I Thought It Was the Monster Duke's Fake Sedative - Chapter 25

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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 25
“Uh….”
Lucy and the servants blinked in confusion, as if uncertain they’d heard correctly.
“Come.”
Edward scooped Lucy up in one swift motion.
Like a great beast carrying its cub by the scruff of the neck.
“W-wait, what is this, just a—”
Lucy stammered belatedly, her legs thrashing.
Edward exhaled shortly and added an explanation.
It went against his ingrained habit of saying nothing, so it was no small expenditure of effort on his part.
“Monster Blood is something only I can touch anyway.”
“……!”
“Who else do you suppose could wash it off you?”
Lucy’s mouth fell open at those words, then snapped shut again.
‘…He has a point.’
Monster Blood was deadly poison to ordinary humans.
Only something like Edward, the Dragon Incarnate, could handle it at all.
Lucy had survived because Holy Power Users could neutralize most poisons, including Monster Blood.
The servants, now understanding, exchanged glances and nodded.
Rozendale too regarded Lucy with a measuring gaze before responding swiftly.
“I shall have the Perfumed Oil brought at once.”
“Good.”
Edward, now assured, began walking with Lucy still in his arms, his strides brisk and purposeful.
Even as he carried her through the grand, glittering halls of the Duke’s Mansion and up the stairs, Lucy remained rigid.
Click.
“…Huh?!”
Only when Edward opened the door to a chamber did she suddenly snap to awareness.
‘He’s not actually going to bathe me himself!’
“N-no, I don’t need washing! Really, I’m fine!”
She flailed belatedly, but Edward’s response was cold.
His voice even held a note of mild reproof.
“Stop squirming and stay still.”
“No! I’m—I can do it myself!”
“You’re an experiment from the Temple. You know Monster Blood turns into a deadlier poison if it isn’t washed away.”
“But I have Holy Power, so I’m fine?!”
She possessed an unusually abundant reserve of Holy Power for an extra incarnation.
Enough to bear Cepina’s extracted Purification Power alone, without the aid of other children.
‘At this rate… wouldn’t that put me somewhere near High Priestess level?’
So there was nothing to worry about—and even if there were, she could simply scrub it away herself.
Yet here he was, insisting on doing it himself.
‘…Does he really distrust me that much—not even letting me be alone while washing?’
He’d just invoked the Temple’s experiment justification, after all.
He hadn’t even signed the Contract yet.
If his suspicion stemmed from having only just met her, she could almost understand it—but a swell of grievance rose in her chest regardless.
Here he was, taking such care of her, and now this….
“A-anyway, I’m completely fine, really!”
Lucy shook her hands as she spoke, trying to hide her hurt.
Slip-slip.
“…….”
“…….”
From the tattered rags that passed for her clothes, the Monster Blood-stained sleeve tore away and fell.
Beneath the crude patch, the mold and ancient grime of the Prison lay exposed without concealment.
As if Monster Blood were never the problem at all.
Edward’s eyes narrowed in visible distaste at the sight.
“Wash. Now.”
“…Yes, sir.”
Lucy nodded before she could think.
* * *
“…This is my lot.”
A few minutes later.
Lucy stood before the bathroom door, cold sweat beading on her forehead.
All her attempts to stall had come to nothing.
“Duke—I mean, sir! This really isn’t right! You bathing me? That’s absolutely ridiculous!”
“Then?”
“I’ll bathe you instead. Me!”
“You….”
“I’ll wash you and myself at the same time! I’ll prepare the bathwater with my own secret recipe! Do you know what a milk bath is?!”
Your house doesn’t have anything like that, does it?
After announcing this with such confidence, she’d tried to buy time by preparing the bathwater.
“The faucet already has magic imbued to aid recovery—there’s no need to add anything strange to the Duke’s bath.”
She would have succeeded if Rozendale hadn’t appeared downstairs looking suspicious as Lucy gathered ingredients for the bathwater.
