I Thought It Was the Monster Duke's Fake Sedative - Chapter 95

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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 95
As the Grand Duchess gnashed her teeth, the dead Duke’s voice flickered through her mind.
“This is the path for our Teseron, madam.”
The late Duke had harbored an ambitious purpose.
“When the glorious Incarnation of Teseron is reborn, our house too shall rise to greatness once more.”
“Then you yourself shall become mistress of a most illustrious family.”
The aim to restore glory to Teseron, a lineage whose Incarnations had long since ceased.
For the Grand Duchess, thrust into marriage with the Duke as a strategic alliance, it was a tempting prospect indeed.
‘I want to appear as mistress of a distinguished house.’
She did not wish to be seen as a failure in marriage.
For one who had carried such lofty airs as a Young Lady, to have married not imperial blood nor royalty but a fallen ducal house—she refused to bear that ridicule.
To undo one marriage was already difficult.
But if Teseron were to become a great house once more?
‘That would be simple enough.’
They loved each other not, nor felt the pull of the flesh, yet they shared the same hunger for the world’s recognition.
And so the two became remarkably excellent partners.
In time, the Duke had found a method.
To create an Incarnation directly—a way that, should it succeed, would leave the world with nothing to fear.
When he had finally succeeded, he had even shed tears of joy.
Yet to be betrayed so utterly by that very result—
“Still, that’s enough for Father to have had a proper death. Isn’t it?”
“……!”
“All those misdeeds went undiscovered, and he was buried with the honors of a Duke. By that measure, I’d say I’m quite the filial son.”
To hear him confess that he had even taken the life of the one who made him!
The Grand Duchess’s teeth ground together of their own accord.
“You—you damned thing! How dare you—!”
“…….”
“May you be cursed, may heaven’s wrath fall upon you—”
“Repeating the same words over and over. It seems madness truly has taken hold.”
“You—!”
“For the record, feigning madness won’t spare you trial. Your servant and the Young Lady of Erenta have both agreed to testify.”
“…I know nothing of what that creature did! He never even told me he would summon a demon—!”
“Ignorance does not absolve you of guilt.”
Edward’s gaze remained fixed and cold upon the Grand Duchess.
The Grand Duchess, staring at him with eyes burning with hatred, cried out with veins straining in her neck.
“A different Experimental Subject should have survived.”
“…….”
“I should never have purchased you back then!”
At those words, Edward’s oldest memory stirred awake.
* * *
“A blond slave. Rare indeed.”
His first memory was the Iron Chain drawn tight about his neck.
The slave trader grinned wickedly and yanked the chain taut.
“Yes. And quite beautiful as well, I should say.”
“…….”
“He has spirit too, so he’d be excellent for special purposes.”
Edward blinked dully at the tug of the Iron Chain.
And he waited for the next question.
There was one question that those who came to buy him always asked—one Edward had waited for, again and again.
“What is your name?”
It was not long after, when another boy who had stood beside him was being sold away.
A customer had asked that boy his name.
When the slave trader answered that he had none, the customer smiled wickedly, as if bestowing a kindness.
“Then I shall give you one.”
From that day onward, a strange longing had coiled itself within Edward’s chest.
He knew not his parents, nor his name.
Whether they had sold him or lost him, he did not know.
So he yearned for someone to become his parent.
For someone to give him a name.
He knew it was too much to ask for, even for a slave, yet he wanted to be bound to this world by something, anything at all.
But the blonde woman with her face hidden dismissed the matter of names with a dismissive snort.
“Hmm, sturdy?”
“Yes. As you can see… even with Iron Chains fastened to his limbs like this, he occasionally breaks free from control.”
“A fierce one, then.”
There was something ominous in the tone of her approval.
But there was nothing Edward could do.
“Yes, but wouldn’t something fierce have its uses precisely because it’s fierce?”
The slave trader was sweating profusely when he let out a small sigh of relief, as if he’d finally closed the deal.
“Good. I’ll take this one.”
“Thank you! I’ll give you a special discount!”
“Yes. The sturdier and fiercer they are, the better I like them.”
And so the boy was chosen.
Loaded into the cargo hold of an elegant carriage, he arrived at a magnificent, sprawling castle.
Edward was amazed by the splendor of this place he’d never seen before.
