I Thought It Was the Monster Duke's Fake Sedative - Chapter 79

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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 79
Actually, it wasn’t just the side of her face that burned.
‘What is this?’
From head to toe, there wasn’t a place that didn’t prickle and sting.
It was Edward’s gaze, pouring down on her.
Only then did Luciana think to herself, quietly.
‘Is he still angry?’
So perhaps he was sending that warning look in response to hearing her sigh, to assert that he too was restraining himself.
To show that he was holding back as well.
‘But wait—’
The more she turned it over in her mind, the more her frustration boiled.
‘Should I just refuse to purify him?’
Yet it remained only a thought.
They were moments before an important formal gathering.
While Luciana kept her mouth firmly shut and stared down at the ground, trying to compose herself…
Edward was hearing a resonant, hollow ringing in his skull.
Ding, ding, ding….
Because the impact of Luciana’s dress, from the moment he first saw it until now, had dominated every corner of his mind.
‘What in the…’
He’d been confident that anything he dressed her in would suit her.
But today’s Luciana exceeded even that.
His eyes, which rolled ceaselessly, traced and retraced the dress’s lines that hugged the contours of her body perfectly, the gentle dip of her neckline, the starkly prominent line of her shoulder blades against her pale back.
Edward’s reason had already stepped half a pace out of his skull.
He couldn’t even determine whether what he felt was happiness or irritation.
He wanted to keep looking, yet felt annoyed; she was so beautiful it took all his restraint not to demand she remove it on the spot.
More precisely, he wanted to hide her away entirely, keep her all to himself.
‘…How could she even…’
How did he agree to let her wear something so beautiful and lovely and—and unseemly in front of everyone?
That last word, of course, was by Edward’s reckoning alone.
The dress’s exposure was not excessive.
It was a refined design that followed the fashion of showing skin gradually—nothing that violated propriety.
In fact, when worn by someone of high station like a duchess, the design conveyed provocation and boldness, stirring curiosity and favor.
But to Edward it looked far too stimulating, far too scandalous.
Otherwise his lower half wouldn’t be reacting this way.
…….
He swallowed without meaning to.
And yet he couldn’t be the pervert standing at attention during his wife’s first gathering that she’d hosted herself.
He forced his face to grow cold and clenched his fists, trying to maintain composure, but his reason had already broken free and was wrestling with his instinct.
‘Why dress like that? Who is she trying to seduce?’
…Could it possibly be me?
That thought almost lifted his mood slightly, only for it to plummet again
when he remembered how distant things had been between Luciana and him of late.
What if her target wasn’t him at all, but someone else?
‘Then who?’
The list of irritations was growing by the second.
There was Tepe, who’d been growing far too familiar with Luciana lately. And that time at the Marketplace…
‘That infuriating peddler had the audacity to place his hand on Luciana’s shoulder.’
And now, watching Luciana sigh and avert her gaze, Edward’s thirst—his jealousy—intensified.
He wanted nothing more than to seize her hand right then, to demand exactly who she was trying to seduce…
Squeeze.
The moment that thought struck him,
Luciana reached out first and took hold of Edward’s sleeve without a word.
‘No matter how angry or hurt I feel…’
she couldn’t let things continue like this indefinitely.
“We need to do a Purification.”
The instant she took his sleeve, Edward flinched as if something had broken inside him.
Luciana swallowed the urge to scold him and let out a breath-tinged word instead.
“Aren’t you going to?”
“…I am.”
Edward answered calmly and began to slowly peel off the Leather Gloves he’d been wearing.
And he slowly removed the Lace Gloves that Luciana had been wearing.
“…….”
“…….”
Simply removing the gloves, yet the air grew taut with tension.
The two of them deliberately ignored that tension and clasped their bare hands tightly together.
Holding Luciana’s hand after so long, Edward unconsciously drew his tongue across his lips.
Through their joined skin, a pulse thrummed—thump-thump—unmistakable.
Both sorrow and displeasure resonated in that same pulse.
Only then did Edward recognize the emotion Luciana was feeling, and his face hardened.
“Lu….”
Immediately after, Holy Power surged forward.
A rough, bitter Holy Power—as if venting frustration itself.
Yet even in its force, there was a hesitation at the edge, as though she couldn’t bring herself to truly hurt him.
But even that was too much stimulation for Edward in his current state.
Corruption had accumulated deep within him already, and seeing Luciana in her Dress had left him wound tight with desire.
The moment her Holy Power skimmed across his solar plexus.
“…Ah.”
A sigh escaped Edward’s lips—something dangerously close to a moan, wholly beyond his control.
At a sound so unmistakably suggestive, Luciana flinched and lifted her gaze.
Then froze at the sight before her eyes.
‘…What…?’
It was impossible to ignore—there it was, announcing itself brazenly right in front of her.
In truth, when she’d grasped his hand and felt the Corruption knotted within Edward, she’d been shaken.
All this time he must have been suffering, yet he’d endured it without asking her for Purification—the absurdity of it had stunned her.
He could have forced Purification from her, but he hadn’t, and that strange feeling lingered.
So brief as her anger was, concern had come rushing in unbidden.
And yet the moment he received Purification, his body responded first.
‘Even if it’s because of Holy Power, this is…’
In moments like this, she despised this kind of setup from those adult novels.
He had no intention of truly talking to her—obliviously raising things to this state—and now she felt a bitter resentment toward Edward for it.
‘So he wants to have a conversation with his body instead, is that it?!’
Even as she raged, his smoldering gaze never wavered.
Rather, the moment Luciana glanced down at Edward’s lower half, those eyes sweeping across her body suddenly intensified, as if they’d been waiting for exactly this.
As though to say: You’re looking at my body, so I’ll look at yours.
…The mortifying part was that her own body was responding to that gaze with excitement.
Luciana felt the tremor between her legs and was filled with a sense of unfairness.
‘Why?’
When she was this angry.
When she despised him this much.
Yet she couldn’t ignore his gaze….
‘…This is so infuriating!’
A surge.
Excitement, resentment, and worry swirled together, leaving her mind dizzy and overwhelmed.
The problem was that this violent tempest of feeling leaked into the Holy Power she was directing at Edward.
“…Hck!”
Whether in response to the aggressive surge of power—
The Corruption that Edward had been holding back burst forth like a breaking dam, spilling out violently.
And desperate for purification, it consumed her Holy Power hungrily before surging back toward Luciana in turn.
“…Huh, ah!”
Luciana trembled at the touch of Corruption and tightened her grip on their clasped hands.
‘I really do hate him.’
Really, truly hate him….
“…Luciana.”
The moment she squeezed her eyes shut and bit her lower lip.
A waft.
A scent that had once been familiar, now grown slightly strange, drew near.
It was the fragrance emanating from Edward as he lowered his head toward the curve of her neck and collarbone.
“…….”
In that instant of heightened tension, every muscle along Luciana’s spine went rigid.
“…Wait.”
“…….”
“Please, just a moment….”
Her voice—pleading, desperate—echoed through the cavern of his mind, drilling into his ears.
And then.
“Inhale!”
Between the curve of her breasts, deliberately exposed where her upper dress had parted.
A touch.
His mouth—hot, soft—slipped into the narrow gap and began to caress her delicate skin.
“……!”
Luciana’s eyes flew wide as she looked down.
And she met his gaze.
“…Oh.”
Edward’s eyes—his vertical pupils vivid with intensity—gazed up at her from between her breasts, his crimson tongue tracing slowly.
“Haa.”
The moment their eyes locked, his pupils constricted sharply.

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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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