I Thought It Was the Monster Duke's Fake Sedative - Chapter 122

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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 122
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“Cough!”
A sharp gasp.
The moment she dragged air into her lungs, clarity returned.
Luciana felt the cold floor beneath her and stared blankly into nothing.
‘Did I collapse?’
…But how?
As sensation prickled back into her limbs one by one, the memory of what had just happened flooded in alongside it.
‘Right. Of course.’
She’d been at the New Year ceremony banquet….
‘Sepina appeared.’
And she’d rushed toward them, crying out words Luciana couldn’t quite understand.
Whatever she’d been saying, the aura radiating from her was unmistakably ominous.
When Luciana saw where Sepina’s hand was directed, her body went rigid.
The point of that hand aimed directly at Edward’s heart.
She’d known it in an instant, instinctively.
‘She meant to hurt Edward.’
That’s what she was trying to do.
Luciana had known from the source material that Sepina had been obsessed with Edward until the very end.
That she would do anything to possess him.
But if she meant to destroy him in order to keep him….
‘That cannot be.’
In that moment, there had been no room for thought.
Only one fierce, all-consuming desire—to protect someone precious to her.
And so Luciana had drawn upon her own Holy Power and thrown herself between Sepina and Edward.
‘Yes. That’s what happened.’
And then, the last thing she’d seen before her vision went dark came rushing back.
Edward’s face—eyes wide with alarm, hand reaching desperately toward her, expression twisted with urgency.
‘…I should have said something to him.’
But regret came too late. What was done could not be undone.
Even as unease gnawed at her, Luciana thought with calm pragmatism.
‘As long as no one was hurt, that’s all that matters.’
The fact that she could think at all meant she was still alive, and since she felt no pain, she was perfectly intact—
“AAAAHHHHH!”
A flash.
A scream tore through the air nearby, and Luciana’s eyes snapped open.
Her chest tightened; her heart began hammering.
‘What is that?’
Was she actually hurt? Was that scream coming from her own throat?
…Fortunately, it wasn’t.
“Ah—”
When Luciana’s eyes opened fully to take in the scene, she froze.
“No! No, no, no!”
“…Sepina?”
“It hurts—it hurts so much—I’m in pain!”
Sepina was thrashing across the floor, shrieking.
The backs of her hands, which had been glowing moments before, were split open as though burned.
But it wasn’t just her hands.
As if caught in an explosion, her shoulders and forearms were exposed through torn fabric, the skin beneath burned a raw, angry red.
“My goodness.”
Luciana murmured the words even as she quietly stepped back.
Ordinarily, it would be the right thing to use her Holy Power to heal her, under circumstances like these….
“I’ll kill you!”
“…”
“I’ll kill you, I swear it!”
With Sepina glaring at her with such malevolent eyes and hurling curses, Luciana had absolutely no intention of stepping closer to put her neck within reach.
‘She probably wouldn’t even be grateful for healing her, anyway….’
No—if her hands mended, she’d only gain the momentum to attack Luciana again.
Having reached this conclusion with rapid decisiveness, Luciana turned and fled, shouting as she went.
“I’ll call a doctor for you!”
“Where are you going, you cursed fake!”
“Well, if the Sacred Mark just exploded like that, isn’t it possible the Saint herself isn’t real either?”
“I’ll kill you all! You and that fake Divine Incarnation!”
“Just because you lack something doesn’t make you any less capable for calling it fake, does it?”
Luciana gave Sepina a half-hearted reply while surveying her surroundings.
Then she froze.
“…Where is this?”
It was strange—Sepina was carrying on like this, yet no one came running.
‘I thought I’d collapsed in the middle of the Banquet Hall.’
No matter how hard she looked around, the landscape bore no resemblance to the Banquet Hall whatsoever.
An oddly weathered Village stretched before her.
Broken doorframes and charred house frames revealed the skeletal remains of what looked like abandoned dwellings—as if the place had been ravaged by an attack.
She’d barely begun to process her alarm
when something tumbled from her pocket.
It was one of the Magical Tools that Gemini had insisted she take, despite her saying she didn’t need it.
A device for instant teleportation powered by magical energy.
‘Oh no.’
She’d thrown it in absently as a precaution on her way to the Imperial Palace and forgotten about it entirely—until now.
“Could it be….”
