I Seducing the Black-Hearted Duke Wasn't Me - Chapter 9

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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 9
“R-running away?”
What? Had he found me out?
How could this man possibly know about my perfect plan to slip down to the Territory and barricade myself inside?
Flustered, I rolled my eyes frantically.
The man who had been sipping his tea composedly let out a small smile and spoke.
“I was joking. You seem quite startled. It wasn’t actually true, was it?”
A joke, he said.
Relief washed over me, but my heart had already been trampled like a wounded thing.
Calm down. Get yourself together, Erna.
“……You don’t need to be so formal with me.”
“Pardon?”
“We agreed to speak as senior and junior anyway. And besides, all this ceremony feels awkward.”
“I suppose you’re right, then.”
What was that. He’d slipped into casual speech so naturally.
It had caught me off guard—as if he’d been waiting for permission—but given his station at the very pinnacle of society, I let it pass.
“So, what brings you here?”
“Ah yes, the matter. I said I’d give you time to think, but when I considered it, I realized I’d never set a deadline.”
“A deadline……?”
The Grand Duke smiled at my words and nodded.
“We need to set one properly. Otherwise, you might just wait it out until everything fades away on its own.”
“…….”
“Though I’m sure you wouldn’t do that.”
Hm.
I bit my lip, pricked by his accuracy.
The luggage bags sitting in my room flashed through my mind, but I quickly pushed them aside.
At this point, there was only one way forward.
“Fine. I’ll be honest with you. I’m sorry, but I genuinely have no memory of that night. So this whole situation is rather bewildering for me.”
Whatever. Just charge ahead. Be honest.
“The truth is, I agreed to think it over because I was too preoccupied then, but even now I’m at a complete loss.”
“Claiming you don’t remember isn’t much of an excuse when I’m facing dismissal right now.”
“Exactly. If you’d just kept quiet and let everything fade as if nothing had happened, we’d all have been happy. So why did you have to be so unnecessarily honest…….”
“Ah, so it’s all my fault then?”
“Honesty and sincerity are virtues, you know. Absolutely the highest virtues.”
My, you do have quite the temper. When did I ever say it was entirely your fault? Hehe.
“Of course, I’m not trying to shirk responsibility by claiming I don’t remember. I do have that much sense. It’s simply that I can’t comprehend it.”
“Fine then. We’d better clear that up first.”
“Yes. First……the woman you met that day was me, wasn’t it?”
There was content in the letter that matched the timing, so I’d assumed yes, but I needed to confirm it properly.
He was silent for a moment before he spoke.
“Last Wednesday. You came up to me as I was getting out of the carriage and shouted, ‘Wait? Leon Obsidian. It’s Obsidian!’ And you seemed to have had some drink.”
“My, that must have been awkward for you.”
To call the Grand Duke’s name out loud in a drunken stupor like that.
“You grabbed my face and said—”
“Oh no.”
“‘You’re absolutely handsome. Did you know? You’re my favorite!’ That’s what you told me.”
“…….”
“What does ‘favorite’ mean, anyway? It’s such an odd word—I’d never heard it before, which is why I remember it.”
At those words, my head drooped.
That tactless, clueless behavior. And “favorite” and other words I’d apparently coined, their meanings lost on him.
That alone was enough to prove my identity.
“Wait. But how did we end up spending the night together…….”
“You seemed drunk, and I couldn’t leave you alone, so I put you in the carriage. Then when we headed to the Marquise Residence, you absolutely refused to go home and clung to me instead.”
“Oh…….”
“You said something like, ‘When else would I get a chance like this to spend time with my favorite? You’ll take care of everything, so I won’t worry about a thing.'”
There it was again. That wretched “favorite.”
Just what did “favorite” mean.
In any case, Park Sumin, who was inhabiting my body, had found her “favorite” on the street and promptly latched onto him.
“So we headed to the Grand Duke’s Residence. And after that, as I mentioned before…….”
“Ahem. I understand. You needn’t say anything more.”
Right, so she’d stripped completely naked and rolled around in bed having a good time. That was it.
