So I Was the Persecuted Grand Duchess Destined to Die? Chapter 128

Chapter 128

“…Ugh.”

Before long, Raphael forced his eyes open.

Through his blurred vision, he saw black military boots.

When he lifted his head, he met Xavier’s icy gaze. Xavier stood over him, one arm protectively pulling Renée back behind him.

Only then did Raphael understand his situation.

This wasn’t the underground sanctuary.

“How dare you show such disrespect to the High Priest!”

“So he was alive all along?”

“A trial? All of a sudden…?”

They were in the Grand Assembly Hall of the Imperial Palace—the very place where the empire’s power converged.

Raphael lay sprawled in the center of the chamber, hundreds of eyes fixed on him.

All the heads of the noble houses were gathered. The council had been in session.

Crackle—!

“Ghk!”

Raphael instinctively tried to use magic.

Sparks spat violently across the back of his hand—but nothing else happened.

Worse, a vicious backlash surged through his body, making his vision flash white.

“It’s a magic restraint forged by a dragon,” Xavier murmured coldly, lowering the tip of his sword to Raphael’s throat.
“Your tricks won’t work anymore.”

“I will hand you over to an imperial trial. In front of the people, I’ll expose every filthy sin you committed—
and I’ll give you a death as desperate as the lives you stole.”

The razor-edged declaration shattered the hall into chaos.

The nobles could hardly believe the sight before them: the so-called holy saint crawling on the floor.

“There’s no way the High Priest would commit such atrocities!”

“This is the Duke of Celeste’s slander!”

From the uproar, the most hysterical voice belonged to Marquis Blanche—Renée’s father.

It was obvious he wasn’t defending Raphael out of loyalty.

He was protecting himself.

Raphael’s gaze grew colder as it fell upon his elder brother.

Behind Xavier, Renée watched her father’s frantic outburst, her expression darkening.

“Duke, lower your blade!” Empress Isabella shrieked. “How dare you commit violence in a sacred royal council where all nobles are gathered!”

Her composure cracked despite her efforts to maintain dignity. Her hands trembled openly as she clutched the hem of her gown.

In a voice sharp as ice, she continued,

“I still remember how you dared to threaten the Empress at the last council. Duke of Celeste—unless you are plotting treason, how dare you insult the High Priest like this?”

“The one insulting this assembly is Your Majesty.”

A calm voice cut cleanly through the noise.

As Isabella once again attempted to corner Xavier with accusations of treason, Crown Prince Callian stepped forward.

“We gathered here to determine the empire’s future. Therefore, we will lay bare every crime committed by the Empress and the High Priest—and judge them accordingly.”

His eyes were cold.

“From this moment forward, this assembly is converted into an imperial trial, in accordance with imperial law.”

The declaration carried the weight of royal authority.

Raphael, who had listened in silence, let a crooked smile curl across his lips.

Spit.

He spat blood onto the polished floor and chuckled low.

“Heh… A trial. Truly the kind of ‘righteousness’ you people would cling to.”

His gaze locked onto Xavier.

Raphael had known Xavier would come to the sanctuary.

No—

He had wanted him to come.

The binding oath branded onto Renée had not been meant only to shackle her.

The moment Xavier touched her—when the incomplete hearts converged—the oath was supposed to activate, siphoning all of Xavier’s power and delivering it to Raphael.

Raphael had never doubted that the instant Xavier arrived to “save” Renée would be the moment he himself ascended as a god.

But—

The oath had vanished.

After all the lives he devoured to build his power.

Raphael’s eyes darkened with quiet despair.

Reality had unfolded in the opposite direction.

The resonance between Xavier and Renée had been so overwhelming that it erased Raphael’s oath as though it had never existed.

The heart Raphael had stolen from the previous timeline—

The moment it brushed against its rightful owners—

It found their souls.

It returned.

Properly divided.

The trap he had laid became the final key that restored Xavier and Renée to wholeness.

Realizing he had been caught in his own snare, Raphael’s face twisted grotesquely.

Fine.

Then there’s only one path left.

He met Isabella’s eyes.

Gulp.

As if that were the signal, Raphael swallowed hard, gathered the last of his strength, and pursed his lips.

Fweee—!

A sharp, piercing whistle tore through the entire palace.

* * *

Outside the windows, torrential rain lashed against the world.

I had turned away from the suffocating tension—

And that was when I saw it first.

A greater disaster.

Instinctively, I clutched the hem of Xavier’s coat as he stood before me.

I couldn’t even speak.

“…!”

Xavier sensed it instantly.

He scooped me into his arms and covered me with his cloak.

“Something’s coming.”

The moment his voice fell—

BOOOOM—!

A thunderclap like the sky tearing apart shook the hall.

“Aaah!”

“What is that?!”

“A monster!”

The front wall of glass exploded inward, shards slamming harmlessly against Xavier’s cloak.

In his arms, I stared at the impossible sight.

A gigantic eagle’s talon had smashed through the royal assembly hall.

“Th-that is—!”

“…A griffin.”

Xavier’s jaw tightened as sword aura surged along his blade.

But the most horrifying part was this—

The griffin was not alone.

Behind it, countless monsters swarmed through the storm, converging toward the palace.

Panic erupted.

Screams filled the chamber.

Flap—!

A violent gust roared through the hall.

Then—

A colossal body slammed into the griffin midair.

The beast went tumbling from the sheer impact.

The creature that opened its massive jaws toward it—

“…Ternox?!”

Ternox had returned to his true form.

His immense emerald scales gleamed even through the rain, radiating overwhelming power.

His body rivaled the griffin in size.

I swallowed hard.

That griffin—

The monster that had once driven even Ternox into fear.

I still didn’t know what had changed within him.

But—

“Nox! You can do it!”

I shouted with everything I had.

For a split second, the dragon’s bright yellow slit pupil turned toward me.

“You’re the strongest dragon in the universe! Don’t lose to some fake!”

I couldn’t read his expression.

But somehow—

It felt like the enormous dragon had smirked.

Instead of retreating, Ternox shot upward and charged directly at the griffin.

Crunch!

Steel talons raked across Ternox’s scales—

He didn’t flinch.

He sank his fangs into the griffin’s nape.

KIEEEEK—!

Black blood poured down like rain as the griffin shrieked.

Ternox pressed harder—savage, relentless—

As if tearing apart centuries of trauma with his own teeth.

Above, the two titans collided again and again, shattering palace stone with every impact.

“Aaah! Please—someone save me!”

Even with giants battling overhead, no human below had the luxury to watch.

The smaller monsters poured through the shattered windows.

But—

They couldn’t cross a certain line.

As if stopped by an invisible wall.

The defensive formation Ternox and Callian had prepared was holding.

A vast dome shimmered around the hall.

Monsters swarmed against it, clawing and screeching.

“My god—get them away!”

“We’re going to die!”

The nobles, out of their minds with terror, scrambled behind the imperial knights for protection.