I Thought It Was the Monster Duke's Fake Sedative - Chapter 61

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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 61
The Sacred Mark scattered its soft golden light in all directions.
Its meaning was unmistakable.
“Then surely that woman isn’t…”
“His actual True Mate?”
Gasps erupted from every corner.
Whoosh.
In the next instant, countless eyes turned toward one place.
…Toward Sepina, who had been publicly introduced as the dragon’s lover yet had never shown even a trace of a Sacred Mark.
As if suddenly regretting their sympathy for Sepina, doubt flooded every gaze.
“Now that you mention it, she’s been a Saint all this time without even one Sacred Mark?”
“Come to think of it, they looked distant at official gatherings…”
“If his true mate was someone else, it all makes sense.”
As public opinion reversed in an instant, Sepina clenched her teeth hard.
Only then did Edward turn to face her, smirking crookedly as he spoke.
“A story I should hear, I assume.”
……
“I’m curious what it could be, Saint Sepina.”
Sepina’s mouth snapped shut before she could protest.
Edward’s face bore a smile so chilling it was almost beautiful.
Even Sepina, reckless as she was and willing to disregard all consequence for her aims, understood.
No matter how loudly she proclaimed her pregnancy now, she could never overcome the ‘True Mate’ who had appeared with proof in hand.
Edward’s narrow, sharply cut eyes swept across Sepina with cold precision.
Then, moving only his lips, he spoke to her silently.
‘Shall I tell them whose child it actually is.’
……!
At those words, Sepina went deathly pale.
This was no different from threatening to expose her as a false saint, to bring about her complete ruin.
‘What if people believe that too?’
With the situation turned against her, she had no intention of gambling recklessly.
Sepina bit her lip savagely, swallowed what she was about to say, and began picking her way down beneath the wall.
No one was watching Sepina anymore.
Their eyes were drawn once again to Luciana’s hand.
“Truly, it’s been how long since a True Mate appeared?”
“A miracle has happened…”
Meanwhile, Luciana herself was too busy gazing bewilderedly at her own hand amid the whispers.
‘What is this…?’
A scar shaped like a dragon’s wing, infused with the golden power that Edward possessed.
Even while riding in the carriage, she had seen it clearly — it was unmistakably a Sacred Mark denoting a True Mate.
‘Ah.’
What flashed across her mind in that moment was something that had happened before the duchess not long ago.
“Rather, I should remove all titles from this place and hand them over to my wife, the future duchess.”
“Don’t you think that should be your role, Mother?”
The tremor she had first felt when Edward whispered those words and took her hand.
And the tremor she had sensed keenly — sharp and distinct — when the duchess had provoked Edward afterward.
And the thought that had crossed her mind, however briefly, in that moment.
‘Could it be.’
Am I truly a dragon’s True Mate?
Yet that thought had scattered at Edward’s voice, whispered immediately after.
“The ring.”
“Yes?”
“Never take it off.”
Edward whispered, and with a softness that raised her skin to gooseflesh, he stroked her ring finger, then bent his head low toward her.
To anyone watching, he looked like a newlywed murmuring words of love.
“There’s magic woven into it.”
…I see.
“Don’t let it be seen for long near the Temple or anyone else.”
……
“Don’t let them discover that the Sacred Mark is made of magic.”
…Yes.
‘I don’t know what to say.’
Even as he answered, a strange sense of deflation brushed across his chest.
‘I almost thought I might be her real True Mate.’
Since she truly had almost no memory of the past, he’d found himself entertaining the possibility.
He recalled that her real True Mate had been captured while drawing water at the Well in the novel, and that the Orphanage where she’d lived also had a well.
‘So even the slightest, tiniest possibility…’
He’d been on the verge of wondering if he might not be Edward’s real True Mate after all.
Whether it was disappointment or relief, the feeling brushed softly across Luciana’s nape.
Even as the wind went out of his sails, he had to admit he was impressed.
‘How did he manage it?’
The Mate Mark was something the Temple itself hadn’t yet obtained, and yet Edward had conjured this thing.
Without quite meaning to, Luciana voiced the thought that had surfaced.
