The Monster Duke Mistook Me for His Wife Chapter 127

Aina must’ve had a really hard time because tears streamed down her face.

For a while, the sound of her sniffling continued.

“I-I really tried my best. That’s why I came back. But no one recognized me.”

Holding Aina’s hand, I walked down the stairs with her, trying to comfort her.

“That must’ve been tough.”

“Yeah. I can handle people not recognizing me. I expected that. But everything’s just so different from before.”

That’s probably because of me.

The darkness awoke because of me.

That thing must have been waiting for me to return.

‘It’s such a creepy obsession.’

Aina, struggling with how different things had become, suddenly began pouring out everything like a dam had burst.

“This weird creature called ‘Darkness’ showed up and started eating people, and the duke who used to be a villain fell in love and is now acting all calm like a completely different person. I just don’t get it.”

Aina sniffled and looked at me.

“But the fact that you and the duke were destined for each other… I never imagined you were the reincarnations of the first Saintess and the first Emperor.”

Still in disbelief, Aina sniffled again.

Right after she told me her secret, I shared mine with her too.

“That’s amazing. A love that found its way back after a thousand years.”

Saying how incredible fate was, Aina suddenly burst out in anger toward Cassis.

“The duke recognized you, but what was Cassis doing? I totally thought he’d recognize you. Yeah right. He didn’t even notice.”

There was a faint anger in her still-wet voice.

“But I forgave him because it was funny and cute how he fell for me the moment he saw me.”

No, she wasn’t mad—she was bragging about her boyfriend.

‘Hopeless romantic.’

Cassis and Aina were both totally lost in love.

I let out a dry laugh and shook my head as we finally reached the bottom of the long, long staircase.

“What is this?”

“…A birdcage?”

Yeah, it was definitely a birdcage.

A birdcage hanging down from a long chain fixed to the ceiling.

‘What a twisted hobby.’

A birdcage for a divine beast that takes the form of a bird?

For Arrest, it was a deeply humiliating situation.

But Arrest didn’t even seem to have the mind to feel that humiliation.

“Ugh, uuugh. Ngh.”

Inside that cage, Arrest was having his divine power drained.

So much was being pulled out that it was visible to the naked eye.

His body trembled as he suffered, and the divine light glowed beautifully.

That contrast made the scene incredibly disturbing and horrifying.

“Arrest!”

The moment I touched the cage while calling his name—

Zzap-!

A huge burst of light bounced my hand away.

“Ow.”

My palm throbbed like it had been burned. The smell of scorched flesh lingered under my nose.

“Ria!”

Aina rushed to me and healed my hand.

Maybe afraid I’d try again, she gripped my hand tightly and pointed at the cage.

“Ria, look around. There’s a barrier.”

She was right.

When I calmed down and stepped back, I saw black energy crackling like electricity around the cage.

“Aina. What if someone without divine power tries to enter?”

“I don’t know.”

If we don’t know, we try. I withdrew my divine power and carefully touched the cage again.

Zzap-!

But again, my hand was bounced away.

“It’s not about divine power. It’s sealed so that no one can get in.”

That was a problem. We had no weapon that could break the cage.

We had bows and arrows made from divine power, but they shattered instantly.

Only two options remained.

Either go and get Harris right now, or hope Arrest wakes up.

But the second option seemed unlikely.

“Arrest! Can you hear me?”

“It’s no use. His mind is broken.”

We just reunited, and this is how our first meeting goes?

I couldn’t stand watching him suffer any longer, so I reached out again.

Even knowing it was dangerous, my hand kept moving forward.

Slap—Aina grabbed my hand.

“Ria, you’ll get hurt if you touch it.”

“But Arrest is in so much pain. Even if my hand gets destroyed, if I can just tear it open—”

“No. Absolutely not.”

Aina firmly stopped me.

“I already sent a signal to Sir Harris. He’ll get here faster than if we went up. Let’s look for something to break the cage with in the meantime.”

“…Okay.”

Aina, who had pulled me away from the cage, kept glancing back, watching me closely.

“Ria, check over here. I’ll look over there.”

We split up to find something that could break the cage.

‘It’d be great if there was something to throw.’

Just then, as I searched every corner of the underground…

“Ria!”

Aina came running at me with a terrified look.

‘What’s with that face…?!’

That’s when it happened. I felt a chill run down my back.

I quickly turned around, and a black lump rising from the floor lunged at me.

“Ria!”

Startled, I jumped into a combat stance—then blinked in confusion.

Thump, thump, thump.

“…What is this?”

A ball?

Instead of attacking like it was about to, the round lump just rolled along the floor.

I forgot I was supposed to fight it and just stared, a bit dumbfounded.

Then Aina rushed over and stood in front of me.

“Ria, that’s the clone. That thing lured us here.”

“…That?”

That round ball with eyes, nose, and mouth…?

Thump, thump, thump.

The ball bounced up and down and circled around us.

“…It does look a bit different from last time.”

Even Aina, who had been on guard, looked surprised.

‘Doesn’t seem like it’s going to attack?’

Instead of attacking, it just circled around me like a puppy wagging its tail at its owner.

“…I’m sure it’s the same one, but its appearance changed.”

Aina looked unsure, as if this was the first time she’d seen it like this.

“Maybe it’s disconnected from the Darkness? It feels more like a mindless shadow now.”

[Ria. Ria.]

But that wasn’t true. The clone clearly recognized me.

