The Devilish Duke Can't Sleep

Proofreader: somnium

“What kind of place is Terra Luave?”

“It is the land where the ancestors of the Luave family first set foot. It’s a perfect place for Luave. Quiet, beautiful and cool place. Same with Terra Santella. It’s just that family-like estate. It’s fascinating.”

“Is it the biggest estate?”

“Since it’s a territory attached to the Dukedom, it’s probably true.”

“I heard that the predecessor Duke and Duchess are staying here now.”

“That’s why I was given the title early. He had to go down to take care of my mother.”

Recalling the story of the Duchess, Lena asked worriedly,

“What if the Duchess doesn’t like me?”

In the portrait hung in the mansion, she looked quite beautiful and gentle, but a long sickbed life used to make people sensitive. In addition, she couldn’t help but pay attention to her because she was the author of the Duchess’ biography.

But Kahel firmly shook his head.

“It can’t be. There’s no reason for you to be hated, but in fact Mother…… Right now, she’s not in a state where she hates anyone.”

“Yes? What does that mean?”

But Kahel did not tell her about the status of the Duchess anymore. He just stared at the dry winter scenery outside the window with calm eyes. Then he suddenly remembered that Lena had lost her mother at a very young age.

“Did you say you lost your mother when you were ten?”

“Yes. It was February of the year I turned ten.”

“It must have been very difficult.”

“Fortunately, my mother passed away as if sleeping. If she had died in pain, it would have been too hard on me, but I was lucky. Mother to me…….”

Kahel clenched his teeth tightly. What kind of life would it be for a 10-years-old child to lose her mother and think, ‘I was lucky that she died painlessly.’ Until now, he felt that he had been too indifferent to the lives of common people. Just giving the country a lot of money did not improve the lives of commoners, but he was too easy on himself to become a Duke of this country.

“Have you not resented the people in power in this country?”

Kahel asked, in a self-harming mood. He wondered if the timid Lena would be frightened and wave her hand again, but Lena was unexpectedly pondering something, and she answered cautiously,

“To be honest, I never really thought about the Queen or the two Duchies. They are too far away for us as ordinary people. Baron Fidelia was the highest authority to us, and everyone trembled at Baron’s words rather than the laws of the country. However, it was not that I resented Baron Fidelia. I never lamented the fate of my being born with less means than the Baron.”

She didn’t say a single word to blame for Kahel, but he felt pain as if a sharp needle had stabbed his own sense of justice and pride. She has to endure the tyranny of the local nobles without making a sound, so does he have the right to speak up as the guardian of Logos? What the hell was he guarding?

“I’m sorry.”

“What? Ah, I’m, I’m not blaming Your Excellency……!”

“That you didn’t even think of resenting me…… That is my fault.”

Lena bit her lip, wondering if she should have said nothing. But, to be more honest, she thought the Queen was on the wrong side rather than the Duchy. While she was in Kerouac she didn’t even know what the Dukes were doing, but when she came to Ardennes she was startled to find out that the country would not be able to move without two Duchies.

But she still didn’t know what the Queen was doing.

It is said that for the two Duchies with tremendous power, the Queen is their object of loyalty, and it was impossible for Lena’s head to understand as to why the Queen was worthy of such loyalty. Lena has been in Ardennes for over half a year and she’s never heard of what the Queen did, and she honestly doubts that the Queen is more powerful than the two Duchies.

She chewed the thought that if someone had to change it would be the Queen, the thought that she wouldn’t be able to utter with her mouth. In addition, she felt that Kahel was great for reflecting on her insignificant stories. It’s too much for her to even think about protecting her own life, but Kahel showed mercy to her even while thinking about protecting this country and its people. She wondered if such a person should be a real king.

The carriage carrying those thoughts rode on a well-maintained road and headed for Terra Luave.

* * *

As soon as he heard the news that Kahel had followed Damien down to Terra Luave, Leonard went secretly to the Levanas estate. It was because he was concerned about Margella, who could not wake up even after giving her the blessing of healing. At the moment, Margella was the only warlock capable of summoning monsters, and if she was incapacitated, Leonard’s plans would be severely disrupted.

But overshadowing his worries, Margella was engrossed in her studies with an unconcerned face.

“Are you okay?”

“Ah, you are here, Your Excellency. Sorry. I must have been preoccupied with what I was trying to do a little bit too much when you came.”