“Your Grace. Could it be that among all the dragon’s True Mates so far….”
But Edward answered without the slightest hesitation.
“No. They were all genuine.”
“How can you be certain?”
“This ring was only made a little over a decade ago. And….”
“And?”
Edward smiled instead of answering.
It was an annoyingly beautiful smile.
Luciana stared at that smile and opened her mouth.
“Your Grace.”
“What.”
“There are two main ways to make someone angry….”
The sentence hadn’t even finished.
“I know.”
Softly.
Edward’s lips traced slowly across Luciana’s ring finger.
“Oh…!”
“First is leaving a sentence unfinished.”
……
“Second is a crowd gathering, repeating the same words over and over, and then—”
“Y-yes?”
“—spouting orders and trying to take what belongs to someone else.”
“That’s not… that’s not even two things—”
Soft lick.
The objection died in her throat at the deliberate stroke of his tongue.
Hot and wet, the sensation of his tongue lapping her finger sent Luciana’s mind into a haze.
While she’d lost the power of speech, Edward wore that crooked smile once more.
‘In any case.’
She’d bitten her own finger to seduce him in situations far more scandalous than this.
Compared to then, what he was doing now was practically virtuous.
‘She’s embarrassed over this when I’ve done worse.’
In that moment, Luciana struck him as newly endearing.
……
Edward felt a clear gaze rising from below.
“Looking at it that way, she’s rather….”
“Is she his true True Mate? Now that I look closer, she does seem… quite beautiful.”
It was the whispered murmur of gathered nobles.
Objectively speaking, Luciana was indeed beautiful.
But the voices of those prattling below were utterly intolerable.
The way they suddenly shifted their attitude struck him as craven, and their remarks—casting covetous eyes on Luciana—kindled a sudden, sharp irritation.
Edward reached for the curtain with jerky movements.
He was ready to close it immediately.
He’d staged this entire display to hammer home to everyone that Luciana was his, and moreover, to keep the Temple from attempting any more foolishness—but now, knowing that all these people had witnessed this tender moment, he was honestly furious.
The thought of them seeing her like this infuriated him beyond measure.
‘I never wanted to show her to those fools like this in the first place.’
His decision to conduct the wedding without guests had partly been to guarantee Luciana’s safety, but it was also a reflection of his own desires.
Yet even as he waited for the bride to take her place—
A retainer sent by Rosendale came rushing in urgently.
“My lord! The nobles are gathering at the gates despite your instruction to refuse all visitors.”
“Expected as much.”
Edward wasn’t surprised.
The other nobles were the sort who envied and resented him while never missing a chance to curry favor.
They’d assumed they’d be admitted without invitation, that such formalities didn’t apply to them.
He’d been about to order them turned away—they weren’t worth the effort—when
“And the Saint Sepina from the Temple is among them, my lord.”
……
“What shall we do?”
Edward’s brow darkened at the servant’s words.
He’d known the Temple would lodge a protest through an envoy, but he hadn’t anticipated Sepina herself.
For all her outward gentleness, Saint Sepina was proud—more proud than most—and utterly intolerant of slight.
‘It’s been quite some time.’
The memory surfaced of their first meeting, not so long ago after all.
A maidservant had accidentally spilled wine on Sepina’s gown as she approached Edward.
Sepina had said it didn’t matter, but her smile had been forced—the anger poorly concealed beneath.
That same night, the maid was attacked by masked assailants on her way home. Both her legs were broken.
Edward had little difficulty deducing who was behind it.
From that moment, he knew Sepina’s true nature.
A woman with such pride wouldn’t simply overlook offense.
‘I thought she wouldn’t come to something like this.’
Her obsession ran deeper than he’d reckoned.
If he left the assembled nobles unattended and Sepina arrived among them, the outcome was predictable.
‘She’ll spread vicious rumors, as always.’
The nobles would lap it up, nodding along.
He couldn’t allow them to chatter idly.
Not if their words could threaten his marriage to Luciana.
Edward made his decision. There was only one option left.
“Give this message to Rosendale.”
“Yes, my lord. What shall I tell him?”
“Bring me ‘that ring.'”

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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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