The Devilish Duke Can't Sleep

Proofreader: somnium

Kahel narrowed his eyes and looked at the weeping woman in the corner of the cell. Since the manifestation of his devilish power, it was the first time that an ‘ordinary person’ had not been in lust even with the curse of the devilish power that was released fully. Even the knights had a hard time if he took off Calia and completely released his power. However, the girl who is the daughter of a rural noble is sitting there with a sane mind.

He sat in front of the cell bars and looked more closely at the woman begging for her life at him. She, who had not yet taken off her girlish getup, was an ordinary noble girl with dark brown hair, purple eyes, and a moderately pretty appearance.

He couldn’t even remember the face of Viscount Horace’s daughter, who committed suicide out of love for him, but it seemed more ordinary than this young lady.

However, for a noble young lady, the appearance of begging for her life was so raw. Those educated to be nobles, at least pretending to defend their pride, were bound to fall down, but this woman was praying with her hands together, as the commoner ones would do.

In addition, she also began to hiccup as she cried so much and she was so terrified that she could have run out of breath without even Kahel having to use the sword.

“Elliot…….”

“Hiccup…… hiccup…….”

“Are…… you really the daughter of Baron Fidelia?”

At those words, the woman’s eyes suddenly fluttered. She then glanced at the dead Baron, where he had died, and then she looked back at him and swallowed.

“Hiccup…… huuu……In, in fact, only, only the Baron, hiccup, is my, father.”

Hearing the woman’s words barely slurred through the hiccups and sobs, Kahel immediately realized that she was the illegitimate daughter of the Baron. However, the report stated that Elliot Fidelia was born to the Barony couple.

“Are you an illegitimate child? It’s a little different from what I know. Surely, you’re not thinking about things in your head right now, are you?”

“N, no, no! I’m, not, not Miss…… Elliot. Huuukk…….”

“You’re not Elliot Fidelia? So, what’s your name?”

“It’s….it’s Lena.”

“Is it true that Baron Fidelia is your father?”

“Yes…… Yes, that’s right, that’s right…….”

However, considering that it was the illegitimate child, the dress Lena wore was quite luxurious. She really was like a young lady of a Baron.

“You’re an illegitimate child and you’re treated like a daughter, that’s surprising.”

“The, the truth is…… hiccup… … I worked as…… the maid…….”

“Is that so?”

Lena shook her head and begged again, thinking that the question was mixed in with anger.

“I, I, huhu, really, didn’t want to… … !”

Kahel smiled slightly as he watched Lena cry while saying things he couldn’t even understand. Then he put the sword into the scabbard, and put Calia, which had been taken off, around his neck again, and summoned the knights who would be waiting under the tower.

“Remove the corpses appropriately, and lock that woman in the attic inside the mansion. Never be rough with her.”

Gerard and the knights were surprised at the existence of a woman who was still alive, but they followed the master’s orders without question.

* * *

The attic of the huge mansion was so dignified that the name of an attic was regrettable. The sloping ceiling was the only hint that it was an attic, but the room was spotlessly clean, with a bed, table, chairs, and even furniture that looked like a decorative cabinet. However, because there were no curtains and the light of the sunset sky was leaking in, the room was dyed as red as the eyes of the man she saw earlier.

But even in such a nice room, Lena was so frozen that she couldn’t straighten her bent body. The grotesque scene she had seen in the tower earlier came to mind, and her whole body trembled even though it was summer.

Lena couldn’t believe what had happened to her. No, she found it strange that in the first place, she herself had to marry an aristocrat. What Sid said ominously about the future, she didn’t expect an overshadowing of a future like this.

A small world that Lena knew was about to fall apart as armed knights suddenly stormed the Baron’s mansion.

Lena, who was caught trying to escape before, was locked up in her room on the far end of the second floor. So she didn’t know what was going on outside at first, but she knew for sure that it was Mrs. Marvin who gave away her presence. The smile that Mrs. Marvin showed as she watched Lena being dragged out of the room gave her goosebumps.

Besides, the Baroness also called Lena Elliot in front of the knights. Her daughter, Elliot, was nowhere to be seen. It was so frantic at the moment that Lena had no idea what had happened, but only when she was detained in the carriage did she realize that the Baroness had hidden Elliot.

The Baroness had said that Lena should replace Elliot in the marriage and when she was dragged away, she was told to act as the daughter of the Baron instead of Elliot. The malevolence and selfishness of the Barony couple seemed suffocating.

But Lena couldn’t claim that she wasn’t Elliot. She didn’t know what was going on, and the Baroness was by Lena’s side with sharp eyes.

