I Thought It Was the Monster Duke's Fake Sedative - Chapter 23

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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 23
Of course, that wasn’t the reason the experiment was improper.
“If there’s something like that, you should let me try it first!”
“It’s not safe yet. How could I subject my precious daughter to an untested experiment?”
“Then when will it be tested? When can I use it?”
“Well… three….”
“Three, two, one. Time’s up. Right now, yes?”
“Three months… or perhaps longer….”
“What do you mean by that!”
Sepina burst out in frustration.
The Pope hemmed and hawed in reply.
“Still, there are some excellent talents. There are even some outstanding scientists, strange as they might be… and they may manage it faster than three months.”
“I need Divine Power right now!”
Sepina was genuinely upset.
‘It was supposed to be mine soon.’
Ten years old—ever since she’d first seen Edward in society.
That man had become the greatest purpose of Sepina’s life.
‘Anything special must belong to me.’
Thanks to the Pope silencing her through his remarriage of her mother to a nobleman, Sepina had been indulged as if she were a princess.
Though of lower nobility, she was treated like a royal in her household, and everything fine belonged to her.
Only that accursed title had ever held her back.
‘Why am I merely a baron’s daughter.’
Sepina could never be satisfied.
She deserved a higher station than a baron’s.
My own father is the Pope. Though I cannot speak of it, I am the child of someone greater. I deserve more than this baron’s daughter position.
Such a petty title….
And then she saw him—the one Avatar of the Dragon, unique upon the entire continent.
Struck by the golden-haired boy, Sepina thought:
‘There cannot exist anything more special than him in this world.’
Edward had everything—wealth, status, looks.
And unlike other boys, he didn’t crumble at the slightest smile from her.
‘Expensive things carry their price, don’t they.’
Which made her like him all the more.
He seemed perfectly matched to her level, somehow.
Precisely because she could not possess him as easily as other things, he seemed all the more precious, all the more worth longing for.
So Sepina had ultimately decided to sacrifice.
The tedious sacrifice of entering the Temple and playing the role of a saint.
Because as a saint, she could meet the Avatar under the pretext of Purification.
The Pope, who conveniently needed a way to bind Edward, welcomed Sepina’s entrance and made her a saint.
For Sepina, it had been something of an ordeal.
Being the object of far more attention than she had been as a baron’s daughter was pleasant.
The fact that she was the sole and unique saint satisfied her pride.
But having to feign kindness toward everyone against her nature—suffering facial spasms dozens of times a day—she hated that.
When told that saints must be austere and forced to wear cheaper ornaments, she nearly wept with indignation.
‘And how great a sacrifice that is.’
Sepina could confidently declare that no one desired and loved him as she did.
What galled her was that Edward did not recognize such sacrifice.
Yet Sepina still had an advantage.
Even one as perfect as Edward needed periodic Purification from his human companion.
Without it, he might depart for the Demon Realm at any moment without warning.
‘And they say the body must touch for Purification to take effect.’
Wasn’t this the perfect hand he’d dealt her?
Father was always that way.
He said that when bodies touch often enough, hearts follow. That was how he and her mother met.
Yet Father, who could have defrocked himself and made her mother his wife, had instead remarried her to another nobleman and took to meeting her in secret….
Sepina understood it in her own way.
‘To be honest… even I can see she’s not worth that sacrifice.’
Though she loved her mother, her judgment was clear: her mother lacked the caliber to justify such a sacrifice.
Why would Father settle for simply connecting her to a baron, when he might have extracted far more? Her mother was a timid creature indeed.
If only her mother had demanded marriage to a Duke—or even the Emperor—then she herself….
‘Well. Even looking at it objectively, Mother isn’t worth as much as Edward.’
In any case, all she needed to do now was focus on him.
“That’s enough.”
“Pardon? But Your Grace….”
“Unlike you, I’m a busy man, Sepina.”
Edward always pushed her away with cold indifference.
He even acted as though holding her hand was distasteful.
‘I’m his only Purification user.’
