A Saint Who Was Adopted by the Grand Duke

"What should I do?"

Flabbergasted, Judy rapidly moved his rigid arms and held Esther, grumbling. Although Judy was strong, it was still too much for his small physique.

He proceeded to run towards the mansion without having the time to think. His thoughts only consisted of handing Esther to someone-- anyone to help her.

"Please wake up. Huh?"

Judy’s face turned white with shock.

He crossed the hill without any difficulty. As he nearly reached the mansion, someone called his name.

“Master Judy?”

The person advanced from the opposite side.

Judy, who came to his senses, soon asked hurriedly, breathing roughly as he held Esther in his trembling arms.

"Who are you?"

“Oh, I am a doctor. My name is Evian... I was present the last time the master had the Young Lady's check-up. Do you remember?”

"Are you really a doctor? Then that’s great."

Judy sighed in relief.

It was a huge coincidence that he met a doctor. He had thought to call a doctor right away, and it didn’t matter who.

“Then take a look at Esther.”

Judy pointed to the girl in his arms, his eyes filled with worry.

“Of course, but can you explain what happened?”

“She suddenly collapsed.”

Although Evian seemed to be seriously examining Esther, he was, in fact, silently cheering inside.

'How could I be this lucky?'

The checkup had been too brief previously. Although he wished to know more about Esther's condition, he never again encountered the opportunity to do so because of his low status.

However, right now, Esther was unconscious, having Judy as the only one next to her. This would give Evian the perfect chance to inspect as much as he desired.

“Then excuse me for a moment.”

Evian greedily lifted Esther's wrist, his eyes glinting. However, at that moment, a resounding voice stopped such an opportunity.

"Stop!"

Both Judy and Evian turned back at the sudden voice.

“Master Dennis?”

“Why are you here?”

The owner of that urgent voice was none other than Dennis.

Unlike Dennis, Judy was still gasping for breath after all the running.

"Give me Esther."

Dennis rushed forward without hesitation, blocking Evian from touching Esther.

Evian flinched as he gazed at him attentively.

"Why are you doing this? I asked him to take a look since Esther isn’t waking up.”

Judy, annoyed, asked why Dennis stopped the doctor from examining Esther. He believed Esther should see a doctor as soon as possible.

However, Dennis reassured Judy, letting him know it wasn’t that big of a deal.

"No, Esther is fine."

“She’s fine?”

"Yes. She must have fallen asleep.”

Judy noticed something was odd, as Dennis continued to insist she was fine. However, he couldn’t decide what to d,o as he was too worried about Esther.

"Don't be like that, master. Let me take a look at the Young Lady. There might be something wrong with her body."

Evian tried to look as servile as he could to avoid missing this opportunity. He had an expression of a doctor who was genuinely concerned about his patient and could not think of anything else.

"It’s fine."

However, Dennis stubbornly rejected Evian. Then, as if there wasn’t any need to say more, he stood in front of Esther.

"You may leave."

"...Yes, master."

Evian couldn't take his eyes off Esther, overtaken with melancholy at the missed opportunity.

"My name is Evian. Please call me whenever you are in need of me."

However, he could only smile and back down, as he was a mere worker in front of his masters.

Dennis stepped aside only after Evian was nowhere to be seen. Then, as if the tension had finally eased, Dennis proceeded to scold Judy, his voice filled with irritation.

"Why did you permit a nobody like him to check on Esther?"

“He’s a doctor. Not a nobody. Why are you doing this? It’s not like you.”

Dennis frowned at Judy who had no idea what was happening.

"Esther is... No, let's take her to her room first. I'll explain there."

Dennis didn’t utter another word the entire time. Judy was the same and followed along until they arrived at Esther's room.

As soon as Dennis opened the door, a lengthy, large entity threatened the twins with its presence. It was BamBam.

"Hey! Can you go away!?"

Judy swung his feet, screaming quietly as he tried to chase the snake away.

"Don’t do that. I think he's worried about Esther.”

“The snake is worried? Are you insane?”

Judy opened his eyes wide, thinking of his brother’s words as a bluff.

However, the snake's gaze was fixed on Esther.

“Hiss!” (BamBam)

"I won't hurt her, so please move."

When Dennis spoke calmly, BamBam opened the way as if it had understood him.

Judy, bewildered by the scene, soon took Esther to her bed. He immediately placed his finger under her nose.

"She really seems to be sleeping."

Her complexion was healthy and her breathing was consistent. Judy was relieved, as it was obvious that she was just sleeping.

“Where did you find Esther?”

Dennis asked while situating himself on a chair.

“In the garden. Actually, I secretly followed Esther.”

“Tell me exactly what happened.”

Judy explained everything he had seen the whole time.

"When Esther raised her hand like this, water from the fountain shot up. And after it calmed down and was back in place, it was super clean."

