Marriage With A Suspiciously Demure Husband - Chapter 120

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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 120

Hazel’s eyes flicked between Dylan and Kailas at the question.
“Ah… just the two of you? Only the two of you?”
She clearly hadn’t considered this part at all.
Kailas, reading the worry in her gaze, wrapped an arm around Hazel’s waist.
“I need to have a word with your friend for a moment.”
Even as he spoke in that tender tone and brushed a light kiss to her forehead, Kailas’s gaze remained fixed on Dylan.
A silent message: don’t upset her.
Dylan felt an inexplicable weight in that brief stare alone.
He understood immediately that Kailas meant him not as Banker, but as friend.
“Of course—men should speak among themselves. We’ve talked plenty with the Duchess already, so I’d like to speak with you this time, sir.”
No matter how casually Hazel had told him to act, he couldn’t afford such ease in Kailas’s presence.
Kailas nodded at Dylan’s respectful yet easy words.
The worry melted from Hazel’s face at once.
“Then I’ll get some work done. Though it’d be nice if you two became closer.”
Relief mixed with a touch of hope.
Kailas chuckled softly and kissed her forehead once more.
“I’ll do as you say. Don’t overwork yourself.”
“I won’t. Dylan, I’ve told the attendants where your room is—let them know if you need anything.”
“Yes, Duchess.”
Dylan answered with a light smile.
The moment Hazel turned and left, the atmosphere dried up completely.
“This way.”