[Ria, don’t you like me? Eyes… scary.]

It spoke in a childlike tone, watching my reactions carefully. So I decided to take a gamble.

“You’re on Coma’s side, right? I hate Coma.”

[You hate Coma?]

“Yeah, I hate him. So, so much. He hurt me.”

I exaggerated my expressions and buried my face in my hands.

Through my fingers, I saw Aina’s stunned face.

I silently mouthed the words only for her to see:

‘Shh.’

Realizing I had a plan, Aina stayed quiet and let me do my thing.

“You’re going to hurt me too, aren’t you? You’re part of Coma too.”

Muttering in a sad voice, I closely watched the shadow’s reaction.

[No, no, I’m not! I’m on Ria’s side! I hate Coma too!]

“Really?”

The shadow nodded eagerly.

“Then help me. You always listened to me so well.”

[Okay. I can do it. I won’t talk to him anymore.]

“Did Coma see me here?”

[No. Coma can’t find you. I hid you. I won’t show you to him.]

Thank goodness. I smiled brightly from the bottom of my heart.

“Thank you. You’re the only one helping me.”

Then the shadow shyly squirmed its body. If it had color, its face would probably be bright red.

“I can’t watch this.”

Aina grimaced like she saw something terrible, but to me, it was a familiar sight.

Coma used to be like that before he turned dark.

There was a time when he panicked at just one of my tears.

A time when he’d act silly just to make my sadness go away.

A time when my smile made him look like he had the whole world.

‘But that’s all in the past.’

The one in front of me now is just a leftover piece of Coma.

I hated Coma so much I could kill him, and yet seeing this old version of him stirred up confusing emotions.

And it was none other than Aina who snapped me out of it.

“You used Arrest as bait and now you’re saying you’re on our side? Do you even hear yourself?!”

Aina grabbed the shadow by the collar and shook him roughly.

[Ugh, aah. I’m dizzy.]

The shadow flopped around like paper in her grip and looked at me with pitiful eyes.

“Aina, wait a second.”

Aina turned to me with a pouty face, wondering why I stopped her.

‘No, it’s not like I meant to help him or anything.’

While Aina loosened her grip, the shadow slunk behind me and curled up sadly.

[I don’t know. I don’t remember anything. I just woke up.]

Aina glared at him like he was pathetic.

“Hold on. Let’s calm down.”

I turned to the shadow and asked,

“If you’re on my side, prove it.”

[What should I do?]

“Open that door.”

I pointed at the cage. The shadow looked back and forth between me and the door.

[That’s all?]

“Can’t do it?”

He quickly shook his head.

[No. I can do it! If I do this, I’m on Ria’s side, right?]

“That’s right.”

Excited at the thought of being on my side, the shadow bounced in place.

[I’ll open it right now!]

Boing! The shadow leapt and slammed its body into the cage.

“That’s an impressively dumb method.”

Aina clicked her tongue and shook her head.

But no one expected that ridiculous act to be the correct answer.

Click.

Creeeak—

The door that wouldn’t open no matter how hard I tried swung open from one headbutt.

I was only stunned for a second before quickly reaching in to pull Arrest out.

“Arrest!”

Up close, Arrest’s condition looked even worse.

I quickly leaned down and listened. I could hear faint, shallow breaths.

‘Thank goodness. He’s alive.’

My tense shoulders finally relaxed.

I took off my robe and wrapped it around Arrest, then looked at the wide-eyed shadow and gave my thanks.

“Thank you.”

[I got praised! I’m so happy!]

Overjoyed by my heartfelt thanks, the shadow spun around me in circles.

“What are we going to do with this one?”

“I think we can bring him with us.”

If we played it right, he could be a huge help escaping Coma’s fortress.

But Aina didn’t think so.

“What if he betrays us later?”

Shrinking under Aina’s sharp glare, the shadow blinked up at her with big, catlike eyes.

“……”

“…Yeah, he looks more like the one who’d get betrayed. Still, he’s part of the Darkness—!”

Thud!

The ground shook.

Boom!

This time, the wall trembled.

“…Aina. What’s that noise?”

Aina, who had stepped back to keep her distance from the shadow, quickly rushed to my side.

“Could it be Sir Harris…?”

“Does the ground shake every time Harris walks…?”

“Maybe he gained weight.”

Aina blurted out nonsense, clearly panicked.

CRASH!

A deafening boom shattered the sealed entrance door and sent it rolling across the floor.

I winced as strong winds whipped through.

“Ugh—!”

A huge monster, as big as a bear, drooled bloody spit and glared at us. Its half-rolled eyes were chilling.

“Ha… that’s not Sir Harris.”

“Clearly it’s a monster!”

As I shouted, the startled shadow also screamed and clung to my leg.

[U-ugly! My eyes! My poor eyes!]

Not “scary,” but “ugly”?

Everyone froze at the sudden appearance-based judgment.

“Well, at least it didn’t call us here. It even attacked its own kind. That was real.”

Aina rubbed her forehead in disbelief at all the nonsense this thing had been spouting.

“…Ria. What is this thing, really?”

“I’d like to know that too.”

I stopped breathing at the sound of a familiar voice.

My heart leapt at the voice I missed so much.

Thud!

The monster’s heavy body collapsed forward.

Dillian, with a beautiful smile, stood over it with a sword stabbed into its neck.

“Was getting in the way. May I kill it?”