The Immortal Duke’s Physician Is an Internist - Chapter 16

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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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Each time the Duke flicked his finger, the Baron was driven through the ceiling and floor. Debris scattered in all directions.
Patricia, the Baroness, let out a scream.
“Darling!”
“Apologize right now. Say you’re sorry for raising an already worthless son to be even more worthless.”
“Ugh, gack—. P, please let me go—.”
“Have you still not come to your senses?”
Bang!!
This time the Baron’s body flew into the wall and crashed through it. A frame that had been hanging there fell to the floor with a tremendous noise.
“Servant, servant!! Someone call the servants, quickly!”
No matter how loudly she cried out, no one came running. The lady shrieked again.
“Duke Karlsedo! You’re being deceived. This wretched girl has been cunning since childhood, toying with all manner of men, kicking aside the betrothal her parents arranged—she’s a thoroughly wicked thing!”
Everlane’s blade moved faster than the Duke could respond. Before anyone could blink, he had pressed his sword to Patricia’s throat and turned to me. “Physician. What shall we do? Personally, I’d recommend cutting out her tongue rather than her Achilles tendon.”
“Physician. What shall we do? Personally, I’d recommend cutting out her tongue rather than her Achilles tendon.”
Everlane had been faithfully honoring my request to consult me before committing any such acts.
I shook my head.
“Don’t cut anything. She’s only lashing out in futility anyway.”
Everlane glared sharply at Patricia and sheathed his blade.
Patricia, who had been snarling like a creature possessed by evil spirits, trembled with fear.
Baron Dorset, still dangling from the ceiling, finally surrendered.
“Gack, gack, p-please—. Please, save me—.”
He gasped harshly, forcing an apology from his lips.
“Ugh—. Your Grace, ugh—. I, I was wrong—.”
“No, you weren’t.”
With a thud, the Baron dropped to the floor again. The Duke, watching him retch without expression, turned away.
“Apologize not to me, but to Lionel.”
The Baron sprawled flat on his face. Having tasted overwhelming force, nothing remained in him but terror.
“L-Lionel! I, I—. I’m s-sorry. I raised my son poorly and caused you trouble—.”
“Husband, why are you apologizing? It’s all that scheming girl’s fault!”
“Shut your mouth, Patricia! If you don’t want to die, bury your own head in the ground!”
The Baron silenced his wife with a loud shout.
He crawled on all fours, seized her by the hair, and drove her head into the floor. He paid no attention to her cries of pain.
“Lionel, I—I apologize this way! Please, please, I beg you—spare me, Your Grace!”
I looked down at the ruined couple.
Before I recovered my memories of my past life, those days of abuse at the Frencia estate stirred once more in my mind.
“Look at you, nasty and bitter just like your mother. The very sight of you sickens me. Lavienne, take her to the Count and collect the bride price, like we agreed. You said he’d pay a good sum.”
“Patricia, I truly wish I could. But she’s still far too young for that.”
“Then sell her to a slave trader or something. Adrian keeps whining about her. I can’t imagine what he sees in this filthy girl—.”
My chest tightened and my fists clenched of their own accord. I wanted to grind this couple beneath my heel then and there.
The Duke, watching me carefully, spoke. “Teacher. If you want to beat them, do so freely. If you want to kill them, I’ll help however I can.”
“Honestly, I’d like nothing more than to kill them right now. But I still have work to do.”
“Honestly, I’d like nothing more than to kill them right now. But I still have work to do.”
I lifted my eyes and found my next target. Adrian, sensing my gaze, flinched and retreated into the corner.
“Adrian. Now, at last, we can have a proper conversation.”
“L-Lionel. I, I—. That is—. That—.”
I slowly swept my gaze over Adrian from head to toe.
His appearance was pitiful.
Rapid fluid loss and muscle wasting had left his skin hanging slack. His eyes were sunken so deeply he looked like a man in his eighties. His hair fell out in patches, leaving bare scalp exposed in places.
Quite simply, everything that made up the human body besides raw flesh had withered away.
“Adrian. From now on, I’m going to ask you a very important question. Listen carefully and answer me.”
Everyone in the room turned their attention to me. I opened my mouth slowly.
“You—could you give me the strawberry on top of your strawberry cake?”
“A—a strawberry? That is—.”
Adrian’s face twisted with hesitation. I continued at once. “Next question. Could you give me just the caramel part from a pudding?”
“N-no, that—.”
“Could you pick out just the fruit from a fruit sandwich and give it to me? Of course not, right? Which is why you don’t make the cut. You won’t even give a girl a single strawberry—what sort of love confession is that? A stray dog would laugh.”
