He’s My Real Brother, Duke Chapter 124

🐾

 

Duke Anais was quick enough to dismiss himself, leaving Astel alone with him.

 

He checked on Astel’s health before telling her that he had found something.

 

“Are you feeling well?”

 

“Yes! Everyone’s been so good to me, even the Duke!”

 

Maybe she doesn’t have Stockholm Syndrome.

 

Squinting his eyes, Cassian looked serious and reached out to touch Astel’s forehead.

 

But Astel grabbed his arm and pulled it away, saying cheerfully.

 

“I’m not sick.”

 

“You’re twenty years old, and you swatted your brother’s hand away…”

 

Cassian was a little hurt, but he kept his voice steady.

 

“Okay, well, just give me some good reason why the Duke is a good guy. Then I’ll listen to what you have to say.”

 

“Um…”

 

He leaned in impatiently.

 

At worst, he’d been pretending to be in love and harassing his innocent sister.

 

It was obvious, but Cassian couldn’t help but look away from the light in his sister’s gleaming eyes, and he nodded.

 

“So the Duke wasn’t the Duke! No, I mean, no. Well, he was the Duke, but… He wasn’t the Duke I knew!”

 

As soon as Cassian heard that, he was certain that something was wrong with Astel.

 

But he couldn’t blame his sister for what she had been through.

 

“Okay, Astel. Speak slowly.”

 

“Yes!”

 

He assured her that he’d wait for her to compose herself, and soon enough, Astel was talking.

 

From telling him what happened when she went missing as a child, to how the Duke of Anais was actually the young beast she had saved as a child…

 

Cassian listened carefully, his ears pricking back in confusion again and again.

 

Astel’s words were filled with things he could neither understand nor believe.

 

“So what you’re saying is that the Duke of Anais is the child you saved, and that he can be trusted.”

 

Cassian looked at Astel’s gleaming eyes and wondered if this was what it felt like to be safe.

 

“…I know, it’s hard to believe, but I got what you were talking about.”

 

He sighed and searched the inside pocket of his shirt.

 

Inside, he found a list of names, including the Count of Vietry and the Duke of Anais.

 

The chances of Astel’s memory being manipulated are low, and it’s hard to believe.

 

With a mixed feeling, he pulled out the paper and was about to report on the progress of the family revenge plot.

 

Astel turned to Cassian and muttered something…

 

“Yeah! And I think we’re dating now, the Duke and me.”

 

“…what?”

 

“I mean, we’re in love.”

 

Cassian’s grip loosened at the words, and the stack of papers fells to the marbled floor with a sickening thud.

 

“Are you listening?”

 

“Huh?”

 

Unlike Cassian, who was frowning, Astel was cheerful.

 

“That’s the end of my story, big brother, so let’s talk about the book. What happened to the book? Is it that stack of papers in your hands? Give it to me.”

 

However, Cassian’s hands completely released their grip with an annoyed look on his face, as if he didn’t care what happened to the book.

 

“Uh…”

 

With that, Astel casually picked up the stack of papers on the floor and began flipping through them.

 

It was a few minutes later when Cassian regained some sense of his dazed state. Astel’s expression was now stern.

 

“So it’s the Crown Prince who’s behind all this.”

 

Astel spoke to herself, with an odd look of understanding on her face.

 

Since childhood, Astel had often looked like that. Her seriousness worried Cassian to the bone.

 

“Duke Cornwall ruined our house, and the Crown Prince was planning to deal with Duke Anais in the Demon War, and they joined forces because of their hatred of half-breeds, so now we know what to do.”

 

Astel’s words meant that the Crown Prince would have to be dealt with soon.

 

She had been preparing for revenge all this time, but the stakes were higher than she had realized.

 

The pressure of dealing with a member of the royal family tightened her heart.

 

But Cassian quickly regained his composure and spoke up, telling her what he had learned about the Crown Prince.

 

“Astel, the Crown Prince also has a kind of protective wall.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“So if we search the Crown Prince’s palace, we’ll find evidence of his involvement with Cornwall. But there’s no one who can search the Crown Prince’s palace, no matter how much high-level magic you use.”

 

“The only way to search the Crown Prince’s palace is for the Emperor himself to order the search.”

 

Astel’s expression changed strangely, as if she knew something.

 

“Let’s work with the Duke first. Between the three of us, I’m sure we can come up with a more detailed plan to get the Crown Prince’s plans.”

 

Cassian sighed and shook his head.

 

“I realize he sacrificed himself for you, Astel.”

 

“Yes!”

 

Her face brightened again at the mention of the Duke. Cassian sighed heavily at the brightened Astel.

 

“Now we’re up against the crown prince.”

 

“…Yes.”

 

“No matter how much the Duke of Anais has favored you in the past, he is now in love with you…”

 

Cassian’s jaw clenched, his teeth gritted, and he bit his tongue at the thought of the man who had manipulated his innocent sister.

 

But Cassian managed to keep his face calm, and he asked. “Do you think he’ll help us, believing the Crown Prince’s story of an attempted attack on him without much proof, even though he had… feelings for you?”

 

“…”

 

“Besides, we can’t even identify ourselves right away, we’re just a commoner and a knight from the land.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Do you still think he’ll help us?”

 

[A file folder labeled ‘Duke of Anais’] was a pretty lame way to lure someone in.

 

It didn’t even have the Crown Prince’s signature on it, just some handwritten pages of schemes.

 

Even Cassian, who had obtained the document himself, had no proof that the Crown Prince was working with the Duke of Cornwall.