Had the device activated when she’d collided with Sepina?
Luciana looked down at the Sacred Mark on the back of her hand and understood.
‘If Sepina created her Sacred Mark using magical power, then it’s not entirely impossible.’
After all, Edward had made hers using a Ring, a Magical Tool.
If that was the case, then the Magical Tool—activated by the magical energy flowing from Sepina—had sent them both to the origin point of that power.
The problem was, she had no idea where that place was.
There was something even stranger, though.
‘Why does this feel oddly familiar?’
A peculiar sense of déjà vu washed over her as she took in the scenery.
‘Where have I seen this before?’
And lately, too. But where exactly….
That was when it happened.
Dash!
Someone in a Robe came sprinting past not far away.
“Excuse me!”
Luciana immediately broke into a run after them.
“Can you tell me where I am? Wait!”
‘Why are they running so fast!’
Luciana pursued the figure closely, moving faster than she’d anticipated, until finally she managed to grab their wrist.
“…Hey, wait—I—gasp—could we—gasp—go together….”
“……!”
The figure spun around in alarm, and as the Robe slipped away, a young woman’s face appeared.
But that wasn’t what startled Luciana.
“…Huh?”
Glimmer.
A Sacred Mark gleamed on the back of the woman’s hand.
‘What on earth….’
In the next instant, the Well at the center of the Village leapt into her line of sight.
An ancient, dilapidated Well. And a young woman bearing a Sacred Mark.
A half-forgotten scene from the source material flashed through her mind with sudden clarity.
The scene where the heroine had been caught drawing water at the Well by a Temple priest and dragged away.
At the same moment, a bolt of realization struck her.
‘Could it be….’
Is this woman the heroine?
She’d anticipated the possibility of meeting the original heroine someday, but never imagined it would happen here, like this….
Luciana fell into a frozen sort of panic.
“Who are you!”
Rumble.
A group of robed figures suddenly emerged from somewhere nearby.
“……!”
People with Sacred Marks inscribed on the back of each hand.
‘What?’
This wasn’t some kind of True Mate factory….
It was the moment Luciana’s eyes widened in bewilderment.
“…My lady! Oh dear!”
A familiar voice came rushing over and grabbed hold of her.
“Everyone stand down! She’s one of us! Hold your fire!”
“Gemini?”
It was Gemini, who had disappeared without a trace one day.
“My goodness, my lady. You’re unharmed. But how did you get here? Oh my. Poor thing. Your face has gone pale—how frightened you must be!”
As questions poured out of him like rapid gunfire, Luciana opened her mouth with a dazed expression.
“I’m the one who should be asking questions… Where is this? Who are all these people? There’s no Divine Incarnation, so why are there so many True Mates….”
As she spoke, a scene flickered across her mind.
‘Now that I think about it, this does look familiar.’
Now she remembered where she’d seen this landscape.
‘It’s the village from the tapestry I saw at the Dragon Museum.’
That village where countless True Mates gazed up at a dragon floating in the sky.
‘But now there’s only Edward as a Divine Incarnation.’
Then why were there so many True Mates?
Before she could even voice her confusion.
Gemini, who had heard her question, replied with sudden clarity.
“Ah, you’ve never seen this before, have you? This is a Village of Immunity Holders.”
“…Immunity?”
“It’s a forgotten village where people gather who adapt better than others to the dragon’s magical power and corruption! People like that.”
“…It’s not like a village of True Mates or something?”
It was when Luciana asked this almost offhandedly.
Gemini nodded and answered.
“Ah, yes—True Mates are exactly Immunity Holders! You see, the position of True Mate is something chosen among the Immunity Holders who have particularly strong abilities. It’s not determined from birth, you understand.”
“…What?”
…Not determined from birth as a one-to-one pairing?!
While Luciana reeled from this revelation, Gemini, who had casually exposed one of the world’s secrets, merely shrugged.
“I’ll give you a very long explanation about this when we have time… but actually, that’s not what matters right now!”
“If that doesn’t matter, what does?”
Luciana replied in a panic, still bewildered.
“Listen.”
The young woman who had gripped Luciana’s wrist turned to look at both of them.
“We can’t linger here. The Temple might come again.”
And she whispered, quickly scanning their surroundings.
“So shouldn’t we discuss this somewhere else?”

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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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