While Others Became Female Leads In Romantic Fantasy Novels, I Became A Closet Monster.

Chapter 06

There’s no way he could sense my presence…
Is it because he’s a Duke?
He’s really suspicious.
I wondered about it while cautiously touching the necklace.
Sure enough, the spell on it seemed to have disappeared, as there was no reaction when I touched it.

The Duke scanned the room while looking at Delani, who stood still as a statue.
“Or should I search the place myself and humiliate you?”
“…Bring it.”

In the end, the Duchess backed down.
“Wait, were there more keepsakes? How awful!”
I had thought there was only the necklace…!
I deliberately cursed loudly.

I made sure the Grand Duke, who seemed to notice my presence, could hear my grumbling.

 “The Duke is a problem, too! Doesn’t he know how much Didi misses his mother? And he’s only acting now…”

Even if he needed evidence to act, there were too many odd things about the Duke.
‘In the novel, too, the Duke was the most mysterious character.’

The way he was described in the story made him truly enigmatic.
It seemed like he loved Dedrick’s mother, Amelia, but he locked her in the tower and let her die in loneliness.
He also seemed to care for Dedrick but never took action himself.
In the original story, he was the most incomprehensible character. After passing on the family head position to the male lead, he disappeared from the story entirly, leaving all the mysteries unresolved.

This man… he’s so suspicious.
“What’s up with this guy?”
As I glared at him, his eyebrows rose slightly in displeasure.

“I brought it, Your Grace.”
Gemma handed a box to the aide, who then passed it to the Duke. The Duke placed the necklace on top of the box.
“You could’ve hidden it better.”
“…”
“If I hadn’t seen it, I would’ve ignored it like always.”
Does he really think that’s something to brag about?

“Mister, neglecting things is also a sin. You know that, right?”
I grumbled, and suddenly, his hand struck my forehead lightly before retreating.
It wasn’t painful, but I was so shocked I widened my eyes.

“What?! You can actually see me!”
He really could see me—that’s why he acted that way!
It wasn’t my imagination.

“Take it to Dedrick.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”

The Duke left the Duchess’s room without hesitation. I quickly followed him.
“Wait! Let me talk to you for a moment…!”

But he didn’t stop. In the end, I shouted,
“Why are you pretending not to know?”

Finally, his legs came to an abrupt stop. Seizing the moment, I ran toward him with all my might, and his gaze landed squarely on me.
“Shouldn’t you wait to see how happy he’ll be?”

With that meaningful statement, the Duke gestured, and in an instant, I was back in my wardrobe.

---

Again, it’s quiet…
I couldn’t concentrate on studying for days because I kept thinking about it.
As Dedrick clutched his head in frustration, the wardrobe door opened.

The girl hopped out as if nothing had happened and smiled brightly.
“Didi.”
“…”

“A gift from me will arrive soon.”

The girl kept saying inexplicable things.
In the end, Dedrick had no choice but to look at her.

“I saw it!”
She looked overjoyed, jumping up and down as if just being seen by him made her happy. Dedrick, feeling strangely embarrassed, averted his gaze.

 No one had ever been happy just to meet his eyes before.
No one had ever been so delighted…

People hated even looking at him because of his cursed fate. But this girl was different.
‘Why does she treat me like this? Is it just because the wardrobe is in my room? What’s the real reason she appeared before me?’

At that moment, a knock broke through Dedrick’s thoughts.
Knock knock.

“Young Master Dedrick, it’s Jenkinson. May I come in?”
“…Jenkinson?”

Jenkinson was the Duke’s faithful aide.
‘Why is he here…?’

He was as hard to see as Dedrick’s father.
When Dedrick didn’t open the door and simply stared, the girl nudged him.
“Go on, open it! Quickly!”
“…”

It was rare for the aide to visit directly, no matter the reason. Jenkinson hardly left the Duke’s side. Unless it was a serious matter, he didn’t move.

Still bewildered, Dedrick opened the door. Jenkinson smiled gently down at him.
“How have you been?”
“Well… thanks to you.”

Smiling faintly, Jenkinson gestured, and a servant who had been waiting behind him entered, placing a box on the table.

 “…?”

As Dedrick stared in confusion, Jenkinson explained briefly.
“His Grace asked me to deliver this to you.”
“…Father?”

His father, who hardly ever got involved… why now?
As Dedrick looked puzzled.

