I Thought It Was the Monster Duke's Fake Sedative - Chapter 90

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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 90
The moment the words left his mouth, Edward felt his neck stiffen.
With that single admission, he had confessed aloud that Luciana was his only weakness.
While he remained rigid with tension,
Luciana made a soft sniffling sound.
“…What kind of thing is that to say.”
…….
“Am I supposed to be the only blemish on your life?”
The sharp edge to her words felt like Luciana returning to her usual self.
“That’s not what I meant….”
Edward was already reaching for an explanation
when she cut him off. “Fine. I’ll do it.”
…….
“Let me be the only blemish on your life.”
…….
“And I’ll make you the only strength in mine.”
Edward shuddered at those words before he could help himself.
‘…She’s letting me into her life.’
Making him the one flawless, unblemished thing in her entire world.
In that moment of realization,
Edward felt the warmth of Luciana burrowing into his embrace and understood something.
For this woman who he thought perfect,
he would never be able to speak of his past.
Thud.
Two emotions struck him at once.
The despair of knowing he would never tell her.
And the joy of remaining unblemished in her eyes.
‘…It’s all right.’
This is enough for me.
As he steadied his emotions and pulled Luciana closer,
a low rumble echoed.
The Monster’s corpse, which had been barely clinging to the Duke’s Castle, finally succumbed to its weight and collapsed into the garden below.
“…Oh!”
In that same instant, Luciana’s legs gave out beneath her.
The tension she had been holding all along drained away in a heartbeat.
“Tsk.”
Edward made a soft disapproving sound and lifted Luciana effortlessly into his arms.
Cradling her like a princess, he turned and began walking without a backward glance.
“What?”
Luciana, who had been dazed for a moment, suddenly realized where he was heading and gasped in alarm.
“W-wait, please. Not the room—the Shelter instead, I….”
“Why.”
“We can’t just leave it like this. We need to c-coordinate our response….”
There was damage control to manage.
The people would be in chaos, and if they didn’t organize things, it could spiral into something worse….
But Edward remained unmoved.
“Rozendale and Gorgo are already there. Tepe will join them shortly.”
“Y-yes, but….”
“I didn’t place incompetent men in my inner circle. They can handle the immediate situation.”
“But the one in ch-charge….”
“If I showed up now and opened my mouth, I’d only stoke the people’s anger.”
…….
“I need to have at least an explanation or a solution before I face them.”
She had no reply—he was right, and she knew it.
“And.”
Edward paused to collect himself, then spoke in a low voice.
“Stop worrying about everyone else and look at yourself first, Luciana.”
“I-I’m not h-hurt….”
The words died on her lips as she met his gaze.
Following his eyes, she looked down at the hand she’d rested against his chest.
“…….”
Her hands trembled like aspen leaves, barely managing to grip his chest properly.
But it wasn’t just her hands.
Her legs had gone weak, and her hunched shoulders quivered just as badly.
“Ah….”
Everything she said seemed to come out shaking, for some reason.
The moment she noticed, a chill ran through her entire body—but Luciana forced herself to speak anyway.
“This will be fine in just a moment….”
“Even if you tried to go out and manage things as you say, you’d only make it worse looking like this.”
Edward cut her off with a steady, measured tone.
“At least I need to warm you up again.”
“…….”
“Isn’t that right?”
At his soft murmur, Luciana swallowed hard and fell silent.
* * *
Creak. Click.
The door closing sounded unusually loud.
Edward lowered Luciana slowly onto the bed.
She was starting to relax at the soft give of the mattress beneath her when—
“Whoosh!”
His hands moved, and her relief scattered in an instant, replaced by a different kind of tension that shot down her spine.
Edward had stripped off his Gloves and Armor in one breath and begun removing her clothes.
Or rather—not removing, exactly.
Rip.
It was closer to tearing.
The atmosphere had shifted into something strange.
“Your Grace?”
