I Thought I Was the Monster Duke's Fake Tranquilizer - Chapter 18
Sizzle.
A whole wild boar, roasting over the fire, sent up a delicious aroma.
But only one person was tearing into that meat.
Munch, munch…
‘I feel like I’m going to get indigestion.’
Still, Lucy didn’t stop eating, all the while gauging the mood around her.
The two escorts and Edward had been exchanging glances among themselves for a while now.
‘I just hope it’s not a silent conversation about how they should dispose of me.’
“Kyaaah!”
Moments ago.
It wasn’t Edward’s blade that had flown at Lucy.
“Your Grace! Get away from that woman!”
The escorts, carrying their game like sacks over their shoulders, had leaped forward with swords drawn.
They gave off more of a bandit-like air than that of knights.
Of course, the swords had been sliced in two by a single, annoyed wave of Edward’s hand before they could even reach Lucy.
“She could be a spy from the temple!”
“She’s dangerous!”
Still, the two of them looked dead serious.
And they had every right to be.
The most crucial secret of the duchyāa secret known only to Edward and a few of his closest confidants.
The fact that Edward was an incomplete incarnation. Lucy had just blurted it out.
“Woman! Get away from His Grace this instā”
“No, enough.”
Just as she was wondering how to get out of this mess.
Edward, who seemed the most likely to erupt in fury, instead calmed the two of them.
Though with a face far colder than either of theirs.
“The interrogation can begin now, after all.”
‘It’s laughable and sad that his face actually felt more reassuring to me then…’
At least compared to the smirking facade that hid his true thoughts, it felt more real.
She might even say he finally seemed a little human.
After that, a campfire had been lit on Edward’s orders, and now meat was roastingājust like this.
‘But why am I the only one eating?’
It made her so self-conscious…
Still, Lucy ate diligently.
She was hungry, she needed to build up her strength, and food was precious.
And on top of that, the meat was delicious.
‘I should be careful not to eat so much I get a stomachache.’
Lucy was steadfastly munching away whenā
“How did you know?”
The slimmer and more slender of the two escorts spoke to her.
His name was Tepe.
“That His Grace is an in… an incom…”
“An incomplete incarnation?”
As she said it, his eyes blazed so fiercely that she wondered what exactly he wanted from her.
‘What is this, Voldeāmort or something?’
Still, Lucy answered readily.
“Don’t worry. The temple doesn’t know. I’m the only one who does.”
“…”
“It’s just… when His Grace and Lady Sepina had their purification sessions, I felt a few things too.”
“…What did you feel?”
“…Just, things.”
Lucy dodged vaguely and rolled her eyes.
Tepe’s brow furrowed sharply, but a peculiar smile had returned to Edward’s face.
“Through that alone, you could tell I’m incomplete?”
“…”
“Without even touching me directly.”
“That’s…”
“If you touch me directly, you’ll see right into my heart.”
At those words, Lucy straightened her back at once.
“Nothing of the sort! It’s just, I’m somewhat… sensitive to magic and holy power.”
“Sensitive?”
“Yes. Erm, when you were with Lady Sepina… there were times I thought your energy felt a little strange.”
“And that’s how you knew? That His Grace is incomplete?”
Tepe shot her a blatantly suspicious look.
“Indeed, indeed.”
Lucy answered deliberately glibly and swallowed her meat.
‘The truth is, I just know because I read the original story.’
To be precise, it was content from a side story narrated by someone close to Edward.
That Edward was, in truth, an incomplete incarnation.
That because of this, he secretly considered himself weak and lived with the fear that he might lose his mind at any moment.
That he longed for a mate who could make him whole, and so when the temple presented Sepina, claiming she was his mate, he had doubted her but ultimately let it pass.
‘It was a side story that seemed designed to defend the male lead for rolling around with a fake mate.’
Plenty of readers were still furious, insisting it was cheating on the female lead regardless, but Lucy wasn’t quite that harsh.
If anything, she had understood him, a little.
‘…Because I was the same.’
Because she had been incomplete and weak.
And so, she had thought that was why her sisters left her behind at the shelter.
‘I thought it was all my fault.’
And so, she had hoped that if she grew stronger, she could leave the shelter and reunite with her family.
…It hadn’t taken long for that hope to crumble.
‘But back then, I was desperate.’