“We finally found a wonderful master!”
“This is amazing!”
The other children who had been sold alongside him couldn’t hide their joy.
Even as they were dragged into what amounted to a prison-like nursery facility within that beautiful castle and locked away, hope and wonder drifted quietly among them.
“If we do well, they said they’ll even let us go outside!”
“Right. Compared to the dormitory I used to live in, this place is wonderful!”
A place where bread came punctually with each meal, every single day.
Yet what excited them most was neither the magnificent castle nor a piece of bread at every meal.
“Look, they don’t have names, which is inconvenient.”
“Just give them something. We could assign numbers.”
Men in white coats had entered the room one day to observe the children and shook their heads.
They grumbled among themselves.
“That’s too common. Besides, it looks too suspicious to outsiders. We’re going to call them Experimental Subject 111 in public? Are we advertising our experiments to everyone?”
“So what do we do?”
“Let’s see—there’s a Name Dictionary here. All right. You’re Adam. You’re Barbara. You’re Claire. You’re Derek….”
“Us, sir?”
“Yes.”
“Yay!”
The man casually flipped open the Name Dictionary he was holding and rattled off names as he pointed at each child.
Names.
Though they were names assigned haphazardly in alphabetical order….
“You’re Edward.”
Edward savored that name again and again.
The other children who had likewise received names clasped hands in happiness.
“We live in the same house and got names too. How wonderful.”
“It feels like we’ve become a family.”
Edward didn’t join in but stayed in the corner, though he harbored similar thoughts.
Here, it seemed, he might finally be happy.
Here, it seemed, he might never have to hurt again.
…Here, it seemed, he might never have to be afraid again.
“Now, Adam through Derek, follow along.”
“Yes!”
Until the excited children, thrilled by their new names, cheerfully followed the men away.
And until, days later, he too was seized and dragged away by those same men.
* * *
“Adam, you can’t do that.”
Scratch, scratch.
“Barbara, that’s not for eating.”
Scratch, scratch, scratch.
Each time the children failed to survive the experiments and disappeared, the men grew troubled.
And from a certain day onward, they procured large numbers of rats—as cheap and easy to obtain as the children themselves—and threw them into the facility alongside the living ones.
Replacement subjects to be used hastily when they lacked children to experiment on immediately.
Edward began giving the names of the disappeared children to the rats.
“Come here, Claire, Derek.”
The rats he pulled from the cages sometimes lacked an ear, sometimes had twisted joints.
Yet the moment he called their names, they would stare at him with innocent eyes and climb into his hand, sharing their warmth with him.
“Someday I’ll get out of here.”
Squeak, squeak.
“When that day comes, you’re all getting out with me.”
Edward whispered, staring down at the legs paralyzed by the experiment’s side effects.
I’ll walk again.
I’ll leave this place.
After turning that thought over and over for days on end, he truly did regain the ability to walk.
But not all the children endured as Edward had.
Several more vanished without a trace, as silent as falling snow.
Still, Edward held fast to his resolve.
I’ll get out.
I have to.
Better to escape and become a fugitive slave.
To fight off the pursuing soldiers and live as a wandering bandit.
“When that time comes, I’ll take all of you into my band of thieves as soldiers.”
Squeak, squeak.
The rats squeaked with joy as if they understood his words.
They huddled their bodies close and burrowed into his chest.
Edward cradled the tiny creatures and shared his warmth with them.
“Let’s leave together.”
Together, to somewhere warm and happy.
Each time he whispered these words, Edward felt alive.
* * *
“Curse this!”
Bang!
When the club came flying toward his back, Edward was staring down at the iron bars he had wrapped around himself.
Squeak, squeak.
Through the thin gaps of pale sunlight, a fragile cry threaded through, barely clinging to existence.
It was light that had crawled through a narrow window in the Secret Laboratory, not far from the Duke’s Castle.
It was the only time he could see sunlight since leaving the windowless darkness of the Nursery Room, yet Edward had never cherished these moments.
Today, less than ever.
“Hand over those rats right now!”
“If you don’t, we’re throwing you back in there again!”
The men pointed to the Bed bristling with Syringe Needles.
Still, Edward refused to yield, his voice ringing out.
“Do it! Run the experiment on me!”

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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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