 Jenkinson looked at Dedrick with a hint of pity, but quickly erased the expression.

“Are you facing any difficulties?”
“Food! The meals are awful! Tell him, Didi!”
The girl yelled as if she had been waiting for this moment.

Hesitating, Dedrick opened his mouth cautiously.
“The food…”
But he couldn’t finish his sentence, only pressing his lips together.

Jenkinson nodded knowingly.
“I see. I’ll address it immediately. I apologize for the poor meals. Is there anything else?”
“It’s fine.”
“No, it’s not fine! Tell him about Somerset and Axel’s misdeeds, too!”

The girl shouted persistently, urging him to spill everything. Dedrick ignored her and approached the box.
‘There’s no evidence they’re bullying me anyway.’

Dedrick knew better than anyone that the Grand Duke wouldn’t act unless there was clear evidence.

Jenkinson looked at Dedrick, who kept his lips tightly shut, with a look of pity. But there was nothing he could do. His duty was to complete the Duke’s orders and leave.

“Then, I shall take my leave.”
After Jenkinson and the servant left, Dedrick brushed his hand over the box in front of him with a puzzled expression.

“Hurry and open it! I went through a lot of trouble to get this!”
The girl’s emotions were all over the place—Just moments ago, she was frustrated, but now her face was brimming with anticipation as she looked at him.

“You’ll definitely like it! I hope this helps you open your heart, too.”
“…”
“Oops, I let my inner thoughts slip.”
“Pfft.”
Dedrick couldn’t help but let out a small laugh at the girl’s playful antics.

Somehow, she had a way of putting him at ease. Everything she said seemed to be for his sake. Seeing her confidence made him curious about what might be inside the box.

Click.
Dedrick carefully opened the box.

Inside were items that looked familiar.
“These are…”

Dedrick’s pupils trembled.
“Mother…”
The box contained a necklace, a bracelet, and other items that his mother used to wear.

“Tada! These are your mother’s keepsakes. I retrieved them—uh, no, I obtained them through perfectly fair means. Though technically, Jenkinson delivered them, it was my idea in the first place.”

The girl looked at him expectantly, as if waiting for praise. Dedrick alternated his gaze between her and the keepsakes, biting his lower lip in silence.

The unexpected items made his nose sting, and tears threatened to fall.

He had thought he would never find them. Even if he did, he believed it would only be after he became an adult that he could retrieve them.

He had always felt powerless, and the Duchess was someone far beyond his ability to confront. She terrified him more than the Duke himself.

After all, she was the one who had mercilessly taken his mother’s life right in front of his eyes.

So, even though he missed his mother, he endured it.

His mother had told him to survive, but the Duchess didn’t want that, so he always held his breath.
Someday… he promised himself he would retrieve his mother’s belongings.

The unforeseen gift overwhelmed Dedrick with emotion.

‘I’ve been enduring so much without a trace of my mother…’

He couldn’t take his eyes off his mother’s belongings.

“With this, you can carry your mother’s keepsakes proudly, and no one will dare say a word about it,” the girl said, chatting endlessly by his side.

“No one will even dare touch them. After all, the Duke himself ordered them to be delivered!”

Yes, that must be true.
He would no longer lose sleep yearning for his mother’s keepsakes.

“If you hide them in the wardrobe, I’ll keep watch over them every day. No one will be able to steal them.”

He even had a monster who promised to protect the keepsakes for him.

Dedrick looked at the girl. Her golden eyes sparkled as if urging him to praise her, and they were dazzlingly bright.

Reaching out, he gently touched her slightly sunlit gray hair, stroking it softly as he took a step closer to her.

Now he understood why she had been hurt.

He realized his mother’s keepsakes were protected by an anti-theft spell.

Delani couldn’t touch the necklace herself but enjoyed watching Dedrick writhe in agony as he couldn’t bring himself to take it.

It was one of Delani’s cruel hobbies.

Of all the ways she tormented him, that was the most unbearable.

Even though his mother’s belongings were right in front of him, he couldn’t take them.

‘I had no choice but to be satisfied just looking at them…’

But now he could touch them without anything happening.

At last, Dedrick looked at the girl with reddened eyes.

She was the first person, aside from his mother, who had gone to such lengths for him.

“…Thank you.”
“You’re welcome!”

The girl smiled more beautifully than ever.