I Thought It Was the Monster Duke's Fake Sedative - Chapter 34

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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 34
I’ve no idea what he intended to do with the experimental records, wherever he’s taken them.
‘…Yes, that damned experiment.’
The Priest was not the High Priest of the Capital, so he remained ignorant of the experiment’s specifics.
He knew only that the Pope had invested considerable effort in it, and that the previous Duke of Teseron had taken a keen interest as well.
And that the current Duke of Teseron had recently, without permission, spirited away one of the Experimental Subjects they’d invested so heavily in.
‘What madness possessed him to do such a reckless thing. Tsk, tsk.’
Gravely disturbed, the Pope had sent the Priest a letter detailing the Experimental Subject’s appearance, accompanied by an imperial edict.
It was a lengthy missive, line after line imploring him to recover the Experimental Subject without fail.
Along with a promise that, should he succeed, he would be summoned to serve as High Priest of the Capital—not merely of Teseron.
Those words had kindled the ambition that had lain dormant in the Priest’s heart.
‘I cannot spend the rest of my life exiled here in Teseron.’
At the Temple in the Capital, a complete reversal of fortune would be within reach.
The Priest’s eyes darted over Lucy’s white hair and dark eyes.
A woman who matched precisely the appearance the Pope had described in meticulous detail.
She was unmistakably the Experimental Subject in question.
‘I must take her, no matter what!’
As the Priest gritted his teeth and strode forward with purpose—
‘Ah, so that’s it.’
Lucy finally grasped why Rozendale had summoned Edward so urgently.
This was genuinely an emergency, then!
‘But why didn’t he tell me? Why keep me in the dark about this?’
If she’d known, she wouldn’t have been locked away in her room pretending to browse the library.
But now that they’d met face-to-face, it was too late.
Lucy trembled inwardly while maintaining an air of perfect calm.
“Who might you be, sir?”
“Ah, ‘sir’?”
“I have a condition—I can’t remember unattractive people. Have we met before?”
The Priest’s face flushed a deep crimson.
Yet his advancing footsteps did not slow.
“…Hah! Personal feelings matter little when the greater cause is at stake.”
“The greater cause?”
“Your sins are ones you yourself should know….”
“Sins? But what crime have I committed?”
An Experimental Subject wasn’t automatically a criminal, was she?
She feigned genuine bewilderment, her expression one of utter confusion—
“No amount of denial will help you!”
A rough hand, trembling with excitement, stretched toward Lucy.
She’d braced herself mentally for this possibility long ago, yet seeing that hand reaching to drag her away by force made her heart plummet.
‘What do I do?’
How could she escape from this situation?
Lucy stepped backward, cold sweat beading on her brow, while the Priest lunged forward with unbridled confidence to seize her arm—when it happened.
Crack!
“Ugh!”
A sound like splitting canvas thundered through the air.
The Priest staggered backward, cradling his stinging hand.
“Wh—what is this… Your Grace?”
……
Lucy stared blankly at the arm now shielding her.
An arm solid and powerful, thick and unyielding, yet one that held her body far more gently than she’d expected.
When she looked up, Edward was standing beside her.
His beautiful lips parted in a smile.
A smile that looked pleasant enough, yet emanated unmistakable displeasure.
“For a Temple Priest—and of all places, the Temple—your manners are remarkably crude.”
“W-what do you mean by that!”
“Daring to lay hands on another man’s woman, here in the Duke’s Estate no less.”
……!
“I’ve often heard the Temple has fallen into corruption, but do you truly believe you can act so brazenly?”
The Priest, comprehending at last the misunderstanding he’d fallen into, began to thrash about like a cockroach doused in insecticide.
“What are you saying! It’s outrageous enough that you expelled me into the corridor, and now you slander the Temple with such accusations!”
“What was that? I can’t hear you over that ugly face.”
“Duke!”
“You were already hideous, but now you’re absolutely repulsive with all that greed plastered on top.”
The Priest’s face flushed crimson at the blunt insult, reaching all the way to his hairline.
“If, if Miss Sefina were to learn of this…!”
The Priest exploded with all the fury he could muster, but Edward remained composed.
“And then what?”
“……!”
“Then I’d cut you off instead.”
Not her.
At that simple answer, the Priest’s face drained of color in an instant.
He didn’t want to admit it.
But honestly, he knew Edward would do exactly that.
The Pope had long sought to control Edward, who was an Incarnate, but had yet to achieve his aim.
That was why Edward received preferential treatment, even when it required deliberate concession.
At least until Edward married Sefina and the Pope could properly gain leverage, there was a high likelihood he would side with Edward.
Had Edward and the Priest clashed at any other time, he would naturally have taken Edward’s side.
But this time, the Priest had something he believed in too.
The Priest steadied his composure and cried out.
“I did not lay hands on that woman for any such reason!”
“Then why?”
“Are you asking because you don’t know?”
Looking closely, the round-faced woman’s arm bore unmistakable injection marks—the kind that commonly appeared on Experimental Subjects.
This was undoubtedly the Experimental Subject the Pope had been searching for!
The very woman Edward had spirited away without consultation!
“I shall not press you as to why you committed such an act. His Holiness is merciful, after all.”
“…….”
“Edward, Duke of Teseron. Return that woman to the Temple at once….”
A solid arm blocked the Priest’s advance toward the woman.
A solid arm blocked the Priest’s advance toward the woman.
“Return.”
“…….”
“Is it the Temple’s courtesy to speak of another man’s lady as though she were chattel?”
A flash.
With a chilling voice came eyes that gleamed a vivid red, sweeping over the Priest.
‘Ugh…!’
The Priest felt his knees buckle beneath the sudden oppressive weight.
He nearly trembled shamefully before everyone—and at his age, no less.
So this is what it meant to be a Dragon Incarnate.
He hadn’t drawn a sword, hadn’t made a threatening gesture.
He was merely looking at him, yet the Priest felt his entire body crushed.
As though he stood before something vast and utterly beyond his control.
But that was not the end of it.
“Duke. Is something the matter?”
“Is there anything we might assist with?”
From the parlor’s open doors, Edward’s retinue came pouring out.
Seeing the standoff between Edward and the Priest, they approached without hesitation or question, their faces turning grim.
“Does the Temple’s messenger truly dare raise his voice within the Duke’s Estate?”
“It seems he has mistaken this place for the Capital.”
The bearing with which they advanced was thoroughly menacing.
Any movement from him and they would draw steel without a moment’s hesitation.
The Priest clenched his jaw.
‘…But I cannot retreat!’
His life’s greatest advancement hung in the balance on this very occasion.
A soft breath escaped him.
The Priest’s eyes met the black eyes of the woman, who had been trembling in confusion since the exchange began.
‘If it comes to it, I’ll contact the Teseron Temple… I’ll deploy Holy Knights if necessary to take the woman away!’
He was not unafraid of a clash with Edward.
But the righteousness of his cause lay on his side.
Edward’s defiance didn’t change the fact that he had stolen an Experimental Subject from the Temple.
‘That’s right! Besides, they have no grounds to hold the Experimental Subject anyway!’
This was a fight he was meant to win.
Gripped by that certainty alone, the Priest cried out with force.
“Duke Teseron! What in heaven’s name are you doing? If you mean to make an enemy of the Temple over this matter—!”
The Priest’s voice rang through the corridor as he moved to point at Lucy—
And that was the moment it happened.
“…Help me, darling!”
Lucy’s cry was as loud and clear as the Priest’s own, and she hurled herself into Edward’s arms.
Darling, darling, darling.
Her desperate voice echoed down the hallway.

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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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