Because he didn't think he had to hide anything from the start, he also talked about the other powers Esther used.

Dennis listened, a serious expression on his face as he nodded.

"It's not normal. There was that time she controlled snakes, and there was today's incident. Esther, what is she?"

"How about you? Did you feel frightened by Esther?"

Judy shrugged as Dennis asked, replying, "What are you talking about?"

"Why should I be scared of my little sister? It was just amazing."

Reassured, Dennis decided to share with Judy what he had learned about Esther.

“Do not be surprised and just listen.”

“What on earth is it?”

“Esther… may be a saint.”

Judy lept up from his chair. He stood looking blankly, unconscious of his mouth hanging open.

“Saint? The one who is said to hold the highest position in the temple?”

"That's right. Even the Emperor can’t go against the Saint."

Judy waved his hand at Dennis, who was unexpectedly calm.

"But there's a saint in the temple now, right?"

"That's the strange part. However, if we match all the circumstances, it's almost certain. You said you saw it yourself today."

Dennis' speech was convincing.

"It’s rewarding to hear that she’s a saint all of a sudden."

Judy rested his chin on the bed, gazing at Esther who was sound asleep. She was completely immersed sleeping, and her plump red cheeks seemed very lovely.

'I was so surprised when she collapsed.'

His heart felt like it had plummeted down. It was the first time Judy was so worried about someone besides Darwin and Dennis. It was evident that he accepted Esther as a member of the family.

Judy stroked Esther's cheek softly, reassuring her that she had nothing to worry about anymore.

"Esther is just my little sister."

"That's right. Even if she is a saint, it won't make any difference."

Dennis neatly arranged Esther's hair.

"The temple doesn't know, does it?"

"Most likely not. If they knew, they wouldn't have let Father take her."

"What if this is made known?"

Dennis and Judy's green eyes met and sank simultaneously.

"They could try to take Esther back."

“That could never happen.”

Judy roared. They’ve already become a family. He couldn't imagine sending her anywhere else.

(TN: Ermm… What about marriage? I guess Noah will have to marry into the family.)

(TN: Sure enough... if he even can lol)

Judy huffed annoyedly. Even Dennis, who had a gentle personality, clenched his fist.

Hostile energy intensely revealed amidst the solemn eyes of the twins, proving they’d both inherited Darwin’s blood.

"We are protecting her."

Dennis carefully placed his hand on the top of Esther's stomach. After, Judy piled up his hand on top of Denniss' and nodded.

"We'll never send her anywhere else."

"Yes, we're family."

For the two, Esther was just a little sister who needed care, not a saint.

"What about Father?"

"Let's keep it a secret for now. I'll let him know when it's time."

“Got it.”

As Judy believed that Dennis, who was smarter than himself would do so befittingly, they made a pinky promise.

He hoped Esther would have sweet dreams and sleep well.

Judy and Dennis each took one of Esther's hands and held them tightly.

** ━━━━━━━⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅ ━━━━━━━**

Esther woke up the next day after lunchtime.

"Uhm."

Esther yawned and rubbed her eyes. Her hazy eyes stared blankly at the ceiling, surprised as she glanced throughout the room.

'How did I get back?'

She recalled everything she did in the garden, yet she did not remember heading back to her room.

"Ugh, it's frustrating."

Esther jumped out of bed and clutched her hair with both hands. She failed to recall anything.

Just then, the door opened.

Dorothy, who entered with an armful of yellow flowers, smiled as she found Esther.

"Are you awake?"

Dorothy's response to her was not different from usual.

'She doesn't know.'

It seems she hadn’t been caught sneaking out at night. Esther swept her chest with relief.

"Yes. But why didn't you wake me up?"

"It was Young Master Dennis’ order. He told me to let you sleep in since you seemed tired."

"Brother?"

Esther tilted her head sideways.

It could be because he saw her immersed in sleeping. However, it was somewhat peculiar that he just let her sleep in.

Meanwhile, Dorothy placed the flowers she brought into the vase. The sweet scent soon filled the room.

"It’s pretty. What flower is it?"

"These are Freesia flowers."

Esther reached out her hand and plucked out a flower without much thought. At that moment, the water in the vase soared in unison.

'No!'

Scared that Dorothy might witness it, she hurriedly removed her hand. Fortunately, the water quickly returned to the vase.

"Oh, my God. What's wrong with this?"

Dorothy tilted her head in confusion as she saw the water in the vase swaying.

"Yes, it’s strange."

Esther pretended not to know about the water when she suddenly heard a knock.

Knock, knock.

Esther and Dorothy faced each other with puzzled expressions on their faces due to the strange, slow pace of the knock.

"Who is it?"

Dorothy ran quickly and opened the door. However, the person who knocked was completely unexpected, so she couldn't promptly let them in.