I Thought It Was the Monster Duke's Fake Sedative - Chapter 42

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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 42
“What are you going on about?”
To mark someone and then torment them.
Edward turned his head in bewilderment, but Tepe’s eyes went wide.
“Weren’t you planning to bind her securely through marriage and then extract her Flame Affinity?”
That was the conclusion Tepe had reached after regaining his senses not long ago.
‘Marriage to a Temple test subject he’s known for mere weeks?!’
And to a woman he’d openly disliked so many times at that?
When the marriage was announced, he’d been too shocked to think deeply about it—he’d been running around the neighborhood spreading rumors that the two already had a young heir. But after recovering his reason and reconsidering, it seemed like the sort of thing Edward would engineer with ruthless efficiency.
That’s what Tepe thought: it all made sense now.
‘Our Duke is truly adept at improvisation.’
By taking a test subject as his wife, he could keep a Purifier with Flame Affinity close at hand while thumbing his nose at the Temple. Moreover, under the guise of matrimony, he could monitor, pressure, and torment her at will.
He could do all that and more.
‘No wonder he was so annoyed—he’s bound her to his side just to make her suffer.’
After all, she was the woman who’d carelessly spilled the Duke’s secrets….
“Once her Flame Affinity runs dry from all that punishment, he can simply divorce her. A truly brilliant choice, my lord.”
But Edward’s expression, already grim, darkened further at those words.
“…You’re calling my marriage proposal torment?”
“Yes? Yes.”
That simple answer irritated him immensely.
He’d certainly spoken of using Lucy’s Flame Affinity and discarding her afterward.
But still….
‘I have to listen to every foolish thing under the sun.’
His proposal couldn’t possibly be torment. Lucy loved him so deeply.
To define their marriage as something so cold and cruel….
His mood, which had been good, soured completely.
Edward’s mouth twisted into a disgruntled sneer.
“You talk about my marriage like it’s something cold and heartless?”
“Well, my lord, you see….”
“Speaking of which, the Capital nobles all talk like that. They say marriage is nothing but business.”
“Sir?!”
Tepe’s brow furrowed as he found himself lumped in with those Capital bastards, but Edward was merely stating what he saw as fact.
“And you won’t marry? Yet you have Sepina. The Divine Flame Avatar’s bloodline must continue….”
“Ah, no! I didn’t mean to anger you! Please, don’t touch my son!”
“Hah! We misspoke, my lord. You’re wise not to marry. Marriage is a tomb, a tomb! How relentless a wife’s nagging can be! It’s hard even to spend time with friends….”
“For nobility, marriage is strictly business, purely business! What feelings could possibly be involved!”
When they’d brought up their marriage to Sepina, they’d spouted nothing but nonsense. But the moment Edward looked at them directly, they broke into cold sweat, suddenly insisting that it was wise not to marry at all.
Those were the sort of people they were.
Of course, Edward had never understood them.
‘If they find it so much like a tomb, why marry in the first place?’
They chose it themselves, so why spill such drivel?
If they truly hated it so much, they could divorce and return the bride’s dowry. Yet when he’d suggested exactly that, they’d been horrified.
All of it—the way those men groaned about marriage—sounded identical to what Tepe was saying, and it ignited his irritation all over again.
Especially now that he was reminded that his own marriage was indeed the transactional arrangement those fools kept droning on about.
He was already displeased at the mere thought that Lucy might find this marriage emotionless, and hearing Tepe speak as though she’d consider it not just cold but actively cruel….
Edward lashed out with something close to unfairness.
“When we visit the Capital next, you’ll find plenty of people well-suited to you, Tepe.”
“Ugh! Don’t say such revolting things! To lump me in with those irresponsible scoundrels who are always trying to exploit you….”
“Yet you just did exactly that—grouped me with those very same irresponsible scoundrels.”
“Absolutely not!”
Tepe bounced up in protest, though he tilted his head as if something still didn’t sit right.
“But… didn’t you say you’d discard her once her Flame Affinity runs dry?”
