I Thought It Was the Monster Duke's Fake Sedative - Chapter 31

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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 31
Under Gorgo’s guidance, Lucy arrived at the Library and began searching for books on Dragons, Consciousness, and Divine Power.
She gathered as many books as she could carry and started reading.
She needed to concentrate, if only to quiet the rising anxiety that threatened to overwhelm her.
One of the books she was reading mentioned that using Divine Power all at once in large quantities could cause one to lose consciousness.
“Right. That would explain it.”
Now she understood what had happened when she’d suddenly started bleeding from her nose and collapsed in the Bathtub.
She hadn’t just been excited—she’d also been draining Divine Power from Edward.
‘When you think about it, it’s not just my weak constitution.’
Edward was hardly blameless in all this.
Yet somehow she was the one being subtly criticized for her frail body, and that felt terribly unfair.
‘If he’d just indulged a bit less, that would’ve been the end of it.’
Though to be honest, she couldn’t exactly complain when she’d enjoyed it just as much.
“I need to understand the limits of Divine Power first. I should remember that.”
So she read, and read again.
“When using it for Healing Power… ah, I see.”
Read, and read some more.
“Hmm, Demon Sealing, then….”
Having sat without moving for hours, devouring whatever knowledge came her way.
Lucy had been fortunate enough to gather several vital clues about Consciousness.
They weren’t the whole picture, but for a first day, the results were impressive.
“No wonder the Library of a place where Divine Avatars are born is different.”
Materials that would be difficult to find elsewhere appeared here without much trouble.
Moreover, if others had searched these shelves before Lucy for information on Divine Avatars and Dragon Consciousness, the books bore the evidence—they were neater and gathered less dust than the rest, making the work easier still.
All that remained was to find the missing puzzle pieces, and then somehow combine that knowledge with what she’d read in the source material to recreate the Divine Avatar Consciousness.
‘Though I won’t reveal anything until the Contract is finalized.’
“Well… I think I’ll stop here for today.”
She’d been concentrating so hard that quite a bit of time had passed.
Lucy was just stretching her stiff body when she heard it.
“Um… excuse me.”
A hesitant voice called out softly.
“About… about your meal…?”
She turned to find several maids regarding her with awkward expressions.
‘Why does this feel familiar?’
The knights of Teseron she’d encountered while training at the Training Ground with Edward had looked at her with that exact same expression.
A look that said they had no idea how to treat her.
“If you’d like—or rather, if you would prefer—your meal can be prepared in the Dining Hall….”
“I mean, there’s a servants’ dining area, or rather, there’s the main Dining Hall….”
Their speech wavered between formal and casual, their guidance stuttering back and forth—it was painfully clear.
‘They don’t know how to treat me either.’
She understood completely.
Lucy existed in a strange liminal space in this household.
She was hardly a guest, having come here under contract, and Edward himself didn’t treat her like one.
But she wasn’t a servant either—there was no signed Contract for that.
So the maids and knights were genuinely confused about how to relate to her.
Lucy found the situation equally awkward.
“Oh, well… as for eating, maybe a little later would be…?”
“But the Duke instructed us to make sure you’re fed well….”
The conversation continued in that strange, ambiguous fashion—not quite speaking to each other, and yet clearly speaking to each other.
“In any case, if you decide you’re ready, the Dining Hall is prepared….”
Perhaps the awkwardness was too much for them.
The maids quickly delivered their message and hurried away.
Lucy watched their retreating figures with an embarrassed expression.
‘Well, I did skip meals before.’
She might as well get something to eat while she was at it.
But the maids’ mention of Edward insisting they make sure she ate well lingered in her mind, making her heart flutter oddly.
‘No Contract yet, no answers about anything that matters….’
And yet there he was, making sure she was fed. It was the sort of thing that made one’s guard slip.
Lucy left the Library, muttering inwardly, and began to make her way toward the Dining Hall.
Or rather, she tried to.
She stopped short.
An important realization struck her a moment later.
‘I forgot to ask which way leads out of the Dining Hall.’
Lucy still knew the layout of Teseron Estate poorly.
She’d tried to memorize it, but the place was so vast and sprawling that it was hopeless.
Not knowing which dining hall to go to, let alone where the dining halls were located, made matters worse.
Growl.
Her stomach, belatedly aware of its hunger, began protesting loudly.
Lucy paused and sighed.
‘Maybe I should just go back to my room and sleep.’
Life in the Shelter had given her the ability to endure hunger.
This Divine Avatar had also gone without food many times, so a little fasting shouldn’t cause problems.
Lucy was turning wearily to retrace her steps when—
“Oh!”
