Tamed Monster - Chapter 102

The ducal couple looked more affectionate than ever as they crossed the front yard together, and the household staff couldn’t take their eyes off them. Even the head steward clutched his chest and murmured, “What a touching sight,” to himself.

But inside the manor, someone else was watching all of this unfold. Rossa, her eyes bloodshot and her lips savagely bitten, didn’t look away from her son.

Or from that vexing woman he was carrying in his arms, not for a single second.

Her son had come home alive. She was nearly delirious with joy. But that was beside the point.

There was a far more urgent problem she had to solve.

She had to get rid of that seductive little vixen her son was so obsessed with, the one he’d gone crazy over lately. Whether by murder or if that proved too difficult, by framing her, Rossa had resolved to make her disappear.

“A demon like that, crawling into my home… My poor boy, he doesn’t even realize what he’s married to.”

Of course, there was a demon involved—but she had no idea how thoroughly she’d gotten things confused. Consumed by twisted maternal love and possessiveness, Rossa directed all her resentment and anger toward Sylvia.

As her son and his wife entered the main house, Rossa stepped away from the window and hurried off to the staircase landing, forcing a smile in hopes of seeing her son’s face as soon as possible.

* * *

There was a mountain of problems to solve.

When the Emperor ordered the Duke to go on campaign, he hadn’t told anyone what the mission was, so both the palace and the Ducal household were scrambling to come up with plausible excuses for public consumption.

First of all, they had to explain to the nobility why Duke Alexander was suddenly being granted the title of Grand Duke.

In recent months, the Duke hadn’t achieved anything particularly praiseworthy—in fact, he’d made headlines mostly for his bizarre antics.

Even his former supporters among the nobility had started to distance themselves, sensing something was off with his mental state. Now, if the Emperor openly backed him, there was bound to be trouble and rumors for years to come.

After some thought, the Emperor decided to blame everything on his dead father. If he claimed it was the late Emperor’s dying wish, it would deflect any criticism. Having gifted Lancart with a new fief, a new title, and a reliable military force, the Emperor found himself grateful for his deceased father for the first time.

‘At least the old man was good for something—a perfect excuse.’

He even stopped by the palace chapel to look at his father’s portrait for good measure. He hadn’t gone of his own accord since his father’s funeral, but playing the filial son fit the narrative.

Back at the palace, the halls were full of maids and concubines he could summon to his bed at any moment. He enjoyed their lingering gazes, striding through the corridors in full regalia, every bit the dignified Emperor.

For a while, he let himself enjoy their attention—but soon his thoughts wandered.

Not long ago, the Emperor had impulsively expelled Rossa from the palace while the Duke was away on campaign. He doubted Lancart would be upset by it.

‘He must have found out by now… So why hasn’t he sent word?’

The Duke must be busy enough as it was.

The Emperor himself had just managed to appease the protesting nobles the day before, and only that day had he assigned soldiers and gifts to the new Grand Duke. Now, he was hoping to finally relax with some female company.

If he was already busy, what about the Duke?

‘He was the kind who would do anything for his mother and barely noticed his wife.’

Yet now, he was completely different. Rumor had it that there was never a quiet moment in the Duke’s castle for all the weeping coming from the Duchess. Night and day, he was supposedly busy bedding his wife, ignoring all of Rossa’s pleas.

“That woman is a monster! Why can’t you see that?”

The shock of being expelled from the palace had sent Rossa spiraling even further.

She’d become completely obsessed, convinced the Duchess wasn’t even human. The Emperor had laughed out loud when he heard it.

He, who took a certain pleasure in torturing and dissecting monsters, felt he could say with authority that the Duchess was as human as they come—fragile, naive, and foolish, the very picture of a helpless human girl. There was no way she could be a monster.

If anyone was the monster in that household… it was probably the Duke.