I Thought It Was the Monster Duke's Fake Sedative - Chapter 121

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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 121
The Second Prince spoke quickly.
“That’s—I mean, there!”
The Duchess Consort, who had been pouring out her grievances, wrote a location on the Second Prince’s palm.
He later learned it was a territory situated further north of the Castle.
‘I’m not entirely sure what kind of place it is….’
But the way she’d written it down in such circumstances meant there was certainly something important there.
Perhaps evidence that Edward was a fake.
‘Even though I didn’t catch what she was trying to write at the end.’
Be careful. If it’s him, Edward, he’ll surely go there….
But just as the Duchess Consort was about to write something more.
“You there. What do you think you’re doing?”
A guard who had sensed something suspicious approached and separated the two of them.
Recalling the Duchess Consort’s intense gaze, as if she were entrusting him with something, the Second Prince’s shoulders trembled.
‘I will not forget your sacrifice, Aunt.’
Even though the Duchess Consort would die in the Underground Dungeon of Teseron….
He would be able to return to Erenta.
And not just return—he would restore the honor that had been tarnished for the Duke of Teseron and make a triumphant entry home.
Because he would reveal to the world the truth that the man was a fake.
‘They’ll have no choice but to see me in a new light!’
At the thought of his family, who had cut off contact without even hearing his explanation the moment they learned he was implicated in a crime in Teseron, his teeth clenched.
The Second Prince wracked his memory to its limits and conveyed the location the Duchess Consort had written to Sepina.
“…If you go there, there must be something!”
“You’re not certain, though?”
“No, I’m telling you there’s definitely something there!”
Ruffled by Sepina’s lukewarm response, the Second Prince assured her several times over.
Sepina soon fixed him with a peculiar glimmer in her eyes and asked.
“You can swear on the honor of the royal house?”
“Of…of course!”
“Could you write a document? Testifying that your statement is genuine?”
“What kind of objection could there possibly be!”
The Second Prince nodded eagerly and wrote out the document.
And as Sepina had requested….
“Here you are.”
He even handed over the brooch he’d shown her as proof of his royal status.
It was a magical item that had erased his presence, allowing him to come this far, and parting with it pained him greatly—but he told himself it was only a brief sacrifice, so he could not refuse.
Thud.
The moment the brooch fell into Sepina’s grasp.
The Second Prince felt a strange sense of relief.
‘Done.’
Now he could expose Edward’s true identity and return to Erenta with the Saint’s endorsement.
Everyone would listen to what the Saint said.
‘When I go back, they’ll see what I’m made of!’
He would take revenge on his fiancée first, the one who had abandoned him.
After that, he planned to gain recognition for his accomplishment in exposing Edward and even set his sights on the position of Crown Prince.
Noticing the relief he felt and offering comfort, Sepina blinked her lashes with a pitying expression.
“You’ve been through so much.”
“Ha! Indeed!”
Now that the tension had lifted, Sepina’s look of sympathy seemed quite innocent and beautiful.
The prince unconsciously smiled with malice.
‘Yes. This is the chance to forge a bond with the Saint and help me become Crown Prince….’
Just as he was about to extend his hand for a handshake with Sepina.
“That’s enough now.”
“Pardon? What do you…wait, aah!”
A blade flew into the prince’s back.
It was the sword of the Holy Knight Commander, who had been hiding in secret to guard Sepina.
Looking down at the prince, whose body had gone cold in an instant, Sepina opened her mouth without emotion.
“Dispose of him.”
“What about his claims?”
Sepina glanced at the Holy Knight Commander as he asked.
“…Father doesn’t need to know yet.”
“…….”
“The evidence itself isn’t even certain, is it?”
Sepina shook her head firmly.
“At least once I send someone to confirm, then I can tell Father about it.”
“Yes, understood.”
“When the time comes, I’d like to tell him myself… so please don’t mention this to Father.”
The Holy Knight Commander nodded lightly and continued speaking.
“Then I shall escort you.”
Sepina’s eyes widened at those words.
“…Escort me? Where?”
“The experiment is ready.”
In an instant, Sepina’s eyes gleamed.
“Good. Then I’ll pay no mind to such baseless nonsense….”
“…….”
“I really ought to go become a true Saint.”
* * *
Even as Sepina endured the experiment the Pope had prepared, she ground her teeth in silent fury.
There, she had deliberately acted as though nothing were amiss, fearing the Holy Knight Commander would report everything to the Pope….
But it was no trivial matter.
Dozens of times a day, anger surged up from her core and nearly burst out of her.
