The Monster Duke Mistook Me for His Wife Chapter 125

“Lady Ria, it hurts so much.”

Sniffle. Dante began to cry sadly, tears streaming down his face.

“Dante! Stay with me! If you lose control of your body…!”

But it was already too late.

His once-clear eyes turned sharp in an instant, glinting with a sneer as they looked at me.

“See that? The kid’s consciousness is still alive. So what do you think will happen if you try to force me out?”

He’d probably die from the shock. Coma whispered with a voice full of laughter.

“You came all the way here to protect the kid. It’d be a shame if he died, wouldn’t it?”

I had no choice but to sit back.

“If you do anything to Dante, I won’t forgive you.”

“I haven’t done a thing. He just went back to sleep, that’s all.”

His eyes curved into a grin as he laughed, and it made my stomach churn.

My chest heaved with the tight pressure of rage squeezing my heart.

Coma, watching me silently, reached out and brushed the corner of my eye.

“Your eyes are saying it all— You want to kill me right now, but you can’t bring yourself to harm the owner of this body.”

“Get off.”

I clenched my teeth and slapped his hand away, but I just couldn’t bring myself to be too rough.

Just like Coma said, the fact that this body belonged to Dante was holding me back.

Unlike Manus, who meant nothing to me, Dante was precious.

‘I shouldn’t have killed Manus.’

I shouldn’t have let him switch over to Dante’s body.

‘I should’ve noticed something was wrong when I was healing Dante.’

This was all my fault.

Just as I was replaying my mistakes—

Clink.

Along with an ominous sound, I felt cold metal clamp around my ankle.

“……”

Clatter. When I moved my foot, the heavy chain rattled.

“I had it custom-made just for you.”

“You crazy bastard!”

“You can go anywhere in the room, so don’t be too mad.”

Don’t be mad? Is that seriously what he just said? Is he totally insane?

I lunged at Coma.

But like he had predicted all of this, he quickly backed up and leaned against the door.

“I’d love to spend the whole day with you, but I’ve got work to do, so I’ll be off.”

“Take this off. Now!”

Just like he said, the chain was long enough to go anywhere in the room— except it didn’t reach the door.

My hand reached toward Coma, but only swiped through the air.

“I’ll send a maid. If you need anything, just ask her.”

“What? Hey! Take this off! Hey! I said—!”

Bang!

“Hey!!!”

 

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

I followed to protect Dante, but that didn’t mean I was going to sit quietly in captivity.

Boiling with rage, I tried prying the shackle open with brute force, even pulled at the chain, but it was all useless.

“Ugh! This is impossible.”

I let out a deep sigh as I looked at my burning hands.

I wasn’t Therze—there was no way I could break steel with my bare hands.

‘Even Grandfather would have a hard time with this.’

Worn out from the pointless effort, I panted for breath.

“They even cast a holy suppression spell… damn bastard.”

And that wasn’t all—there wasn’t a single object around I could use as a tool.

‘He’s so thorough.’

Out of all these decorations, not one is within reach.

“I give up.”

Completely exhausted, I collapsed onto the bed.

In the quiet room, the ticking of the clock echoed loudly.

How much time had passed?

Once my heated emotions cooled down, the real problem finally hit me.

How do I escape from here?
How do I save Dante?
Would Nathan be really worried after I disappeared?

And… Dillian.

Was he doing okay?

‘Was he hurt? Would he misunderstand because I didn’t take his hand?’

Was he angry? Or maybe sad?

Just thinking of Dillian made all the emotions I had pushed down swell back up uncontrollably.

“I miss him…”

Just once. I should’ve grabbed Dillian’s hand just once, with my eyes closed.

“No. Get it together.”

I slapped my cheek with my hand. I couldn’t afford to break down here.

This was the path I chose. So I can’t regret it.

Just as I was muttering to myself like a chant—

Clunk. The door opened with a sound.

Thinking it was Coma, I looked up— but a woman I’d never seen before quietly closed the door behind her.

‘The maid Coma mentioned?’

But her face looked strangely familiar.

Jet-black eyes, sharp gaze. Thin lips pressed in a line.

‘She looks like someone I know.’

Even the way she moved—light like a cat.

A name came to mind. And the moment I thought of him, our eyes met.

A faint smile that seemed like it would vanish any second made me jump up.

No way.

“Kira…?”

“I never thought my disguise was sloppy, but I guess Lady Ria’s eyes are sharper than I thought.”

Kira quickly crossed the room and knelt in front of me.

“Lady Ria. It’s been a while.”

“How are you here?”

“Shh.”

Kira raised her index finger and pressed it to her lips.

“I’m carrying out an order from His Highness.”

“An order?”

She placed my foot on her knee and slipped a long piece of metal into the shackle’s lock.

As it clinked softly, Kira spoke in a quiet voice.

“My first task was to follow Rexter Blent.”

“Alone?”

“No, I moved with the Shatten Knights. But in the end, we lost Rexter.”

“I know. He appeared before me.”

Quite some time had passed since then. So what had Kira been doing here all alone?

“What about the Shatten Knights? Did you come alone?”

“After we lost Rexter, we split up. His Highness ordered us to regroup with the temple and gather intel.”

But she said they hadn’t arrived yet—she hadn’t even seen the saintess’s hair.

