I Thought It Was the Monster Duke's Fake Sedative - Chapter 41

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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 41
“The Western Annex?”
When Lucy asked again, feigning ignorance, Clara nodded enthusiastically.
“Yes. It’s a section that’s been granted to the Duchess for generations. The second floor displays jewels that former Duchesses used to wear.”
“I see.”
Sensing her response lacked enthusiasm, Clara hastened to add more.
“Oh! If you visit the Western Annex, you’ll be able to see traces of the Duke’s time there too!”
“…Traces of the Duke?”
“Yes. I’ve heard he lived there until he was ten years old. There should be things he played with as a child, and portraits remaining from those days as well.”
Lucy found herself perking up before catching herself with a start.
Clara, noticing the shift in her reaction, quickly pressed on.
“We can finish looking at dresses tomorrow, and there’s still time before evening. If it’s inconvenient, you can go another day, but since you’ve been so busy lately, it might be better to go when you have the chance….”
“All right. Let’s go.”
At Lucy’s ready agreement, Clara’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Really?”
Having coaxed so earnestly, only to be taken at her word, Clara found herself flustered. Lucy looked at her with a natural smile.
Letting slip a word that was half-sincere.
“I’m curious about the Duke’s childhood too.”
* * *
“I’ve just delivered the message regarding the meal arrangements… my Duke?”
Tepe stopped short.
Tepe had halted in the doorway to Edward’s office.
It was because something extraordinary was unfolding—something Tepe had never witnessed in all the time since meeting Edward.
……
‘Didn’t he insist on having that full-length mirror removed from the office as unnecessary, and shoved it into a corner?’
There was Edward, examining his own face in that very mirror that had indeed been gathering dust in the corner.
Hmm.
And then he pronounced it as though delivering a grave announcement.
“I’m quite handsome.”
“Yes, of course.”
“By any measure, I’m excellent.”
“Indeed, my lord.”
It was not flattery; it was simply fact.
Edward was radiant today, dazzling to behold.
His beautiful platinum hair gleamed as though it had captured the very light of the sun, and his long lashes framed eyes that burned like rubies.
Even Tepe and Gorgo, long accustomed to that visage, sometimes found themselves startled by it.
‘Whenever he goes to train in another domain, there are soldiers who fall under his spell.’
There were plenty of soldiers—men themselves—who would blush unbidden upon seeing Edward, or stand slack-jawed watching him before dropping their weapons.
Given a face so flawless, there was nothing surprising about it.
“It is rather unexpected, my lord.”
Tepe finally ventured the words.
“Why.”
“Well….”
And he rolled his eyes as he searched for the right words.
Edward knew full well that he was exceptional and perfect.
When necessary, he could enforce his will with his very face.
Yet to see him gazing into a mirror and savoring his own beauty was extraordinarily rare.
In fact,
‘I’d almost thought he disliked it.’
It was not merely a matter of looking into mirrors.
Edward accepted that his face was handsome as simply a fact of reality—but he did not take pride in it.
Knowing how to use one’s advantages and actually taking pleasure in them were two separate things.
It was the sense that he wielded it as a tool, not as something to boast of.
‘…When he came back with some deep wounds a few times, I was startled.’
There were even occasions when he entered battle with his face exposed to ruin.
He could sever Demon Beasts before they touched him, yet he would deliberately expose his face to their claws.
Had Edward not possessed a Fireborn’s Superhuman Healing, his face would bear scars—across his mouth or slashing his jaw.
And so, at times,
Very rarely, Tepe had wondered if he actually despised his own appearance.
To the point of harboring such thoughts.
Of course, he had never voiced such a thought aloud.
It struck him as far too irrational to speak of.
‘Besides, it doesn’t suit someone who shies away from self-harm or self-denial.’
Edward had no reason for self-degradation anyway—he was the sort who preferred to drive others forward, to pummel them into action and get things done.
Exactly as he was doing now.
“If you’re going to speak, speak. Why bring it up at all if you’re just going to leave it hanging?”
“…You’re quite right, sir.”
“I don’t like the way you’ve been conducting yourself lately.”
“If you would point out what needs correcting—”
“I shouldn’t have to correct you twice.”
Still, by Tepe’s measure, Edward was in rather good spirits at the moment.
Had he truly been in a foul mood, he would have simply thrown him across the room by now.
In fact, Edward was feeling remarkably refreshed.
“Of course. The Duke is the most beautiful person in the world!”
“I could spend a hundred years just gazing upon your face, sir.”
‘Adorable creature.’
He was well aware that his own face was striking, and that this little mouse adored him—but he hadn’t quite realized the depth of her affection.
The way she fixed those dark eyes upon him, letting them sparkle and shine.
‘She really does love me that much.’
Edward genuinely believed that those eyes, bright with the reflection of himself, were the most beautiful thing to behold.
At the same moment, a thought surfaced: he would have to commission a Black Dress as well.
‘It would suit those eyes perfectly.’
Of course, a White Dress too would need to be ordered—it would complement her hair.
‘No, I should really arrange them by color.’
That little mouse looked exquisite in both warm and cool tones alike, in both adorable and austere designs.
As these thoughts consumed him, the displeasure he’d felt while discussing the contract clauses began to dissolve entirely.
Even his irritation at Lucy—at her readiness to withdraw even as she claimed to care for him—slipped away.
What robbed him of all will to anger or annoyance was something else altogether.
“Who else would I marry but you?”
It was that very thing she’d said.
That adorable declaration—revisiting it now shattered Edward’s irritation utterly.
Lucy’s attachment owed much to his face, certainly.
He had never been particularly conscious of his own appearance, yet lately he found himself quite satisfied with what nature had given him.
If she loved that face so dearly, it seemed only fitting to show it to her as often as possible.
Since returning to Thesseron, he’d been consumed with wedding preparations, estate matters, and the mounting problem of demon beasts creeping from the shadows—yet he had deliberately carved out time to dine with her each evening because of this.
‘In truth, I wish to be with her constantly.’
But a report had just arrived: traces of demon beasts had been spotted at the outskirts of the Domain.
Their numbers were already swelling, and if they began infesting the interior, matters would become decidedly troublesome.
He needed to eliminate them swiftly, while the incursion was still containable.
‘…I’ll have to be careful with my face during this fight.’
He couldn’t risk marring something she cherished so deeply.
For that little mouse’s sake, the reckless fury and defiant impulses that once drove him toward self-destruction were a phase long past.
‘That stage is already behind me.’
The Dowager Duchess herself had been diminished since the Previous Duke’s death.
She’d already been expelled from the Western Annex where she’d long dwelt and consigned to another wing.
“Ah. That maid was with her, wasn’t she?”
Tepe had just brought up ‘that problem’.
The maid the Dowager Duchess had sent was someone Edward watched closely.
Removing her was difficult because she was one of the few people Lucy felt at ease with.
So he’d decided to observe for now, but the moment she showed even the slightest sign of betrayal, he would act.
Even now, as he prepared to go out, he was taking only Tepe with him while leaving Gorgo behind to monitor the situation.
“Any suspicious behavior?”
“Nothing particular yet, sir.”
“Keep watching.”
Edward answered curtly and glanced once more into the mirror as he prepared to depart.
Tepe observed him with an air of curiosity and spoke with easy irreverence.
“Still, to be examining yourself so thoroughly… I suppose the reality of marriage is only now beginning to sink in.”
“…….”
“Marriage, no less. I must confess, I never imagined you’d harbor designs in that direction—much less that you’d actually torment yourself with it.”

At Tepe’s continued words, Edward’s handsome face, reflected in the mirror, crumpled slightly.

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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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