The Monster Duke Mistook Me for His Wife Chapter 118

Even though Ria had expected this, hearing the truth directly from Coma made her feel as if the blood had drained from her body.

“You even copied his smile… So how did you figure it out?”

Coma muttered to himself, staring at her.

“In the end, was it the eyes that gave me away?”

Yes. It was his eyes. That was the only reason Ria had been able to recognize him.

Because this face—this stolen body—looked exactly like the man she had once loved most.

If it weren’t for those violet eyes, his deception might have worked.

Believing that his plan had failed because of such a small detail, Coma ground his teeth.

He had no idea how completely wrong he was.

Ria’s expression crumpled like a torn piece of paper, full of disgust.

“Even if you stole Manus’s body and imitated him, you will never be the real one.”

No matter how much he copied the smile, the habits, or the voice—
A fake could never become real.

“What did you do to the real Manus?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Even now, with all his lies exposed, Coma feigned ignorance.

“A thousand years ago, you lost your body. Then, Manus and Rexter woke you up, and you needed a new vessel. So you took Manus’s body. Am I wrong?”

Coma had lost his physical form a thousand years ago.

He could control shadows like extensions of himself, but they were nothing more than mindless beasts.

They could never become his true body.

He had needed a host—one of the two who had awakened him.

And between Rexter and Manus, Manus was the obvious choice.

“Because at a glance, he looked like Lysandro.”

Ria’s deductions were flawless.

Coma, realizing there was no point in denying it anymore, casually shrugged his shoulders.

“You’re right. At first, I thought Lysandro had been reborn.”

They looked so alike that he had almost killed Manus on sight.

But after watching more closely, he realized—
This was not him.

“Ria, you know the stories. Sometimes, far in the future, a descendant is born that looks exactly like their ancestor. That’s what this was. He resembled him far too much.”

The contents were different, but the outer shell was almost identical.

A perfect vessel.

“So, I devoured him. He wasn’t the most satisfying, but I liked his shell.”

Coma traced his stolen face with his fingers before turning back to Ria with a smile.

“The same way you did, Ria. You hesitated the first time you saw this smile, didn’t you?”

That disgusting, mocking grin—Ria clenched her teeth.

Her face had gone pale, her jaw was locked tight, and her hands trembled with rage.

But Coma continued to smile at her, mimicking the expression she had once loved.

“…Bastard.”

The sheer hatred in Ria’s voice made Coma shudder.

“And yet, I can’t decide if I’m happy or annoyed that you figured it out.”

His expression was unreadable—somewhere between a twisted grin and suppressed rage.

“When you called my name, do you know how shocked I was?”

Coma pressed a hand to his chest as if reliving the moment.

He had thought he would never hear it again.

The moment she spoke his name, the heart inside his stolen body had pounded violently.

The name Ria had given him.
The name she had once cherished.
And the name she had ultimately thrown away.

The excitement on his face disappeared in an instant.

His violet eyes boiled with fury, like molten lava.

“It would’ve been better if you never realized. If you had mistaken me for Lysandro, you could have been happy.”

“Happy?”

The absurdity of his words made Ria laugh bitterly.

Happy?

No—she would have spent every day consumed by hatred, plotting to kill him.

“I can guarantee that I would have been more miserable than anyone else.”

“That wouldn’t have been so bad. I love you, Ria.”

And yet, I hate you just as much.

He had loved her—but she had cast him aside without hesitation.

His feelings toward her were a tangled mess of love and resentment.

Exposing his raw emotions without shame, Coma suddenly glanced toward her shoulder.

“And I despise that damn bird who’s always at your side.”

“As obsessive as ever, I see,” Ria said coldly.

“I should’ve killed him a thousand years ago.”

“You? Kill me?” Nathan scoffed. “You spent a thousand years hiding like a coward instead.”

Their hostility crackled in the air like an impending storm.

“If you could have beaten me, why did you hide? Afraid I’d see through your disguise?”

Nathan’s voice boomed with authority.

Coma had avoided him for a reason—Nathan’s eyes could pierce through illusions, revealing the truth beneath.

So instead, Manus had stayed away from Nathan and approached Ria instead.

“I wasn’t afraid of you, Nathan. I just didn’t want you filling Ria’s head with nonsense.”

Coma snorted, waving off the accusation.

“But in the end, you’re powerless. You can’t kill me.”

That much was true.

Nathan could not destroy the darkness.

That was Ria’s destiny.

Which meant—she had to do it.

Her fingers reached for the bracelet on her wrist—

But before she could react, Coma lunged forward and seized her wrist.