* * *

They moved to Kailas’s study.
If Hazel’s study had been intimate, Kailas’s was the Duke’s Castle itself—austere and vast.
They sat across from each other on a sofa, ostensibly at ease, yet something felt strained and strange.
No matter how hard Dylan tried to relax, his posture remained rigid.
“She said you’re the friend she feels closest to among her colleagues.”
Kailas broke the heavy silence first.
His fingers absently toyed with what appeared to be a wedding ring, his eyes not on Dylan.
“Yes. The Duchess and I graduated from the Academy together and entered the Knight Order at the same time. We happen to have quite a few peers in the 1st Order.”
Dylan offered a loose smile, rubbing the back of his neck.
“I know.”
Dylan watched him carefully.
Only Hazel could lighten this oppressive mood, it seemed.
They were about to discuss a topic that could only grow more serious, and he sensed they’d need to ease the tension somehow to see it through.
“Ah, perhaps you’re curious about what the Duchess was like back then?”
He reasoned it made sense—Kailas couldn’t know that version of Hazel.
It seemed a decent approach, but Kailas shut it down the instant Dylan opened his mouth.
“No, don’t.”
“…You’re not curious?”
“I’d rather not hear it from someone else’s lips. The woman she is now is enough for me.”
Dylan had nothing to say against such a preemptive wall.
Was it just his imagination?
Why did it feel like Kailas was telling him not to speak familiarly about Hazel?
“Ah, I see.”
Dylan laughed awkwardly.
There was no penetrating the Duke’s steadfast barrier through ordinary conversation, so he decided to abandon the attempt.
It was time to turn to the real matter.
“Then perhaps it’s best I get straight to the point, sir.”
“A sound choice.”
Dylan drew out the envelope he’d tried to produce several times since arriving at the Duke’s Castle but hadn’t managed until now—pulling it from inside his jacket.
Then he unfolded the half-creased envelope and extended it toward Kailas.
After much deliberation, he had selected only the most critical information to bring with him.
“Please examine this first, Duke Kailas.”
The tension that rose as he withdrew the documents was impossible to suppress.
The documents Dylan had produced could become a family scandal.
Worse, they contained a detailed record of Hazel’s movements and activities—information that was damning precisely because she was the current Duchess.
Safe ground for conversation only existed when Hazel was present.
Frankly, Dylan had half-expected Kailas to draw a blade and end this right there.
Kailas accepted the envelope in silence.
The moment he opened it, his eyes fixed on the first line of text.
As he read through the rest, his gaze betrayed not the slightest tremor of emotion.
……
“Regarding the incident that occurred two days ago involving the Duchess—I have heard of it. It was clearly an error on our part, and we accept full responsibility. The moment word reaches our superiors, we will not evade but will discharge that responsibility completely.”
Kailas set the documents down.
He spoke as if answering Dylan’s statement in kind.
“There appears to be nothing amiss with these documents.”
Dylan’s eyes widened.
“Your Grace, what do you mean—”
“The documents you’ve brought contain no problems. You have answered in good faith, so I shall do the same.”
……
That statement meant one thing: the previous Duke and Duchess had indeed been Worshippers until their deaths.
High-ranking ones at that.
Having the confirmation from the current Duke himself, Dylan felt a chill run through him.
“Yet regrettably, there is no one left to hold accountable for this.”
The deaths of the previous Duke and Duchess had always been shrouded in mystery.
Though Dylan had investigated exhaustively in the brief time available, he had found nothing.
Watching Kailas’s reaction now, Dylan felt certain he had just confirmed the cause of their deaths.
“I share that sentiment, but the blade could turn toward Your Grace at any moment.”
“That is the nature of the Imperial Palace.”
Kailas let out a short, bitter laugh.
It was unmistakable contempt directed at the Imperial throne itself.
“Well. For now, I too serve as a Knight of the Imperial Palace. So I take the liberty of asking.”
“Go ahead.”
“Can you tell me anything about the death of the previous Duke?”
It was a question posed to confirm an answer already given.
Kailas did not answer.
“Then I must presume to ask once more.”
……
“Did Your Grace have a hand in the previous Duke’s death?”
Under normal circumstances, it was a dangerous question—one that would get him expelled at best, a blade through the throat at worst, and he would have no grounds to object.
Yet Dylan asked it anyway, having steeled himself for the consequences.
He needed confirmation.
He had come here to help his friend.
Kailas regarded Dylan with a steady gaze.
Then his firmly closed mouth opened.
“Without evidence, what meaning would my answer hold for you?”
At those words, Dylan quietly reached into his jacket once more.
And withdrew another document.
“At least I must confirm it. If Your Grace is to be truly innocent, then I have something to prevent, do I not?”
Dylan placed the document on the table and slid it toward Kailas.
Upon examining this second document, Kailas stared far longer than before.
A slight furrow appeared between his brows, but there was no profound shock.
……
Compared to the sleepless nights Dylan had endured after discovering this document, Kailas’s reaction was oddly restrained.
“Do you understand now? I am telling you that the convergence of Monsters in the Northern Region is no accident. They are hunting both you and the Duchess.”
What Dylan had learned from the documents he’d found in the Worshippers’ hideout was far more than the simple fact that the previous Duke and Duchess had been members of their cult.
The Followers and Worshippers had taken countless lives as Sacrifices, drawing forth the Power of Darkness through ritual murder.
Thousands of human sacrifices.
Perhaps even more than that.
Yet even through all those offerings, they had been unable to summon the entity they called Darkness—or sometimes the Demon King—to this world.
After countless failures, they discovered they needed two Vessels to achieve their ultimate goal.
Those who could readily accept the Power of Darkness—a being that became a vessel, possessing the strongest Dark Magic Power.
A body itself for the King’s descent.
And a special existence that would serve as a catalyst, enabling the King’s descent by fully containing all the Power of Darkness within that prepared vessel.
The only body capable of enduring any Power of Darkness without being torn asunder.
Those pointed to Hazel Love and Kailas respectively.
Dylan accepted the former—that it was Hazel—far more readily than he’d expected.
One of the Empire’s finest Black Magic practitioners.
Moreover, she wielded Illusion Magic with deft skill, and had studied various other branches of magic to considerable depth.
By ability alone, Hazel was something of a monster.
Even by Dylan’s reckoning, she was a talent they would covet.
It was Kailas who gave him pause.
That he was the catalyst, that he alone possessed a body capable of enduring any Power of Darkness without being torn apart—none of it made sense.
A being who seemed to have been prepared far longer than Hazel ever was.
How much did Duke Kailas actually know?
What kind of life had he lived?
Dylan suppressed the flood of questions and spoke evenly.
“The moment these documents leave my hands and pass to you, both of you will be summoned to the Imperial Palace.”
The Imperial Palace would never leave two beings unattended—especially two who posed a greater threat than anything else.
Yet Dylan had no way to avoid handing over these documents either.
So now.
He could only tell Kailas to buy time and come up with a solution.
Kailas’s expression twisted slightly.
A short laugh escaped between his teeth.

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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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