I Thought It Was the Monster Duke's Fake Sedative - Chapter 48

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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 48
Lucy stood motionless, her mind turning over what she’d just heard.
‘The Dowager Duchess is here?’
It wasn’t entirely strange for her to be in this building—generations of ducal wives had used it, or so she’d been told.
But hadn’t Gorgo mentioned it in passing just moments ago?
‘The Western Annex is empty now,’ he’d said.
The Dowager Duchess must be using a different residence these days.
‘So she made the effort to come all the way here.’
She had some purpose in mind, surely.
And there had to be a reason Lucy herself had been brought to this place.
Lucy’s eyes drifted toward Clara.
“Pardon me, madam.”
……
“It seems the Dowager Duchess is waiting outside….”
As Clara broached the subject, Lucy blinked and asked softly,
“Should I go pay my respects?”
And Clara’s answer came without hesitation.
“Yes, I think that would be best, madam.”
……
“If word got out that you were here and failed to greet her, the Dowager Duchess might take offense….”
Lucy didn’t point out that judging by Clara’s tone alone, the Dowager Duchess seemed to be offended already.
She regarded Clara calmly, then nodded.
“Then let’s go.”
“Yes, madam.”
Clara’s head bobbed in quick assent.
The moment they stepped outside, the scene revealed itself.
An austere noblewoman stood with her back to Lucy, her fan gripped so tightly her knuckles had gone white.
‘That must be the Dowager Duchess.’
Lucy cast a sidelong glance at the entourage flanking her.
A sizeable contingent of guards and handmaids stood rigid, their gazes fixed on something ahead.
Following their sight line, Lucy spotted an elderly servant cradling his cheek.
From his clothes, he appeared to be some sort of steward—an old man of considerable years.
What he stewarded became clear from the Dowager Duchess’s words that followed.
“How dare you neglect the care of the Western Annex in my absence?”
He must be the steward in charge of this building.
The Steward stammered his reply, fumbling over his words.
“No, Dowager Duchess. It is not as you think….”
“Not as I think? Then how do you explain this? Impertinent creature.”
In one fluid motion, the Dowager Duchess unfurled her fan and addressed her guards with icy authority.
“Remove this insolent wretch. He’s grown far too comfortable relying on the Duke’s favor, treating me like a fool.”
The guards were already nodding, reaching toward the Steward, when—
A sharp intake of breath.
Lucy drew in a sudden, audible gasp.
Then she called out, bright and clear.
“Oh! Hello, Mother!”
A visible start.
The cheerful cry rang out so loudly that everyone froze in place.
‘Mother…?’
‘What is this….’
The Dowager Duchess’s guards and handmaids jerked their heads up in shock.
And their eyes met hers.
Coming toward them at a brisk skip, cheerful as a lark, was a small, pale-skinned young woman.
Her brightness was almost surreal, her manner absurdly radiant.
So disarmingly cheerful, in fact, that even the Dowager Duchess—who had been steeling herself for anger—faltered in confusion.
The woman reached her without ceremony and sniffed delicately near her shoulder.
“Mmm! What a lovely fragrance. Did you visit the perfume market, Mother?”
Caught off guard by such brazen audacity, the Dowager Duchess’s reply came out tangled.
“What? This is no common perfume market scent—it’s Madame Gomahouba’s….”
“Oh, isn’t it Hobagouma, not Gomahouba? Ho-ba-go-ma.”
“…Hobagouma, Hobagouma, Hobagouma! A limited edition from Hobagouma, and you have the nerve to…!”
Without realizing it, Lucy watched the Dowager Duchess huffing and puffing, caught up in the moment, and forced her own roiling stomach to settle.
‘Good grief, this is terrifying.’
Honestly, she’d summoned her own courage to come rushing over in the first place.
It was a stroke of luck that the Dowager Duchess had gotten tangled up instead.
It was also fortunate that this name belonged to a famous perfume designer in the novel—someone Lucy herself knew about.
‘Don’t lose your nerve.’
If you were going to be shameless, you had to see it through to the end.
Lucy recalled the rule she always lived by and linked her arm through the Dowager Duchess’s.
The Dowager Duchess’s target was clearly her, so Lucy figured she might as well strike first before the woman grabbed hold of someone else.
“In any case, I’m so delighted we finally get to meet like this!”
While everyone gasped in renewed shock, Lucy studied the Dowager Duchess—who was staring at her in bewilderment—intently, if only to calm her own jangling nerves.
‘Do we look alike?’
She was certainly a beautiful noblewoman.
