Abandoned Empress's Survival Manual Beside the Male Lead - Chapter 25

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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 25
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“What on earth are you trying to do?”
Shercan looked down at the arrogant servant with cold eyes and asked.
Bridget.
The former confidante of Grand Duchess Gaia had arrived in Gonet exactly six months ago.
Since coming here, Bridget had attached herself to the Council of Elders and barely set foot in the main residence.
She had come to Gonet in the first place because of a promise made to the previous Grand Duke and his wife.
She had thoroughly despised Shercan, who was illegitimate by birth.
Of course, Shercan had not cared.
He had no time to revel in the joy of newly inheriting the title of Grand Duke.
He had to restore his Grand Duchy to prosperity before it collapsed entirely.
But he had never imagined that this bat-like servant would become Lorelei’s closest confidante.
At first, he had considered killing her while he was at it, but Lorelei trusted her deeply.
That had been incomprehensible, until he realized that this damnable servant and he shared an irritating quality.
An obsession with nobility.
“Aren’t you listening to me?”
“Your Grace.”
Bridget suddenly fell to her knees.
“I do not presume to ask for forgiveness for my past transgressions.”
“Get out.”
“But! Only this once, I humbly beseech you to hear my earnest plea! You cannot go!”
Bridget blocked Shercan with resolute eyes, standing just fifty meters from the Dressing Room.
“Is not Her Grace the Grand Duchess this very moment delivering a scathing, composed rebuke!”
“What the hell have you been babbling about this whole time…….”
Shercan ran his hand roughly through his hair.
His physical abilities were incomparably superior to those of ordinary people.
The insolent words of Deon Baetan had already lodged in Shercan’s ears long before Bridget could hear them.
Because of that, Shercan was now seething with rage from the crown of his head to his toes.
That arrogant duke would need to lose at least an arm before he came to his senses.
Shercan was about to brush Bridget aside and pass when——
“This is a matter of the noble Grand Duchess’s honor!”
He stopped in mid-stride.
“If Your Grace intervenes, it would be an affront to the dignity of Her Grace the Grand Duchess herself—you must restrain yourself!”
“This is a matter of honor?”
Astounded as he was, Shercan lowered his foot.
He glared at Bridget savagely, then let out a short curse.
“Dammit.”
Shercan leaned his back against the wall and stood with a crooked posture.
* * *
‘Why hasn’t Bridget come yet?’
By now, she should have arrived…….
‘Is she waiting?’
Yes.
If it was Bridget, she must be deeply disappointed by my pathetic response earlier.
She would surely decide whether to continue supporting me or abandon me based on what I did now.
I had to see this through.
I watched Deon Baetan’s face, frozen much like Ayu’s shocked expression, and continued speaking.
“Ayu, what status were you planning to enter by? His concubine? Or his mistress?”
“……!”
“You need to answer, Ayu. What did you hear? From that man so obsessed with law and propriety.”
Ayu, her complexion deathly pale, trembled as she looked at Deon Baetan.
“Sister…… what are you saying right now……?”
“…….”
“Deon Baetan! Why won’t you speak! Is that true? Is it true you’re a married man!”
Just as in the original story, he had hidden it well this time too.
“Deon Baetan!”
Ayu seemed to have lost her mind to the shock of betrayal.
“Why won’t you answer! I’m asking if what she said is true! Why didn’t you tell me! Why did you promise to take me as your duchess!”
Deon Baetan began pleading with Ayu in panic.
“Ayu…… Ayu, listen to me…….”
“I don’t want to hear it! Explain yourself right now! Tell me if what my sister said is true or not!”
“It’s… it is true…….”
Ayu staggered backward as though struck, and Deon Baetan rushed to catch her in his arms.
“Ayu! She was only a political marriage! My first love is you, and my last love will be you too! Please, believe me! I’m going to divorce her—just give me time!”
“Get away from me…….”
“Ayu!”
“Leave me alone! You traitor!”
Ayu pounded her fists against Deon Baetan’s chest through her tears. He tried to soothe her, holding her close, but she wouldn’t listen.
“I’m going to Daesin Temple.”
“Ayu!”
That was when Deon Baetan dropped to his knees.
“Please—I didn’t know what love was until I met you. Without you, I’ll die right here. Ayu, please……!”
Ayu hesitated for a moment, but then her jaw set with resolve.
“I’m going to listen to my sister.”
“Ayu!”
“Thank you, sister. If it weren’t for you, I would have loved that man forever.”
“There’s nothing to thank me for.”
I smiled slightly.
“The choice is yours to make.”
Deon Baetan lurched to his feet.
His eyes had gone completely wild—nothing remained of that subtle, measured gaze from moments before.
“It’s your fault! You filled her head with needless words and hurt her……!”
Deon Baetan raised his hand. He was about to bring it down when his arm seized mid-air.
It happened in the blink of an eye.
“Ahhhhh!”
Ayu’s scream pierced the air.