“It’s okay. I was afraid you wouldn’t get up.”

“There are still many things I want to ask you, Your Excellency. I heard from the disciples that I lost my consciousness in the Mirror Room.”

“You don’t seem to remember at all. Where did your last memory go?”

“I remember standing in front of the mirror, but I can’t remember why.”

“What? You were looking for the woman next to Kahel, right?”

“A woman next to Duke Luave? Who is it?”

“That’s what you know better. You were the one who abducted the woman by manipulating the Sevcheks, and you were the one who saw her through the Sevcheks.”

“Did I?”

Leonard and Margella were both speechless at the same time. Neither of them knew what went wrong and where. It was Leonard who came to his senses first.

“You mean you don’t remember anything about her?”

“I don’t know what woman you’re talking about, and I have no memory of any woman associated with Duke Luave. From what Your Excellency is saying, it seems that only that part has completely disappeared from my memory.”

Leonard was startled, but Margella was intrigued. The selective erasure of memories was possible, and if only she could know how it happened, she wanted to make it a new research topic.

“So I went to see her through the mirror and then flew back here; with my consciousness lost.”

“Yes. And you never responded to my healing blessings.”

“It’s amazing…… amazing…….”

Mumbling to herself, engulfed in excitement, Margella circled around the place, hurriedly to the front of the bookshelf, looking for a book to pull out. Then she shuffled through the thick book, and she put her head down on a page and read it carefully.

“The source of power is the energy of nature, and the energy of nature is again made up of water, fire, metal, earth, and air. A person who freely mixes and transforms these five elements is called a wizard, a person who adds the energy of ‘Magic’ to this is called a Warlock, and a person who instead adds the energy of ‘Holy’ is called a priest. Basically, they are all the same. It is meaningless to decide which is the best: a wizard, a warlock, or a priest, since only God’s power can transcend the source of power.”

Margella giggled as if it was interesting to read that far, but Leonard couldn’t understand what Margella was doing.

“I hope you just lost your memory. It’s troubling if you lose your mind.”

“Your Excellency. Isn’t this a very interesting case? The greatest wizard in the world would be the head of the two Duchies. But the head’s magic didn’t work? Can’t you come up with a very interesting hypothesis?”

“I have no hobby playing a guessing game. Talk to the point.”

Margella spoke in a whisper as she turned her sparkling eyes toward Leonard.

“Isn’t it only the power of God that transcends the source of power?”

There, Leonard frowned.

“So, does the maid by Kahel’s side exercise God’s powers? No, what is God’s power in the first place? Isn’t it a concept that has no substance?”

“There is one in reality. Do we not always depend on God’s power to live? Especially the two Duchies.”

“What do you mean?”

“The power of the Queen! That is God’s power! Of course, in this day and age, it has become very weak.”

Leonard snorted. He thought that there would be no contradictory words such as ‘the power of the Queen’. What can that power that is close to omnipotence do now?

“Are you saying that the maid has the power of the Queen? Yes, maybe if Kahel has asked so, maybe the Queen did something to the maid at Kahel’s request. But do you think I won’t be able to defeat even the Queen’s Power? If it weren’t for the Luave family, the neck of that incompetent woman with only a crown on her head could have been broken long ago, yes. So don’t believe that the Queen’s powers have anything to do with this. Because I feel insulted.”

Leonard ridiculed and ignored Margella’s words, but Margella was not interested in his ridicule. From before, she had a great interest in the power of the Queen. The power allowed only to one person, the power that hasn’t even been studied because that one person is the Queen, the power that transcends magical powers, the power to be in contact with the gods…….

Margella vowed to investigate Leonard secretly, but her master was Leonard anyway, so she closed her book so as not to disturb him.

“Well, it would be something that could be confirmed if only the maid who was next to Duke Luave was captured. Do you want to put aside the matter of speculation for the moment and check the results of the research on the control of the monster army?”

Only then, Leonard’s forehead was smoothed out. The monster army was the most important part of the “revolution” currently being prepared by the Santella family. It was difficult to summon the monsters to this world, but what was even more difficult was that they did not have the intellectual ability to follow orders.

Once these dangerous beings were released, there was no way to stop them even if they attacked allies. So, the research that was absolutely necessary was a study on the manipulation of monsters, and Margella finally found a method after a long research.