Chapter 167: Chapter 167: The End Is Where It Begins (VI)

A huge amount of golden powder dispersed in all directions.

And as soon as Esther came out, she saw the face she wanted to see the most.

“Esther.”

“Dad…”

The voice that constantly called to her.

The friendly voice that supported her all the way back.

It was her father.

“You’re finally here.”

Deheen, who had a very emaciated face, ran to Esther in one step.

“Wait.”

With tears in his eyes, Deheen opened her arms wide and hugged Esther dearly.

Tears welled up in Esther’s eyes as she looked at her father.

“It was you who kept calling me, right?”

“Yes. Come back, I said. Because I don’t want you to get lost.”

Esther noticed Deheen’s hand trembling slightly as he gripped her shoulder.

Realizing that he must have been more worried than she had imagine, she felt apologetic and dug deeper into his arms.

“I told you not to do anything dangerous. Alone too.”

“Sorry. I had no idea things would turn out like this.”

“…I was very worried, but since you came back safely, it’s okay.”

Deheen lifted Esther up and carefully inspected her for any small wounds.

“Is everything all right?”

“Yes. It’s really over now.”

When Esther smiled with an expression of true relief, Deheen’s face, which had been serious the whole time, relaxed little by little.

He hadn’t laughed once in two days, but the moment he saw Esther, his lips naturally went up.

“How long has it been since I entered the Saint’s Palace?”

Esther asked, looking back at the Saint’s Palace, which had crumbled and turned into ruins.

“Two days.”

Fortunately, it wasn’t that long.

“It’s not too late. We can still hold the birthday party.”

“It was almost too late. If you didn’t wake up after today, I was going to break the entire shield.”

“Are you kidding?”

Judging that Deheen’s voice was too serious to be a joke, Esther jumped to the floor.

“Let’s go home now.”

“Yes. But before that, I have something to tell the elders.”

Esther looked around for Sharon, the head of the Council of Elders.

As for the new oath, Espitos will take care of it and send a revelation to the temple.

But first, it was necessary to settle the broken crystal ball.

‘What should I do with that?’

Behind Esther was a new crystal ball emitting brilliant light.

“Oh, Sharon, could you come over here for a minute?”

Earlier, Sharon couldn’t bring herself to interrupt the father-and-daughter. She hung around and kept glancing over.

Then, when Esther beckoned, she came running with a thrilled expression.

“I’m glad you’re okay.”

Seeing Esther unscathed, Sharon’s wrinkles deepened and tears welled up in her eyes.

“Thank you for evacuating Dad.”

“No. I should have stayed by your side too…”

“It’s all right. Now that’s over. May I know what happened while I was asleep?”

Not quite understanding the gist of the question, Sharon paused for a few seconds before hesitantly saying,

“Well… I confirmed that the crystal ball had completely broken, and immediately after that the sky went dark.”

For the two days Esther was asleep.

Even in the middle of the day, the sky of the empire was as dark as evening, and the sun didn’t shine properly like it was covered by dark clouds.

“Then, right before you woke up, the sky brightened again.”

Esther guessed that it might have something to do with the barrier that spread across the empire.

“There’s another crystal ball. There it is.”

At the space where Esther and Noah were buried… The protective shield had disappeared, and in its place was a new crystal ball.

Spotting it, Sharon was shocked, and she couldn’t find anything to say.

“How did… no way?”

“Yes. A new crystal ball was created.”

“Unbelievable. Has the lady signed an oath with Goddess Espitos?”

The blue eyes of Sharon were filled with wonder and admiration.

But Esther, troubled by this, sighed deeply.

“…Protect that crystal ball from anyone who wants to tamper with it. Just like you always have been.”

“Of course. Are… Are you entrusting this to us?”

“Soon there will be a meeting regarding the treatment of the crystal ball.”

Esther intended to inform her father, the emperor, and the temple about the crystal ball and leave it to them to decide.

“I don’t know how to go about doing that. Even if there is no problem now, eventually, over time, the same mistakes will be repeated.”

In order to protect the empire, a barrier was absolutely necessary, and the result of the barrier was the crystal ball.

However, antinomically, the crystal ball eventually breaks the barrier.

As long as that existed, the same thing as now might continue to repeat itself.

It’s not a matter that Esther could decide on her own, so she decided to leave this to the adults.

“I’m telling you right now, I have no intention of returning to the temple in the future.”

“It doesn’t matter. No matter where you are, the fact that you are the one and only saint does not change.”

Sharon seemed to have changed quite a bit after going through this series of events. Her voice was much more relaxed.

“The temple will change. Please keep an eye on us.”

Esther smiled at Sharon, who seemed to have put her heart down and was no longer obsessed with her.

★★★

While Esther was talking to Sharon, Deheen slipped off and talked to Noah alone.

“What happened to Your Highness? Your Highness needs to explain why you, who should be in the Imperial Palace, are here.”

“Two days ago, Esther appeared in my dream.”

“Dream?”

Deheen’s eyes sharpened.