With her first impression already poor, she couldn’t afford to make it worse.
Lucy returned with tears in her eyes and began filling the tub.
When she heard rustling and turned to look at Edward….
Oh, no!
She found herself staring directly at Edward’s naked form.
After that, she couldn’t even scream—she simply froze and slowly averted her gaze.
What on earth had she just seen?
Of course, it was large and beautiful.
Abdominal muscles carved as if by divine hands, a broad chest above them, a solid serratus anticus clinging tightly beneath, an waist that narrowed in an inverted triangle, and thighs split with definition, hard and powerful.
But as Cepina had described it, the most formidable weapon lay lower.
A tumbler. No, a thermos.
Actually, that seemed too small.
More like the girth of her own forearm.
Lucy found herself lifting her arm to examine it closely before another internal scream escaped her.
Throughout all this, Edward approached the tub without the slightest hesitation.
“I—I need more time! To prepare outside!”
“If this drags on, I’ll assume you’ve run.”
“……!”
“In which case, I’ll come fetch you myself. Keep that in mind.”
With that, he glanced at her with eyes slightly darkened, then stepped into the tub.
That had been mere moments ago.
Lucy stared at the bathroom door, worrying her lip.
He hadn’t been joking about coming to fetch her.
There was a good chance he’d come after her without so much as a care that others might see him naked.
He might even regard it as displaying a work of fine art for everyone’s benefit.
What frightened her most was that there were probably people who actually thought that way.
The image of that massive form chasing after her, with the maids gazing at him in rapture, began playing out like a scene from hell.
“Did you run?”
A low voice came from beyond the bathroom door.
Lucy squeezed her eyes shut and called back.
“Of course not! I’m coming now!”
“…….”
“This is my first time bathing someone else, so I was just practicing a bit in here! Hehe!”
Lucy steeled herself.
This wasn’t some delicate young lady requiring meticulous care.
Surely just scrubbing his back—the part out of reach—would be enough.
Besides, in stories like these, the bathwater was always obscured by foam or floating rose petals anyway.
Close your eyes and finish quickly.
With that resolve, Lucy pushed open the bathroom door without hesitation.
Creak.
Whoosh.
Instantly, steam that had been gathering inside the bathroom rushed toward her.
Damp and warm air, thick with heat.
She inhaled sharply.
In that moment when her breath caught.
Lucy caught the subtle scent mingled in the air.
The fragrance that drifted from his embrace whenever she was held there.
“There is use in this.”
The scent that lingered at the tip of her nose when he whispered those words….
The scent of the Perfumed Oil and Soap that Edward used.
The moment she recognized it, she felt her tension shift into something else entirely.
Lucy swallowed hard to settle her churning stomach, then rolled up her sleeves and made her way toward the bathtub.
‘This is insane.’
And she sighed at the sight beyond his broad shoulders.
Contrary to her hopes, the bathwater was crystal clear—pristine, first-grade clarity.
Which meant the unsightly situation beneath the surface was impossible to miss.
From Edward’s lower half as he reclined in the tub, the presence was so commanding that even the rising steam couldn’t conceal it.
‘A beautiful face paired with something decidedly less refined….’
Lucy’s eyes went unfocused.
‘Don’t think about it.’
It’s just flesh, Lucy.
Once you strip it all away, it’s all the same—well, no, there’s no way something like that could be the same, but regardless….
Lucy was standing motionless, composing herself, when—
Edward pressed her again.
“You said you’d practiced?”
“Y-yes! I’ll show you the real thing this time!”
Lucy scrubbed her hands thoroughly and grabbed the Sponge and Soap.
Splash.
Water streaming from the Sponge—wrung tight in her nervousness—ran down her wrists and elbows, soaking through to her skirt.
As she worked the Soap into the Sponge with frantic energy and trembled her way toward Edward’s neck—
Flinch.
Edward’s body jerked up without warning, and Lucy sprang backward in reflex.

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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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