The Lady Only Deals With the Real Ones - Chapter 134

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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*

A rumbling sound could be heard from above.

The flustered voice of the gravekeeper, an extremely low man’s voice, and a lively yet gentle woman’s voice.

Duie, who had been biting his lips while looking up at the ceiling, let out a sigh of relief as those voices grew distant.

“Haah…”

The place where he was located was an underground crypt.

However, what filled that crypt was not coffins and skulls.

『Book of Darkness』

『Forbidden Prophecy』

『Black Shadow: Covenant with the Abyss』

They were old grimoires.

Duie’s eyes, which had been looking around the grimoires while breathing heavily, suddenly darkened.

“Yes, I already… can’t turn back.”

He had come too far to return.

Duie looked down at his trembling hands.

When he took off and threw away his gloves, the revealed hands and arms were covered in wounds.

Those scars seemed to tell him.

“Don’t you want to live like a normal person, Duie?”

How many years had it been since he suffered from unknown pain that made his head feel like it would split, enough to keep him awake every night?

But tomorrow, he could end this pain.

Tomorrow!

“‘That Person’ promised…”

The man’s voice that whispered asking if he didn’t want to live like an ordinary person was like a dream.

The damp but enchanting proposal was not something Duie could dare refuse.

Duie looked around the cold and dim crypt.

Someone else might be frightened and horrified, but to Duie it was an utterly familiar and dulled scenery.

Because.

“The person who will occupy this place now is not me.”

This crypt, which had been sealed with a lock as large as a child’s torso, was the room and prison where he had been confined for several years.

The person who imprisoned Duie was none other than.

“…Father, it’s you. You who are now dead.”

It was the Late Delphia Duke.

“Haha, ha…”

Laughter spread through lungs that had been buried underground for a long time.

This was both a reversal and revenge.

Revenge that couldn’t be finished just by shoving his father’s corpse into the crypt where he had been.

Revenge that couldn’t be satisfied just by seeing the expression of his dying father who had to pass his title to the son he so despised!

So…

“I’m sorry.”

Duie recalled the face of Eloise Devin.

No, to be precise.

“But the unknown young lady will understand too. I can’t miss this opportunity, right…?”

He recalled someone who was masquerading as the duchy noble named Eloise Devin.

A conversation from a few days ago brushed past his ears.

“People will come from Moro Duchy. A very tall and fierce-looking man, and a gentle woman with a clear face.”

“Um, won’t you tell me exactly who they are?”

“They’ll come under false names anyway, so their identities don’t matter. They’re people who stand out in various ways, so you’ll recognize them immediately. On the day of the dedication ceremony, just do as I taught you.”

The green-eyed mage had smiled and added to the stiffened Duie.

“Oh, by the way… the target is the woman.”

“So that the young lady won’t suffer too long.”

Duie muttered with empty eyes.

“I’ll finish it in one go.”

*

“So, what exactly is a job that involves seeing many graves…?”

“Anyway, it worked out, didn’t it?”

Tesagh’s expression as he gulped down champagne was quite shameless.

We were now sitting in the main hall where the dedication ceremony was being held.

Fortunately, we weren’t kicked out for causing a disturbance at the graveyard last night.

‘Though I couldn’t examine it properly.’

Still, there was some gain.

“So, I heard there are rumors of ghosts appearing here? Is that true?”

When I acted like a flower garden saying it was for a date and courage test in a spooky place, the gravekeeper finally opened his mouth.

With a face that seemed fed up with the immature and hopeless noble young lady, the gravekeeper had explained.

“Well, it’s true that strange sounds were heard every night, but that’s an old story. It’s not like that these days.”

“When do you mean by the old days?”

“About a month ago… Anyway, please go inside. If others see, there’ll be trouble. There’s also the dedication ceremony tomorrow…”

Two things in the gravekeeper’s words were noteworthy.

‘A month ago… that roughly coincides with when Count Delphia died.’

And the dedication ceremony.

Does the dedication ceremony have anything to do with the graveyard?

A dedication ceremony is a ritual for dedicating sacred objects. Strictly speaking, it has nothing to do with graves.

Nevertheless, I was puzzled by the gravekeeper’s mention of it, so I asked the attendants and found the answer.

‘The Count’s coffin is still temporarily placed, and after the dedication ceremony ends, it will be formally placed in the family mausoleum.’

But since some clueless man and woman were near the graveyard, it’s remarkable we weren’t kicked out.

‘But there was no door leading to the crypt in the graveyard.’

Could there really be a secret door?

As I was thinking, I quietly spoke to Tesagh.

“The ghost commotion doesn’t seem like a coincidence.”

It wasn’t just a simple rumor or mistake.

Something had actually happened in that graveyard. For a long time, consistently.

Tesagh seemed to have had similar thoughts.

Nodding his head while listening to me, he said in a low voice.

“After returning to our lodging yesterday, I contacted them to see if there was any additional information. There wasn’t any useful information, but one thing.”

“Yeah, what is it?”

“During the period when Duie Delphia’s whereabouts were mysterious, there were no records of him entering or leaving the Count’s domain at all. The rumors about their bad relationship seem to be true.”

Tesagh probably meant there had been no communication between father and son, but suddenly I had a different thought.

“You mean there were absolutely no records of any exchanges?”

“He was probably half-estranged from the family.”

“…No, no. If he lived elsewhere, there should be records of him leaving. But if even those don’t exist, doesn’t that mean he never left the Count’s Domain in the first place?”

Tesagh’s brow furrowed sharply.

Count Duie, who was supposed to have disappeared, was actually within the Count’s Domain all along?

An inexplicable chill ran through me as I brushed my skin and looked around.

‘Where did Duie go?’

He should have been keeping his position long ago, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Then I heard the Butler’s voice.

“We thank all the distinguished guests who have joined us in this ceremony to offer glory to the World Tree.”

It was quite an emotional voice.

He must be a believer as well.

“Before beginning the dedication ceremony, I would like to introduce the distinguished guest who has traveled far to officiate this ritual.”

‘I think a bishop from a nearby diocese was supposed to come.’

I was recalling the information I had received beforehand when I turned my head.

“His Eminence Cardinal Crescenziano Diosa Pilgrim!”

Huh?

‘Why are you appearing here…?’

Cardinal Crescenziano was entering with several Priestesses.

He was wearing his usual hooded attire.

“We are grateful that His Eminence the Cardinal will not only bless the offerings, but will also bestow purification and blessings upon all the distinguished guests present!”

“Oh my, really?”

“A blessing from the Cardinal…”

Listening to the people’s excited chatter, I hurriedly asked Tesagh.

“W-wasn’t it originally supposed to be a bishop coming?”

“That’s what the information I received said.”

Tesagh’s expression had hardened.

‘So it was changed at the last minute?’

Half-dazed, I snapped back to my senses.

‘Right, since he’s wearing a hood anyway, he won’t recognize me.’

I just need to keep quiet until the dedication ceremony ends.

The purification and blessing thing is something I can just receive with my mouth shut.

Just as I was calming myself down.

“Then we shall begin the dedication ceremony.”

Taking advantage of the commotion in the hall, I saw Count Duie walking in and froze stiff.

‘…That person.’

Behind his back, light was faintly flickering.

Just like Ailren.

However, there was something slightly different from Ailren’s.

‘The light is pitch black!’

What was flowing behind his back wasn’t light, but darkness.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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