Deon Baetan’s cheek caved inward as blood sprayed from his mouth.
Shercan laughed—actually laughed—as he withdrew his fist from the Grand Duke’s face.
“Deon Baetan.”
“Sh-Shercan of Gonet…….”
Deon Baetan staggered, spitting blood.
“You still think you outrank me, don’t you.”
“G-Grand Duke Gonet, th-this is…….”
“It doesn’t matter. You don’t lay hands on another man’s wife. Not unless you want to learn some manners, you filthy dog.”
This time I nearly screamed myself.
“Ahhhhhhh!”
Shercan had severed Deon Baetan’s right hand cleanly from his wrist.
Thud. Roll.
My chest convulsed violently. If I hadn’t clamped both hands over my mouth, I would have vomited.
The same hand that had been reaching for my face just moments ago now lay on the floor. It didn’t seem real. It felt like watching a nightmare—impossible, removed from reality.
But the metallic stench of blood that filled my nostrils was relentless proof that this was happening.
Shercan tapped the severed hand on the marble with the tip of his blade, his expression utterly unmoved. He might as well have been nudging a cheap toy that had fallen to the ground.
Blood pooled across the white marble in dark, deepening rivulets. The stark, violent contrast of the colors was irrefutable proof that what had just transpired was not a hallucination.
Ayu’s unending screams finally drew the attention of those outside the room.
The moment people saw Deon Baetan collapsed with his hand missing, panic erupted.
“M-Murder! The Grand Duke of Gonet has attacked the Commander……!”
“Summon the Imperial Guard! Now!”
“And a physician! Where’s the palace healer?!”
But Shercan seemed deaf to the commotion.
“Baetan.”
Crouching over the fallen Grand Duke, Shercan seized a fistful of his hair and spoke.
“Why did you push my wife toward that Spirit Stone?”
“Th-that wasn’t me…….”
“Don’t bother denying it. I’ve been gathering witnesses this whole time.”
“……!”
My eyes widened.
‘That’s what this was about?’
So he pushed me because he was afraid Ayu would die if she touched the Spirit Stone?
People had been whispering loudly right there—something about how an illegitimate child who touched a Spirit Stone would invite the Spirit’s wrath and die on the spot?
Meaning I could’ve died just as instantly?
‘That bastard.’
Even as I cursed under my breath, Deon Baetan’s cries of agony deepened—a consequence of Shercan’s merciless grip.
He seized the immobilized Grand Duke’s head and shook it like a toy as he spoke.
“Answer me, Baetan. Were you afraid that whore you’re so fond of would die? Hmm?”
Behind him, Ayu’s voice emerged hollow with shock.
“A whore? Me……?”
Ayu, raised to see only precious things. All the finest words belonged to her.
The King didn’t even call her the Second Princess.
He only ever called her his treasure, his princess, his very life.
The blood-soaked floor. Deon Baetan’s wrist, severed from his body.
Ayu’s gaze flickered between them—the bloodied ground, the Grand Duke’s severed wrist, Shercan’s contemptuous eyes—before she crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut.
“Ah! Holy Maiden!”
“The Holy Maiden has fainted!”
High priests came rushing in at word of the commotion, along with the knights.
“G-Grand Duke of Gonet, Your Highness. What on earth is this……!”
“Were you trying to kill Deon Baetan?”
“Kill?”
Shercan scoffed.
“If I meant to kill him, I’d have severed his neck, not his wrist.”
“Y-Your Highness……!”
“This is the Imperial Palace! Such savage language……!”
“His Majesty will not take this lightly!”
Shercan’s expression didn’t so much as twitch. With an impassive face, he drew something from his pocket—a pearl gleaming bright yellow.
Shercan tossed it onto the floor.
“Reattach it.”
“Eek! A Healing Spirit Stone……!”
“Does such a massive Spirit Stone actually exist?”
The physicians rushed forward. After the priests administered further treatment, the severed wrist reattached as though it had never been torn away.
In Shercan’s eyes as he watched, only faint disdain flickered.
“It’s back on.”
Shercan sheathed his sword and clicked his tongue sharply.
“I’ll bill you for the Spirit Stone later. You keep making me spend what I’m still owed.”
Displeased, he strode toward me with long steps.
For someone who had just severed a man’s wrist, his approach toward me was unhurried and composed.
“Lorelei.”
He took my hand and spoke.
“Let’s go. His Majesty called for us.”
“Yes? Yes…….”
As Shercan pulled me along, I glanced back over my shoulder.
The Banquet Hall, drenched and in disarray. The Holy Maiden unconscious. Deon Baetan clutching his wrist.
Through the midst of that chaos, Shercan walked out as though crossing his own courtyard.
At first I worried whether I’d antagonized the source material’s main characters too much, but the moment I saw Bridget following behind me with a grin splitting her face, my anxieties melted away.
‘I made the best choice.’
I found myself curious about something.
Once we reached the Estate, what would Ayu think when she discovered Deon Baetan was already married?

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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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