Abandoned Empress's Survival Manual Beside the Male Lead - Chapter 24

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 24
“Other concubines may be acceptable, but this one—you cannot simply whisk her away as you please, Grand Duke Gonette. That woman is the half-sister of the Saint’s daughter, is she not?”
That bastard—the same one who’d stood against Shercan to prevent me from taking her away before!
The first domino that entangles them relentlessly in the original story, the catalyst that corrupts Ayu so thoroughly…….
Duke Deon Baetan seized Ayu’s hands, breathing heavily.
“Ayu! There you are! I’ve been searching for you everywhere!”
“Get out! Leave me alone!”
‘What on earth? Why is he causing a commotion in someone else’s dressing room?’
Any ordinary noblewoman would have been furious, but the thought never occurred to me.
Whether they clawed at each other or tore themselves apart—it had nothing to do with me.
I was trying to slip out quietly.
Then Ayu suddenly grabbed me with tremendous force.
“Sister! Help me! Drive him out!”
Excuse me?
Before I could even question what I’d heard, Ayu threw her arms around me and burst into tears.
“I am the Saint’s daughter! And now, I’m your sister too—Grand Duchess Gonette’s sister!”
In the original story, Ayu always invoked ‘the Saint’s daughter’ whenever she clashed with Duke Baetan.
Now she wielded the phrase ‘your sister’ without the slightest hesitation…….
“So why does your mother hate me so much? I don’t deserve this treatment!”
“Ayu! I told you—just give me time! I’ll win Mother’s heart over and bring you to the castle as my bride!”
Duke Baetan cried out, his voice thick with emotion, when suddenly his gaze found me. A flash of displeasure crossed his reddened eyes.
“Grand Duchess. I apologize, but would you mind leaving us?”
There was no reason to refuse such an imperious command, so I nodded readily.
“Of course.”
I answered without hesitation and released Ayu’s hand without lingering, but…….
“Sister! Don’t go!”
Ayu not only refused to let me go—she clung to me instead, crying and shrieking.
“Listen here, Deon Baetan! My sister promised to take me to Gonette Castle as its lady!”
“What?”
Duke Baetan’s eyes flashed with fury as he fixed his glare upon me.
“No matter your station as Grand Duchess, isn’t that an overreach? Why do you presume to decide the Saint’s fate?”
I neither laughed nor offered a retort.
I simply opened my mouth to speak.
“I have said no such thing, Duke Baetan.”
Ayu’s face went momentarily blank. Doubt flickered across Duke Baetan’s eyes as well.
The fact that I remained perfectly unmoved seemed to have startled them both—each in their own way.
Ayu was unaccustomed to my refusing her without affection or hesitation; Duke Baetan, to standing before his own anger without flinching. But then again, I was already managing Bridget and Shercan—people far more terrifying than him.
Duke Baetan might have been tall and imposing when angry, but I’d grown accustomed to far worse.
My nerves were ice-solid. Not a single finger trembled.
“Ayu made a one-sided demand, and I refused her. She is the Saint—she belongs in the Priesthood’s care.”
“Sister……?”
I reached out and smoothed her hair with measured calm.
“Besides, Gonette has no margin for comfort right now. Even if you came, we couldn’t receive you properly. Stay at the Temple of Saints where you’ll be at peace.”
At my words, Ayu immediately clung to me again.
“Sister! Don’t leave me!”
“Duke Baetan asked me to step aside, didn’t he? The two of you should talk things through. Be careful on your way back. Goodbye.”
“Sister…….”
The grip that had been bruising my arm with its force gradually weakened.
“How could you treat me this way……? I’m your sister—you’re supposed to look after me…….”
Ayu muttered as though possessed, her eyes swimming before tears began to stream down her face.
Without hesitation, I ceded the opportunity to wipe those tears to Duke Baetan and quickly moved away.
There was, however, one thing I had completely forgotten.
Namely…….
“So this is what the Grand Duchess truly is—a woman without courtesy or breeding.”
The fact that whenever the heroine weeps, the secondary male lead loses all sense and rage without restraint…….
Duke Deon Baetan stepped directly into my path. His eyes blazed with killing intent as he shouted.
“Does the Grand Duchess not pity your younger sister? Sent alone into the strict Temple of Saints at such a tender age!”
Ayu and I were born only months apart.
The Temple of Saints was merely strict in its discipline, while the Imperial Palace at Pasa was a razor’s edge where one had to stake their very life.
Did he not pity me?
Despite the urge to snap at them, I kept my tone respectful.
I didn’t want to be entangled with these people.
“I apologize.”
I bowed my head sharply, ready to leave, when my forearm was seized instead.
