I Thought It Was the Monster Duke's Fake Sedative - Chapter 71

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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 71
“What? I don’t….”
……
……
‘Oh no.’
Luciana, too, grasped Edward’s meaning a heartbeat too late, her face flushing crimson as though ready to burst.
A good father, he’d said.
It had been genuine praise, meant purely….
‘But, well, it’s easy to misunderstand it that way!’
Still, she hadn’t expected such a blunt question—whether she’d bear his child.
As Luciana fell silent and lowered her head, the nape of her neck flushed as scarlet as her face, laid bare.
Edward felt his heart stir at the sight, a feeling he hadn’t known in some time.
There was something endearing about her bashfulness painting her entire body red, yet she didn’t deny it.
It meant she truly harbored the wish to bear his child someday.
‘Growing more uselessly adorable by the day.’
It felt wrong to let anyone else see her like this.
He’d known she cared for him, known she was willing to lie with him.
But beyond that—to desire his child, to want to bear him an heir—he hadn’t imagined it.
‘…A child, then.’
The moment Edward thought of an existence he’d never once considered in his life, his hand faltered as if broken.
Even beneath his clothes, a corner of his heart seemed to glow brilliantly, as though it had lost all restraint.
‘However it is, not now.’
Luciana’s body was still far too small, far too fragile to bear a child….
Yet his imagination ran wild, contrary to such reasoning, conjuring a small child in his mind’s eye.
A tiny, precious thing bearing Luciana’s likeness.
And also—sharp, flawless, unmistakably his.
Edward’s thoughts spiraled until he’d imagined a newborn, freshly arrived, already kneeling to say: “Mother, Father—thank you for bringing me into this world.” He forced himself to swallow.
Of course, when the time came, he’d have to make it happen….
But they’d only just been married. Shouldn’t they enjoy the newlywed period first?
‘Perhaps our next date should be somewhere proper.’
Before leaving, Edward had indeed pestered Tepe—who had relatively more experience with romance—relentlessly, absorbing crash-course lectures on famous restaurants and attractions throughout Teseron’s bustling districts.
Luciana had simply kept pulling him away, insisting they had work to do, so he’d never gotten to start.
Now, whenever he wished to create a romantic atmosphere, he could do so freely.
This was his chance to reap the rewards of announcing his Seclusion.
“Well then, next we should go to that Lake Restaurant I learned about….”
He’d barely begun speaking.
“Now! This is the material we need next!”
Luciana’s eyes sparkled as she drew out the materials list.
She was every bit as flustered as Edward, but she hadn’t completely forgotten today’s true purpose.
‘First, I need to craft him a proper Perfect Form!’
She hadn’t yet considered bearing Edward’s child, but now that they were married, who knew what lay ahead.
Still, it seemed reckless to attempt it while Edward remained incomplete.
Her first priority was for both of them—herself and Edward—to become sound and healthy.
‘And once the Ceremony succeeds, I’ll capture even Rosendale’s heart completely.’
He’d likely be the one teaching their children, after all.
While Edward’s expression flickered with faint displeasure, Luciana, eyes blazing with determination, scanned the materials list necessary for the Ceremony.
The Snow Mountain Beast’s Tail Bone, the last item they needed to acquire today, was especially difficult to obtain, but if push came to shove, they could hire the Information Guild to search….
“…though I suppose we won’t need to?”
Just then, something caught Luciana’s eye.
‘Was that always there?’
The Empty Lot had been nothing but bare ground only days ago when she’d passed through.
Now a massive tent had suddenly appeared in its place.
“Wow.”
Outside the tent, makeshift stalls overflowed with rare magical supplies and materials of every kind.
And there, among them, lay the Snow Mountain Beast’s Tail Bone.
Luciana froze in her tracks at the unexpected sight.
“Ah.”
A man emerged briskly from the tent, his gaze fixed on Luciana, and smiled.
“You’ve a sharp eye for materials. Interested in magic, are you?”
……
“Welcome, good customer. Please, do come in.”
The proprietor, with his light blue hair tied back and thick glasses perched on his nose, had a face that was handsome for a merchant—almost pretty, even.