“Yes. If I say I was moved here as soon as I saw her in the crumbling rubble and thought I wanted to help… Would it be too hard to believe?”

Noah didn’t know why he teleported, so there was no way to explain further.

Deheen gave Noah a terrifying look, as if asking him to prove the truth, then released the tightness from his face.

“Since Your Highness disappeared, there’s been an uproar in the Imperial Palace.”

“…I heard it’s been two days. Everyone must be very worried.”

Since Crown Prince Noah suddenly disappeared from his room, there was no choice but to make a fuss about kidnapping.

Noah, who had no intention of scaring anyone, smiled awkwardly and scratched the back of his head.

“As soon as I found out you were here, I contacted the palace.”

“Thank you, Grand Duke.”

“His Majesty is very worried, so you’d better go back quickly.”

“I shall.”

No matter how much Deheen narrowed his eyes and glared at him, Noah accepted it with a smile.

Meanwhile…

Knowing that Noah was at the temple, his escort knights frantically came running.

“Your Highness! How did you end up alone without us! If the temple has kidnapped Your Highness…”

“Stop, stop. It’s not like that.”

Noah raised a finger at his escort.

“Then I will go. Take good care of Esther.”

Seeing that Noah’s attention was still directed on Esther, Deheen tightly crossed his arms, disapprovingly.

“Did you really embrace Esther? In that situation where the building is collapsing?”

“Yes. I don’t know if it helped, but it’s true that I jumped in wanting to save her.”

As if he didn’t like that answer, Deheen stared Noah down with a threatening force.

“What were you going to do if you couldn’t get out? It’s usually not a problem if you, the crown prince, have made a mistake.”

“…Did you feel that my actions were too immature?”

Noah continued, feeling upset that Deheen, who he wanted to look good to, seemed to be looking at him pathetically.

“I know my responsibilities better than anyone. But I value Esther more than my status as crown prince. I had no choice but to save her.”

Noah confidently expressed he had no regrets for his actions.

Deheen’s eyes flashed strangely.

‘He’s serious.’

At this point, he knew that Noah’s heart for Esther was sincere enough to exceed his expectations.

“Dad, don’t talk too much.”

Having finished the conversation with Sharon, Esther went over to the two men. When the atmosphere between the two became unusual, she became restless and intervened.

“Are you taking the side of His Highness, not Dad?”

Deheen, who had hardened for a moment, gritted his teeth and asked in a deep voice that it was as if it had been pulled from the underground.

His expression of great sadness showed how shocked he had just been by Esther’s words.

“What? It can’t be.”

Startled, Esther quickly shook her head and linked her arms with Deheen’s.

“I am always on Dad’s side. Who can beat Dad?”

As she picked out the words Deheen wanted to hear, the ferocious energy that had engulfed the surroundings disappeared in an instant.

“Yes. That’s my daughter.”

Noah blinked and quickly greeted Esther and Deheen.

“I shall head back to the Imperial Palace. Esther, see you on your birthday.”

“Thank you, goodbye.”

After a hurried send off, the relieved Esther’s body relaxed.

‘You’re covering it up like that?’

Of course, Deheen noticed that Esther deliberately stepped up for Noah.

But even that figure was cute, so he let it pass, but his alertness for Noah had risen a notch higher.

The father-and-daughter pair walked out of the temple. Deheen tightly held Esther’s tiny hand, which was less than half of his.

“Did you meet the goddess you spoke of?”

“Yes.”

“Did you give her a slap?”

“I couldn’t hit her… I hugged her instead.”

When Esther answered with a smile, Deheen smiled as well, saying that it was a very ‘Esther-like’ behavior.

Outside the temple, a carriage was waiting for the two of them.

A lot had happened, but…

It was time to go home.

★★★

While Esther and Deheen were in the carriage…

Judy and Dennis arrived at the shelter. They were going to prepare for the birthday party.

“How does it look?”

Delbert, who was sweating profusely and managing the servants working on the decorations, ran out and greeted the two.

“Oh, it’s better than I thought?”

“As expected of Delbert.”

The shelter looked as good as any party hall. It was truly all thanks to Delbert and his amazing decorating skills and knowledge.

“Master Dennis, which color do you think would suit the lady better?”

Delbert asked, holding the sky blue and red cloths he had been conflicted over, one in each hand.

It was the cloth that would be spread on the path Esther would walk on as she entered through the door and headed to the main character’s seat while receiving everyone’s applause.

“Hmm, sky blue would be nice. Transparent and clear suits Esther well.”

“Isn’t it usually red? Like a red carpet?”

“It’s corny. The color doesn’t matter these days.”

Judy tilted his head and walked to the other side. Just like that, somewhat ambiguously, the light blue cloth was selected.

“Did you call me tacky? Well, does it matter?”

Upset at being ignored, Judy crumpled the discarded red cloth with his hand.

“…These days, flower paths are trending.”

Opening the book he brought for reference, Dennis added,

“Don’t you know that?”

Ame: Noah has a long way to go ^^; the side stories will feature more of their cute romance (and… public trial, I haven’t forgotten about it which I’m admittedly looking forward to a ton more)