He’s My Real Brother, Duke Chapter 140

💫

 

For Cornwall, everything went according to plan.

 

First, he traps them by creating a web as tightly woven as a spider’s web, which neutralizes all magic once trapped within it.

 

After rendering the Duke of Anais incapable of magic, he immediately unleashed his most powerful paralyzing poison.

 

By then, the Duke of Anais and Astel were enjoying a romantic getaway.

 

When Cornwall finally stood in front of Astel, all prepared, his gaze was shaken, and he was taken aback. 

 

Almost squealing with happiness. 

 

The time had finally come to snap the neck of his tasty prey, especially a girl who was suspected to be a member of Vietry’s family.

 

“The way that Duke of Anais is behaving is a bit suspicious, to say the least, so be careful…”

 

The Crown Prince’s warlock slammed his foot on the floor in front of him.

 

“Shut up.”

 

Cornwall clenched his gloved fists and glared at Astel.

 

‘The Duke of Anais’ power remains undiminished.’ 

 

Now that they had met, he had to get the girl away from the Duke of Anais’ protection. 

 

He plotted how to take Astel away and kill her. 

 

But unexpectedly, the girl stepped off the picnic mat on her own. 

 

The Duke of Anais grabbed Astel’s arm, but she managed to pry his hand away.

 

Cornwall squinted and glared at Astel.

 

“What, what are you up to?”

 

His gaze swept across Astel and the Duke of Anais. 

 

Duke Anais pressed his fingers to his temples, as if trying to focus on something.

 

His eyes flickered to Cornwall, and the paralyzing poison was already taking effect, though given the beast’s size, he expected it to take a bit longer.

 

Astel, now much closer, declared, “I, for one, know the reason for your bold appearance before me.”

 

Cornwall’s expression twisted. Astel whispered to him, looking calm.

 

“You’re a coward, so you must have something up your sleeve. Poison? You’re already twitching, aren’t you?”

 

“I have a bad feeling.”

 

He pointed at Astel, who had taken a step out of sight, and recited a series of spells before answering.

 

“Yes, that’s right. You’re dying, and so is that beast.”

 

Astel frowned and clutched at her hair, dazed, but the corners of her mouth still tugged at the edges.

 

“Dying is all there is to it?”

 

“…What?”

 

She seemed undaunted by the attack, mocking him, and Cornwall was infuriated beyond measure.

 

“Then kill me right now. Just as I would have killed you.”

 

It was an obvious taunt. Astel’s jaw tightened. 

 

Cornwall’s despicable gaze lingered briefly on the Duke of Anais once more. He stared piteously at the back of Astel’s head.

 

“No, Astel.”

 

Another interruption.

 

When Cornwall was silent, Astel turned to face the Duke of Anais and shook her head firmly.

 

“The Duke must survive.”

 

The Duke of Anais stared back at her with a weary look. 

 

But Astel simply smiled and shook her head a second time, then looked back at Cornwall. 

 

A mocking smile flashed across Cornwall’s face as he watched the somewhat pathetic figure.

 

‘Unlike the day my body died, it seems the Duke of Anais is helpless.’ 

 

Though his mind seemed to be growing increasingly clouded, unable to protect Astel, the Duke still held a hand to his forehead.

 

He’s a cunning fellow, so he may have something up his sleeve, but the way his eyes have gone languid…

 

‘They must both have been struck by the paralyzing poison.’

 

It’s a poison that would have brought down even a dragon, and it would have been even more potent against a beast that hadn’t been immunized beforehand.

 

Astel took another step forward, closer to Cornwall.

 

“Kill me, I want you to kill me and spare the Duke.”

 

“You’re willing to sacrifice yourself, is that what you mean?”

 

“Yes. Kill me, and give the Duke the antidote.”

 

At the mention of the antidote, Cornwall stared at her in delight, his mouth agape, but the prudish warlock the Crown Prince had assigned to his side hastened to intervene.

 

“Do not approach her, Lord Cornwall. It could be a trap. She looks suspicious and dangerous.”

 

But to Cornwall, Astel was too much of a coveted prey. 

 

He had lost his own life once, and if he could just kill her, all of Vietry would be gone.

 

How could he remain calm at this point?

 

Turning to Cornwall, whose eyes narrowed and whose body swayed with glee, Astel whispered sweetly.

 

“Just like when you killed all those people, the Count of Vietry.”

 

“Astel.”

 

The Duke of Anais’s voice, pleading with Astel, was not heard. 

 

To Cornwall now, her voice was like a Siren’s song, leading him to his doom.

 

“You can kill me now, what are you waiting for?”

 

He threw up his hands, shoving aside the warlocks who urged him on. He was never proficient with a sword, and he knew he’d be struck down if he tried.

 

Instead, he brought poison. Cornwall stepped in front of her and grabbed her by the throat. And then he shoved the poison into her mouth. 

 

To kill her instantly.

 

Surprisingly, it took only a second to take her breath away, the bluish poison he’d fed her smearing across her lips.

