I Thought It Was the Monster Duke's Fake Sedative - Chapter 114

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

Chapter 114
‘In the end, a Sacred Mark isn’t really as special as one might think.’
With sufficient Corruption and Edward’s magical power, reinforcing a false Sacred Mark was hardly difficult.
‘All I need to do is build up her Immunity a bit….’
Gemini was secretly pleased at the thought of being able to help Luciana.
“Why on earth are you walking like that?”
Tepe grumbled, pointing out Gemini’s peculiar gait.
“What’s wrong with it, sir?”
“I’m saying there’s no need to move around so strangely.”
Gemini’s feet had been deftly tracing a zigzag pattern through the Mountain Pass since a while ago.
At such a bizarrely quick pace that if Luciana had been watching, she might have thought he was using the Space-Stepping Technique.
“If you went in a straight line, you’d get there faster. Don’t tell me you’re pulling some trick to shake us off.”
“Heaven forbid! Surely you don’t have the crude assumption that just anyone can waltz into my precious laboratory?”
“You mean to say you actually have to walk like that to get through safely?”
“Even if it looks like I’m wandering aimlessly, I’m stepping on the Magical Devices installed in the ground as I go!”
In fact, Gemini had laid Magical Traps around his laboratory.
It was a sort of puzzle—you could only pass through safely by treading on them in the correct sequence.
Tepe shot Gemini a dark look.
“You’re not just waiting for your chance to stab us in the back and run off with your lady and the Duke?”
“How dare you speak of me that way!”
“Like some filthy wretch who tried to summon Monsters to slaughter everyone in Teseron?”
“Well, that was then, and this is now…!”
Thud.
Gemini, who had been raising his voice, suddenly staggered and fell silent.
……
“What?”
……
“Don’t tell me you stepped on one of your own traps wrong and triggered some kind of mine. You couldn’t be that stupid….”
Psst.
Gemini raised a finger to his lips, signaling them to be quiet.
At that signal, Gorgo quietly approached and covered Tepe’s mouth.
“Mmmph!”
Tepe swatted at Gorgo’s arm as if to say he could manage himself, but Gorgo didn’t let go.
Gorgo’s eyes asked wordlessly: what’s happening?
Gemini stared intently at a nearby cluster of bushes and whispered.
“Something’s wrong.”
“Mmph, w-what….”
“The devices have been deactivated from this point onward.”
The instant Tepe finally managed to knock away Gorgo’s arm.
Gemini tilted his head and stepped back.
Immediately, something was revealed beneath the ground where he had just been standing.
A Magical Device, stripped of its light.
“That’s strange. No one but me should know the exact location of these devices—nobody else could shut them down. And yet….”
The moment he reached that point in his speech.
Whoosh.
Gemini lifted his head and began to run urgently.
Tepe and Gorgo immediately raced after him.
“Wait! Where are you running?!”
“It can’t be, surely not, unless…!”
Gemini continued muttering as he ran.
‘I made a trap map just in case!’
He himself had memorized the trap locations at once, of course, but for the sake of contingency he had made a copy and kept it.
…in his shared laboratory at the Temple.
If the Temple had ransacked that place….
“There!”
Gemini, breaking into a cold sweat, pointed toward an old, dilapidated building that came into view.
The moment he saw the lock that had been fastened shut completely shattered, he cried out urgently.
“Go inside and pull up the fourth plank from the left of the first floor, then knock on the Safe you find six times and remove it eight times!”
“What is that?!”
“Research Materials that must reach the lady!”
“Wait. If you’re handing this off to us, what exactly are you planning to—”
Bang!
Before Tepe could finish, Gemini threw open the door and bolted for the Underground Chamber.
Fortunately, he’d kept all the materials related to Luciana carefully hidden away….
‘But the research I’ve been working on recently—it’s all scattered outside!’
All those documents on the Sacred Mark and its origins.
The thought that they might have been stolen from the Temple of all places set his nerves on edge.
Crash!
That was when Gemini yanked the Underground Chamber door wide open.
“Stop!”
