I Thought It Was the Monster Duke's Fake Sedative - Chapter 115

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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 115
“I’m sorry?”
Tepe and Gorgo stared at the unfolded newspaper with bewildered eyes.
It was a publication filled with all manner of gossip about Edward, including details of his affair with Sepina.
“No, this is complete nonsense—I’ll dispatch our people at once.”
“Not that.”
Madam. You’ve likely heard already, but the matter with Miss Sepina consists of one hundred lies and zero truth. There’s no need to scrutinize the details—”
“That’s not it either!”
Lucia stiffened her voice and jabbed her finger at a particular passage.
[Meanwhile, the postponement of this trial may also stem from a desire to prevent Duke Teseron from celebrating his birthday at home….]
[Members of the Te-Heum-Mo Club, an anonymous circle devoted to admiring Duke Teseron, have reportedly announced they will send personal gifts to the Duke….]
Lucia’s dark eyes flashed with intensity as she pointed to that section.
“How is it that no one told me about Edward’s birthday?!”
Of all the unfair treatments she’d endured at the Duke’s household, this was the most unjust and infuriating.
“And the New Year Festival is barely a month away!”
“Ah.”
“Not ‘ah’—how could I be the only one who didn’t know about such an important event!”
She’d been anxious, thinking only the trial mattered, but that wasn’t it at all.
To learn of his first birthday after their hearts had finally aligned—and to learn it so abruptly, so unexpectedly from a newspaper!
Lucia felt a wave of belated regret.
If she’d known, she would have planned that romantic date around the New Year Festival instead.
And she would have saved her confession.
‘It would have been the perfect birthday gift….’
Of course, a confession alone might seem insufficient as a gift, yet wasn’t it the most precious thing she could possibly give him?
In truth, no material present would likely elicit much reaction from Edward—he had everything.
‘I don’t even know how to embroider well enough to monogram a handkerchief for him….’
And what of buying him something precious? The man was richer than she was.
The ceremony was already a failure, and the cursed Emperor and Temple kept delaying the trial.
‘Should I just steal the Sacred Stone and be done with it?’
The thought had crossed her mind, but even with her abilities, it would be nearly impossible to retrieve the Sacred Stone from its secure vault beneath the Temple.
“…Why did I have to find out about this so suddenly, and from a stranger’s article no less?”
Lucia vented her frustration once more with a sigh.
Watching Lucia puff out her cheeks, Tepe and Gorgo both scratched the back of their heads awkwardly.
Then they delivered an answer that made Lucia’s jaw drop.
“That would be… because we forgot.”
“It’s been so long since we last kept track of it.”
“…Are you loyal retainers or not?!”
How could they not even think to prepare for it?
The accusation died on her lips at the answer that followed.
“By the Duke’s orders.”
“He forbade us from making any preparations.”
Tepe and Gorgo replied matter-of-factly, both shrugging slightly.
Of course, there had been a time when they’d scrambled to arrange something for Edward’s birthday.
As his closest retainers, it would be unthinkable to let his birthday pass unremarked.
“Since he was born precisely at the stroke of New Year, we tried to tell him that made the day all the more special, and we wanted to honor it—”
“So you have some talent for flattery after all, Tepe.”
“But he rejected it.”
Tepe shrugged again, his tone unchanged.
Lucia’s expression grew confused.
“Why….”
“He said that even without a birthday, he is perfect and special all three hundred and sixty-five days of the year, and he tires of receiving identical praise every single day.”
……
Lucia rolled her eyes silently.
It certainly sounded like something Edward would say.
“And truthfully… he seemed not to care for it at all.”
“For birthdays?”
“Well, more precisely, he didn’t seem to like us making a fuss about birthdays.”
……
“So once people started getting scolded for trying to celebrate, everyone decided to let it pass in silence, knowing full well.”
“He disciplined people that harshly over it?”
“I couldn’t say anything because it seemed you were taking even my congratulations too seriously.”
As Luciana rolled her eyes thoughtfully, Tepe added as if he meant every word.