……
“Once her usefulness is spent, you’d need her no longer… and yet you marry her, to bind the Purifier to you securely.”
…Hearing it laid out like that, Edward almost looked like the irresponsible scoundrel himself.
“That’s right.”
“Your heart hasn’t changed on that, has it?”
Edward looked at himself in the mirror once more.
And he answered calmly.
“It hasn’t.”
He knew better than anyone how much he valued efficiency.
There was no point in denying it now.
But….
‘Flame Affinity is a power that naturally replenishes itself as long as you don’t squeeze it excessively.’
If he consumed it sparingly, his Flame Affinity would never be completely depleted.
‘If I just exercise a little restraint and undergo Purification.’
Fifty years, perhaps sixty.
Or better yet, easily more than that.
Just as a divorce stipulation becomes meaningless if one doesn’t actually divorce, discarding him once his power runs out would be pointless if….
‘…it never runs out in the first place.’
Having reached his conclusion, Edward caught sight of himself in the mirror and grinned wickedly.
“Precisely?”
Tepe shrugged as if he’d known exactly what Edward would think.
Then he added with studied casualness.
“It’s the first time you’ve washed someone yourself, and the first time I’ve seen you look at yourself in the mirror like that, so I….”
“Like what?”
At the question, Tepe swallowed the words that had sprung to mind.
If Edward threw him for saying something foolish like that, it would hurt.
“No, I was wondering if perhaps your concern for your appearance meant you were worried your romantic appeal had diminished….”
“Nonsense.”
“Woof, woof. Of course it was nonsense.”
Tepe scratched the back of his head and continued.
“Still, since this is your marriage and that young lady will become the Duchess, Gorgo and I will follow with loyalty.”
“Obviously.”
It was then.
“My lord.”
A servant entered and announced his departure with a bow.
“Make it quick.”
Edward strode toward the door without even noticing the wicked smile that clung to the corners of his mouth.
* * *
“This way, come along.”
“Right. I’m coming.”
Patter-patter-patter.
Lucy hurried along behind Clara as she quickened her pace.
Their destination was the Western Annex of the Duke’s Castle.
‘Whatever this is, there’s definitely a trap involved.’
Even while thinking that, there were reasons for following Clara.
Of course, there was a selfish desire to see Edward as he’d been in childhood—a little bit, just a smidge….
All right, maybe more than a smidge, but regardless.
‘I needed it anyway.’
The Dowager Duchess’s hair, her fingernails.
It sounded like the kind of eerie tale one might tell about making a Curse Doll, but this was one of the materials necessary to transform Edward into a complete Divine Flame Avatar.
To be precise, she needed a bodily fragment of those bound by blood to the Divine Flame Avatar.
It seemed likely they too were connected through the Dragon’s Pact or shared bloodline.
‘The previous Duke’s remains would be most certain in that regard.’
But she had no desire to go so far as to exhume the previous Duke from his grave.
‘The Dowager Duchess fulfills the blood relation requirement anyway.’
Even if not the Dowager Duchess herself, the building used by successive Duchesses would surely contain traces of his grandmother or great-grandmother.
It wouldn’t hurt to wander about and slip away with one such trace from any room she happened upon.
There were reasons for wanting to do this herself.
If she asked Edward to obtain a bodily fragment of the Dowager Duchess….
‘…it seemed like an excessively violent and brutal method might emerge.’
She remembered how harshly the Dowager Duchess had been treated in the original story.
Of course, knowing this was a trap, she hadn’t come to this place alone with Clara.
“Gorgo. I didn’t steal your time, did I… no, I didn’t, right?”
“Not at all.”
Gorgo, who had been walking beside Lucy, shook his head calmly.
“The Western Annex is empty now, so there aren’t many guards. It’s right that I provide escort.”
“Good. You’re all right with this?”
“Yes, madam.”
The young maidservant walking behind Gorgo bowed her head as well, falling into step with Lucy.
Both of them had been caught quite by chance when Lucy’s eye happened to fall upon them.

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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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