“Ah—!”

With a crushing grip, he shattered the bracelet.

The broken fragments bit into her skin, making her wince in pain.

She clenched her teeth, swallowing a groan.

But Coma didn’t even flinch at her suffering.

“Were you trying to seal me away again?”

“Ria!”

“Lady Ria!”

Sera and Cassis, who had been quietly watching from a distance, immediately rushed toward her.

But before they could reach her—

From Coma’s elongated shadow, monstrous creatures erupted, blocking their path.

Sera and Cassis quickly drew their weapons and attacked the monstrous creatures blocking their way.

“Sera! Your Highness!”

“Ria, you have time to worry about others?”

Behind Coma’s amused voice came a familiar, pained cry.

“Ugh—!”

“Nathan!”

The moment Ria looked away, Coma seized Nathan in his grip, chuckling darkly as he tightened his hold.

“Let go of him right now!”

Ria violently jerked her trapped arm and swung at Coma.

But her desperate, uncoordinated attack was blocked by the shadows he summoned.

Swish!

Like living chains, the shadows coiled around her, dragging her backward.

“Ria!”

Nathan, seeing her in danger, unleashed his divine power—but it did nothing to Coma.

Even though divine power was supposed to counter curses.

“How foolish. Did you think I would reveal myself so boldly without a reason?”

Coma smirked, tilting his chin slightly.

A blue earring swayed against his ear, the light inside it swirling like restless waves.

Nathan, recognizing it immediately, let out a furious roar.

“Coma, you bastard! Did you touch Arest?!”

“Ah… that’s what that thing was called?”

Coma frowned as if the name was unimportant to him.

“I didn’t care much about it, but I did find it useful. Who would’ve thought the great Nathaniel would be powerless before me?”

Not only that—Arest’s divine energy had masked his curse, allowing him to deceive Ria all this time.

“You… You dare…!”

“The first thing I did after waking up? I made something to counter your precious temple.”

Coma’s grip on Nathan tightened.

“Only idiots make the same mistake twice. Don’t you think?”

He sneered to himself.

“First, I’ll take care of you… then Dillan will be next.”

He wanted to kill Dillan right in front of Ria.

So brutally that she wouldn’t be able to bear watching.

He would destroy everything around her—until he was all she had left.

Until she had no choice but to depend on him.

Lost in his twisted fantasies, he didn’t notice the sound of something slicing through the air.

Thud!

A powerful force struck his jaw, snapping his head to the side.

The impact made his body stagger.

Ria didn’t miss the opportunity—she drove her fist into his wrist.

“Nathan! Fly!”

At her command, Nathan flapped his wings and escaped, landing on her shoulder.

“Nathan, help them!”

“But—”

“You can’t hurt Coma anyway, right?”

She was right.

As long as Coma had that earring, Nathan’s attacks wouldn’t work on him.

“My attacks will work, though, so go!”

Ria shoved Nathan away, stepping between him and Coma.

“So you were able to dispel my shadows… That was fast.”

Coma clicked his tongue as he glanced at the remains of his destroyed minions, now reduced to dust.

Then he tasted something metallic in his mouth.

His lip was split, and even the inside of his cheek had been torn.

Divine power.

Nathan’s wasn’t enough to harm him, but Ria’s was different.

He had underestimated it.

“Ria, you’ve become so—”

Thud!

Before he could finish, another punch crashed into his face.

“…You’re not even letting me talk.”

Coma touched his throbbing jaw.

“Hey. Do you know why villains in magical girl stories always lose?”

“…What?”

“It’s because they wait for the heroes to finish transforming.”

Before he could react, Ria drove her fist into his stomach.

“Ugh—!”

“What do I mean? It means first strike wins, you bastard.”

She reinforced her fists with divine energy and started beating him senseless.

Most people didn’t know this, but the first saint, Ariane, had been a combat saint.

Which meant that Ria—her reincarnation—was trained in hand-to-hand combat.

Meanwhile, the body Coma had stolen—Manus’s—was fragile. It was not built for fighting.

This was a battle between Ria, who had regained her memories and awakened, and Coma, who was still incomplete.

If he had been at full power, things might have been different.

But as he was now, he couldn’t defeat her.

‘He should know that. So why did he pick a fight he can’t win?’

Ria stared down at him, breathing heavily.

Something felt off.

Coma was cunning—he never acted without an advantage.

She had trained him herself, watched him grow.

‘Something’s wrong.’

A terrible sense of foreboding crawled up her spine.

Then—

A piercing scream ripped through the banquet hall.