Chapter 135
Out of thin air, Duke Regent and her gaze met.
“Are you sure that’s what you want to know about your mother?”
Duke Regent asked, as if testing her.
She thought for a moment, then nodded with conviction.
“Of course I’m curious.”
If she was being honest, she was half inclined to want to know and half inclined not to.
It’s not that she wasn’t curious about her mom, but she didn’t want to delve too deeply into a well-covered story, and she was afraid that if she did, something would come out that she couldn’t handle.
And also…
‘Because I have a Mehen.’
If the word “mom” doesn’t simply refer to the person who gave birth to her, then the only person she wanted to call that was Mehen.
To ask for her biological mother on such a subject, would it be a betrayal of… Mehen?
The object of her attachment and unbounded affection was Mehen, and there was no one else in the world who could match it at the moment.
‘I’m sorry, Pession.’
She loves him, but she loves Mehen more!
At times like this, she wonders if she hasn’t grown up at all, if she is still as tied to the existence of ‘mom’ as she was in her previous life…
Part of her says, what the hell?
Since she was born like this, she was destined to love her mom as a child for the rest of her life.
And the biggest difference from her previous life.
She is not afraid that Mehen will abandon her after being away for so long.
She didn’t have the anxiety that she would be abandoned even if she didn’t see him for a while.
Isn’t that different enough?
‘That’s why I have to go back.’
Her resolve became even stronger.
She didn’t want to fulfill her purpose by picking at other people’s wounds.
With such a soft heart, she would forever be paralleled by this man.
It was time to face the uncomfortable truth.
“Are you even my dad in the first place? I never heard anything about my mom from him, and suddenly my aunt is my mom?”
Duke Regent’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“It’s strange that you don’t recognize her when you look so much like her.”
“You say I look like my mom?”
“Yes.”
A faint twinge of longing flashed through Nok’s otherwise cold eyes.
“… I’d think someone had cloned her.”
For the first time, Duke Regent, who had always seemed as rigid as an iron castle, seemed human.
“If you are not really my daughter, Archduke Halbern would have no reason to try so hard to hide your existence.”
It was no longer surprising to conclude that Archduke Halbern was actually her uncle.
But it was strange, wasn’t it? Knowing the truth didn’t change anything.
A dad is still a dad. Just like Mehen is her mom.
“Is that all? You’re not very convincing.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll do a paternity test soon.”
“…”
She momentarily speechless at the arrogant smile that says the test will tell her the truth, no matter what the conclusion.
“No, calm down. Get your head out of your ass. I can’t walk away like this.
“Send me back.”
“You already know my answer.”
“Why are you so obsessed with me?”
Clingy guys are unattractive!
Not expecting to be asked this question, Duke Regent slowly closed and opened his eyes.
And then the answer.
“Because it’s mine.”
She opens her mouth, dumbfounded by the cut-and-dried answer, and her empty eyes scan the room.
“Everything she left behind is mine.”
A chill ran down her spine and she bit back a shiver. Duke Regent, whose aura of danger was unlike anything she’d ever seen before, warned her.
“You’d better not try to sway me with Sione.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m rolling in the mud enough already.”
The emotion drained from his sunken eyes.
“Do you really want to see the bottom of me that badly?”
***
… Duke Regent said.
‘If you put it that way, why don’t you know the psychology of someone who wants to know more?’
So it was all Duke Regent’s fault.
A late night when everyone was asleep.
She woke up in bed with the maids and servants, who had let down their guard because she had been so docile (?) today.
“Sometimes pretending to be a mess helps.”
Sneaking out of the room through the opening, she glared in the direction of the Duchess’s chambers.
“If no one will tell me, I’ll figure it out.”
***
The Duke of Idikels was a great helper. Though even his brilliant tongue and extraordinary diplomacy couldn’t save her.
“It is an illusion that you can accomplish anything with words alone.”
Diplomacy is all about persuasion, compromise, and coercion, and unfortunately, Duke Regent doesn’t believe in those things.
Instead, he helped her in many ways. It was Duke Idikels who showed her the room where the Duchess Sione might be.
“I’ve never gotten anywhere near it because of the checks and balances, but you’re different.”
As it turns out, Duke Idikels was right. The Duchess’s chambers were heavily guarded, but her tiny body somehow managed to sneak in.
Read all about it here…
[Navigation ON]
[Destination reached].
It was also thanks to her newfound “ask me anything” skills.
“Thirty minutes cooldown.”
She’ll have plenty to rewrite on the way out.
Thanks to a little experiment she did in the meantime, she figured out a rough estimate of how long the cooldown is.
The less important the information, the shorter the cooldown, but she didn’t know what the criteria was.
And even when she asked for information she already knew, the cooldown was short.
‘So you’re right that this is the chamber of the Duchess Sione.’
Why is this so creepy?
The building that housed the Duchess’s room had an eerie atmosphere, as if it was haunted.
‘This is really rat poison.’
She frowned, but decided it was too late to find out.
She opened the door and entered the room.
“Whoa…”
She stood frozen in the doorway, speechless at the panoramic view of the room in front of her.
She was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of portraits of a single woman everywhere.
The video recorder constantly showed Sione in motion, and the objects, utensils, and clothes she might have used were displayed like a museum.
Even as she wandered around, she was creeped out by the madness of the room.
‘This is the kind of place you don’t want anyone to get near.’
Stories of Duke Regent’s madness and the Duchess’s insanity could be heard everywhere in this dank castle.
This room didn’t seem particularly sane to her before, but now that she is looking at it, it’s truly insane.
“If you’re going to be crazy, be nice.”
However, the rumors in the castle must have been true, because she didn’t see any sign of the Duchess Shione’s body or burned hands anywhere in this room.
In fact, the rumors that the Duchess is dead, insane, and locked up…
‘She’s always been invisible, but she hasn’t had a hair in six years?’
She swallowed the ominous feeling that she knew something and moved on.
She was in the deepest part of the Duchess’s chamber, which was as large as three ordinary rooms combined.
At the very center of the room, unlike the other objects, a dagger glowed ominously, like an offering on an altar.
It seemed to call to her, and she drew closer, mesmerized.
A clang.
“Don’t touch it.”
She was startled by a large hand grabbing her outstretched hand.
And the owner of that hand was Duke Regent.
Apparently, a person can’t make a sound when they’re too surprised.
A hiccup escaped that listened to her soundless outcry.
Hiccups.
She felt like she was going to lose her mind.
“Slow down. Breathe.”
To her surprise, Duke Regent waited until she calmed down.
“Why, why here?”
“Is it strange that I’m in my wife’s room?”
“That’s not… But…”
She shouldn’t have come if she knew she’d find him here!
Her heart was racing wildly. For the first time, she felt a sense of crisis.
No, why would she meet Duke Regent here?
Is she going to die? Is she really going to die?