He’d said something about warming her up again, and now this.
‘Surely he’s not trying to relieve the tension by doing something improper?’
The thought crossed Luciana’s mind before she could stop it.
“Cough, ah, haah!”
Rip!
As the fabric of her bodice tore away, Luciana’s breathing suddenly became easier.
The thin Corset she’d cinched a little tighter than usual for emphasis loosened, and her labored breath finally came free.
“Hah, hah—”
“Breathe,” he murmured.
Edward stroked her bare back gently.
Once her breathing steadied, he softly massaged her trembling hands and feet.
The shaking gradually subsided, and warmth returned to her body.
Luciana lay there, dazed.
‘I was more frightened than I realized.’
Though admittedly, she was in quite a state now too.
Looking down at herself—reduced to undergarments and stockings in mere moments—Luciana’s eyes darted about even as relief flooded through her.
Slowly, she reached out and drew her hand toward Edward’s shirt.
‘This man too….’
He needed help as well.
His Impurity needed further Purification.
Edward’s eyebrow twitched, but he didn’t pull away from her touch.
Seeing his response, Luciana’s hands grew bolder.
Pop-pop-pop.
As his shirt buttons came undone, the firm line of his collarbone was revealed.
When she placed her hand there and let Holy Power flow into him, Edward—who had been dutifully massaging her limbs—met her gaze.
A new feeling stirred within him then.
‘…It’s been a while.’
Since she’d fidgeted about like this and climbed into his bed.
The bed that had felt empty these past weeks with its mistress away now filled with her presence, and satisfaction kindled warmly in Edward’s chest.
Everything felt like it had finally returned to its proper place.
Sigh.
Edward exhaled deeply and pressed his face against her hand—
“By the way, Your Grace.”
“Yes.”
“…Were you frightened, Duke?”
The question fell from nowhere.
She blinked, lifted her gaze, and found Luciana’s lips curved in that small, uncertain smile.
Luciana chewed her lip, her eyes darting away.
‘I shouldn’t have said that.’
The words had escaped her on impulse.
The moment his Corruption began reaching toward her, a subtle warmth flooded through her, and all those thoughts she’d had earlier came flooding back.
‘How much must it have hurt.’
How many terrors and pains had he known, hunting monsters since childhood?
Perhaps that weight had once seemed so unbearable, so crushing—
was that why he’d tried to shoulder nothing himself, to take responsibility for nothing at all?
She knew the leap was speculative; yet once a thought takes root, it doesn’t easily dislodge.
While Luciana worked her lips in silent worry, Edward’s crimson eyes softened as he listened.
He held her hand—still trembling with lingering cold—and answered without emotion.
“It wasn’t I who was trembling just now.”
“…Of course, it’s my part to be afraid like that. I did promise to be your Strength going forward.”
“You’re right. You can be as frightened as you need to be. But I…”
“…but you’re human too, aren’t you?”
His mouth closed at that.
“I’m still so afraid,” Luciana said simply.
She laid it bare.
“Afraid another monster might appear from nowhere. Afraid someone might drag me to the Temple and lock me away. It’s so horrible.”
“That will never happen again—”
“I’m this terrified, so you couldn’t have been unmoved from the start. You couldn’t have.”
“……”
“Even if you were flawless from childhood, it wouldn’t matter.”
“There was so much to learn, and the teaching was harsh. You hardly met people at all. From the time you were ten, you were occupied with catching monsters.”
Luciana recalled what Tepe had said.
He’d meant it to reconcile them, perhaps, yet it didn’t feel rehearsed—it rang true.
‘But he was only ten.’
The children she’d cared for in the Shelter had been that same age.
They were just children, all of them.
No amount of perfect design could have made that right.
No—even if he had been flawless, she was already concerned for him.
“I wouldn’t have been fine in your place. That’s why I wonder…”
“……”
“Whether my promise to make you into a complete incarnation has been too much of a burden for you.”

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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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