 

The Duke of Anais, now at his side, quickly struck Cornwall’s hand away, but the poison had already slipped into Astel’s mouth. 

 

As he watched the poison slip into her lips, he cheered.

 

It was his victory.

 

And at that moment.

 

“Now get out of here.”

 

With a quick snap of his hands, the Duke of Anais caught Astel’s falling body with a firm grip.

 

💫

 

Knox looked down at Astel in his arms. Her pale face… she looked like someone who was dying.

 

“Astel.”

 

“…Yeah.”

 

Before his eyes, he saw Astel dying. She wasn’t dripping blood, but her face was pale.

 

Holding Astel’s light body firmly in his arms, he watched her eyelashes flutter. 

 

The fluttering lashes, the thin lips, the pale cheeks devoid of color.

 

“So…”

 

He gasped, more urgently than the dying Astel.

 

“Yes, Astel.”

 

Astel’s lips were cut, bloodlessly and finely.

 

“My… words, remember.”

 

Astel’s eyelashes lowered, and she went still. 

 

Finally, she lifted her hand and stroked his hair affectionately, a thin smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

 

Even then, Knox remained frozen.

 

“Yes.”

 

As soon as she heard his answer, Astel’s eyes closed in peace.

 

Everything, even her breathing, stopped.

 

Knox brought a half-trembling hand to Astel’s heart.

 

Under his gentle touch, her heart stopped beating. The heart that used to beat like it ran every time he held her.

 

Not even a beat.

 

Knox gently grasped Astel’s cold hand, her brittle, slender wrist.

 

He felt no life in her cold body, no vitality in her wrist.

 

It was strange to feel her body, which had been so warm just a moment ago, grow cold…

 

Glancing down at Astel in his arms, Knox realized she was still.

 

For a long, long time, with a wistful, fierce gaze.

 

Time passed, as if the world had stopped, and no one’s presence was felt.

 

A few mournful minutes that might seem like an eternity.

 

Enemies still surrounded the Duke, but the warlocks dared not approach him.

 

They thought they had bound him tightly with binding magic and poison, but they carefully calculated that it might not be so.

 

They weren’t crazy like Cornwall.

 

For a moment, they released more poison into the air, trying to find an opening.

 

The dark-haired mage on the left, the one who had decided it was time to finish the Duke of Anais, made the first move.

 

But the Duke’s hand was quicker.

 

Holding Astel in his arms, he blocked the warlock’s attack with only one hand.

 

The man who tried to touch him fell to the muddy ground.

 

He stared at the fallen man indifferently, then muttered coldly, “I think it’s time for you to pay the price.”

 

Duke Anais spoke again after Astel’s body had been carefully placed on the picnic mat.

 

“You said you had released the poison.”

 

The warlocks exchanged puzzled glances.

 

For all intents and purposes, the Duke did not look like someone who had been poisoned.

 

‘So the Duke hasn’t been completely poisoned, then…’ 

 

Cornwall realized, but it didn’t matter if he was going to be decapitated by the Duke of Anais right now.

 

He was done with that wench.

 

After all, Cornwall’s life had long since been thrown away with the deaths of his wife and children.

 

But some foolish chieftains, whose lives were more precious to them, stumbled back.

 

Fortunately or not, some of them remained loyal.

 

One of the warlocks turned to Cornwall and whispered, “I think you should… avoid… the body…”

 

Cornwall shook his head. He wanted to take in a little more of this gratifying scene.

 

The way the Duke of Anais gritted his teeth, the way he looked so enraged that he could see the tendons in his jaw.

 

A maniacal laugh escaped Cornwall’s lips at the sight of his ferocity.

 

“Ahahah… Hahahaha!”

 

‘Look at that reaction. The wench was indeed dead!’

 

As the warlocks on his side flinched and moved away from him, Duke Anais slowly approached his side.

 

Still, he couldn’t stop his maniacal laughter.

 

Nothing mattered now. Everything had been accomplished.

 

“In the end, I killed her, I killed at last.”

 

What did it matter if he killed himself now?

 

Cornwall’s eyes lit up with glee and said, “I killed that Vietry wench, with my own hands.”

 

The warlocks at his side, still unaware of Astel’s identity, glanced in her direction, their gazes filled with a strange question.

 

“If she’s really a part of Vietry, I’m sure she knows how to use magic. I’ll have to check it out—”

 

“Of course, we’ll check.”

 

He glanced coldly down at the young warlock, then toward Astel.

 

There was no time for further conversation.

 

For the Duke of Anais had set Astel preciously down beside him and drawn his sword.

 

Cornwall didn’t miss the glint in the Duke of Anais’s eyes. He swallowed hard and stared into the Duke’s eyes.

 

Unbeknownst to the Duke of Anais, he had scattered an additional breath poison that specialized in killing beastmen.

 

Most of the beastmen fell to their knees in the face of the poison, their limbs twitching seizure-like.

 

As he waited for a reaction, Duke Anais staggered for a moment.

 

The beast would not die right then and there, but…

 

But perhaps he could deal him a fatal blow.

 

Cornwall’s body twitched with both impatience and anticipation.