She had never dreamed that she would be riding a carriage in such a bewildered state. She knew that the first carriage she would ride was at least a flower carriage that had come to pick up the bride, but the carriage the knights rode in was all black and locked from outside the door.

When she was thrown into the black carriage and heard the carriage door locked from the outside, Lena knew intuitively. There must be something truly terrifying waiting when this carriage reached its destination. It wasn’t because Lena had a lot of knowledge or knew how the world worked. It’s just because she felt the same way when she was dragged out to be scolded; no, she felt the same way, but much worse.

But Lena instinctively panicked and began to tremble, and the Baroness didn’t even sympathize with her for even a fingernail. She grabbed Lena’s hair and threatened with a growling voice.

“We’re going to come back without a hitch. Barony Fidelia comes from a venerable family, so we will be released soon. So until you return, you must be Elliot Fidelia. If you say anything, then even if you’ll be married to Viscount Delroins, and whatever, I won’t let you and the stable keepers alone.”

Then she said not to spoil the name of Fidelia.

However, contrary to what the Baroness said that it would be okay, the Barony couple died. Even she, who seemed to know nothing, didn’t expect this to happen. Does Elliot know that her parents are dead? Rather, Elliot, where the hell is she?

No, actually, this wasn’t the time for her to worry about Elliot’s situation. She doesn’t know why that man left her alive, but there was no way that she would be safe in the future. But Lena wanted to live. She wanted to live, enjoy the world outside of Kerouac to the fullest, and find meaning in her life. It was very sad to die like this.

Lena buried her face in her lap and closed her eyes. But this time, there was no glimmer of hope anywhere.

* * *

Kahel had such an ordinary evening that he couldn’t believe that he had slashed two people in the neck. He heard once more the full report of what had happened today from Gerard and sent him back. Then he ate dinner and bathed himself, and then he sat in his study and read a book.

Then, around 9 o’clock, the butler Arder brought the news that Viscount Delroins, had committed suicide. The method of suicide was jumping. He thought that it must have hurt so much as the head hit the stone ground.

Normally, the heaviest head would face downwards, but the chubby, chunky belly might have hit the ground first.

“Any other news?”

“The last news was that the verdict and the amount of compensation could be slightly different because Viscount Delroins committed suicide.”

The 2 million luans was not what Viscount Delroins was aiming for. Although he was married twice, he had no children, and the Delroins family was still the vassal of the Duchy of Luave.

Although it is impossible to intercept Viscount Delroins’ entire fortune, the designation of the next head of family was something the Duke’s hand could work on as much as possible, so the new Viscount Delroins will become a loyal servant of the Luae family.

“Do you have any other specific instructions?”

“Did you bring food to the woman locked up in the attic?”

“Yes. But she hasn’t touched anything.”

“Why? Did you give something unpleasant?”

“No. I gave exactly the same as the maids’ meals. Rather than a matter of appetite, it seems that she has not yet recovered from the shock. Probably because her parents just died right before her eyes.”

“Hmm…….”

Others did not yet know that Lena was Baron Fidelia’s illegitimate daughter. Reports clearly stated that the Baron and his wife had a daughter. The knights thought there was only one daughter in the Baron’s family register, so they brought her without any doubt, so it wasn’t the knights’ fault.

In this case, he could think of two things.

One, they swapped their real daughter with the illegitimate child named Lena.

‘If that’s the case, then they used their head well in the meantime.’

He didn’t really care for the real daughter that he missed anyway. The life of a Baron’s lady, who was stripped of the title and lost her parents, would have been difficult without even having to know much.

It was the alternative assumptions that mattered. Perhaps this woman is neither the illegitimate daughter of Fidelia nor anything else, that she is a spy planted by the Santella.

The reason she doesn’t respond to his devilish power may be because she is the illegitimate child of the Duke of Santella. If that’s the case, he couldn’t help but say that that one also used their head well.

‘A maid unaffected by my devilish power, it’s a bait I’ll never say no to.’

Even though he became a Duke, it could not be ignored about his situation where he could not have a personal servant.

Kahel pounded his long, hard fingers on the top of the desk, immersed in thoughts, then he gave a slow command to Arder.

“Bring her.”

Lena was taken by the knight of the mansion to the Duke’s study, she was nervous enough that her body hardened till her muscles hurt. It was not strange to pass out right now because of the difficult carriage trip for several days, the mental shock that occurred today, and the nutritional state of not being able to drink even a sip of water all day. She wanted to faint, but her mind was rather clear.

“Your Excellency. I have brought Baron Fidelia’s daughter with me.”

After a brief report, the knight shuffled his feet and gently pushed Lena, who had been holding back, into the room. Then he immediately closed the door to the study.