I Thought I Was the Monster Duke's Fake Tranquilizer - Chapter 19
Starving and hungry, she had still scrambled to run laps inside the cramped shelter to build her stamina. She had memorized every scrap of information about the monsters and practiced fighting them.
To become even a little stronger. To become a perfect person.
‘Edward must have endured Sepina for the same reason.’
With that same heart, Lucy could understand Edward’s deficiency, if only a little.
Of course, using that knowledge to her advantage was an entirely separate matter.
“In any case, I have no intention of telling anyone.”
“…”
“However, if you enter into a contract with me.”
This was the crucial part.
Lucy deliberately squared her shoulders.
“I believe I can resolve that problem for you.”
“…”
“Once you become a complete incarnation, you’ll be able to find your true mate as well. Ah! Of course, I’ll help with that too.”
A silence fell.
Tepe and Gorgo stared at Lucy with the eyes of someone watching a cultist in front of a train station.
‘I get it.’
Edward’s problem stemmed from the fact that he had been born incomplete, congenitally.
And of all people, a mere temple test subject was claiming she could resolve it.
‘It must sound like a scam.’
It was only natural they wouldn’t believe her, but she wasn’t making baseless claims.
‘There were a few hints in the side story.’
About the method to transform an incomplete incarnation into a complete one.
She had reread it countless times in the shelter, so she remembered those parts in considerable detail.
‘You just have to perform an ancient ritual that awakens the dragon’s magic power.’
Gathering the materials wouldn’t be easy, but with the duchy’s wealth and influence, it seemed possible.
“Don’t worry. I won’t throw myself at His Grace under the pretense of solving his problem.”
“…”
“I’m confident I can stay out of sight, and I’ll keep my distance except when we hold hands for purification once a week.”
“…”
“I’ll need time for research as well, to resolve His Grace’s issue…”
She knew she needed to gather materials and construct a ritual magic circle, but the exact sequence of the ritual had only been vaguely described.
‘I can look into how the ancient ritual was performed.’
Lucy was just organizing her thoughts when—
“Ha, I knew it.”
Tepe’s face crumpled.
“Research, she says. Clearly, she was spouting all this without having a definite answer herself.”
“…Think carefully, Your Grace.”
Gorgo, too, added quietly, just low enough that Lucy couldn’t hear.
“Did you not say you would make use of her and then discard her?”
Edward did not answer the two of them.
“So you’re saying you need a contract?”
He merely asked Lucy in return.
“Your Grace?”
Tepe and Gorgo whipped their heads around, a foreboding feeling washing over them.
“Yes! As I’ve already mentioned, verbal agreements are a bit…”
“Is a contract absolutely necessary?”
“Of course!”
Sensing a possibility in Edward’s response, Lucy nodded fervently.
“Then what if I’m not satisfied with the contents of the contract?”
“We can negotiate!”
“You’re willing to negotiate?”
“Naturally! Hoho! After all, Your Grace is the party with the upper hand!”
Lucy beamed, frantically scratching out the sections of the contract where she had designated herself as Party A and Edward as Party B.
She let her delight show through a radiant smile.
Watching that smile, Edward crookedly raised the corner of his mouth.
“Gasp.”
Tepe and Gorgo’s eyes flew wide open, as if they might pop out.
They knew all too well that this was a habit of Edward’s whenever he was about to indulge his whims.
What are you about to say!
“Your Grace, a moment.”
“We should discuss this further among ourselves…”
It was just as the two of them rose from their seats, their nerves on edge.
“All right, then. Let’s negotiate.”
“Oh my, of course!”
Lucy’s eyes folded into a smile, delighted.
It was a smile that seemed to say she was truly overjoyed to be entangled with him in any way at all.
‘She’s fallen for me that much, has she.’
Well, then.
She was no ordinary woman, but one who possessed the power of purification.
Even if he meant to discard her later, it wouldn’t hurt to treat her a little more generously now.
Edward gazed steadily at that smile and asked,
“Can the title of the document be changed as well?”
Lucy nodded.
“Ah… yes! What would you like to change it to?”
As long as the essence of it being a contract remained, she was more than willing to accommodate that much.
“For the title…”
It was just as Edward cocked his head.
Neigh!
The carriage horses suddenly stirred up a commotion.
The coachman, who had been sleeping at a distance, started awake and came running toward them.
“…Your Grace!”
The moment the group turned their heads in unison.
They saw it from afar.
Clatter, clatter.
Soldiers bearing the temple’s flag high, riding toward them on horseback.
