I Thought It Was the Monster Duke's Fake Sedative - Chapter 50

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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 50
A blink.
Everyone except Gorgo closed their eyes slowly, then opened them again.
Then they stared at Lucy in bewilderment.
They were stunned that she—who looked so gentle-hearted by any measure—had pushed Clara away without hesitation.
Lucy, meanwhile, shook her head slowly.
“You’re right. And you were the last to touch that Brooch, Clara.”
“…Pardon?”
“How did you end up stealing something like that? Though I do appreciate that you’re taking responsibility for your actions.”
“I… Miss…?”
“What do you mean—”
The Countess had opened her mouth in confusion, and Lucy met her gaze before offering a slight shrug.
“After all, I came here under Clara’s guidance in the first place.”
……
“I didn’t steal anything. Sophie and Gorgo were both kicked out by Clara. And the last person to touch the Brooch was Clara herself.”
……
“So by process of elimination, the culprit is Clara.”
Her eyes pierced through as if she knew everything Clara had done.
How she’d left Lucy alone and hidden the jewel. How she’d signaled the Countess and had her brought in.
Clara, meeting those expressionless black eyes, went very pale.
The first thought that came to her was simple.
‘Why?’
Compared to the other ladies, this prospective Duchess had seemed kind, merely simpering and naive.
She hadn’t seemed like someone who would abandon her so easily in a situation like this.
Just moments ago, she’d even said she would keep Clara as her personal attendant….
The next instant.
“Don’t hurt anyone.”
“The way you’ve done to me.”
“There won’t be a next time.”
Those words—the ones that had chilled her to the bone—came back, paired with that calm, composed face.
A face that felt less like a young lady’s and more like meeting an old person who had lived a long life.
‘Could it be.’
That she truly had the coldness to cut people out without hesitation?
Clara’s heart seized with an odd urgency.
Something far greater than simply failing the Countess—an anxiety like being cast aside by someone worth serving—drove her forward.
Perhaps because of that.
Clara found herself clinging to Lucy, pleading without thinking.
“Miss, please.”
“Yes?”
“I’m truly, truly sorry, but if I’m taken away like this, I—”
It was when Clara’s voice cracked with tears as she reached toward the hem of Lucy’s dress.
“Well, I’ll be scolded, I suppose.”
Lucy stepped back lightly, her answer firm.
“But that’s not something I need to look after anymore.”
“Miss?”
“And until just now, you were calling me ‘ma’am’ just fine, weren’t you?”
……!
“So why ‘Miss’ all of a sudden?”
Clara’s realization struck her like a physical blow.
She hadn’t done it consciously, truth be told.
The Countess despised anyone but herself being called “ma’am,” so Clara had simply fallen into the habit of changing her form of address.
But that shift alone had handed Lucy a kind of clue.
“You know well enough where your loyalty lies, don’t you?”
Lucy tilted her head as if she understood everything.
And she regarded Clara’s now ashen face with utter calm.
‘I suppose it was rather cruel.’
But boundaries had to be drawn somewhere.
At the same time, a bitter taste rose in her throat.
‘…I’d hoped it wouldn’t come to this.’
Still, the reason she’d orchestrated all this and offered to be punished in Clara’s stead was likely just to earn some favor with the Duke.
‘Well, I’m already insulted, aren’t I?’
Lucy might be the weakest in physical ability, but she was far too sharp to miss the glance that passed between Clara and the Countess.
Besides, she had warned Clara beforehand and tried to dissuade her.
Now that she’d crossed that line, Lucy had no choice but to respond decisively.
‘If it were the old days, maybe I wouldn’t.’
The Lucy of the past wouldn’t have been able to cut people off so cleanly, like a blade.
The Lucy who had no memory of the possessed body that was confined and abused in the Temple.
The Lucy who had never endured the harsh life in the Shelter.
‘But not anymore.’
More than anything, being looked down upon by the Countess wouldn’t just damage Lucy herself.
‘I’ve said a hundred times that Gorgo and Sophie are absolutely not the culprits.’
