He’s My Real Brother, Duke – Chapter 125

Author: Nikss

🐾

The night after, Cassian arrived at the Duke’s manor, near the Cornwall estate, which was still being searched by the wild beasts under the command of Duke Anais.

There was a suspicious old man there, walking with one arm strangely twisted and a limp.

“At least I stole the right body.”

Using voodoo, he had taken the body of the poor old man he had killed.

He had lost all of his strength to gain the blue eyes, white hair, and broad shoulders, but he had come back to life anyway.

The old man coughing and coughed in the thick darkness as he watched his manor being searched by wild beasts was none other than the Duke of Cornwall.

“Cough.”

He coughed sharply and looked at the mansion.

“I had my suspicions, but I never realized that little wench was really from House Vietry.”

When he’d cast mental black magic on Astel to extract information from her, he’d realized her goal was to clear the Vietrys’ name.

Though it was the Duke of Anais who had brought her to this point.

He gazed mesmerized at the fire-covered windows of the fourth floor.

“My physical body as the Duke of Cornwall is gone, but fortunately, all of my records will be burned if any strangers come into the manor. The rest of my records are in the safest of places, I can rest assured.”

He looked through the window and saw his office burning.

No one would ever know of his utter criminality anymore. He chuckled and walked through the shadows.

As he listened to the voices of passersby accuse him bitterly.

“The dead Duke of Cornwall, the sorcerer, wasn’t he?”

“I heard he tried to kill His Grace, the Duke of Anais, and that he had ties to the demon world.”

“My goodness, the House of Cornwall is about to be ruined!”

Despite the situation, he chuckled.

“No one will ever know I’m alive, so it’s a win-win, and we can plan for later. This voodoo was indeed perfect.”

So he could survive the Duke of Anais’ odd and outrageous behavior.

“It’s suspicious that my heart keeps beating irregularly, but it’s probably nothing.”

Cornwall walked on, holding his strangely throbbing heart.

He must see the Crown Prince.

If he told the Crown Prince that Count Vietry’s girl was alive, it would be the end of everything.

Whether it was Count Vietry’s remaining men or the Duke of Anais.

He didn’t care if he died, as long as he could destroy them all.

The Duke of Cornwall’s eyes squinted, and his sinister laughter drifted through his robes.

His rough hands gripped the teleportation gem that would take him straight to the Crown Prince’s palace.

Now that he had seen the manor’s archives burning bright, it was time to move on.

🐾

Word spread quickly that the handsome human knight, Cassian Grey, had entered the manor of Anais unmasked.

It was rumored that the elite knights destined for the Demon War had joined the dukedom.

As if that weren’t enough, Cassian had taken on the role of acting Knight master at the negotiating table for the Demon War.

He had replaced the Commander, Ropa, who was unexpectedly injured and unable to attend the meeting.

“The capital’s social circles are looking suspiciously at you and Knox, but thankfully it’s just a rumor.”

Still, things were moving forward.

My ally, Knox, proved to be more cooperative than I expected. He’s been using his intelligence to quickly search for information about the Crown Prince’s suspicious activities.

“There have been reports of suspicious people coming and going from the Crown Prince’s palace, and that his men have entered the territory of the Duke of Anais.”

Cassian slammed his palm on the table, taking in the news.

“There are those among the Knights of the Rose who serve the Crown Prince. They are plotting to take part in this demonic war as well.”

“Knights from the Crown Prince’s side are participating in this Demon War?”

My brother, who had pursed the corners of his mouth when he heard my raspy voice, nodded and replied.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Then, please provide me with a list of the Crown Prince men within the Knights.”

Sparks flew between the two men’s gazes.

While my brother and Knox talked intently, I recalled the details of the original story.

‘According to the original story, more than a deadly dose of poison was found in Duke Anais’ food during the Demon War, so if the Crown Prince was trying to poison Knox then, he’s probably doing it again.’

First, we need to find out what the Crown Prince was up to.

To do that, I went to… I coughed a few times, drawing their attention back to me.

“The Crown Prince is definitely going to target the Duke during the demon war.”

Their gazes snapped to mine at once. I opened my mouth to speak, straight and without nervousness.

“To prevent the Crown Prince’s plans, I’ve come up with a few plans.”

I was comfortable in this position. I only had to state my opinion to the point, and I didn’t have to convince them with long-form explanations.

Both my brother and Knox nodded as if my opinion was a given.

Gathering my courage, I carefully spoke the next phrases.

“The Duke would like to see the Emperor. You don’t have to say anything, just give him a private meeting every day. So that everyone, the Emperor and the Duke, will know of your meeting.”

“Understood.”

“Lord Cassian Gray, I want you to do research about the Duke, and the demons with poisons…”

“…Demon poisons, okay.”

