I Thought It Was the Monster Duke's Fake Sedative - Chapter 123

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

Episode 123
* * *
A few minutes later.
The villagers led Luciana, still reeling in shock, to a cottage nearby.
It resembled exactly what was embroidered in the center of the Tapestry, the structure closest to the village hall.
Upon opening the door, the interior revealed spaces that looked like training grounds.
And here, too, hung another Tapestry.
One depicting people training the strength of their hands.
As if they were cultivating Holy Power.
“…Wow.”
Even the Tapestry that looked identical to the one in the museum hung on the wall.
Only then did it truly sink in.
That this was genuinely a village connected to dragons.
Not some elaborate theater or mockery of her, but an actual, existing place.
Meanwhile, the Immunes who had brought the two here kept glancing nervously at Gemini and Luciana.
When they looked at the unconscious Sepina, their expressions darkened.
“Did we really have to bring that woman along?”
“And she’s a Saint, of all things. If the Temple comes looking for her again, we’ll be dragged in too.”
“No, actually we could propose a trade to the Temple. Give us back our families and take the Saint….”
Throughout the exchange, the young woman who had guided them offered tea to Luciana.
Accepting it gratefully, Luciana turned her gaze toward Gemini.
Gemini seemed so delighted at meeting Luciana again that he couldn’t stand still, bouncing on his heels.
“So this is the village of… well, True Mates? Or rather, the Immunes?”
At Luciana’s question, Gemini nodded eagerly.
“While researching the Ancient Rite, I discovered something odd and kept digging into it, which led me to this Immunity Theory and the village of Immunes. For instance, if you look at page 214 of ‘The Divine Incarnation Inquiry’….”
Gemini rattled off the titles of the worn old documents he had uncovered.
And after a long, winding explanation, he arrived at his conclusion simply.
“…Therefore, based on those sources, I hypothesized that the Immunes might still be living hidden somewhere. Children with Holy Power tend to be born mainly there, which is why they’ve become invisible. There were even records about the village.”
……
“But it was only a hypothesis, so I documented it and planned to search for it later.”
Gemini pressed his head as if it ached.
“The Temple seized my research materials and traced their way to this village first.”
……
“And so the villagers who were attacked were taken captive.”
“…So how did you end up here?”
“Those investigating the cause of the village’s attack encountered me at my private research facility. Unfortunately, by the time they arrived, the Temple had already taken most of the materials, so there wasn’t much for them to gain….”
“So.”
Luciana cut through sharply, organizing her thoughts.
“You’re the one who caused all this.”
“That’s right.”
“And that’s why you stayed here and helped these people?”
Gemini shook his head with a knowing smirk. “Well, ‘helped’ is an overstatement—I got caught and ended up enslaved. I absolutely would not help anyone but you, my lady.”
He spoke with deliberate cheekiness.
“In any case… as I mentioned, the Sacred Mark is the symbol of immunity, and among them, those with exceptionally strong detoxification abilities have been selected as True Mates since ancient times.”
……
“It seems the Temple was conducting experiments on Sepina, attempting to transplant this immunity.”
Gemini glanced at Sepina with an expression of distaste before shrugging.
Luciana, meanwhile, considered this carefully.
‘So.’
It meant that only those destined as True Mates from birth would manifest the Sacred Mark—not the other way around.
Rather, they had simply chosen True Mates from among those who possessed the Sacred Mark.
‘…Then was the original heroine one of the many people kidnapped from here?’
She remained bewildered.
The common sense of the original work she knew was being dismantled piece by piece.
Yet she could tell that Gemini was not deliberately lying.
He was still wearing the Lie Detector Necklace, and the village itself—the very structure of the hall—was undeniable proof.
‘Then again, there are plenty of novels with hidden settings in the original work….’
Apparently this world was much the same.
And one thought came to her simultaneously.
‘So what is a true True Mate bound by destiny really….’
It never existed.
With that realization, a peculiar hollowness swept across her chest.
But alongside it rose another emotion.
A relief that had no place in this moment.