The Second Prince’s words had planted a strange certainty within her.
The certainty that what he said was true.
Or rather—even if it weren’t true, she could make it true.
‘It has to be fake.’
Sepina had finally brainwashed herself.
‘Edward of Teseron is….’
Truth masquerading as falsehood. Falsehood masquerading as truth.
‘It has to be fake.’
It just happened to be true by chance.
But her thoughts quickly shifted course.
‘…That he was false all along.’
For all his pretense of worth.
For how he enchanted me with that beautiful, so-real face.
‘And I wanted a counterfeit!’
I’d worked so hard, even playing the Saint against my own nature, and what I’d wanted was….
‘A filthy fake!’
An unbearable sense of betrayal and rage clawed up through Sepina’s chest.
And with it came the thrilling knowledge that only she possessed this grave secret.
‘I won’t let this stand.’
That was precisely why Sepina had revealed nothing to the Pope and come this far.
The moment she’d heard that the Duke and Duchess of Teseron had attended the New Year Banquet.
‘This is the perfect opportunity.’
Such a thought had seized her then.
In the most important place, at the most important moment.
How much patience it had taken to kill the Second Prince and silence him, all to reveal this truth so dramatically.
The New Year Banquet was a stage worthy of it.
‘Though I never confirmed the place the Prince mentioned….’
Wouldn’t the document he testified to and signed be evidence enough?
Royal testimony, no less—people wouldn’t dare dismiss it.
And she herself would be reborn as a true Saint.
“Your Grace.”
Sepina’s mouth twisted in a convulsive smile, her eyes blazing as she turned them toward Edward.
And then….
She lifted the back of her hand slowly.
“…Heavens!”
“That—that is!”
Soon, before the eyes of the gathered crowd, her hand began to glow.
The Sacred Mark proving she was his True Mate appeared there.
Exactly the same as Luciana’s.
“…….”
The moment Luciana saw it, her brow furrowed with grave intensity.
Edward, who held her in his arms, stared at Sepina with an expression wiped clean of all feeling.
Sepina felt a flush of victory watching both their faces.
Her hand burned and stung maddeningly, yet….
‘Still bearable.’
“This remains incomplete, Saint, so you mustn’t use it rashly.”
“Why not? Once it’s grafted, isn’t it finished?”
“We must build resistance by drawing Holy Power from another immune subject, and then proceed with stage one of raising the Integration Rate toward complete integration….”
“What are you even talking about?”
The researchers’ instructions flickered through her mind for a moment, but their tangled, intricate explanations simply went in one ear and out the other.
What mattered was….
“That—isn’t that a True Mate’s Sacred Mark!”
“The Duchess Consort was supposed to have one… why does Saint Sepina have it!”
That she herself bore a Sacred Mark.
As gasps rippled through the crowd, Sepina threw her shoulders back with utter confidence.
“If this happens, what will….”
“Then shouldn’t the two of them be re-bonded right now….”
And to that murmur, she let out a cold laugh.
She hadn’t come merely to reclaim Edward.
‘I’m going to have my revenge.’
I’ll make them pay the price for daring to mock me, for humiliating me.
“That’s right, everyone. I am the genuine one.”
If there was one other thing the Pope had taught her, it was how to strike first.
Just as they had made their mistake and then summoned Edward to the Capital for trial.
‘Father will understand.’
The Pope, too, would surely be pleased when he saw the consequences this would bring.
With that thought, Sepina smiled again.
And there, among the reeling crowd:
“How dare you….”
She let slip the words she had been holding back.
“Unlike the fakes.”
“F-fakes? Did you say…?”
“Saint?”
Then, amid the shocked onlookers, she drew forth the power she had received through the grafting experiment.
Holy Power not entirely her own blazed and crackled with mad intensity across her hand.
‘I’ll reveal it here.’
With the strength of the Sacred Mark she was releasing now, she would drive Edward into Rampage.
‘I can do it.’
What she had received was a Sacred Mark specially modified in countless ways to control a Divine Being.
‘So that fake…’
Would have no choice but to fall to his knees in Rampage before her greater power.
And then she would scatter the Testimony Document that the Second Prince had written, staking his honor as royalty, to drive the final nail.
“Yes! I’ll announce something crucial right here! That person is…!”
Full of certainty, Sepina rushed toward Edward and extended her hand.
A brilliant flash tore through the air!
“……!”
The Sacred Mark, burning and crackling, flooded everything with blinding white light.
“No!”
Through the white haze of her vision:
Someone shoved Sepina out of the way.
Bang!
A violent explosion swept across the space.

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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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