 

Furthermore, the Duke of Anais was said to be a guarded and sensitive man, rarely trusting anyone, even his closest confidants.

 

No one would enter a fight against the royal family on such weak evidence.

 

But Astel shook her head.

 

“Yes, the Duke will help us.”

 

Cassian’s mouth opened at Astel’s certainty.

 

🐾

 

The room next to the place where Astel and Cassian met. The Duke of Anais was repeating his conversation with Astel over and over again.

 

His anger at Cassian Gray still remained, but he did not get up to grab him.

 

Instead, he slowly picked up his teacup and brought it to his mouth. It was cold, elegant, and noble, but inside he was on fire.

 

His mind flashed back to Astel, who had asked him to step aside so she could have a moment alone with Cassian Gray.

 

— “My first kiss was with Knox, so you’re my lover, hiccup…”

 

His body stiffened at the thought of Astel hiccuping adorably. He gripped the teacup in his hand so hard he thought he might break it.

 

Astel was so adorable, speaking so confidently, even when she was hesitant, and besides…

 

“I’d never kiss Cassian to death-no, not even a peck, I swear!”

 

“I know.”

 

“So we, oh… no, never mind about Cassian. Trust me, I’ll be right back!”

 

Astel, who had been the first to reach his lips, which had been still, and kissed them affectionately, laughed sheepishly and waved her hand.

 

— “Knox, Duke, wait here in peace… for me!”

 

— “Well, then, I’ll leave just as soon as I see Cassian Gray enter.”

 

— “Yeah, so don’t do anything bad, please!”

 

The moment flashed back to his childhood, when he used to say, “Wait.”

 

Astel felt a little awkward dealing with the grown man, but she remembered him anyway.

 

Pondering that fact, he quietly set his teacup down. He didn’t want to break it.

 

A small smile formed on his lips as he looked out at the window.

 

Even the sunlight outside the window seemed brighter than usual today.

 

No matter how wild Cassian Gray had gotten, no matter how secretly he and Astel had grown closer in their schemes, it was Knox, and only Knox, who had been hers, who had been the first to kiss her.

 

Happiness and pride filled his heart.

 

‘As for what happened to him at the Duke of Cornwall’s mansion, that’s for you to discover.’

 

Just as he was finishing his thoughts, the door creaked open.

 

Through the doorway appeared Astel, looking exactly as he’d imagined her all along.

 

“Come in, Cassian.”

 

Except that Cassian Gray walked in with Astel’s back to him, and they looked a little too cheerful and bright.

 

It was a perfectly happy day.

 

“I have something to tell you, Duke.”

 

Astel, sat beside him, glanced toward Cassian on the couch on the other side.

 

Cassian quietly pulled a booklet from his pocket.

 

“I have something to inform you, Your Excellency.”

 

“Let me see.”

 

He took the book from Cassian casually, without touching him.

 

It said that the Crown Prince intended to kill him in a demon war.

 

The exact plan or method was not revealed, but the evil was clear in the handwriting. But he had met too many people and beasts who wanted him dead.

 

They just weren’t royalty.

 

With a grim face, he looked towards Astel instead of Cassian, who handed him the papers.

 

“The Crown Prince is trying to kill the Duke in the demon war.”

 

“Do you believe this?”

 

Astel was staring at him with a sparkling gaze.

 

The Duke shifted his gaze to Cassian Gray, a sarcastic expression on his face.

 

“If Astel says so, I believe it.”

 

For a moment, Cassian’s mouth dropped open.

 

He didn’t speak, but he could hear the words, ‘So easily?’ 

 

Their gazes locked.

 

Astel spoke urgently, a kind of chirp, as if to break up their battle of stares.

 

“Why don’t the three of us take on the Crown Prince together, I’ll help! Especially Cassian, he’s been wanting to fight… No, I mean, he’d always admired the Duke’s strength, but he couldn’t express it.”

 

“…”

 

There are limits to trust, even if it’s Astel’s word.

 

Cassian was the man who had tried to kill him in their meeting only days before, and there was no denying it.

 

But he shook his head in disbelief.

 

“So this time, he wants to cooperate in saving the Duke’s life!”

 

Cassian muttered again, with a truly nasty look on his face and a mouth that had once told him to get lost.

 

“Astel is right, I will be loyal to His Highness from now on.”

 

“The three of us will put our heads together and deal with the Crown Prince.”

 

“Understood, Astel.”

 

Cassian’s jaw clenched at the look in the Duke’s eyes, half wary, half pleased.

 

Apparently, Astel was right, the Duke believed anything she said.

 

The three of them were not exactly trusting allies, but they were united by a common purpose.

 

To target the Duke of Anais, and to kill the Crown Prince who would protect the Duke of Cornwall.

 

Astel and Cassian then exchanged a look, reminding each other of their goals.

 

The end result was the same, kill the Crown Prince before the secret was revealed, and then clear Count Vietry’s name.

 

Meanwhile, it mattered little to the Duke that he was in grave danger.

 

He whispered low, just above Astel’s ear.

 

“After I kill the Crown Prince.”

 

“You’re…?”

 

“Then I’ll know the secret you’ve been hiding.”

 

When he saw Cassian’s behavior at the Duke of Cornwall’s manor, his animal instincts kicked in.

 

He knew something was off about Astel and Cassian, that their relationship was suspicious.

 

He would wait for Astel to tell him herself.

 

“I’m getting impatient, Astel.”

 

He kissed her softly on the top of her head. Her breath quickened, her face flushed with heat.

 

The Duke didn’t care that Cassian Gray’s breathing was heavy, and his gaze was piercing.