When he clasped his hands together and smiled, a few of the women nearby actually turned to look.
But Luciana, whose eyes had grown accustomed to Edward’s far superior features, found the man resembled nothing so much as a rather attractive squid.
And there was something else—an odd discomfort she couldn’t quite place.
‘What is it?’
Though she’d never seen this man before, something about him felt strangely familiar.
“Would you like to have a look around?”
Suspicious. That was the word that kept surfacing.
If pressed to explain what seemed off, she’d struggle to articulate it precisely.
It wasn’t that he looked like he’d sell counterfeit goods, nor that he’d take her money and run.
‘And yet something is definitely off.’
Luciana was the sort who trusted her instincts.
‘I should just ask him to source it separately.’
Even as she turned her attention to this suspicious proprietor, weighing her options, a voice cut through the air behind her.
“So your master is standing right beside you with eyes wide open, and you’re actually glancing at another man.”
“…….”
“Now, who’s the one being naughty?”
The temperature around them seemed to plummet as the words emerged in a voice gone cold.
Edward’s eyes had narrowed into sharp triangles.
“Can’t you see your master is waiting for care and attention?”
Luciana murmured in protest, her voice small and aggrieved.
“I’ve told you—this is all so I can make you more perfect, sir.”
“So you won’t go where I’ve taken you?”
“Whatever it is, I’ll visit it later.”
“My period of seclusion won’t be that long.”
“Because I’m making you a perfect incarnation, that’s why. It absolutely won’t be wasted time….”
Then it happened.
“…Perhaps you should simply forgo the ceremony.”
The words landed softly, but the tone had turned glacial.
Luciana forgot to respond and lifted her head.
Beneath the deeply pulled hood, red eyes regarded her with absolute indifference.
In the moment she saw that gaze—one she hadn’t witnessed since meeting Edward—a chill ran through her.
“I had no expectations anyway.”
“…….”
“So stop.”
Words as cold and unfeeling as the expression that bore them flooded her ears.
Thump.
Her heart seemed to plummet into an abyss.
Not because of anything else, but because of the deep mistrust and regret woven through those words.
No expectations. He had none.
‘Of me….’
Did he not trust her?
A beat too late, Rosendale’s words echoed back through her mind.
“That’s how one treats a companion animal.”
“If the Duke truly regarded his lady as an equal partner, at the very least….”
Edward’s way of cherishing her seemed to come only from the tenderness one shows a beloved pet.
“…You truly had no expectations, sir?”
Her voice, barely wrung out, cracked at the edges.
As Edward flinched at her words, Luciana forced herself to continue.
“Then why.”
Why did you make a contract with me?
Was it just to receive some purification and enjoy yourself?
But in the end, she couldn’t ask.
Because Edward’s words kept returning to her—the absurd pet names he was always calling her, like “little mouse” or worse.
‘What if when he called me “little mouse”….’
What if he truly saw her as nothing more than a pet mouse to be kept?
What if his affection came only from the care one shows a companion animal, and if that were why he’d pushed forward with marriage—to keep her safe, like a cherished pet?
The world before Luciana’s eyes blurred and receded.
She had thought that since she provided him with purification, at least in that way she was being treated as a person like any other.
Even if they were divided into positions A and B, at least he’d stepped into the realm of someone she could trust.
‘…And he even said I was useful.’
He sheltered me, showed me consideration, and despite our contract relationship, he married me and did all manner of things with me night after night.
And yet he held not a shred of expectation toward me?
‘Could that be why.’
Was that why he’d always been so generous and tender toward me.
Because I was someone from whom he expected nothing anyway.
Disappointment born of broken hopes—that was an emotion reserved only for those worthy of such hopes.
If I were merely a pet mouse meant only to provide a measure of Purification from beside him, then he needn’t bother with hope, nor with letdown….
‘There’d be no need to trust me at all.’
The moment she thought that Edward didn’t truly trust her to that extent.
The buoyant mood that had been hovering moments before turned cold and drained away.
“Luciana.”
Edward opened his mouth a beat too late, but….
Slap.
Luciana batted away his reaching hand.

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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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