So I Was the Persecuted Grand Duchess Destined to Die? Chapter 100

Chapter 100

Rumble!

The ground split open as if struck by a massive earthquake.

“Ahh!”

The violent tremor threw me off balance, my body pitching forward.

“Renée!”

Xavier caught me instantly, pulling me into his arms.

At the same time, he wrapped his robe around me, shielding me from falling debris and choking dust.

The fetuses hanging from the umbilical cords swayed wildly, tangling into one another. The entire chamber descended into chaos.

Fortunately, the quake subsided moments later.

“Is it… over?”

I lifted my head from Xavier’s chest and looked around.

“Something’s happened.”

His blue-violet eyes sharpened as he scanned the room.

“Really? What do we do?!”

“First, we leave. The stairs we came down should still be—”

BOOM!

An explosion erupted from the laboratory we had entered earlier.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it!”

A furious voice followed.

Familiar.

The High Priest—Raphael Blanche.

He stormed in, eyes bloodshot, face twisted in rage.

We ducked immediately.

“Shh.”

Xavier covered my mouth as we crouched among the tangled fetuses. Thankfully, the grotesque mess provided decent cover.

Raphael didn’t notice us.

He went straight for the heart.

“Ha! Good. This one’s intact…”

He cradled the glowing, pulsating heart with visible relief.

Blackened veins wrapped around it, thick fluid coursing through them like corrupted lifeblood.

My stomach churned.

That’s the core.

And judging by his reaction—

We would have to take it from him someday.

Xavier’s gaze locked onto it as well.

Still holding me, he clearly judged attacking now too reckless.

I hated feeling like dead weight.

Should I run? Create a distraction?

Just then—

“Who’s there?”

Raphael turned.

Our eyes met.

Blood trickled from beneath his wide, bulging gaze.

I forgot how to breathe.

Not just from fear.

But because—

Flash.

A vision struck me.

“Such a nuisance… this covenant.”

It was Raphael.

Older.

Wrinkled.

Standing over me.

“Well? Aren’t you glad to see me, niece?”

He smiled.

And I—

I was inside a coffin.

Soil pressing down.

Someone crying above.

I died.

So why—

The moment Raphael’s gaze locked onto them—

“Ugh!”

Renée collapsed in Xavier’s arms.

“Renée! What’s wrong?”

“I—I’m fine—”

“Cough!”

Blood spilled from her lips.

Dark red.

Her hand trembled as she tried to cover it.

Her face had gone pale—almost blue.

Then she fainted.

“Damn it—we have to leave—”

Xavier forgot about hiding.

Forgot about strategy.

Forgot about everything.

Only her mattered.

[Shh.]

A warm voice echoed in his mind.

Meanwhile—

Raphael turned away as if he had seen nothing.

“Looks like I need to retreat… At least I have this.”

He carefully severed the cords connected to the heart.

Only then did Xavier turn—

Ternox stood beside him.

“I’ve cast a barrier. He can’t see or hear us.”

“We need a physician—now! She coughed blood!”

“Relax. She only fainted.”

“People don’t cough blood when they only faint.”

“That was dead blood. Toxins purging—”

“Enough. Take us to the townhouse. Or I’ll kill you.”

Ternox clicked his tongue.

He’s lost it.

Still, he had already calculated the situation.

Raphael had failed to brainwash them.

Their identities remained hidden.

This wasn’t a total loss.

“Such ingratitude, descendant.”

Xavier didn’t hear him.

His focus was solely on Renée.

Her breathing grew harsher.

Sweat gathered along her brow.

She was burning up.

“Let him go and there may be consequences.”

“Do you think I care?”

Xavier’s answer was immediate.

“Use spatial magic. That’s an order.”

Ternox smiled faintly.

“That’s more like you.”

Snap.

They vanished.

After they disappeared—

The ground rumbled again.

This time, it wasn’t Ternox.

Raphael had activated a collapse mechanism.

The deepest chamber beneath the Grand Temple began to cave in.

“This complicates things. I’ll have to go missing.”

He clutched the heart tightly.

Rocks crashed down around him.

He couldn’t use another spatial scroll—

He had already used the only one he had managed to create, forged from the life force of over a hundred people.

“That should’ve been saved…”

Still—

Perhaps it was fortunate.

That wasn’t Xavier.

If so—

There were few possibilities left.

A human cannot defeat a dragon.

He would retreat.

His teal-green eyes gleamed with madness.

Opening another concealed passage—

A corridor stretched endlessly forward.

Leading directly toward the heart of the Empire.

The Imperial Palace.