Relief that she didn’t have to worry about Edward finding his true mate, his fated one.
Relief that she could keep standing by his side—and that relief wrapped around Luciana like a warm cloak.
If his words were true, she wouldn’t have to give him up because of some original plot.
If Edward had no predetermined mate, then anyone could be—
Herself included.
‘Edward.’
Now that she thought about it, what was Edward doing? He must be worried sick over her disappearance.
‘I need to find out where this place is and how long it’ll take to reach the Capital.’
And then I need to hurry back to him.
Luciana had just finished her tea and was rising from her seat when Gemini spoke again, as if it were nothing.
The words tumbled out carelessly.
“That ring you’re wearing—I wondered how the Teseron ducal house managed to imitate a true mate’s Stigma Mark and give it to you. But it seems he had his own flair for experiments, understood the Immunity Theory before I did.”
“…What?”
“Ah, discovering that a ring could serve as the medium for a Stigma Mark isn’t difficult for a genius like myself. I noticed it just by observing for a while. Anyway….”
Whether he continued rambling or not, Luciana opened her mouth, baffled.
“A flair for what experiments?”
“Perhaps I carelessly shared my ideas with the Duke at some point. And then he ran his own repeated trials….”
“Gemini?”
A flair for experiments, he said.
What sort of experiments had Edward conducted in Teseron?
Before Luciana could ask,
Gemini, who had been rattling on, fixed her with a strange look.
His eyes carried a belated concern.
“Speaking of the Duke… you actually used the Emergency Transport Device I gave you. What happened?”
“You’re asking that now?”
And what does that have to do with Edward?
Even as she answered, bewildered, an uneasy feeling crept over her.
Gemini’s tone made it clear he was certain something terrible had occurred.
‘Something did happen, but—’
It was something that had happened because Sepina forced her hand, desperate to have Edward for herself.
But Gemini…
“Surely the Duke didn’t threaten you?”
“What on earth are you talking about?”
He was blaming Edward.
When this overlapped with what she’d just heard about the ducal house’s experiments, a strange dread began to seep upward through her.
It was like knowing you’d fall before you tripped—that sickening premonition—and Luciana swallowed hard.
Gemini tilted his head, asking quietly,
“Did your Holy Power finally become insufficient to control his Corruption? Did the Duke go into Rampage?”
……
“Is that why you fled?”
Rampage?
She wanted to ask what he meant—she’d been managing his Purification just fine—but the words died in her throat.
“It’s possible. Experimental Subjects tend to do that sometimes, or rather, often. There may have already been warning signs. Scales forming, a strange luminescence….”
Luciana flinched and stiffened.
“A Divine Incarnation is such delicate, sensitive experimental material, after all….”
The more she heard, the stranger it sounded.
She’d assumed he was talking about herself as an Experimental Subject.
“…Gemini?”
“I don’t even know how it succeeded in the first place. It must have been an enormous undertaking. That the Experimental Subject survived it and didn’t die is the real miracle….”
“Gemini!”
Thwack!
The next moment, Luciana seized Gemini by the shoulder.
Startled by the force, Gemini’s words cut short as if he’d bitten his tongue.
The Immunes standing around them flinched at the sudden shift in atmosphere.
Luciana swallowed and demanded,
“What exactly are you saying?”
“What? Surely the Duke didn’t come here in a Rampage state?”
“……”
“Something’s gone wrong with his constitution—the fact that he was an Experimental Subject means…”
Gemini caught the thread of wrongness and his expression hardened.
“Cough, ha, haha! Hahahaha!”
Convulsive laughter erupted from her throat.
Everyone in the room flinched and turned their eyes, only to find Sepina staring at Luciana with her eyes blazing bright.
Her charred hands, already burned down to nothing, gleamed with menacing light.
The Immunes recoiled at the sight.
“Look here! Seize the Saint again!”
“Knock her out! Now!”
The Immunes, cold sweat breaking across their brows, rushed forward to seize Sepina’s wrists and began muttering an incantation to pin her down.
“See? I was right all along.”
Sepina ground her teeth, eyes blazing with intensity.
As if she had awakened for this moment alone.
“How does it feel? Holding the counterfeit.”
Her expression twisted into something that looked ready to burst into bitter laughter.

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