The Monster Duke Mistook Me for His Wife Chapter 108

Therze gave Dillian a firm push on the back.

The fact that he had come to the bedroom himself to give a reminder showed just how important today’s task was.

After all, Dillian had to go greet the Crown Prince.

Normally, he would never bother with such a troublesome task, but since he was the one who suggested summoning the Crown Prince in the first place, he had to take responsibility.

At the same time, this was an opportunity to publicly show that Sinaize supported the Crown Prince.

“Ria, I’ll return as soon as possible.”

And so, with Dillian gone, I found myself sitting across from Therze, arranging flowers.

As I carefully trimmed the thorns from a rose, I couldn’t ignore the sharp gaze piercing through me any longer.

“Grandfather, is there something you’d like to say?”

“Hmph. Nothing of the sort.”

Nothing, my foot. You’re staring like you’re trying to burn a hole in my face.

Even Nathan, who had been quietly sitting beside me, looked uncomfortable under the weight of Therze’s gaze.

He kept sneaking glances at me, pretending to look away whenever I met his eyes.

What kind of combination is this?

A grandfather with thick, muscular arms carefully holding delicate flowers, nervously watching me?

For a moment, I was at a loss for words at the bizarre sight.

Then, deciding to just get it over with, I set the stage.

“Just ask me freely.”

As if he’d been waiting for permission, he immediately spoke.

“What exactly is your relationship with the Third Prince?”

Ha, I knew it.

It was the most predictable question in the world.

“We have no relationship at all. I didn’t even know he was the Third Prince. I swear.”

“Then why did he say such….”

Look at those desperate eyes—are you asking me if it was fate?

Seriously, though, I don’t feel anything. Maybe I should have a proper conversation with him.

Running away wasn’t always the best solution. I needed to clarify my stance and completely sever any ties from the past.

Of course, it had to be done in front of Dillian. If I went alone and something happened, it would be a problem.

“Absolutely not.”

“Huh?”

Snapping out of my thoughts, I saw Therze gripping the rose in his hand so tightly that the stem bent with a sharp snap.

The flower, barely hanging onto its broken stem, swayed precariously—just like his patience.

“Dillian is absolutely in love with you. You can’t just run off to the Third Prince. Understood?”

“Huh?”

“Power, wealth, and even looks—Dillian wins by a landslide. You know that brat doesn’t stand a chance, right?”

Wait a minute. Is he trying to convince me not to break up with Dillian?

Just the other day, he was telling me to leave him, and now he’s completely changed his stance.

Realizing that I had finally earned his approval, I couldn’t help the small twitch in the corner of my lips.

But if he caught me smiling, I’d definitely get scolded, so I quickly lowered my head.

Seeing my reaction, Therze misinterpreted it and asked urgently.

“Don’t tell me… you’re really planning to go?”

His face was full of anxiety.

“I won’t allow it! You stole my grandson’s heart—where do you think you’re going?!”

“Where would I even go? I finally got your approval.”

“Exactly! Now that I’ve accepted you, there’s no way you’re going anywhere—!”

Therze was shouting, his breath huffing like an angry bull, but then—

Realizing what he had just admitted, his face stiffened, and he shut his mouth.

Seeing my smirk, it seemed to dawn on him just how much he’d given away.

“…I haven’t fully accepted you yet.”

Too late.

“Even after I took down a bear, you still won’t acknowledge me?”

“Hmph.”

“You even promised to approve our marriage.”

A man shouldn’t go back on his word. Especially not the great elder of Sinaize.

As I swiftly backed him into a corner, Therze let out a grumbling sound and avoided my eyes.

 

 

****

 

 

Therze repeatedly cleared his throat, pretending to ignore reality as he subtly changed the subject.

“So, how did you and Dillian meet?”

“I met him when I treated his injuries.”

Ria recounted how she had saved Dillian when he collapsed in the forest. Of course, she left out the part where she cracked his head open.

“We ended up staying together for a month because we were snowed in.”

“That brat… he’s not the type to sit still….”

Therze knew all too well about Wilhelm’s deadly snowstorms.

Dillian had gone to Wilhelm at the time of the heaviest snowfall, so that part wasn’t surprising.

But what was suspicious to him wasn’t the storm.

“A whole month together? In the same house?”

Dillian wasn’t someone who could stand coexisting with others.

Even more suspicious—how had Ria survived without a single scratch?

One might assume that affection grew over time, leading to love, but Therze knew his grandson well.

Dillian wouldn’t have waited long enough for emotions to develop—he would’ve eliminated the person first.

Sure, he might have felt grateful for being saved.

But rather than showing gratitude, the more likely scenario was him viewing the person as a potential threat and killing them.