Pain shot through me at the vice-like grip threatening to snap my wrist.
“Are you dismissing me right now?!”
“I said I was sorry, didn’t I?”
“Ayu is crying, and you think sorry is enough?!”
“You told me to leave. You can comfort her yourself, Duke Baetan.”
“Damn it—! No wonder you come from a Deposed Concubine’s background. You reek of ignorance!”
“Yes. Next time, I’ll be more—”
careful. I apologize.
So sorry.
Even as I spoke, desperate to put distance between myself and these ticking bombs, I—
froze.
Every alarm in my body was screaming.
Alert. Alert.
Dangerous person approaching 100 meters away!
Hazard detected!
Hazard detected!
‘This scent… this is Bridget’s favorite fragrance—White Sandalwood mixed with forsythia blossoms!’
Bridget’s bearing was exceptional, and her tastes were fixed.
At Gonette Castle, she wore the fragrance subtly; but since arriving at the Imperial Palace, she’d been using it ten times stronger.
That way, she said, outsiders wouldn’t dare underestimate her.
Suddenly, an overwhelming wave of tension crashed through me.
‘Am I in serious trouble?’
Bridget was fiercely loyal to me.
The problem was the source of that loyalty.
She had fallen for ‘me’—the version of me that displayed remarkably flawless dignity.
Her standards for devotion were narrow and absolute.
Back home, it was fine for me to be loose and unguarded, but this was the Gaiarde Imperial Palace, and the people I’d just treated with such servility were Duke Baetan and Ayu.
In other words, outsiders.
Of course, I didn’t know if Bridget would turn her back on me over just this conversation.
But I didn’t want to give her even a sliver of doubt!
Not for anything!
Where else in the world could I find a shield like Bridget?
And thinking that I might lose her over this pathetic fool’s pointless lovers’ quarrel—rage began to simmer inside me.
I straightened my posture at once.
At the same time, I spoke in a frigid tone.
“Release my arm. Duke Baetan.”
In a heartbeat, my demeanor had shifted entirely, and surprise flashed across the Duke’s irate eyes.
“You said I come from a Deposed Concubine’s background and lack refinement? As I see it, you’re the one who fails to understand rank. You’re the one who’s been poorly taught.”
“…What did you just say?”
I raised my free arm and brought it down sharply against his, striking his grip away.
“First, I am a Grand Duchess, which makes my station higher than yours. Second, I am a lady, and I have no reason to tolerate such rudeness.”
“……”
“I said, let go!”
The chill in my voice made Duke Baetan reflexively release me.
‘How much did she hear? How much did Bridget hear?’
Whether Duke Baetan’s eyes wavered or not, I couldn’t bear the thought of Bridget watching—I simply couldn’t bear it!
“What were you saying a moment ago? That it’s such a pity Ayu has to go to the Temple of Saints at her tender age?”
I lifted my chin, my smile dripping with mockery.
“Ayu, do you feel the same way? Then come—your sister will go with you to meet the Priesthood.”
“…Pardon?”
Ayu stared at me with glistening olive eyes, tears threatening to spill.
“If you truly hate going to the Temple of Saints, you must tell the Priesthood that too. Oh, and Duke Baetan—you said you’d obtained your mother’s permission and would take Ayu away properly, didn’t you?”
I smiled with glacial sweetness.
“How convenient. Let me state it formally right now, in front of the Priesthood. They are virtuous people who revere the Saint, so they’ll do everything in their power to help.”
“…!”
Ayu’s eyes, which had been wide with fear, suddenly sparkled with hope.
“Y-yes! Your Grace, please go speak to the Priesthood. They’ll surely help us!”
But Deon Baetan offered no response.
He merely stiffened, his jaw locking tight.
I smiled.
My mind, meanwhile, was racing—spinning like a wheel about to fly apart.
‘I have to prove it to my Bridget! Show her just how savage my pride is, how lethal my strike can be!’
Enough to make her forget every cringing word I’d uttered before.
I had to corner Deon Baetan, had to tear him apart.
The calculation was done in an instant.
“By the way.”
At the thought of losing Bridget, my voice shifted—became something else entirely.
“I just remembered something I overheard from the ladies earlier. Now that I think about it, it strikes me as rather strange.”
“……?”
“Ayu, what are you driving at?”
“……What do you mean?”
Ayu’s senses sharpened—she caught the scent of danger. Her eyes trembled.
“W-what am I supposed to have done? Sister……?”
I gazed at Deon Baetan with nothing but a smile on my lips.
“They say you’re already a married man, Your Grace. So how did you ever think you’d take a wife as Grand Duchess?”
“……?!”
“……!”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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