I Thought It Was the Monster Duke's Fake Sedative - Chapter 59

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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 59
Surely they don’t mean to do it out there….
While Luciana stood puzzled, Tepe and Gorgo, positioned beside the balcony, smoothly drew back the curtains.
“Your Grace?”
The moment Luciana stepped onto the open balcony as Edward led her forward.
She understood why there had been no guests in the hall.
“The Duke of Teseron has arrived!”
“Wahhh! Duke Edward!”
Below them sprawled an open-air garden, unobstructed to the horizon.
The space, decorated as lavishly as the interior, teemed with people crying out Edward’s name.
They were dressed magnificently—unmistakably high nobility at first glance.
In an instant, a mixture of curiosity and hostility swung toward Luciana like a sharpened blade.
Though truthfully, it was one part curiosity and ninety-nine parts disdain.
‘Hmm?’
She’d expected they wouldn’t regard her kindly.
But the atmosphere in the garden felt far more cutting than she’d anticipated.
‘What is this?’
Luciana’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“…Duke Edward!”
A woman’s voice, sharp enough to draw blood, sliced through the air.
“There’s something I simply must tell you!”
A woman in a white dress as splendid as Luciana’s own.
Sepina sat perched upon the garden wall, her expression achingly sorrowful and pure.
* * *
Minutes before Luciana and Edward stepped onto the balcony.
“Good heavens. I’ve never seen such a thing.”
“They say the bride is a commoner of no standing?”
“And is it not the case that no refreshments nor food have been provided to the guests gathered out here?”
“Moreover, not even the Duke’s own mother was invited to the wedding?”
Whisper, whisper, murmur, murmur.
Outright complaints circulated among the assembled nobility in the outdoor hall.
This open-air hall, fashioned from the garden, was smaller than the glittering hall where the ceremony took place, yet the roster of attendees was as impressive and illustrious as any grand venue.
“We came all this way to attend a duke’s wedding, only to be turned away?”
The elaborately dressed complainers fell silent under the piercing gaze of the Teseron knights standing guard.
One more word, and they’d be dragged beyond the duchy’s gates.
And yet they couldn’t even protest.
They’d come as guests, but strictly speaking, no invitation had been extended to them.
‘We were certain there would be one.’
The moment the high nobility heard of Edward’s sudden marriage, their antennae shot up.
Even if the bride was an unremarkable commoner, this was the wedding of a Great Person—an affair to rival that of the imperial family itself.
Yet days passed, and not a single invitation arrived.
Their minds raced with calculation.
‘Surely a Great Person’s wedding cannot unfold so meagerly without guests.’
‘If we aren’t invited, we’ll simply attend of our own accord.’
They were nobility, after all—praised wherever they went.
But when they arrived at the Teseron Duchy on the day itself, they received a cold answer.
“We regret to inform you that we are not accepting guests.”
“What do you mean? We have come in person!”
“We have no record of sending any invitations.”
……!
They’d nearly been turned away entirely had it not been for the traffic of carriages clogging the road to Teseron, caused by the sheer number of nobles who’d arrived without invitation.
The Duke, unwilling to inconvenience his subjects, had herded the aristocrats into this outdoor hall like cattle.
‘How could such an insult be permitted!’
This spectacle bore no resemblance to the wedding of the Duke of Teseron they’d imagined.
Their remarks grew sharp.
“Tell me truthfully—the former Duchess of Teseron really didn’t attend this wedding?”
Those who spoke lowered their voices so the knights wouldn’t hear.
“Perhaps she chose not to attend—refusing to acknowledge a commoner bride.”
“And the priest conducting the ceremony is from abroad, they say!”
“What? The Temple has an established presence in the Empire—why would they do such a thing?”
“But it’s all talk, isn’t it? There’s no one who can actually go into the hall and see for themselves!”
By now, this wedding was far too secretive—almost suspiciously so.
‘Just how private does a wedding need to be?’
‘Or are they not holding a wedding ceremony at all?’
Discontent was building in everyone’s hearts.
Someone whispered in a very small voice.
“That rumor must be true.”
“What rumor?”
“The one about the Duke of Teseron caring for and protecting his lover so much that he doesn’t even want others to see her.”