As soon as my brother finished his answer, the candle on the silver table snapped out. I rolled my eyes and mumbled softly in the darkness.

“Don’t worry, everyone. We’ll make it out alive.”

Knox, who had magically relit the candle, smiled brightly.

“Yes, Astel. The two of us will survive somehow.”

“…”

“We escaped the gods, didn’t we?”

Part of me believed in the original story, and part of me believed in the divine beast and gods of this world, so I clenched my jaw and said sternly.

“Yes, of course! Just stick to my plan!”

“Understood.”

He sat down across the round table from me and stroked my hair affectionately. His words and touch seemed to melt away the tension. At that moment, a very sharp voice reached both of our ears.

“Uh-oh.”

I looked quickly in the direction of my brother, who sat across from me, his eyes softening.

“No public displays of affection.”

“…”

“Because we’re alone, you know.”

Despite the words that came out of his mouth, he sounded more pissed off than disappointed.

I clapped my hands together energetically, realizing this was going to turn into a fight.

“That’s right, Lord Cassian, you’re alone now, so shall we move on to something else?”

“Of course, Astel.”

Knox took my hand in his, grinning sheepishly at Cassian.

“How unfortunate.”

“…”

“Tsk.”

My brother clenched his fists, looking even more pissed off. If I hadn’t been caught in the middle, it would have gone beyond a fight and turned into a real punching match.

The only good thing was that even if they were terribly mismatched in terms of personalities,

they could work well together when it came to the goal of taking out the Crown Prince.

🐾

A few days later, inside the Crown Prince’s palace.

Duke Cornwall was dethroned and barely escaped with his life.

But the world had already heard of the Duke of Cornwall’s evil deeds.

The Crown Prince had never openly favored the Duke of Cornwall, whom he knew well.

As a result, the evil deeds of the House of Cornwall, led by the Duke of Cornwall, were revealed one by one.

In the meantime, the Duke of Cornwall had slipped into the crown prince’s palace under the cover of the Crown Prince’s dog.

“I must kill all the members of the Vietry clan.”

His only intention was to kill them.

But even as he remained hidden in the shadows, everyone recognized him and pointed fingers.

As if he were a traitor, a traitor accused of treason, a traitor to the Vietry clan…

“Why would His Highness the Crown Prince look at that filthy thing?”

“It’s vulgar, and it stinks.”

“Why is it offensive just to look at it?”

He was just a strange freak in a robe, and yet everyone was strangely disapproving of him.

Biting back his anger, Cornwall entered the Crown Prince’s chambers and found him standing with a champagne glass in his hand, facing the window.

“I see Your Highness, the Crown Prince.”

“Ahh.”

Even the Crown Prince stared at him with a frown, as if he were dirty.

“Look at the floor, Cornwall.”

A white, unmarked snake the size of a pit viper hissed and crawled.

The Crown Prince stared lovingly at the white snake crawling across the surface of the marble.

“This is the snake that lives only in the Quart region.”

Duke Cornwall paused at the mention of the Quarts. Surely that was the northern part of the country, the dangerous frozen zone where the beasts lived.

“A venomous snake whose fangs would kill any human or beast cub. But this one’s blood is an unusual poison. I’ve found a use for it.”

The Crown Prince chuckled. There was a hint of bitter insult in it.

“The Duke of Anais.”

The Crown Prince’s gaze suddenly shifted to the champagne glass. His gaze was deep in thought.

His father, the great Emperor, despised the Duke of Anais, but he could not bear the thought of his own child being worse than he.

Ever since the Duke of Anais had risen to fame, more than a decade ago, he had been compared to him like music to his ears.

The tiresome comparison grew worse each time they fought a similar local battle.

In every battle, the Duke was always victorious, while he, the Crown Prince, was usually defeated, often losing his men and escaping with his life.

— “You were defeated in this battle, too. Why can’t you do as well as that beast?”

— “But he’s a beast, and his tactics are unbelievable—”–

— “Shut up. You have no respect for the nobility. Pathetic.”

Of course, as he grew older, the emperor’s verbal abuse faded. But the Crown Prince, who had thought himself superior, lording it over everyone, was already broken.

A terrible sense of superiority filled his mind.

Even the nobles in the capital were secretly comparing him to the Duke of Anais.

‘The Duke is more noble,’ they said.

“From the looks of it…”

“…In fact, the Duke is too good to be compared with the Crown Prince…”

Boom!

The champagne glass shattered on the marble floor. It was a loud enough shattering sound to make even the Duke of Cornwall gasp.

“Ah.”

The Crown Prince despised the House of Anais and its people as much as Cornwall despised the House of Vietry.

He considered them beneath him from the very beginning.

“I will not allow anything lesser to rule over me.”

Recalling the arrogant glare of the Duke of Anais, the Crown Prince cast a hateful glance at him and muttered.