I Seducing the Black-Hearted Duke Wasn't Me - Chapter 19

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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 19
‘This is rather too bold, even for them.’
Dozens of eyes fixed on me from around the table, all at once.
And not kindly—every last one of them was watching me like a hawk.
I kept my expression serene, my smile composed, and opened my mouth to speak.
“If by ‘rumors’ you mean those circulating about my relationship with Leon, then……”
……
“Yes, some of it is true.”
I admitted it freely.
At that, the women around the table erupted into chaos.
Though truthfully, I had come prepared for exactly this.
‘If I deny it now, they’ll only grow more excited. Better to acknowledge what’s already known—that much, at least.’
Besides, it wasn’t a lie.
“Wait. You said you acknowledge ‘some’ of it. What do you mean by that? Be more specific, please.”
“Well, I’ve noticed a few rather sensationalist publications claiming I’m already with child, and other such nonsense. Ha. Of course, no one here would believe such absurdity.”
I laughed as though the notion of anyone crediting such drivel was simply ridiculous—and a few of the matrons and young ladies exchanged awkward smiles.
“So your relationship with Leon is genuine?”
“It is. I admit I’m at a loss as to why this matter has spiraled so far out of proportion, but there’s nothing false in it.”
I answered with confidence, and the women seated around the table exchanged glances in silence.
Confusion was written plainly across their faces.
They clearly had not expected me to concede the point so readily.
‘I’m sorry to disappoint, but this much was always within my calculations.’
I swallowed a small sigh and gauged the mood.
I had already laid my groundwork beforehand.
“It’s rather startling, actually. We were simply continuing our acquaintance quietly—like any ordinary couple in love.”
There was nothing wrong with their gossiping among themselves behind closed doors, the kind of ‘Did you hear? She and he are that sort of thing’—but to speak of it openly in public when no engagement had been announced was a breach of propriety.
It risked branding me as loose-tongued and foolish.
At my rebuke, the matrons who had been egging on the young ladies cleared their throats and looked away.
They seemed to realize they’d been insufficiently guarded with their curiosity.
But then.
“It makes no sense. Yet you and Leon have had no connection whatsoever. For things to suddenly develop like this……! So suddenly……!”
True.
The trouble wasn’t the matrons, but the young ladies who rushed at me with abandon and no restraint.
“As for how we came to know each other, Leon and I were senior and junior at the Academy. We were both scholarship students, so we had frequent opportunities to meet.”
“The Academy?”
“Yes.”
The young ladies were taken aback by the revelation that our meeting place had been the Academy.
Due to the Academy’s closed nature—with its full dormitory system for all years—nothing that happens within its walls is known to the outside world.
Moreover, the Academy in the Orden Empire, while coeducational, was not a place to which young ladies of quality were typically sent.
Among my own generation, one could count on one hand those who had graduated from it.
As expected, once this unfamiliar detail emerged, the young ladies fell silent one by one.
“So…… you knew him before he became a Priest?”
“That’s correct. For reference, His Majesty the Emperor was also enrolled two years above me. He remembered me, in fact.”
With the Emperor vouching for me, what argument could they possibly mount? About half of the remaining young ladies fell silent as well.
Now, what I anticipated next was……
“All the same. However much of a connection you had, seducing a Priest seems rather inappropriate, doesn’t it?”
There it is. The most disadvantageous point in this entire conversation.
‘That I seduced a Priest.’
Clink.
I set down the teacup I had briefly lifted and offered an awkward smile.
“On that point……”
……
“Honestly, I have nothing to say.”
As I fell silent, the emboldened young ladies pressed their advantage.
“A truly virtuous lady of High Society ought never to do such a thing. Do you realize how utterly shameless an act you’ve committed?”
“That’s right. Because of you, we might all suffer consequences……”
“I beg your pardon, but I must respectfully disagree with that assessment. As you all know, I am not a lady of High Society. I cannot be equated with you, so rest assured.”
“…… Pardon?”
