I Thought It Was the Monster Duke's Fake Sedative - Chapter 46

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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 46
What I’d been hoping to find was something far more secretive, hidden, and depraved.
“…It’s just a room?”
What actually appeared was by any measure quite an ordinary room.
Or perhaps it was not quite right to call it merely ordinary.
‘If it were a house where common folk lived in the countryside, ordinary would be the right word.’
But within the grand Duke Household, it looked so modest as to appear shabby—little more than a hovel.
Lucy tilted her head slightly and murmured aloud.
“A parlor, perhaps?”
Tables scattered throughout were crowded with worn tea sets and serving trays.
‘It’s odd for a parlor—there’s rather a lot going on here.’
The arrangement resembled a dining hall more than anything, with several chairs surrounding a single round table.
There were multiple tables in total, arranged so that more than a dozen people could gather at once.
Yet all these oddly numerous chairs and tables were faded in color and appeared to be nothing of the quality one would expect from the Duke Household.
The colorless walls without a single window gave off a bleak impression.
The only light source was a Mana Orb embedded in the ceiling, casting a dim, murky glow throughout the shadowy, oppressive room.
“Hmm.”
Lucy made an uncertain sound in her throat.
“…It seems the Duchess may have harbored some rather unusual tastes after all.”
Come to think of it, a famous queen in the history of my past life supposedly built an entire country village within her palace and lived there.
‘Perhaps there was a Duchess who wanted to experience life as a commoner….’
“…Or maybe not?”
The more she examined the room, the less plausible that theory became.
As she drew closer, the chairs proved smaller than expected.
The tables, too, were oddly proportioned.
Even accounting for the Duchess being female and thus smaller in frame, it seemed questionable whether an adult would actually use these furnishings.
The truly strange discovery came as she ventured further inward.
“There’s another room?”
At the far end of the space lay a corridor leading to yet another chamber.
Lucy hesitated for a moment, then pushed open the door.
Creak.
With the sound of old hinges, the door swung open.
The first thing that came into view was bunk beds crammed throughout the room.
…Stacked so densely together that the space resembled a chicken coop.
In the corner of the room stood metal cages piled just as thickly as the bunks.
They were small cages with remnants of white, short fur still clinging to their insides.
“What on earth is this?”
Confronted by a sight that transcended merely unsettling and ventured into genuine mystery, Lucy felt a chill crawl across her skin.
There was no way these were all beds used by the Duchess.
‘Surely this isn’t a servants’ quarters?’
But the Duke’s Mansion had separate staff dormitories already. There would be no need to use such a hidden space in addition.
Thud.
That was when it happened.
As Lucy moved forward, puzzled and preoccupied, her foot caught on something.
When she lowered her gaze, she flinched once more.
A broken toy soldier with one arm missing stared up at her with an eerie expression.
Scanning the surroundings, she could make out a bear doll with missing eyes and fragments of shattered porcelain figurines scattered about.
In the midst of this scene, which resembled a frame from a horror film, gooseflesh erupted across her skin….
A sudden sense of recognition flickered through Lucy’s mind.
‘…Why does this feel familiar?’
Something about it felt known to her.
Small tables and chairs. Densely packed beds and toys strewn about.
Lucy had seen a space like this exactly twice before.
One was a nursery in the Shelter, created by converting an entire classroom.
It had been prepared for children who’d hastily fled to safety, yet the children under Lucy’s care had never actually used it.
The real power brokers of the Shelter had claimed even that space for themselves.
And the other was….
“Give it back!”
“No way! That’s my bread!”
“Ha! You runt! I’m the oldest one in this nursery, so of course you have to hand over your bread!”
“There’s no such thing! Are you a grandfather? Ahhh! Priest!”
“What, are you trying to tattle on me from…? Ahhhhh!”
“…Good heavens! What is all this?”
Memories of the possessed body—ones she’d buried long ago—came trickling back, stirring to life.
From childhood, too young to even remember her parents’ faces, she had lived in an orphanage attached to the Temple.
This body had always been small and frail.
Because of that, larger children tormented her, stealing even the meager bread rations she received.
Finally, pushed past endurance, she had resisted—and been beaten for it.
In that moment, Lucy had unknowingly awakened her Holy Power to defend herself.
But she’d lost control of the strength and hurled the other child hard against the ground.
‘…Unluckily, the Priest overseeing the orphanage caught sight of it.’
The Priest, returning from the well with a bucket of water, had frozen in shock—so startled he dropped the bucket entirely, his eyes widening.
Looking back on it now, it wasn’t mere surprise. His eyes had gleamed with naked greed at this windfall he’d never anticipated.
‘Holy Power strong enough to produce that kind of force wasn’t common, after all.’
But young Lucy hadn’t understood that then.
When the Priest asked her to do it again, thrilled at receiving attention, she’d eagerly repeated the display, showing off her newfound strength.
‘And that was how I ended up dragged to the Capital’s Temple and locked away.’
He’d promised her cutlets—no, steak.
The Priest who cared for her had given Lucy to the Capital’s Temple, then left with a fat purse, chuckling all the way.
From that point on, Lucy had been confined as a test subject in the Temple.
‘Anyway.’
It was strange.
That orphanage from the memories seemed oddly similar to this space—yet different in some subtle way.
…
Lucy’s shoulders hunched, a chill settling over her.
‘Could this have been like a nursery, where the Duke’s wife kept her children?’
But if this was a former Duchess’s nursery…
‘It should have been much nicer than this.’
If they were the Duchess’s children, they were also the Duke’s children.
It made no sense to raise children of that standing in a place like this.
Something felt wrong.
A fragment of conversation drifted through her mind.
“Oh, if you go to the West Annex, you’ll find traces of where the Duke spent his time!”
“…The Duke?”
“Yes. I heard he stayed there until he was ten years old. Things he played with when he was little… there should be portraits left too, shouldn’t there?”
That exchange with Clara from just moments ago.
Thud.
Her heart seemed to drop.
Edward had definitely said he’d lived in the West Annex.
‘…Surely that insufferable man…’
hadn’t grown up here?
‘No, surely not.’
Lucy quickly rejected the thought, shaking her head.
She’d entertained it without meaning to, but turning it over in her mind now, it was truly absurd.
How could a man destined to become a future Duke—and an incarnation of a dragon, no less—have been raised in a place like this?
Edward bore all the marks of someone raised with careful, indulgent affection.
‘He couldn’t possibly have such a foul temperament otherwise.’
And yet.
The unease only deepened, a suffocating dread settling in her chest.
Her urge to search further for traces of the Duchess had evaporated.
“…Let’s go.”
I need to leave this place.
All she felt was the desperate need to escape into the world above—somewhere bright and open.
Lucy steadied her roiling stomach and hurried back the way she’d come.
Fortunately, Clara hadn’t returned yet.
Lucy pretended nothing had happened and pressed the hidden mechanism on the vanity again.
Click.
Just as the wall that had been standing open swung shut—
“I found some good ointment left over and brought it for you… My lady?”
Clara chose that exact moment to step back into the room.
And upon seeing Lucy standing there motionless, Clara’s expression shifted to alarm.
“My lady, your face has gone terribly pale.”
“I’m naturally quite fair, Clara.”
“Yes, but still—”
Even as Lucy replied with easy nonchalance and smiled, her thoughts churned beneath the surface.
The image of that shabby, dreary room lingered still in her mind.
And when Edward’s face arose—that confident smile he always wore—the two memories overlapped in an instant.
Lucy’s lips parted of their own accord.
“Clara.”
“Yes?”
“I need to ask you something.”

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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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