Several masked figures stood before him, materials in hand, activating a Magical Teleportation Device.
On the backs of several of their hands, he saw it.
“…!”
Sacred Marks—each one distinct, yet all similar to Luciana’s own.
He froze.
“…You people… don’t tell me you’re from that village…?”
Gemini felt the blood drain from his face.
Whoosh.
The device activated, and the figures began vanishing one by one.
“…Stop!”
Gemini’s body moved on instinct, and he grabbed the hem of one of their cloaks.
“…!”
And.
“…Listen here, you scum!”
By the time Tepe and Gorgo came rushing down after him, Safe in hand….
“What? Where did he go?”
Gemini had already been transported away with them.
* * *
Whether Gemini vanished or not, the trial date crept ever closer.
Actually, it kept approaching, being postponed, approaching again, then postponed once more.
Exactly as Edward had predicted.
His trial was moving at a glacial pace.
“Since the New Year Festival approaches, let us first celebrate auspicious matters, and then proceed with the Duke’s trial,” the Emperor declared.
“Surely we cannot begin a new year with such grim proceedings?”
The Emperor had summoned Edward himself and, by his whim, postponed the trial. The nobles who had hoped to keep him bound to the Capital were equally eager to second the Emperor’s wisdom.
Though Edward’s party was inwardly displeased by this predictable turn of events, there was little they could actually do about it.
Meanwhile, as the trial ground to a halt….
…the newspapers had a field day.
[Shocking! Teseron Duke Faces Trial on Dereliction of Duty Charges! An Insult to the Imperial Court?]
[Teseron Duke Retorts: He Fulfills His Obligations, Yet They Drag Him Here and Prevent Him From Fighting Monsters….]
[Temple and Imperial Court Counter-Retort: The Duke Must First Explain Why Monsters Appeared in Teseron Territory….]
[Teseron Duke Responds Again: Monsters Emerge Constantly Everywhere, So It’s Only Natural They’d Appear in Teseron Territory Too….]
The Capital’s gossip sheets and newsprint, unwilling to miss the sensational trial, churned out every riposte and counter-argument surrounding Edward with reckless abandon.
His blatant mockery and harsh language were softened in print; the nobles’ repetitive droning was compressed.
In truth, most articles’ latter halves ended up describing what Edward wore that day and how magnificent he looked.
“We couldn’t find him, ma’am.”
Luciana, surrounded by stacks of newspapers and absorbed in reading the articles, lifted her head at the dejected tone.
When she turned, both Tepe and Gorgo were hanging their heads, sighing heavily.
“He must have betrayed us and fled. By now, he’s bound to be serving the Temple.”
It had already been several days since Gemini vanished.
Since he’d disappeared while gathering materials to attack the Temple itself, Tepe was absolutely certain he’d betrayed them.
Gorgo’s view aligned with his, yet differed in one respect.
“Perhaps he was abducted by the Temple and killed.”
“….”
“After this, even if he tried to rejoin the Temple, there’d be no reason for them to take him back.”
“….”
“Either way, this matter….”
Though their opinions diverged, there was one thing Tepe and Gorgo agreed on completely.
“This is our failure.”
“It is our shortcoming.”
The two of them apologized with perfect courtesy, yet their eyes on Luciana grew heavy with concern.
‘She must already have so much weighing on her mind.’
‘How anxious must she be, gathering newspapers like that every single day….’
Luciana had indeed taken to collecting every scrap of news related to the trial lately, scraping them together with fervent hands.
Though she carried herself with composure and brazen calm, it was painfully clear that beneath the surface she was deeply tense—and for that reason, Gorgo and Tepe felt their hearts sink all the heavier.
“You must be quite upset with us. We can accept any punishment….”
“That’s right. I’m angry.”
Luciana cut off Tepe’s words, her face now visibly hardened as she pointed at the newspaper.
“Furious. Absolutely furious.”
“Yes, madam. We accept whatever penalty you see fit….”
“Not that! How could none of you tell me about this?”
Whoosh!
With that cry, Luciana spread the newspaper wide open in her hands.

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