If he didn’t kill her, at the very least, he would’ve tortured her… but if she had been tortured, she wouldn’t be by his side now.

The more Therze thought about it, the more his suspicions snowballed.

“Did that brat actually listen to you? He didn’t lash out?”

“Lash out? He treated me really well. He even cooked for me.”

“That brat…?”

“Yes. He’s terrible at washing dishes and cleaning, but he’s good at cooking.”

Cooking?

That alone was shocking enough, but washing dishes too?

That wasn’t Dillian. That was a monster pretending to be Dillian.

“So he really did lose his memory?”

Therze had dismissed it as nonsense, but maybe Lexter had been right.

“He’s not the type to just sit still. He never called for Schatten?”

“Well… we were trapped in the house, so he had no way to contact anyone.”

Ria smoothly dodged another tricky question.

But Therze’s doubts remained.

In fact, they only grew.

“No way to contact them? That doesn’t make sense. That brat would’ve found some way, no matter what.”

What started as pure curiosity was now turning into a full-blown interrogation.

“Who confessed first?”

“Dillian did. He reached out his hand and asked me to come to the Duke’s estate with him.”

Despite Therze’s relentless questioning, Ria answered casually.

She recalled how Dillian had extended his hand and tried to persuade her to follow him.

“That did happen, huh.”

It had only been two months ago, but it felt like a lifetime.

“I never imagined back then that things would turn out like this.”

Ria almost got lost in nostalgia—

But Therze didn’t allow that.

“They say first love is terrifying. You must have burned with passion for that entire month in Wilhelm to get engaged so quickly.”

“…Yes. It was a month I’ll never forget.”

It was intense, in a way.

She had been ambushed multiple times, faced Dillian’s rampages, and even dealt with bizarre misunderstandings.

There was no way she’d ever forget that month.

“I realized I couldn’t live without Dillian, so I came with him.”

At those words, Nathan’s face twisted in agony.

Sure, she had followed Dillian out of necessity—she needed to escape the darkness and find a safe place.

But hearing her say it like that… it sounded like an epic romance.

A love that blossomed like a delicate flower amidst a raging snowstorm.

But Therze’s instincts screamed otherwise.

Ria was lying.

Not completely—but she was weaving lies into the truth.

“So he really did lose his memory.”

And Ria was hiding that fact to protect Dillian.

Therze sighed as the final pieces of the puzzle clicked into place.

“So the rumors about him losing his memory were true.”

“Grandfather, you heard those ridiculous rumors too?”

Ria kept her expression calm.

“Amnesia? That’s absurd. If he really lost his memory, would he be living normally like this?”

Despite her confident tone, cold sweat ran down her back.

“He lost it… and then got it back.”

“…What?”

Ria’s response came a beat too late, her voice filled with hesitation.

“I guarantee it. That brat lost his memory, then regained it.”

“That’s impossible. There wasn’t even a hint of that.”

Flustered, Ria accidentally confirmed the truth herself.

“Doesn’t it seem strange? Even if he lost his memory, wouldn’t he have been too perfect?”

Therze’s words made Ria’s eyes tremble.

It wasn’t that she had never doubted it.

Dillian had always seemed to know everything, as if nothing was unfamiliar to him.

But whenever she asked, he would insist that he hadn’t recovered his memory yet.

Whenever they talked about the past, he would claim that he had heard the stories from someone else.

That’s why she had no choice but to believe him.

But now—

“So you’re saying Dillian isn’t pretending—he actually did remember everything?”

“The acting part is what he’s doing with you now.”

Therze’s firm words drained all color from Ria’s face.

Seeing her pure shock, Therze rubbed his forehead in frustration.

“I thought she had approached Dillian first… but it was the other way around.”

A naïve country girl, completely unaware, had been ensnared and played in the palm of Dillian’s hand.

“…If he really lost his memory, would he have known that Dante’s real father was a commoner?”

Only the vassals who had attended that dinner knew the truth.

Giselle’s husband was a noble, but he wasn’t Dante’s biological father.

Dante had been conceived before marriage, and his real father was a commoner.

That fact had been a massive weakness for Giselle back when she was taking the succession test.

To hide it, she had quickly married her current husband—a marriage of convenience, formed purely for mutual benefit.

“Even his closest aides don’t know about this. But Dillian does.”

That information couldn’t be found, no matter how much one searched.

It wasn’t something a person suffering from memory loss could have simply discovered.

“And above all, I can tell just by looking into his eyes. Do you think I wouldn’t recognize them?”

There was no stronger proof than that.

No matter what, blood recognized blood.

“That shameless brat is definitely my grandson.”

Bang, bang, bang!

Therze’s words sounded like the final verdict of a trial.