I Seducing the Black-Hearted Duke Wasn't Me - Chapter 35

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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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Episode 35
“…….”
“…….”
A heavy silence hung in the room.
I regarded Leon calmly.
He had been watching me in silence the whole time, his face weighted with thought.
How long had we been like this?
“Might your decision change depending on how I answer?”
“I’d imagine it would, yes.”
“…….”
“But you can’t lie to me about this.”
As I added that I truly despised lies, above all else, Leon’s gaze turned piercing.
He seemed to sink back into thought for a moment.
“You’re right.”
He nodded.
“I did it.”
“Your Highness?”
At Leon’s straightforward admission, the Aide standing behind him flinched.
Clearly bewildered that he could confess so openly.
Ah. So he’s complicit in this too.
“But Erna, how did you know it was me?”
“Is that really the important question right now?”
“It’s become important to me.”
There was something almost innocent about his curious expression, so at odds with the terrible thing he’d just admitted to doing, and I nearly laughed despite myself.
Keep your wits about you, Erna. Don’t let that face fool you.
“Erna?”
Well, if he was curious, I supposed there was no harm in telling him.
“I simply felt concerned, so I had someone follow you.”
“Hmm?”
“You seemed off that day.”
* * *
A fortnight earlier.
More precisely, the night he had come to return the Zahelette Ring to me.
“Jang. I need you to tail the Grand Duke right now. Actually, I’d prefer you go yourself.”
“Me? Tail His Highness?”
Jang practically leaped at the notion that I wanted him to follow Leon.
“Yes. Something about him feels off to me.”
I nodded, watching his retreating figure disappear into the distance as he left the Estate, speaking through the window.
“True enough — an fiancé with mysterious business at this late hour is suspicious.”
“Exactly. Go and find out where he’s headed.”
“Understood.”
Jang nodded and tapped his chest twice in affirmation.
“Don’t worry. If His Highness has a secret lover or mistress, I’ll dig up everything about them and report it all to you.”
With that parting reassurance, Jang and his men hurried off in pursuit.
And yet……
“He went straight to the Security Bureau.”
“The Security Bureau?”
The answer was completely unexpected.
The Security Bureau. What business could he possibly have there?
“It didn’t seem to be a sudden visit, though. He had an appointment. Someone was already waiting for him when he arrived.”
“Who?”
“That’s what bothered me, so I looked into it.”
Jang answered carefully, as if unsure how to make sense of it all.
“It turned out to be a lawyer who works for the Valentine family. I have no idea what they were meeting about.”
“A Valentine employee?”
A number of troubling possibilities came to mind — perhaps Leon had struck some bargain with Valentine in exchange for the Ring, or worse, that he’d been on their side all along. But……
I learned the truth the very next morning.
It came from Lora, and it was absolutely horrifying.
* * *
“So you were the one who had me followed.”
“Ahem. Well, I apologize now. And let me be perfectly clear—I’m not the sort of person who goes around investigating people’s backgrounds.”
She made her point firmly, as if to preempt any misunderstanding, and Leon let out a soft laugh.
“It’s fine. I don’t mind what you do to me, Erna.”
“No, that’s not what I meant—I wasn’t trying to do anything…”
“Are you all right, though?”
“Pardon?”
The sudden question left her tilting her head in confusion, and then he stepped closer, closing the distance between them in an instant.
Her body instinctively recoiled, but unfortunately the chair back behind her caught her retreat.
“You know I’m not as virtuous as all that, and yet here you are, alone with me.”
“Alone? Technically speaking, your Aide is right over there—”
“He’s on my side, so he doesn’t count. If you’d really been tailing me, you would’ve seen it anyway—he was there the whole time.”
What? He was there too?
She’d suspected as much when the Aide looked flustered earlier, thinking he must be an accomplice, but she hadn’t expected it to be true.
“Ah, there’s that look of surprise.”
“Which is exactly why you shouldn’t just blurt everything out like that—”
“But I don’t want to lie to my fiancée.”
“Even so, that’s—!”
The Aide protested indignantly, unwittingly admitting his own complicity in the process.
“So, Erna. What are you going to do now? Well?”
…
“Doesn’t look like you have anyone on your side in this room. What if I just grabbed your hand right here and forced you to sign the Marriage Contract?”
“You wouldn’t do that…”
“I wouldn’t be so sure. After all, I’m someone who’s done terrible things behind closed doors—a very frightening person, as you know.”
…
“Not as good as people think I am, right?”
The subtle smile he always wore had vanished, leaving his face sharp and sculpted, all the colder for it.
He seemed to be threatening her deliberately, and yet…
Strangely, she wasn’t afraid. Not afraid at all, in fact.
She exhaled slowly, taking a moment.
“I never said what you did was terrible.”
“What?”
“I was just trying to confirm something. I wasn’t planning to blame you for it or lecture you about right and wrong.”
…
“I just hope that if you ever find yourself in a dangerous situation like that again, you’ll give me a heads-up first. We’re in the same boat now, after all.”
…
“Your failings become Zahelette’s failings. That’s why I’ll do my best to become someone worthy of standing beside Bernstein.”
The implication that she wouldn’t be alone in her falls from now on—that she’d share his fate—made Leon pause.
His expression wavered, as if he were questioning whether he’d understood her correctly.
Yes. He had.
She met his gaze in silence, then picked up the Quill Pen and quickly signed her name in the signature line of the Marriage Contract on the desk.
Scratch, scratch.
Only the sound of the quill moving across paper filled the quiet room, and when it was done, she slid the document toward him.
Leon stared at the papers in bewilderment before looking up at her directly.
“…You weren’t going to refuse?”
“I never said that.”
“I thought you’d brought this up because you were disappointed in me.”
“It wasn’t disappointment—it was concern. For you. And for Zahelette.”
She corrected him, her words coming out crisply.
“We’re bound together now, like a Shared Fate. If something goes wrong with you, I go down too.”
That was it. That was what she’d been wrestling with all along—whether she could afford to let this man into her life.
And after careful deliberation…
‘Well, what does it matter. Let me take his hand and see. Like Lora said, it hasn’t happened yet, and people can change.’
Still, there was lingering doubt…
“Ahem. Well, Leon, there’s one more thing I’m curious about.”
“What?”
“How are things between you and your brother—I mean, with His Majesty?”
She asked carefully, probing for any sign of discord between the brothers.
“Erna.”
“Yes?”
“Are you interested in my brother?”
“But how on earth do you arrive at such conclusions? What makes your thoughts jump around like that?”
It was remarkable. He’d done the same thing earlier when discussing Valentine.
As I sighed at how his train of thought derailed in such a peculiar fashion every time, the flash of displeasure that had crossed his face moments before swiftly dissipated.
“Then why are you asking me that?”
“Because it would be nice if you and your brother got along well. Besides, I was a bit worried when His Majesty summoned me the other day. I was afraid that if something came between the two of you because of me, it might create real problems.”
I watched his expression carefully as I continued.
He didn’t know it, but I, who understood what the future held, couldn’t help but be concerned. According to the stranger’s note, he would soon betray the Emperor.
‘So I need to be careful to prevent that from happening.’
Fortunately, Leon’s face softened, suggesting my intention had come across clearly.
“If you’re worried about my being disrespectful to His Majesty the other day—”
If that were the case…?
“From now on, I’ll treat my brother with more affection.”
……
Wait? It’s resolved that easily?

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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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