A young maidservant came running with a basket and collided directly into her.
Thump!
The maidservant’s face crumpled at the sight of the basket tumbling across the floor.
Lucy picked up the fallen basket with an embarrassed expression.
“Are you alright?”
The maidservant hesitated before taking the basket back from Lucy.
Her expression grew more distressed as she opened it.
“Oh, I hope it wasn’t anything important….”
What would she do if it was?
She was troubled by the thought of whether she could possibly make it right.
The maidservant spoke to her cautiously.
“Um, so….”
“Yes?”
“It got a bit damaged, but would you be willing to eat it?”
Click.
The basket opened fully, revealing its contents.
Though slightly scattered from rolling, there were clearly sandwiches made with great care.
* * *
“I’m so glad there’s someone who can eat them!”
“No, I should be thanking you, Clara. You saved me.”
A short while later.
Lucy was walking alongside the maidservant, munching on a sandwich.
The maidservant’s name was Clara, and she too was a newcomer who had only recently arrived at Teseron Estate.
“I made them carefully to bring to the knights, but when I got there, they’d already finished their meal, can you believe it?”
“What a shame. They’re so good.”
“Really?”
“Absolutely. I almost feel sorry for whoever missed out on these.”
Clara’s sandwiches truly were delicious.
The portions were generous, and the ingredients were excellent.
“But they’d already eaten? Was there a duplicate order?”
At that, Clara’s expression turned somewhat bitter.
“It was probably territorial hazing.”
“Territorial hazing?”
Lucy blinked at the unexpected word.
Clara sighed deeply, looking troubled.
“You see, Teseron Estate has many servants who have worked here for a long time.”
“I suppose that’s natural.”
From the original work, Lucy knew that the estate had many from families who had long served the dragon, including Rozendale the steward.
Clara continued, looking uncomfortable.
“I’m an outsider, you see.”
“I understand.”
“And ever since the previous Duke passed away, there have been factions warring among the servants….”
“Factions?”
This was unexpected news.
‘How can there be other factions when Edward is here?’
Clara simply nodded at Lucy’s questioning gaze.
“Yes. Those who follow the late Duke’s wishes, and currently… well, those who follow Duke Edward’s wishes.”
“I see.”
“The Dowager Duchess, widow of the late Duke, is still living as well.”
“Ah.”
Lucy nodded as though she understood, yet her confusion only deepened.
The Dowager Duchess?
‘She barely appeared in the original at all.’
Not that she didn’t appear at all, exactly.
Rather, she was the sort of minor antagonist who existed for all of one line before vanishing from the page.
The Dowager Duchess and the late Duke’s faction had attempted to manipulate Edward, only to be subdued in an instant and removed from the narrative.
After that, she never appeared again.
There had never been any mention of her creating such factions among the servants.
‘Well… she might simply not have been significant enough to include in the original.’
Edward would handle it all anyway, so there was nothing for her to worry about separately.
‘But if she’s the Dowager Duchess….’
Wasn’t she Edward’s mother?
A mother who engaged in a power struggle with her own son and was defeated like a minor villain—it seemed unusual somehow.
There was something about her nature that felt far from ordinary.
Edward, who wouldn’t even give way to his own mother and confined her instead, was undoubtedly the character with the most fractured personality in this entire work.
Yet the remarkable thing was that he never spoke harshly to commoners.
No matter how he had been raised.
‘Still, he’d say something if someone annoyed him.’
While Lucy mulled over Edward’s nature without particular concern, Clara continued, her tone uncertain.
“Everyone who works here is ultimately forced to choose sides.”
“Choose sides?”
“Which faction to support.”
Was the Dowager Duchess’s faction truly that large?
Even as the question formed in her mind, Lucy answered sincerely.
“That must have been difficult.”
……
“It’s frustrating, that sort of thing.”
She herself had endured similar treatment in the Shelter, after all.
Even within that place, people drew lines and fought, and every time the shrimp caught fire, the collateral damage fell unjustly on those caught between.
At those words, Clara flinched, then laughed bitterly.
“Yes. It was terribly difficult. I didn’t want to take either side.”
“Mm.”
“As a result, I’ve experienced this territorial hazing. Lately, especially—those servants loyal to Duke Edward….”
“To the Duke?”
“…Yes, well… I hadn’t meant to speak this plainly.”
Clara’s eyes darted nervously about as she shifted her weight.
“Whenever someone new arrives, they’re afraid it might harm the Duke, so they become deliberately cold and distant.”
“I… see.”
“Look, even now—they’re deliberately starving the young lady like this.”

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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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