I Thought I Was the Monster Duke's Fake Tranquilizer - Chapter 12
“That much is true.”
Ugh. Tepe let out a groan and stole a glance at Edward.
In truth, the House of Thesseron was not entirely ignorant of the temple’s schemes either.
If anything, the temple’s increasingly blatant push for Sepina had aroused their suspicions, and they had been conducting their own investigation.
Edward’s observation that Sepina’s holy power fluctuated erratically had only added fuel to those doubts.
“Recently, the temple has frequently referred to Lady Sepina in definitive terms, as ‘His Grace’s,’ as ‘His Grace’s possession.'”
“…All while insisting that Lady Sepina, whom even the duchy has yet to identify as such, will become his mate.”
Tepe picked up Gorgo’s words with a grim expression.
To begin with, a dragon incarnation’s mate was not something anyone could predict with certainty.
If it were, there would have been no incarnations who died young, unable to find their mates.
‘And yet they were excessively confident. That’s what made it suspicious.’
And so, after conducting their own investigation…
The duchy had deduced that the temple was running some kind of experiment.
“Looking back on it now… it was likely an experiment to bolster Lady Sepina with a power similar to that of a mate.”
They had gotten close to the truth.
Lucy was, indeed, a being meant to supplement Sepina’s power.
Gorgo continued calmly.
“And if the temple even spoke of Lady Sepina, whom they hold so dear, as belonging to His Grace…”
“…”
“Then the other test subjects go without saying.”
If Edward were to press the temple on their experiments, they would undoubtedly respond with shameless audacity.
‘They’d spin it as having done it all for His Grace’s sake.’
And further, they would have spouted that even the test subjects, like Sepina, belonged to the duke.
Tepe could bet a half-eaten roast pig on it.
‘And His Grace would have taken it one step further.’
If the temple dared to say such a thing, Edward was the type of man who would boldly retort, “Mine? Then I’ll take them,” and seize them without hesitation.
…Which meant that this time too, he had decided “temple test subject = mine” and brought her here!
Only now grasping the situation, Tepe let out a sigh.
Gorgo had traced the process in reverse to arrive at the conclusion that the woman was a temple test subject.
“…And above all, the decisive factor.”
Gorgo shifted his gaze to the woman’s wrist.
Tepe, following his eyes, flinched.
There, round wounds as if blood had been drawn, and marks from chains.
And on top of that, her arm was riddled with injection marks.
“Those marks are…”
“Traces of experimentation.”
It was Edward who answered in Gorgo’s place, his tone flippant. He peered down at the woman cradled in his arms.
‘A ridiculous woman.’
When she had spoken to him earlier, her words had been brazen and brimming with confidence…
‘But she couldn’t control her expression.’
For all her slick, oily talk, she couldn’t hide the desperate look on her face.
Despite the fear that flickered in her eyes whenever she looked at him, they had sparkled wildly, as if she had found a lifeline.
The feeble strength with which she had clung to his arm and shoulder, as if something terrible would happen if she let go.
That desperation, it had rather pleased him.
It was the sort of remark that would make anyone else cry out in horror at his awful personality.
Edward did not deny that his personality was, in fact, awful.
On top of that, he had always found that those with a sense of lack, of desperation, were far easier to handle.
And so, this woman would not be difficult to manage either.
She owed him her life, after all. She wouldn’t dare run off or try to slip away.
Edward removed his glove.
Then he twisted the sleeping woman’s hair around the tips of his bare fingers.
Just from touching her hair, the foul energy of the taint subsided, and his mind grew calm.
More than that, the purifying force felt somehow familiar.
Given this reaction… it was entirely possible that the woman before him was the very source of the purifications he had been receiving through Sepina all this time.
Having pieced together a plausible theory, Edward smiled with satisfaction.
“A test subject capable of purification. This works out rather well.”
He had been growing displeased with the temple’s creeping attempts to overstep.
The temple and the dragon incarnation were, strictly speaking, in a symbiotic relationship. But they had long been locked in a subtle tug-of-war over who would hold the upper hand.
Sepina, too, was constantly trying to cross the line.
Edward was not so dull as to miss the desire glinting in her eyes.
Perhaps the reason her purifications always felt so repulsive was because of the clinging, sticky emotions Sepina could never quite hide.
‘But as long as I have this woman.’
There would be no need to endure such things or fret over rampages.
