Duke of the Beast and the Vicarious Bride - Chapter 50

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※ This work contains depictions of coercive relationships, explicit language, and other graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.

After that, there was no progress whatsoever. The imperial forces began using the beast for monster subjugation. Even a full battalion of knights and soldiers could not match the number of monsters the beast dispatched alone, so after it joined the subjugation force, the pace of northern conquest accelerated beyond recognition.

Thus the beast became a slaughtering machine, established as something akin to a battle slave for the imperial army. The Emperor, still unable to abandon hope for the beast’s awakening, continued his experiments. Having witnessed this entire process, Jayden could not discern what his sovereign truly wanted.

In truth, from the moment Jayden first saw the beast, he felt an instinctive revulsion.

Vacant eyes that held nothing, like those of a living yet dead animal. Docile compliance when led, yet on the other hand, the overwhelming strength to tear monsters apart with bare hands, a body that regenerated instantly even when its belly was torn open, stamina unaffected by lack of food or sleep—all of this was deeply unsettling.

In every sense, the beast was not human. Jayden suspected it was a monster wearing human form. Yet the Emperor still would not relinquish his obsession with it.

As the beast approached five years in its beastly state, the Emperor grew increasingly impatient.

‘If we cannot awaken it, we must secure its lineage.’

When even prolonged waiting showed no sign of the beast’s mind returning, the Emperor began making such arguments.

His scheme was to somehow have it produce offspring, select a suitable one, and raise it according to his preferences.

Though the Grand Duke was in a state near beastly, a woman was needed to place in the position of Grand Duchess. Initially, the plan was to select several daughters from noble houses of moderate standing and send them north.

But the Emperor had overlooked one thing: there existed no noble daughter bold and courageous enough to live with a husband scarcely different from a beast in the cold, distant north.

After repeated chaos, the Emperor finally raised the white flag in exasperation. Thereafter, his retainers selected common girls of considerable audacity and sent them north, but all attempts ended in failure.

With no solutions in sight, the repercussions of failure eventually reached the Troyes County family.

Does not the Commander-in-Chief have a younger sister? Would matters not improve if her own brother personally brought her and facilitated the marriage?

Under this subtle pressure, both Jayden and the Count of Troyes found themselves in an extremely difficult position. Naturally, the Count had no intention of offering his own daughter Joséphine. Thus arose the idea of Fiona.

‘Instead of Joséphine, we shall send that girl Fiona north.’

When the Count first proposed this plan, Jayden nearly opposed it, forgetting his own position.

If asked for a reason, he had no clear excuse. It was a vague and ambiguous discomfort, but Jayden found the notion of making Fiona a proxy bride distinctly unappealing.

Yet defying an imperial command was impossible for a mere noble son. Especially for a knight who had sworn loyalty to the Emperor.

Thus Jayden brought his half-sister north as commanded, but throughout the process, his mood was far from pleasant.

The events following their arrival at the old castle were likewise nothing but maddeningly irksome and disagreeable.

To Jayden, Fiona’s existence had always been thus. It was a kind of inertia that had begun from the moment the Count of Troyes first showed her to him.

The Count—his father, though they shared no blood—would occasionally make a point of showing him Fiona’s life.

‘That is the life of a bastard cast out from this family, Jayden. Do you wish to become like that?’

Whenever Jayden caused trouble or disobeyed, the Count would threaten him with that question. And young as he was, he submitted.

Though the Count kept silent and the world did not know, Jayden was in truth not his biological son. He learned the truth around age ten, when the Count himself informed him.

‘You are the child your mother bore from infidelity.’

Jayden, who had always wondered at the lack of affection from the man he called father, finally understood the reason. For a child, it was no small shock.

Moreover, the Count used this fact to thoroughly discipline Jayden.