I Thought I Was the Monster Duke's Fake Tranquilizer - Chapter 17
Lucy felt a shiver run through her, even as she inwardly offered her condolences to the temple, which was about to bear the full brunt of that chill.
‘Not that I’m sorry. Farewell…’
She couldn’t care less if the temple, the place that kidnapped children and used them as expendables, went to ruin.
“And you cooperated, knowing all of it too?”
But having that arrow fly back at her was unfair!
“I was nothing more than a test subject, used by force!”
“If you’d heard enough to know I found it dreadful, you must have been quite close to the temple, weren’t you?”
“I didn’t hear it from anyone directly. I felt it myself, Your Grace’s emotions!”
“What?”
It wasn’t a lie she had fabricated.
Whenever Sepina had her purification sessions with Edward, Lucy’s own body had reacted as well.
‘Only my hand reacted, though.’
And over that burning hand, a sensation as if being stabbed by an awl had often swept through.
A feeling closer to loathing and fury than affection.
‘It was probably something the duke was emanating.’
As she recalled the energy that could only be described as murderous intent, the nape of her neck grew damp.
“You felt it?”
At that question, the dampness turned to a chill as well.
…Now that she thought about it carefully.
‘So you’re saying you felt my emotions while I was receiving purification?’
It hadn’t been her intention, but…
‘Isn’t this practically the same as saying you spied on him while he was having an intimate moment?’
Wow. Even she thought she’d be disgusted.
Sweat trickled down between her shoulder blades. Her confident demeanor evaporated in an instant.
“That is…”
Edward was still looking down at her as if thoroughly entertained.
His eyes cold, only his mouth smiling.
“How far, exactly?”
“…”
“Did you feel all of it?”
Edward’s hand slowly swept up Lucy’s forearm.
As if measuring just how far she had trespassed.
“Eek!”
A hiccup escaped her before she could stop it.
The moment she sensed a threat to her life, Lucy squeezed her eyes shut and cried out.
“N-Not by much!”
“No?”
“Hoho, of course not. Aside from the fact that Your Grace is very skilled…”
Just how skilled must he have been for her hand to burn with such heat?
Her hand was the part of her body in direct contact with the chains that siphoned her holy power, so it was only natural that the intimate acts between Edward and Sepina were transmitted to her so vividly.
If that sensation had been wrapped around her entire body…
‘Ugh.’
Lucy was shaking her head, her face pale, whenā
“Ha.”
A low, clear laugh burst out.
Lucy looked up in bewilderment.
“Haha, hahaha!”
What?
The dragon incarnation was laughing.
And not the seductive or nasty smile he had worn all this time, but like a boy, purely amused.
‘What now?’
Anyone else would have felt their heart flutter at the sight.
…The problem was, to Lucy, it felt as though she had pressed a button on a ticking time bomb.
‘I’m terrified!’
While Lucy was undergoing an untimely horror experience, Edward stopped laughing and cocked his head crookedly.
“You really are quite impudent.”
At those words, her indignation flared up again, as if she hadn’t been afraid at all.
“No, that’sā I meanā”
“And yet, despite that, you wrote the contract with such restraint?”
“That’s what I’m saying!”
“Why not just increase the frequency and the contact?”
“…”
“Who knows. I might even agree to it.”
Edward was sincere.
To begin with, the most he had ever done with Sepina was hold her hand.
And all the while holding it, he had done nothing but imagine sinking his teeth into the back of that revolting hand, pretending to kiss it.
But what was this? Skilled?
‘I can’t tell if she knows or doesn’t.’
Her pseudo-clever act drew a hollow laugh from him.
It almost made him want to show her what real skill was.
‘If it’s with this woman.’
Because he didn’t think he’d feel disgusted kissing the back of her hand.
No, perhaps even her cheek would be fine.
Given that he inexplicably felt like biting that cheek, still imprinted with the ducal crest.
‘She’s fallen for me, after all.’
Surely she wouldn’t refuse that much.
But the words he had spoken with pure intent…
‘Is this a trap question?’
…were received entirely differently by Lucy.
It was thanks to her strong prejudiceāthe conviction that Edward, of all people, would never suggest increasing the frequency or contact of purifications with anyone other than the female lead, least of all herself.
‘Is he testing me?’
With the very real possibility that one wrong word could get her cut down, hiding what she knew seemed pointless.
Lucy revised the resolve she had made moments ago and launched into her spiel.
“Oh, I know you’re only saying that in jest.”
“Why?”
“Because increasing the number of purifications would be of no use to you anyway.”
“No use?”
“Yes. Because…”
Rustle.
It was just as Lucy was gathering her focus to continue.
Tepe and Gorgo, who had procured provisions, approached them soundlessly, as was their habit.
Unaware of their presence, Lucy declared boldly,
“Because you, Your Grace, are currently an incomplete incarnation.”
Shing.
“Kyaaah!”
In the next instant, a blade came flying at Lucy.
