Translator: Nox

While Others Became Female Leads In Romantic Fantasy Novels, I Became A Closet Monster

Chapter 5

I headed straight for the Grand Duchess’s wardrobe.

A woman’s voice drifted through the crack in the door.

“So you’re saying there’s nothing wrong with the anti-theft magic.”

“Yes, my lady. They say someone must have touched it to trigger the spell. Otherwise, there would be no reason for it to activate….”

Even after Gemma, her personal maid, finished speaking, the Grand Duchess remained silent for a long while.

Peering through the gap, I caught sight of the Grand Duchess and was struck with fresh admiration.

“Wow….”

She certainly looked exactly like Somerset. If there was a difference, it was the innate aura of dignity she exuded even while just sitting still.

Her posture as she elegantly held her teacup was perfectly composed.

Despite Gemma’s report that the necklace had been acting up of its own accord, not a single muscle in her face twitched.

Without a hint of disarray, the Grand Duchess set her teacup down soundlessly.

“And we don’t know who that ‘someone’ is?”

“No, my lady. They say it’s impossible to tell.”

“After all that posturing, it seems mages aren’t much use either. They haven’t discovered a single thing.”

Silence fell following those words.

The Grand Duchess’s gaze sank low as she slowly traced the rim of her teacup.

Inside the wardrobe, I clasped my hands together and prayed.

‘Please, please, just deactivate the anti-theft magic already, please!’

The Grand Duchess’s calm voice finally broke the heavy silence.

“What is Dedrick doing?”

“The youngest young master is as he always is. He stays holed up in his room to study and doesn’t come out except for his walks.”

“Is there any possibility that child is the culprit?”

“No, of course not.”

The Grand Duchess let out a self-mocking laugh, as if she’d said something foolish.

“Deactivate the anti-theft magic. I can’t live with all that noise.”

“Yes, my lady.”

“Finally!”

I let out a loud cheer without thinking.

I was just quietly slipping out of the wardrobe to follow Gemma as she left with the necklace when the door burst open.

A maid, pale as a ghost, rushed in.

“M-Madam… His Grace the Grand Duke is…!”

Before the maid could even finish, heavy footsteps echoed through the hallway and into the room.

Thud, thud….

At the sound, the maids in the room swallowed hard.

Though they all lived in the Grand Duke’s Castle together, the Grand Duke was a man so elusive that it was difficult for anyone outside his inner circle to catch a glimpse of him.

‘That goes for me, too.’

I hadn’t expected to see the Grand Duke like this….

The door opened slowly, and a massive man entered.

The man had a deep gaze and jet-black hair neatly slicked back—the exact same shade as Dedrick’s.

His cold, sunken eyes swept across the Grand Duchess’s room.

At the crushing silence and the overwhelming pressure that radiated from his mere presence, I instinctively pulled my neck in like a turtle and backed away.

“……?”

For a fleeting second, I had the illusion that the Grand Duke’s eyes met mine.

After a moment’s hesitation, I asked softly.

“…Um, can you see me?”

Instead of an answer, those indifferent eyes—the kind that made a person’s blood run cold—looked down at the Grand Duchess as if nothing had happened.

‘Was it my imagination?’

As I cautiously approached him, Delaney stood up, feigning composure.

She crinkled her fine eyes and welcomed him.

“Welcome back, dear.”

The Grand Duke did not return the greeting.

At the blatant snub, the Grand Duchess clasped her hands together to hide their trembling.

Meanwhile, my eyes sparkled.

‘Now’s the chance!’

I never imagined the Grand Duke would actually show up.

Delaney signaled the maid with her eyes. She was telling her to hurry out with the necklace.

If lightning struck again here, the Grand Duke would find out about the necklace’s existence.

She couldn’t let him know.

Why?

The Grand Duke rarely spoke up if something wasn’t right in front of his eyes. But if he saw it, the story changed.

There was a time when such a thing had happened.

The Grand Duchess had continuously looked down on Dedrick’s mother, and unable to bear the insults any longer, he had confessed the truth to the Grand Duke.

