I Thought It Was the Monster Duke's Fake Sedative - Chapter 53

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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 53
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“Ugh, my heart.”
A few hours later.
Luciana lay sprawled across a long sofa, bathed in the amber glow pouring through the window.
Whoosh.
Water ran in the nearby bathroom.
Edward, having arrived back at the room, was washing away the blood that soaked his body—the blood of monsters.
As she listened to the sound of water and let herself sink into the cushions, a strange new awareness bloomed in her.
When she’d first arrived here and agreed to wash him, she’d trembled uncontrollably at the sound of running water, taut with tension.
‘Humans really are creatures of habit.’
Living in the Storage Room connected directly to the Duke’s Bedchamber, Luciana had grown accustomed to more than a few things.
Like the sound of Edward rising first and washing himself in their shared Bathroom.
Or the fact that using the same Fragrance Oil meant his scent now clung to her own skin.
So she no longer tensed at such things.
Yet now her heart pounded while a strange lassitude swept through her at the same time….
‘It must be because today had so many things happen.’
Earlier, she’d thought something terrible was about to occur.
The razor-sharp tension of that moment cut through her memory again.
‘What was it?’
She’d thought the Dowager Duchess would be disposed of smoothly with Edward’s help.
But a few words from the Dowager Duchess had darkened Edward’s mood visibly.
When his hand withdrew from hers, she’d felt a surge of raw unease.
And when the Resonance she felt from him cut off abruptly, the feeling intensified.
‘It really felt like something was about to go terribly wrong.’
Unable to bear that tension, Luciana had thrown herself into the moment.
“Since you’ve already given me the building and the Jewelry… pick them out together with me!”
“What?”
“You gave me so much I can’t choose!”
Edward had paused, looking bemused, before asking back.
“…You want me to look at the Jewelry with you?”
“Yes! You didn’t help me pick out the dress. So please, let’s choose the Jewelry quickly!”
“…Were you disappointed?”
“No, I just want to wear something my darling picked out at the wedding.”
It was fortunate, in a way.
Without much persuasion, Edward had readily nodded.
He summoned the servants to bring every piece of Jewelry from the West Annex to the Duke’s Bedchamber, then left with Luciana, slipping away from the West Annex entirely.
Leaving the Dowager Duchess and her retinue behind, their faces drained of color and spirit.
The Dowager Duchess could only watch the two of them retreat, her face bleached pale.
Clara, who sat crumpled beside her, didn’t even look properly at Luciana, her face wet with tears.
The Dowager Duchess would likely give Clara a harsh scolding later….
‘But that’s for Clara to bear now.’
Still, thinking it over, Luciana felt she’d done the right thing by stepping in.
‘If I’d let him lay hands on the Dowager Duchess, it would’ve caused him all sorts of problems.’
Edward would be the one to suffer if violence were used.
After all, the Dowager Duchess was an elderly woman and Edward’s mother.
Using violence against one’s mother would earn him not just ridicule but condemnation wherever he went.
Luciana didn’t want Edward to face that kind of treatment.
‘…But it is strange, now that I think about it.’
She’d been certain that if she hadn’t intervened, Edward would have done something terrible to the Dowager Duchess.
And yet, he didn’t seem like the worst sort of person because of it.
Even she, having lived in a Confucian nation, naturally believed that using violence against one’s parents was wrong.
‘Have I already become so biased in his favor?’
Far more than just a little, it seemed.
Had she simply fallen for his beauty after all…?
…….
Even as these thoughts crossed her mind, Edward’s unsettling reaction troubled her.
Luciana squeezed and released her own hand repeatedly, watching it quietly.
‘What was it?’
That moment when the Dowager Duchess had mockingly mentioned old memories to Edward.
The calm resonance climbed up through his hand in a sensation that made her skin crawl.
In an instant, something that had boiled up rushed through the space between their interlaced fingers like blood seeping through.