“Fine. All right. I’ll admit that part happened. So, second point.”
She wasn’t finished yet—I tightened my grip on my wavering composure.
“Your Highness said I stole your… first time, but honestly, I don’t think that makes sense either.”
“You’re saying you don’t believe I’ve been chaste until now?”
“That’s not what I meant!”
Something about his tone felt heavy, so I quickly shook my head.
“Just looking at build—someone as thin as me, I could never have, I mean, I couldn’t just, couldn’t, couldn’t just manage that. Right?!”
I couldn’t bring myself to say the word aloud without embarrassment, but regardless—in response to my question of whether such a thing was even possible—the Grand Duke let out a short laugh.
“Force isn’t the only way to make something happen.”
“Then what?”
“I could explain how attractive you were that night. Since you said you don’t remember, I’d be happy to describe it in more detail—”
“No, stop, I understand!”
“Good. So what’s the next thing that doesn’t make sense?”
Another thing that doesn’t make sense?
‘Well, naturally the whole situation.’
But looking at the two people responsible, the letter that woman left behind, and the Grand Duke’s consistent insistence, it seemed I had to accept reality now.
“Don’t tell me you still don’t believe it?”
“I believe it. I do, but… it just doesn’t feel real.”
“Which part specifically?”
“Me and Your Highness? Surely you could be with someone far more accomplished and impressive, yet it’s me of all people… Every citizen in the empire would be confused by this.”
“I can’t agree with that.”
There it was again.
He frowned slightly, looking displeased.
He pulled his leaning frame back and settled against the backrest, his expression taking on that characteristic stubborn cast.
“In my eyes, the Marquise is an extraordinarily attractive woman.”
“What? I—are you feeling all right?”
“Why does the conversation suddenly turn that way?”
“Because you wouldn’t say something like that in your right mind.”
It wasn’t because I’d been called beautiful.
It was because the person saying it was him—Leon Obsidian.
A face striking enough to stand out even buried among hundreds, thousands of people. An aura felt even from a distance, a dazzling halo that surrounded him.
A being celebrated as chosen by God, blessed enough that questions of his birth fade away.
Nearly every descriptor that made up his existence gleamed and sparkled.
Even if you placed a beauty celebrated across the century at his side, people would say it wasn’t worthy enough.
Yet he was saying that someone as ordinary as me was beautiful?
It would overturn the entire social circles of Orden.
And still, the Grand Duke insisted I was beautiful.
‘As if he actually had feelings for me.’
The presumptuous thought that suddenly surfaced made me quickly shake my head.
You’re insane, Erna. This is pure narcissism.
‘It’s probably just courtesy toward someone you spent one night with, or resignation. It has to be one or the other.’
For some reason, the Grand Duke seemed to place enormous significance on his first night, and it was clear he’d decided to think positively about it now that the deed was done.
“Fine. All right. I won’t doubt what happened that day anymore. So we definitely did have relations that night, and Your Highness is asking me to take responsibility, correct?”
“That’s right.”
“And there’s absolutely no chance you’d overlook it? For example, by keeping silent about what happened and courting another woman instead?”
His eyebrows shot up the moment the words left my mouth.
“There you go again, trying to slip out of responsibility—”
“No, wait! That’s not what I meant. It’s just that there could be possibilities I haven’t considered. You mentioned marriage, but wouldn’t Your Highness prefer another woman as your partner? So I was just wondering, just in case.”
My question about whether he wouldn’t regret it later made his eyes sharpen.
So he was confident he wouldn’t regret it.
‘But still, isn’t marriage a bit much? Betting your whole future on one night? The numbers don’t add up, they really don’t!’
Perhaps he read my thoughts.
“Don’t worry. I’m not planning to force marriage on you immediately.”
“Really? Then…”
“But you’ll have to do something else with me instead.”
Something other than marriage?
So the negotiation wasn’t entirely without room for compromise!
Hope bloomed.
As I stared at him with questioning eyes, the Grand Duke smiled with his eyes and pulled something from his pocket.

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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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