foot and kicked Albert hard.

“Ugh! Ack, now, wait a minute…!!”

Then, without paying attention to Albert’s screams, he blocked Esther’s front.

“…Dad? Are you really Dad?”

Looking up at the large back of Deheen, Esther rubbed her eyes blankly, wondering if it was a dream.

Ame: DADDY!!!!!!!!! I legit squealed and my dog dropped his chew toy hahahaha I’m sorry my baby, I’m just too happy!

EDIT: Sorry if y’all received multiple pings from WP or whatever TT_TT I messed up the linking so had to keep editing