The Sand Bride - Chapter 75

Esther, who had been roughly going along with him, nodded at Karzhen’s words before he left, but inwardly, she muttered that it wouldn’t happen. There would be no more meals with you, Esther sincerely wished.

It was when Esther had eaten lunch and taken her last medicine in front of the servants. After confirming that the bowls containing the porridge and medicine were completely empty, the servants took the empty bowls and withdrew. Esther was left alone, passing the time for a moment, when heavy footsteps, thump-thump, were heard roughly.

Esther was startled and sat up from the bed. The one who appeared, parting the blinds, was not Bianca but a man. The man, with a large physique and many scars on his forearms, grabbed Esther’s arm and pulled her out.

“Hurry, there isn’t much time.”

A flustered Esther pulled her body back and looked at the man. He wasn’t Bianca. However, the man easily pulled the resisting Esther forward again and spoke quickly.

“The woman named Bianca will be waiting at the exit. Get the explanation from her.”

At Bianca’s name, Esther hesitated but was soon led out of the room by the man’s hand. The two opened the visible door after passing through the short corridor behind the blinds. They then saw servants sprawled on either side of the door.

At the sight of the servants’ condition, which seemed to be the man’s doing, Esther couldn’t easily follow him. The limp servants looked as if they were dead. She was sick of death now.

“Are these people…….”

“They’re fine.”

The man, interrupting Esther’s question of whether he had killed them all, looked around anxiously and pulled Esther along. He had little time. The central palace was by no means lightly guarded.

Now, because the man was Greta’s subordinate, he was only able to enter and exit under the pretext of taking a captured foreign noble prisoner. But if it became known that he had harmed the servants and reached this place, Sayar’s private quarters, the man would be summarily executed on the spot or at least captured with his limbs cut off.

However, the man feared even more that the plan of Greta, the master he had sworn loyalty to, would go awry.

“They’re only unconscious, so don’t worry about them and hurry and follow me!”

He continued to pull Esther’s wrist, who was hesitating. Esther breathed a sigh of relief at the words that they weren’t dead and ran, following the man.

The man crossed the corridor and stood before the wall surrounding the inner palace. The man did not hesitate despite the wall’s height, which seemed impossibly high to Esther. He took out a blunt axe from his waist and ruthlessly struck it against the wall.

It was a wall made of solid stone, but with immense force, stone fragments flew, creating a small gap. The man created steps in it, then keenly looked around. Then he deftly lifted Esther onto his shoulder. Esther gasped in surprise, but he paid no attention.

With one arm, the man inserted one hand and both feet into the gap he had made, and when he reached a certain height, he grabbed a carved decoration on the wall and climbed over it. Going down was easier than going up. Apart from a heavy thud, he landed perfectly, like a leopard.

As soon as he landed on the ground, the man lowered Esther from his shoulder. As Esther swayed and straightened her back, which had bent from the recoil, Bianca appeared before her eyes. Esther finally felt relieved.

“Esther!”

Bianca wrapped Esther in the large blanket she was holding. The man, seeing this, twitched his nostrils and urged the two.

“It’s too early to rejoice. We haven’t even escaped the central palace yet.”

Having said that, the man gestured with his chin behind Bianca. A splendid carriage stood there.

“Listen carefully. From now on, you two are my sick sisters. You’re on your way back to our family home in a hurry because you’ve contracted a suspected infectious disease while working in the central palace.”

Bianca nodded and led Esther into the carriage.

“I’ll do the explaining, so you two stay quiet, and if a guard asks anything, just cough a few times.”

Before closing the small, open window, as if to ensure their resolve, the man finished his words and slammed the door shut. And with the rattling sound, a sensation of movement indicated the carriage had started. Esther and Bianca put their upper bodies inside the blanket and held each other’s hands tightly.

The series of events had unfolded so quickly that everything still felt like a dream to her. Bianca leaned her head against Esther’s crown, who had a bewildered look on her face, and whispered.

“Esther. Aren’t you suspicious of me?”