If the Countess came out demanding to conduct body searches on those two as well, there’d be no way to stop her.
They were people who shouldn’t have had to come here in the first place—people she had brought along.
At the very least, she had to protect them.
‘That’s probably one of the things a future Duke’s wife has to do.’
Honestly, even now the Countess was watching her with those glittering eyes, which made Lucy tremble slightly, but she stepped behind Gorgo and called out with force.
“So please, take Clara and do as you wish, Countess.”
“…….”
She’d simply told her to do as she pleased.
Yet the Countess made a face as if she’d bitten into something foul, her expression turning grim.
And then, in the next moment, her face shifted to one of having found a fresh angle of attack.
“What? You treat a servant who claims she’ll sacrifice herself for you in this manner?”
“…….”
“So the lowborn truly feel no sense of responsibility toward those beneath them.”
She’d changed tactics entirely, now trying to paint Lucy as a villain and make the other servants see her as an untrustworthy mistress.
Yet Lucy remained resolute.
“Yes. Since I’m not even formally the Duke’s wife yet, I can’t possibly be responsible for everyone in the Duke’s Residence, can I? That would actually be irresponsible of me, and an overstepping of my station.”
“……!”
“And that girl isn’t even my personal maid.”
At that response, Clara’s face went even paler.
It felt as though a line had been drawn.
She’d been cast out beyond a boundary she could have crossed just moments before.
That made Clara even more ashen, but Lucy turned away from her.
And staring directly at the Countess, she spoke.
“And right now, the mistress of the Duke’s Residence is you, Countess.”
“……!”
“Yet such a thing has occurred. How unfortunate.”
The Countess’s lips trembled.
It didn’t seem like mere coincidence that those words sounded to her like an accusation that she had failed in her role as mistress, allowing this theft to happen.
“But I do understand, Countess.”
“Understand what?”
“How could you possibly watch over a building and its contents when you don’t even reside in it yourself?”
…That remark made it quite certain it was no mere coincidence.
While the Countess turned ashen, Lucy deliberately rolled her eyes and shrugged with exaggerated grace.
“Even someone as elegant, intelligent, and beautiful as you, Mother, can make mistakes. Taking you as my mirror, I am grateful to learn from this as the future Duke’s wife—that I mustn’t conduct myself in this manner…”
“You! This small, contemptible thing…!”
“Yes. Great and noble Countess. In any case, since there is someone willing to take responsibility, shall we bring this matter to a close?”
“Nonsense!”
Snap!
The Countess opened her fan with a sharp gesture, and the guards who had been standing dazed instantly straightened their posture.
The Countess’s own maids standing behind her did likewise.
Then the Countess’s eyes flashed with venomous intent.
“You may claim the culprit is innocent, but searching the body will surely turn up something!”
“Pardon?”
“You’re the one who spurned my kindness. Still, you’re to marry my son soon, so I was only trying to conduct a discreet search between us!”
“Oh! Mother! A discreet search between us? I had no idea you harbored such feelings toward me!”
“Silence!”
The Countess, her face now a deeper crimson, pointed an accusing finger at Lucy.
“Since it’s come to this, I’ll conduct the search right here in front of all the guards!”
Seeing the Countess with such genuine fury in her eyes, Lucy jumped back in genuine alarm.
The words tumbled out half-unintentional.
“Eek! Wait, Mother! I belong to the Duke!”
“What does that have to do with—!”
“If you’re going to conduct a body search, the Duke should do it! No matter how much you love me, Mother, there are some things that simply cannot be! This is one of them!”
“…Seize her!”
The Countess’s sharp command cut through the air like a blade, and Gorgo’s hand flew to the sword at his hip, his face taut with tension.
“She speaks sense.”
Though the words were spoken low, a voice that swallowed the Countess’s command whole resonated through the room.
The air settled cold and heavy in an instant.
“If there’s to be a body search, I’ll conduct it.”
A soft rush of breath.
Then a large hand, carrying the dust-and-iron scent of the battlefield, settled across Lucy’s shoulders.
“Isn’t that right, darling?”
The voice dropped to a spine-chilling whisper.

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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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