People across the entire Empire even believed that she and Edward would marry soon….
As this ambiguous relationship—something that felt like hers but wasn’t—dragged on, Sepina felt herself going mad.
Once she had him completely, nothing else would matter after that.
If Edward died later fighting Demon Beasts, she could simply remarry another excellent man.
Or no—she was praised and beloved by everyone as a saint. Why couldn’t she live with multiple men without marriage? Wouldn’t that be possible?
After all, Father was conducting experiments with Divine Power transplantation, wasn’t he?
‘If only that succeeds.’
If she truly became a saint that way, she might eventually become an exalted woman who enjoyed far more than her father the Pope ever would.
‘…But I haven’t even started yet!’
Shouldn’t she marry Edward first before moving to the next stage?
Sepina poured out her complaints anew.
“When are you going to get me the Divine Mark? You said you’d send a proposal letter!”
“Mm.”
“With the Divine Mark, he won’t be able to refuse. This time, let’s make sure the marriage happens for certain….”
“Speaking of marriage, Sepina.”
The Pope forced a smile, as if trying to placate her.
In fact, he had his own plan in mind.
Edward’s sudden action had actually made it easier to push matters forward.
“Just a moment ago, I received a Special-Grade Messenger Bird.”
The Special-Grade Messenger Bird, which used far more expensive magic than ordinary messenger birds, could reach anywhere in the Empire within a day.
The Pope then pulled out a letter and waved it.
The name Count Mora glittered on the envelope’s face.
Since Sepina didn’t recognize the name, it was clearly some provincial nobleman stuck far from the Capital.
“What does some provincial nobleman matter?”
That was when Sepina spoke petulantly.
“This nobleman has heard something.”
…….
“If we play this right, we can make the marriage happen even without the Divine Mark.”
“Really? How….”
The Pope leaned down and whispered something into Sepina’s ear.
As she listened, Sepina’s eyes widened.
Soon a deep smile spread across her lovely lips.
* * *
Flap, flap.
Edward’s golden wings caught the sunlight and scattered light in all directions.
Tepe and Gorgo were on the ground below, keeping pace and ready to tear the remaining Scroll at Edward’s arrival.
“…Wow.”
Perhaps because it was the second time now.
Lucy, her curiosity greater than her fear, held Edward tightly and looked down around them with newfound courage.
And she spoke her honest admiration aloud.
‘This is really incredible.’
Below stretched the vast Tesseron Territory.
Towering walls and massive cities stood scattered across the landscape.
Not the cold and desolate scenery one naturally imagined when thinking of the north, but bustling markets full of people and massive ports where countless goods flowed in and out.
Several pieces of information floated hazily through Lucy’s mind.
‘They said the only ice-free port in the north is in Tesseron.’
She’d heard that the Dukedom remained perpetually wealthy thanks to its numerous mines, including Mana Stone quarries, and that port.
It never froze in winter, allowing year-round trade without needing to use other trade routes in the Empire, making commerce completely free.
Trade with other territories was brisk, and she’d heard it was equally active with the kingdoms to the north.
Perhaps that’s why.
‘It’s far more vibrant than I imagined.’
The Tesseron Dukedom was a place overflowing with vitality.
If not for the towering barriers built to hold back the Demon Beasts, one might have mistaken this place for the Capital itself.
‘I’ve never seen the Capital from above ground, locked away as I’ve been, but still.’
That was apparently another reason the Emperor found him so troublesome.
He had little need to depend on the Capital or the Emperor—a dragon’s Avatar, without weakness or flaw.
Which was why they supposedly resorted to every conceivable measure to capture Edward.
‘Well, that’s their concern to sort out.’
The tangled politics of it all had nothing to do with Lucy.
Watching people move freely about the streets filled her with an unexpected joy.
Even in her last memories of the previous life, she had never seen crowds moving like this.
She was still lost in wonder, wandering the marketplace, when—
A soft chuckle drifted down from above.
“Quite the fortunate soul, aren’t you.”

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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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