“Where on earth did such a ridiculous, baseless rumor even come from…!”
“It’s been spreading through the Teseron Duchy for a while now.”
The young noblewoman’s cheeks flushed red as she spoke.
The nobles who had directed many barbs at Edward tensed, their faces twisting in disbelief.
“Surely not! And of all people, the Duke of Teseron…!”
“That brutally strong man in love with someone? I’d sooner believe he was coercing the bride than…!”
“It’s true. My maid’s relative works here, and I heard the bride is already with child.”
That was when it happened.
“…What about Sepina?”
A heavy silence fell over those gathered.
Slowly.
Their eyes drifted toward the corner of the outdoor hall.
Sepina had been turned away at the entrance; her seat now sat empty.
“The Saint finds it difficult to enter.”
“Pardon? But…!”
“We shall move her to somewhere more comfortable.”
Comfortable in name only—in truth, they meant to confine her to a sealed-off Guest Room.
‘How could they turn her away like that…?’
A wave of displeasure rippled through the crowd.
Until recently, most people in the Empire had assumed Edward would naturally marry Sepina.
This made him look like an unfaithful scoundrel who’d abandoned his rightful wife.
As though common sense itself had been shattered, the nobles in the outdoor hall shook their heads in disapproval.
Meanwhile, Sepina—thus pushed aside—stood just beyond the garden wall, grinding her teeth.
She had no intention of following the knights to the Guest Room. That would be nothing short of being stored away.
When she’d insisted on staying here, the knights simply backed off as though granting her permission.
That infuriated her even more.
They hadn’t even bothered to insist—it made clear they didn’t consider her important at all.
‘How could this be allowed!’
As Sepina stamped her foot, a Temple attendant beside her spoke with sympathetic concern.
“Miss Sepina, if you do that, your dress will get muddy…!”
“Shut up!”
At Sepina’s response, the attendant exchanged an uneasy glance with the other servants.
Sepina paid no mind to their stares and began biting her nails.
The hem of her dress, already smudged with mud as the attendant had warned, filled her with tremendous irritation.
The fact that it was a white dress made the soiled portion all the more conspicuous.
‘And this is such an expensive dress!’
The white dress she’d had specially made for today was so exquisite it would have been perfectly fitting for her to wear as a bride at the altar.
She’d chosen it specifically because she’d meant to sway public opinion against the other woman, seize her place, and marry Edward immediately.
When she’d first heard that Edward was marrying another woman, she hadn’t believed it at all.
But the moment she confirmed it was real, Sepina had rushed to the Pope.
“Father! How did things come to this!”
“Sepina, don’t be upset. Calm yourself and listen. That woman is actually…!”
When she learned that the woman was a fugitive Experimental Subject from the Temple, Sepina had nearly lost consciousness.
“Her pregnancy must be a lie to escape the situation. It’s probably not that he truly loves that woman or anything like that…!”
“What does that matter!”
Whether Edward truly loved Luciana was beyond Sepina’s concern.
She didn’t love Edward either—she merely wanted to possess him, and the wanting drove her mad.
But if he married an Experimental Subject with Sacred Power…!
‘He’ll never meet with me again!’
Moreover, wasn’t that Experimental Subject’s Sacred Power something that should have belonged to her in the first place?
Feeling as though both Edward and the Sacred Power had been stolen from her, Sepina trembled with rage.
She’d rushed here unable to bear it any longer, only to be treated like this again.…
“This won’t do.”
“Sepina?”
“You. Get down on all fours.”
“I beg your pardon, I don’t understand—”
“Down! Now!”
At her command, the maid dropped to the ground in fear, and without hesitation Sepina planted her sharp heeled shoe firmly on the woman’s back, using her as a step.
“Ah—ugh!”
“Stay still!”
As Sepina trampled down on the maid’s cries of pain, she finally managed to hoist herself up onto the wall.
Those gathered in the outdoor hall turned to stare at her, eyes wide.
“S-Sepina?”
The moment she saw them, Sepina’s face crumpled, tears welling up in an instant.
She forced her eyes to shine with moisture.
‘I can claim pregnancy just as well as anyone else!’
Sepina let tears stream down her face as she gently cradled her lower belly.

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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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