Despite her middle age, her face was smooth without a single line, and her feline eyes, sharp and upturned at the corners, along with her slightly faded platinum hair, resembled Edward’s.
And yet somehow….
‘They resemble each other, yet they don’t.’
She couldn’t quite put it into words, but that was honestly the impression she had.
Edward, for all his wayward and selfish nature, could still show flashes of playfulness or composure now and then.
The Dowager Duchess, by contrast, seemed like someone forged entirely of malice and sheer stubbornness.
If Edward was ninety-nine parts disagreeable and one part kind, she was simply one hundred parts disagreeable.
‘I suppose she takes more after the Previous Duke.’
Having finished her assessment, Lucy smoothly pivoted to flattery.
“But Mother, how is your skin so flawless? Anyone would think you were a young lady who hadn’t even made her Debutante appearance yet.”
“Well, that’s thanks to Gorgo—no, Gorgo’s perfumes, and the essences too… you impudent little thing!”
The corners of the Dowager Duchess’s mouth had risen involuntarily at Lucy’s compliment, but the moment Lucy gripped her forearm tightly, she seemed to snap to her senses and cried out.
In truth, the Dowager Duchess was flustered.
‘This mad creature….’
She hadn’t anticipated getting entangled this deeply.
Grinding her teeth, the Dowager Duchess shrieked acrimoniously.
“Get this filthy thing away from me at once!”
Before her attendants could even lay a hand on themselves.
Lucy quickly unlocked her arm and pulled back.
The Dowager Duchess shuddered as though an insect had touched her, shaking her arm vigorously.
“Oh, don’t be upset. I was just so delighted, you see.”
“Just who are you—”
“The future Duchess, your successor-to-be. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”
With a bow.
As Lucy spread her skirts on either side and curtsied, the Dowager Duchess’s mouth twisted into a smile.
As though she’d finally caught her prey.
“Ha! Your curtsy form is atrocious. So you common folk don’t even know proper etiquette.”
“…….”
“I wondered what sort of stray cat had slunk in and stolen my son’s affections. Filthy, small, pathetic….”
“Though to be honest, Mother, I think I look more like a hamster than a cat?”
“You thieving little hamst—no, you utterly shameless creature! Not another word!”
On the verge of being drawn in by Lucy again, the Dowager Duchess flicked her fan irritably.
And she fixed Lucy with a cold stare, as though she would tolerate no more of this.
“Just looking at what you’re doing now proves it. A baseborn thing like you coming into the Duke’s Estate is what brings about disasters like this.”
“Disasters like this?”
The Dowager Duchess clearly didn’t want to explain, and turned her gaze toward the Steward, whose cheek she’d struck.
The Steward, his eyes full of distress, bowed as well toward Lucy.
“Forgive us. An important Heirloom Jewel that was being kept in the Western Annex has gone missing.”
“A Heirloom Jewel?”
“Yes. It was a heirloom passed down through successive Duchesses.”
It was at that moment.
Clara, standing behind Lucy, drew in a sharp breath.
“Goodness. A jewel, you say….”
Then she stopped herself and shut her mouth.
The Dowager Duchess fixed Clara with a glare and pressed her.
“Do you know something?”
“That is, Dowager Duchess….”
“Can’t you speak properly?”
Clara caught Lucy’s eye for a moment, then opened her mouth as if she had no choice against the Dowager Duchess’s cutting voice.
“Well… I went to show the Heirloom Jewel to the future Duchess, Miss Lucy….”
…….
“Everything was in its proper place then. I’m certain it was before I showed it to Miss Lucy….”
Swish.
The gaze of the Dowager Duchess, the servants, and the guards snapped toward Lucy all at once.
Lucy found herself wearing a bitter smile.
Now she understood.
What Clara had been aiming at all along in dragging her here.
‘So this was it.’
It had never been about threatening her with some minor injury.
‘She’s framing me as a thief.’
And more importantly, Clara had decided to ignore the very warning Lucy had given her.
‘I didn’t expect much, anyway.’
Lucy was swallowing down her bitter smile when—
“Then the culprit is obvious.”
“Pardon?”
Despite Lucy’s bewildered response, the Dowager Duchess turned to the guards and spoke.
“Seize this presumptuous girl.”
“Yes, Dowager Duchess.”
The cold-faced guards were already striding toward Lucy when—
“…What on earth is this!”
With a booming shout, a stocky figure came thundering over and planted himself squarely in front of Lucy.
It was Gorgo, who had been nowhere to be seen all this time.

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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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