At those words, even those who had been quietly observing the spectacle froze.
Their faces said it all.
‘Hmm? Now that you mention it, that does seem right.’
I smiled quietly to myself at the sight of this.
Everyone’s misunderstanding something at the moment.
If I were merely an ordinary Noble Lady, the fact alone that I’d been entangled in such a scandalous affair before marriage—regardless of its truth—would have done considerable damage to my marriage prospects.
But my position is Marquis.
Even if I truly had seduced the Grand Duke and deliberately stripped him of his Priesthood, I might face criticism, but my value wouldn’t diminish for it.
My worth lay not in myself as a bride to be paraded on the marriage market, but in the Jahelete I held in my hands.
Fortunately, a few seemed to have finally grasped that difference, and were beginning to back away.
“How can she be so brazen!”
Though not all of them, of course.
“I can’t take it anymore. I held my tongue out of propriety, for your honor, ma’am, but I must speak what needs to be said!”
The young lady who’d volunteered to bear the standard struck the table and shot up, her voice cutting sharp and cold.
“You’ve destroyed one man’s entire life with despicable scheming! His Highness is…… he’s such a gentle soul. You exploited his goodness with your machinations! And yet here you sit, shameless as ever!”
The young lady trembled as she glared at me.
Anyone watching would think I was a monster who’d deliberately ruined Leon’s life.
And what was that? A gentle soul?
‘That didn’t quite seem to be the case before.’
The memory surfaced suddenly—when the Emperor had summoned me.
Leon had faced the Emperor with a terrifying expression.
He was simply patient by nature, but he got angry normally enough.
……threatened.
And seemed to enjoy watching it.
‘Come to think of it, he seems rather thoroughly corrupt.’
He was certainly not the pure, selfless angel these people described.
“His Highness is so upright and conscientious by nature!”
Good grief, she’s still at it.
“When I think of His Highness being manipulated by someone like you, my heart breaks so—I haven’t been sleeping well lately…….”
Right. I can’t listen to any more of this.
“What you’re saying is rather peculiar, young lady.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Are you suggesting that the Grand Duke is foolish enough to be manipulated by someone like me, consumed by ambition?”
“I never said such a thing! You’re twisting my words because you have nothing real to say!”
“That’s exactly what you’re implying—that His Highness is being deceived by me, that he’s a pitiful man to be sympathized with.”
“Ugh……!”
The young lady bit her lip at my reminder of her own words.
“This is really…… sigh…….”
As silence finally arrived, I let out a deliberately long breath. The women who’d been watching with bated breath all froze at once at my obvious display of displeasure.
“I didn’t want to say this, but I see no choice. Young lady, you’re laboring under a grave misunderstanding.”
“A misunderstanding? What do you mean!”
“No matter that I’m roughly your age, wearing a dress, sitting here with you.”
“…….”
“You and I are in entirely different positions.”
There was a difference between us.
As I made this clear, the noble ladies reacted at once.
A truth they all knew in their hearts but had chosen not to acknowledge.
“What you see isn’t all there is. Do you understand what I’m saying, young lady?”
“That’s not…… Oh, Mother!”
The young lady, still not reading the room and about to counter boldly, was hastily silenced by the noble woman seated beside her.
“My apologies, your Grace. My daughter isn’t yet accustomed to these gatherings…….”
“It’s quite all right.”
I relaxed my expression and smiled sweetly.
“To be frank, I’m still finding these occasions rather awkward myself. As you all know, I’m far less practiced in High Society than you are.”
“…….”
“I know nothing but calculations and business schemes, you see—these social settings are entirely unfamiliar to me. What a predicament.”
“Ah, ah…… why would you say such things…… haha.”
I could see it clearly—the corners of their mouths rising stiffly, their foreheads beaded with cold sweat.
They’d underestimated me, hadn’t they?
I was smiling inwardly at that thought when—
“It seems you’re all having a delightful conversation.”
“Oh, Madam!”

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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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