I Thought It Was the Monster Duke's Fake Sedative - Chapter 24

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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 24
Edward’s voice came as a whisper, so smooth it raised the fine hairs along her entire body.
“When did you ever tremble too frightened to lift your head?”
There was a teasing edge to his words, and Lucy bristled at it despite herself.
“That’s because you—”
“And you slept like the dead the whole way.”
“I, I didn’t sleep that heavily—”
But it was true, and she had nothing to say.
Edward had insisted they depart at once, and he’d flown through the night with Lucy cradled against him, arriving here without pause.
She’d drifted between waking and sleeping in his arms until, before she knew it, they were already in Teseron.
‘And I was drooling, for heaven’s sake.’
She’d broken into a cold sweat trying to wipe the evidence from his armor without him noticing.
‘His stamina really is something else.’
She found herself marveling anew at Edward’s endurance.
He’d flown through the night carrying her all day without showing the slightest sign of fatigue.
If anything, the body pressed against hers had grown progressively warmer, as though he’d been charged with energy rather than drained.
“We’re here.”
Before Lucy could finish her thought,
Edward descended slowly to the ground.
As Lucy lifted her head, she gasped again.
“Wow.”
A lush garden spread before them—the kind you’d never expect to find in the North.
The garden seemed maintained by magic, with Magical Stones embedded like ornaments in the statues scattered throughout.
Beyond it rose an enormous castle that must surely be the Teseron Estate.
A line of servants stood at attention at the entrance.
“Welcome, sir.”
“We are honored by your arrival.”
‘Like some yakuza boss making his grand entrance.’
The servants, ranged in perfect formation, greeted their master with rigid formality.
‘So this is the Teseron Estate….’
She truly was safe now.
Relief washed over her, and her shoulders relaxed.
“Um… should I—?”
As Lucy tried to slip from Edward’s arms, his hand shot up and caught the back of her neck.
……
She froze, meeting his gaze—and found his brow furrowed in displeasure.
“What is it?”
“I should greet them properly, shouldn’t I…?”
“Why would you?”
“Well, these are the servants I’ll be living and working alongside from now on.”
After all, she’d come here under an Employment Contract, which made her as much a servant as any of them.
She’d likely be sharing their quarters and eating from the same table.
It would be awkward to make her first impression while cradled in her employer’s arms.
That was all.
“…Sharing quarters?”
At those words, Edward’s voice took on an unmistakable note of displeasure.
Even the servants standing at attention seemed to sense it, flinching slightly.
‘What’s wrong?’
She wasn’t sure where she’d mistepped, but she could feel his irritation rippling through him—plain as day to her eyes.
Lucy’s survival instinct kicked in; her eyes went wide.
“No, I mean—of course we’d run into each other, sharing the same quarters…”
“Why would you share quarters?”
“Because I came here under an Employment Contract, so naturally—oh, that reminds me!”
“What.”
“The contract. When exactly will you seal it for me…?”
Lucy was still trying to make her point
when a voice cut through: “Sir.”
The servants parted like the Red Sea opening before Moses.
Through the gap stepped a stern-faced middle-aged woman.
Her spectacles flashed as her gaze swept across Lucy, assessing her in a single glance.
Lucy flinched, but held the woman’s gaze.
‘This person is….’
A woman with a lean frame draped in an impeccably tailored suit, everything about her announcing that she ran this estate—from the set of her shoulders to the sharpness of her eyes.
And beneath it all, an air of unwavering loyalty.
‘Ah!’
Lucy’s hands flew to her thighs as recognition struck her.
‘The steward of Teseron Estate—Rozendale Bellum.’
Born of the Bellum Family, who had served the duke for generations, a woman who would do anything for Edward.
In the novel, she’d been a fan favorite, commanding and fiercely devoted.
Lucy had liked her well enough too.
‘But the flaw is how coldly she treats everyone else but the duke.’
In the latter half of the story, when Edward fell apart for one reason or another.
It was Rozendale who cast out the old servants and able staff of House Teseron on his orders.
Rather than counsel a wayward master and point out his ruin, she was the type to accept even a ruined master as her fate and follow him blindly.
‘If I make an enemy of someone like that, the days ahead will be miserable.’
Lucy’s sudden anxiety made her leap from Edward’s arms entirely.
Edward’s expression darkened, but he still caught her by the nape to steady her so she wouldn’t fall.
Rozendale, watching them with narrowed eyes, approached the two of them.
“My lord, we’ve been waiting for you.”
“Mm.”
“Tephe and Gorgo arrived a short while ago—they tore through a Scroll to get here.”
“I see.”
“Perhaps we should begin with a meal….”
Rozendale’s words died as she caught sight of Edward’s Armor.
Her eyes sharpened, and she swept her gaze over his form from head to toe.
“…It appears a bath would be in order first, my lord.”
“True enough.”
Edward glanced slowly down at himself.
He’d hunted a Monster at the gate and set out at once without so much as washing—the vile blood of the beast had soaked into his Armor everywhere.
Under normal circumstances, he would have scrubbed himself clean before doing anything else, such was the quantity.
If it had splattered this heavily, it had certainly reached his hair and face as well.
‘It would look dignified either way, I suppose.’
Even as Edward considered the plain fact of it, he found himself suddenly self-conscious.
…….
“M-my lord? Why are you looking at me like that….”
Lucy, looked down upon, was hardly presentable herself.
She’d been wearing shabby, threadbare rags to begin with.
Now they were covered in the Monster’s blood that had transferred from Edward’s body, the fabric soaked dark and sticky.
Like a rat that had been dunked in mud and rolled around in it.
Lucy only belatedly grasped how she must look, and embarrassment bloomed across her face.
‘Of all the timing.’
To be carried through the front door in her employer’s arms in front of the estate servants she’d need to impress, and now to make her entrance looking like this—it was too much.
She could see several servants whispering nervously as they took her in.
“Why has the master brought back such a vagrant?”
“Has he suddenly taken a fancy to charity…?”
“Did you eat something poisoned?”
She understood those reactions perfectly well.
‘Even I can see it—right now I look like….’
Like some beggar the duke had picked up off the street on a whim.
Good impressions seemed to be in short supply all around.
Her spirit sank before she’d even begun.
‘…I’d hoped to make a decent impression here at least.’
Not to slink about reading every expression like she did in the shelter, nor to become a burden like some dead weight.
That was when Lucy’s mood grew quietly heavy.
“Then we shall start with a wash.”
“I shall prepare Fragrant Oil for you at once, my lord.”
Edward had apparently decided that bathing took precedence over supper, answering with admirable brevity.
‘Then I suppose….’
Rozendale would likely take her in hand and show her around the place.
As Lucy began to withdraw from Edward, the moment hung suspended.
“…and you too.”
Edward regarded Lucy with an odd, measured gaze.
“You need to bathe.”
Lucy closed her eyes slowly, then opened them again.
‘Food, a bath, or else me…no, you?’
The thought had flickered through her mind just as he spoke.
“Of course. I understand.”
Rozendale turned her head toward Lucy.
Like a master examining some random trinket his servant had picked up.
“I’ll have her taken away to be properly cleaned, then—”
It was the moment she finished speaking and opened her mouth to address the servants.
“No.”
A firm, measured voice cut through the air.
“There’s no need for that.”
‘What?’
You need to bathe, you said?
There was no time to bristle in protest.
“I’ll bathe her myself.”
Edward had just detonated a bomb.
A stunned silence fell over the room, heavy and suffocating.

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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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