“Still, it worked out. I got to see you again, Lady Ria.”

So she’d infiltrated Coma’s base to gather information and found me in the process.

Was this really just a coincidence?

Even while I kept questioning her, I couldn’t shake off my doubts.

‘Is she really the real Kira? What if she’s being controlled by Coma? What if this is all a trap?’

After being tricked by him so many times, I just couldn’t trust easily anymore.

Click.

Suddenly, the weight around my ankle disappeared. At the same time, my holy power returned.

“Shall I escort you to a safer place, Lady Ria?”

Without warning, I grabbed Kira by the shoulders and slammed her against the wall.

“…Lady Ria?”

Surprise spread across her face.

Ignoring her expression, I searched every inch of her body.

Over and over, in case I missed something.

‘…She’s clean.’

No trace of dark fragments, no sign of control.

The woman in front of me was the real Kira. Relief finally flooded in.

I exhaled and let her go.

“Kira, I startled you, didn’t I? I’m sorry.”

“Lady Ria… were you… suspicious of me?”

Kira’s eyes trembled slightly as she looked at me, shocked.

“It’s because I failed to earn your trust…”

Her shoulders slumped, and she looked downcast in an instant.

“Sorry. It wasn’t about you. I would’ve doubted anyone who came.”

“Because of Young Master Dante?”

“Yeah. You saw too, huh.”

“…That thing isn’t Young Master Dante, is it?”

“No. It’s darkness. Dante had his body stolen.”

“So something happened during the mission.”

“It was basically a war. Oh—and Sera is safe, don’t worry.”

“But I failed to fulfill my mission to protect you. I’m unfit to be your guard.”

The Kira I hadn’t seen in so long was just the same.

‘She’s even sharp with family.’

No sooner had I thought that, than she pulled a dagger from her sleeve.

Her eyes gleamed coldly as she stared at the blade. If Dante were in front of her now, she looked ready to end him right there.

I quickly grabbed her hand.

“Kira. You can’t kill him. Dante is still alive.”

“…I can’t be sure. My job is to protect you, and that’s what His Highness wants too.”

“If Dillian isn’t here, the only one who can give you orders is me, right?”

“…Yes, that’s right.”

“Then don’t kill him. I won’t allow it.”

“…But.”

“This isn’t about pity. Even if you kill Dante’s body, it won’t destroy the darkness. It’ll just escape into another body.”

Killing the host wasn’t the answer. We had to find another way.

What should I do?

How do I destroy Coma for good?

“First, we should escape this place and find a way to contact others.”

“Yeah.”

I snorted as I looked down at the shackle lying on the floor.

‘He said he’d keep me here forever. What a joke.’

Forever?

Freedom came back in less than an hour.

 

 

 

****

 

 

“Will this really keep me from getting caught?”

I kept adjusting the mask that covered my face. The mask I wore was shaped like a rabbit, with tall, perky ears.

While fixing the wrinkles in my robe, Kira explained where we were.

“Lady Ria, did you know there’s a famous black market in the Arreste Territory?”

“Yeah, I know. It’s under Taron Street, right?”

“You’re well-informed.”

Of course I was. That place had been heavily expanded thanks to a huge investment by the Third Prince, Manus— and it was one of the weaknesses I knew about him.

“Wait… don’t tell me this is it?”

“Yes. And we’re lucky—there’s an underground auction happening today.”

“The guests wear masks, don’t they?”

“Yes. These are the ones provided here, so they’ll assume you’re a customer.”

That made sense. Wearing a robe and a mask like this, no one would know who I was.

Some people flaunted their identity openly, but there were plenty like me who preferred to hide it.

As we stepped out of the room and walked down a dark hallway, I suddenly noticed something strange and murmured,

“Come to think of it… there aren’t any guards.”

“I took care of them.”

“…There’s no trace.”

“Leaving no trace behind is my specialty.”

I was reminded once again that both Sera and Kira were former assassins— and not just average ones, but elites.

Silently, I held up a thumb in her direction.

“Thank you for the praise, Lady Ria. This way, please.”

I was following Kira up a staircase when it happened.

I felt it—a faint trace of holy power coming from far away.

“Kira. Hold on.”

Scanning the area, I raised my hand and pointed.

“What’s in that direction?”

“Probably… the prison.”

Holy power coming from a prison? That was definitely suspicious.

“I need to check it out.”

“Do you sense something?”

“Yeah. Something’s there for sure.”

We needed to escape before Coma returned— but my instincts were screaming that I’d regret it if I didn’t check out the source of that power.

“The path is complicated. Will you be okay?”

It seemed Kira didn’t know this route very well either, and she hesitated to lead the way.

But it was fine. I knew how to get there. All I had to do was follow the holy energy.

“This way.”

We must’ve come to the right place— a guard with a bored expression stood watch.

“Yaaawn—oof.”

Just as he was yawning and smacking his lips, Kira struck him down, and he collapsed to the floor.

It was clean and swift.

Thanks to Kira, I made it safely into the prison, and I froze when I saw silver hair shining even in the darkness.

“…Aina? Aina, is that you?”

At the sound of my voice, the head that had been hanging low suddenly snapped up with a whoosh.

“Ria…?”

Emerald-green eyes, like spring leaves, widened as they looked at me.

The source of the holy power… was Aina.