In reality it wasn’t a stray dog laughing, but a handsome Duke. Still, I pressed on with my accusations. “You’ve always been like this. Self-absorbed, deaf to what anyone says. And the moment things get difficult for me, you vanish. Just now, when your mother was cursing me out, you didn’t say a word.”
“Th-that is—. You know yourself. Mother frightens me a bit—.”
“Th-that is—. You know yourself. Mother frightens me a bit—.”
“Th-that is—. You know yourself. Mother frightens me a bit—.”
Adrian desperately tried to explain himself, but nothing he said reached me.
“When I was twelve and the adults caught you stripping off my clothes, what excuse did you give them? You said I seduced you. Why on earth would a seven-year-old girl seduce a perverted wretch like you?”
“That was… I was wrong…….”
“Don’t apologize. Is that just some cheap trick to ease your own conscience? Don’t you dare apologize, not even if it kills you.”
The insults I’d swallowed for so long came pouring out like a rapper spitting verses in a freestyle battle.
“I despise you because you’re thick-headed and filthy and warped from childhood and unsociable and a bastard with nowhere to belong and you thought a worthless piece of candy would make me roll over and you made me lick it like some kind of pathetic fool and underneath all that you’re full of violence toward anyone weaker and whenever things don’t go your way you hide behind your mother and father like a coward.”
Silence descended again. Somehow, despite spitting out that entire tirade without drawing a single breath, my own breathing remained calm.
“But out of consideration for you, I was generous enough to compress it down to ‘you’re ugly.’ So don’t you ever think about losing weight with some sketchy drug again. That’s my final advice to you as a doctor.”
Having said everything I needed to say, I spun around and spoke to the men.
“Let’s go.”
“Are you quite certain?”
I nodded to Kaylen.
“Yes. I can’t stand another moment in this godforsaken place.”
With that, I strode toward the door. Or tried to, anyway.
“Li-Lionel! Wait!”
Adrian thrust his hand up high. My Pocket Watch hung from his fingers.
“Don’t go…… Don’t you go! If you don’t…… I’ll throw this over there! I’ll burn your mother’s keepsake to ash!”
He pointed toward the fireplace, where flames roared and danced.
I stopped in my tracks. Then I turned and walked toward Adrian.
Adrian flinched and stumbled backward, falling over.
I looked down at him and spoke coldly.
“Throw it.”
“……What?”
“Do I still look like a seven-year-old cowering over a piece of candy to you? Wake up. No threat you could make will ever work on me again.”
“B-but this is… your mother’s keepsake…….”
“So what? You cowardly wretch stole something precious to me and now you’re trying to hold it over my head—what exactly do you expect me to do?”
Adrian’s face twisted.
He seemed to finally accept that nothing—not anything—could ever make me his again.
“A girl doesn’t stay young forever, Adrian. That girl has transformed into a powerful woman and…….”
I raised my fist.
“She’s coming to bash in your ugly face. Like this.”
Crack!
My fist came down with all my strength, and Adrian crashed to the floor. He lay there for a moment, then sprang up like a doll and cried out.
“Ah, it hurts…… It hurts! I won’t forgive you! Lionel…… I won’t forgive you!”
It was precisely then that the Pocket Watch flew from Adrian’s hand.
The Pocket Watch arced through the air faster than Everlane and Kaylen could dive.
The roaring flames swallowed it whole.
“Where are the tongs? If there are none, anything—anything!”
I watched Kaylen cry out urgently and try to snatch Everlane’s sword from him.
The glass shattered with a sharp crack. The Pocket Watch, glowing red-hot, began to melt in real time.
“Ah, ahahaha……. So this is what happens when you mock my efforts……. Serves you right, Lionel!!”
As I heard Adrian’s mockery, I clenched my eyes shut and endured.
It had been a precious keepsake.
I’d pretended to be strong, but letting it burn was a vow that nothing and no one would ever be allowed to control me again.
Yet watching the Pocket Watch disappear into the flames, my entire body trembled.
The only object through which I could remember my mother seemed to cry out in agony in that fire, and the pain was unbearable.
“Lionel Frencia.”
It was then that the Duke, who had remained silent the entire time, placed his hand on my shoulder.
“Your punch was quite spirited. Any regrets now?”
I answered with a bitter smile.
“No. I feel much better now.”
“Then I too must keep my promise.”
The Duke moved past me and walked toward the fireplace. Bright red flames cast delicate shadows across his face.
“Watch closely, Adrian Dorset.”
What happened next was something I, possessed as I was, could never have anticipated.
“This is my Retribution.”
In the midst of the crimson blaze, the Duke reached into the fire with his own hands and took hold of the Pocket Watch.

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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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