However, the Grand Duke had responded to the young Dedrick with chilling coldness.

‘Bring me evidence. I only believe what I can see.’

That was what he said.

And then he added:

‘Even if that evidence is fabricated.’

He always believed that only visible evidence could resolve anything.

He was obsessed with it to a pathological degree.

Perhaps he had a history of being framed because of a lack of evidence.

In short, his attitude was that as long as his eyes could be deceived, he didn’t care if the evidence was faked.

It meant that if it was visible to him, he was willing to act.

So, I decided to use this.

‘Visible evidence!’

I stepped in front of the maid and touched the necklace without hesitation.

As always, lightning surged through my body.

The Grand Duke’s gaze fixed precisely on the necklace.

The Grand Duchess called out to him urgently, but the Grand Duke had already used his long legs to block Gemma’s path as she tried to hurry out.

“D-Dear!”

Maybe it was because I’d been hit so many times. I didn’t faint, and I wasn’t forcibly summoned back.

It seemed the forced summons only happened when I was so badly injured that I couldn’t move.

Likely to force a recovery.

‘As long as the wardrobe is intact, I don’t have to worry about dying.’

“Cough….”

Struck by the lightning, I coughed and exhaled a puff of black smoke into the air.

“Eek!”

The maid gasped in fright as black smoke appeared in empty space, but the Grand Duke didn’t even look her way as he picked up the necklace.

“I thought all the mementos were returned to Dedrick.”

The Grand Duke’s aura turned ominous. Everyone in the room trembled in fear.

I was no different. Even though I didn’t want to, my body shook at the murderous intent I was feeling for the first time in my life.

In that moment, strangely, I felt the bloodlust subside slightly.

“I look forward to seeing what kind of excuse you’ll come up with this time.”

Delaney, stiffening at his ice-cold voice, soon clasped her hands and tilted her chin up rigidly.

“Yes, that necklace is indeed one of Amelia’s mementos.”

She didn’t bother to hide it.

As if she had never been flustered, she wore a smile on her face and answered casually.

“It’s a necklace we found late. I was planning to send it over, but you just happened to see it.”

“What is the spell placed on this necklace?”

Come to think of it, the Grand Duke hadn’t been struck by lightning even though he touched the necklace.

He was holding it now and was perfectly fine.

“As expected of the Grand Duke of Blackwood….”

I got blasted so hard, though….

Marveling at this, I hovered around him.

“It’s a spell I had placed on it in case it was stolen.”

“Is there a need to go that far?”

“Because it is a precious item belonging to Dedrick.”

Delaney surely had a snake living in her mouth.

The lies flowed so smoothly it was almost admirable.

“Then this magic shouldn’t work on Dedrick.”

Even though he had hit the mark, Delaney answered calmly.

“……That’s because Dedrick needs to be present. We only just found it, so I was planning to have the spell reapplied so that no one but that child can touch it.”

In the heavy silence, I saw Delaney bite her dry lip slightly under the Grand Duke’s frigid gaze.

The Grand Duke looked down at her and remarked indifferently.

“You certainly know how to slip away.”

“If there are any remaining mementos, bring them all. I’ll let this slide in exchange for that.”

He was saying he would overlook it despite knowing the truth.

Honestly, it was a bit disappointing, but it was understandable.

In this situation, instead of cornering Delaney by questioning her on every detail, it was definitely a better choice to retrieve the mementos and give them to Dedrick.

If Delaney set her mind to hiding them, even the Grand Duke might not be able to find them.

He could threaten her with force, but she was the Grand Duchess. The Grand Duke gave Delaney the basic respect due to his wife.

However, she didn’t budge from her spot.

The Grand Duke gripped the necklace tightly.

A small magic circle engraved with a formula rose above the necklace, then promptly cracked and vanished.

“Oh….”

He can do that too?

Just as I was about to stand on my tiptoes to cautiously touch the necklace, his hand holding it lowered slightly.

As if he were adjusting it specifically for me.

This was the second time he’d acted as if he already knew I was there.

I scanned him with suspicious eyes.

“…You can really see me, can’t you?”