“I’m serious. You know how it was when you were injured before—you only let my lady in, not the rest of us.”
Though admittedly, that was partly because your body was glowing at the time.
Even as she thought this, Luciana had to agree that Edward disliked being fussed over.
‘Then he probably won’t like it if I congratulate him either.’
True enough—if she started offering congratulations, others would pick up on it and want to join in themselves.
Which meant the spectacle of excessive fawning that Edward so despised would likely unfold.
While Luciana was thinking this through, Tepe let out a long sigh.
“Anyway, that’s why I didn’t mention it… In any case, I’m sorry about that mad scientist.”
Luciana shook her head lightly.
“Don’t worry too much about Gemini.”
“How can I not worry?”
“I don’t think he’ll betray us.”
“What?”
Not because Gemini was a particularly upstanding person, mind you.
“I’ve gotten pretty good at reading people, at least.”
The instinct Luciana had honed in the Evacuation Shelter had long since picked up the favor lurking in Gemini’s gaze when he looked at her.
She could sense how he viewed her as something a little special.
She had a rough idea why.
That mad scientist’s peculiar pride in her as his test subject, perhaps.
“But it’s not the kind of shallow emotion that would drive him to betray me.”
“….”
“And most importantly.”
Luciana raised her index finger firmly.
“He has far more to gain from me than from the Temple. It’s not as if the Temple is going to hand him new test subjects now.”
“….”
“Mad scientists like him are obsessed with their experiments far more than money or fame. So he won’t abandon or betray me.”
She was certain of this much.
That man would be far more fascinated by obtaining specimens from her and conducting experiments than by any temptation the Temple might offer.
Tepe and Gorgo both nodded in agreement.
“That’s true enough.”
“Quite right.”
“Besides, the materials he provided came to us.”
Though unlike Edward’s plan to expose something else, what actually arrived was only materials about Luciana herself.
‘When the time really comes, I’ll have to release this at least.’
Not that she’d never intended to do so anyway.
Luciana concluded the matter with a certain solemnity.
“So the real issue right now isn’t the missing psychopathic scientist—it’s why I had to handle something so important…”
She was about to finish voicing her complaint when—
“What are you all gathered here doing?”
“Your Grace.”
“I thought I told you to maintain distance from my wife.”
Edward had returned to the Townhouse, openly displaying his jealousy as always.
His arms were full of invitations from various quarters and reporters’ notebooks he’d confiscated from the journalists.
Luciana frowned at the sight of the invitations.
‘They curse him to high heaven behind closed doors, yet…’
The nobles who actually encountered Edward were desperate to invite him to their social gatherings.
Even those who despised and disliked Edward acknowledged his influence and wanted him at their parties.
Luciana gave the tiresome invitations a sidelong glance, then smiled.
“You’re back?”
“What’s this important matter?”
“Oh, it’s nothing really. On second thought, it’s not important.”
“If you brush it off like that, I’m only more curious…”
“The disappearance of that psychopathic scientist. We were just discussing that.”
“That’s not an important matter at all.”
As Edward spoke with a serious expression, Tepe and Gorgo—for whom stepping back had now become as natural as breathing—retreated a step further.
Luciana rose quietly and took Edward’s hand.
She wanted to ask why he hadn’t told her about her birthday, but…
‘…honestly, he probably forgot it himself.’
Even Tepe and Gorgo, who were unusually attentive to Edward, had forgotten his birthday along with everyone else.
Moreover, if Edward had remembered it himself, he would surely have pestered her for a birthday gift by now.
Something indecent, or indecent, or indecent.
Luciana’s face flushed for a moment before she quickly composed herself.
And then it struck her.
‘Wait a moment.’
If she truly hadn’t remembered it either, then this was….
‘Maybe an opportunity to throw him a surprise party?’
This could work.
With that thought, Luciana smiled.
She cast a meaningful glance toward Tepe and Gorgo, standing at a distance—a look that said ‘we know but mustn’t let Edward find out’—and then spoke.
“Where is His Imperial Majesty today?”

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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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