…A thing like sorrow, something she couldn’t quite name.
For a moment she’d nearly pulled her hand away in surprise.
But Edward withdrew first, turning toward the Dowager Duchess instead.
After he let go, she could no longer feel any resonance or anything like it from him—
Yet the more she turned that moment over in her mind, the stranger her feelings became.
It was too heavy to be ordinary sorrow.
It was an emotion she knew well herself.
She’d felt it dozens of times over in the Shelter.
That curse she’d muttered at her own powerlessness and weakness, trapped in darkness each night as if drowning.
…It bore a terrible resemblance to what might be called despair.
The moment that thought touched her, Luciana shook her head quickly.
‘No, surely not.’
Edward, feeling despair?
Perhaps annoyance or irritation, but not that.
Maybe this feeling had come from seeing that desolate, strange room afterward.
From wondering if that room might somehow be connected to Edward….
‘No, I said no.’
Luciana shook her head firmly.
Besides, hadn’t she already seen the room where he actually lived?
Only as that thought crossed her mind did she remember she hadn’t seen his portrait.
She’d wanted to confirm it but hadn’t managed to.
‘…Rather than…’
What if she just asked him directly whether he’d really lived there….
The instant she thought that—
Click.
The Bathroom door opened.
Luciana didn’t hesitate; she opened her mouth.
“Duke, there’s something I wanted to ask….”
But before the words were even finished—
A fragrant scent of fragrance oil drifted out on wisps of steam.
The exact same fragrance oil she wore.
‘…Oh.’
This was bad.
‘I haven’t adjusted yet!’
All her earlier confidence about being an adaptable creature, telling herself she wouldn’t tense up over something like this anymore, was pure illusion.
The moment that scent reached her, tension flared up violently.
‘Come to think of it….’
Every time before, she’d only ever encountered him already bathed and fully dressed, but the first time she’d seen him exit the Bathroom in real time was after fainting when he’d washed her.
‘Oh god.’
…And the moment she thought of that, the memory came rushing back, leaving Luciana utterly at a loss for what to do with herself.
It hadn’t bothered her at all when she’d recalled it earlier!
‘Don’t think about it, don’t think about—!’
“What’s so curious?”
Whoosh.
His low voice soon settled against her ear.
“Yelp!”
Luciana jumped without thinking, scrambling behind the sofa.
After turning around while clutching her now-crimson ears, she practically shrieked.
“Why!”
“Why? You asked the question first….”
“Why aren’t you wearing anything!”
Edward tilted his head at an odd angle.
His mouth curved upward slowly.
“I am wearing something.”
“A towel wrapped around your waist doesn’t count as being dressed!”
“I’ve always gone around like this.”
……
“While you were sleeping like a heavy sleeper in the next room, I was always walking through my chamber like this.”
You didn’t know?
Her face twisted with a question that didn’t suit the ingenuous innocence now smeared all over it.
‘Why does he have to talk like he’s flirting with me like that!’
Luciana’s cheeks burned deeper red as she shook her head.
She tried hard to look away, but her gaze kept drifting back to Edward’s body against her will.
‘How does he know he looks so good and still flaunt it like that!’
In any case, that Duke had a way of subtly enchanting people.
The way he displayed his sculptured body so casually in every direction.
And as if that weren’t enough, he was holding jewelry up against his pale, muscular frame—
“Oh!”
Luciana froze in place.
It was because Edward was actually selecting jewelry from the table with practiced ease and holding it against his body, clad in nothing but a towel.
Delicate rubies the color of his eyes hung from a long gold chain like beads strung together.
Clink, slide.
The glittering rubies wound across his firm muscles along with the gold chain, grazing the hardened peaks of his chest as they turned toward her.
Between the cleft of his muscular chest, drops of water not yet dried beaded on the gold chain like glimmering diamonds.
Luciana found herself staring at the sight, forgetting even to shield her eyes.

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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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