Free Web NovelChapter 25: The passionless Duke
The System had no choice but to wait just a little longer, monitoring Cain as he slowly woke up from his deep slumber.
This was a good thing for it.
That violent mental conflict had completely depleted its energy, and it was in dire need of the Host to recharge its lost power through their spiritual link.
As the particles of that energy flowed back into the System’s cells, it immediately utilized them with computational speed to process and stabilize the memory world track, mending the fractures it had left behind... restoring everything in Cain’s memories to exactly how it used to be, so as not to leave any trace of the falsification process.
In contrast, Cain’s head was aching intensely, and he felt a sharp pressure within the folds of his mind as a result of the distortion battle and the spiritual clash that had raged in his subconscious. However, things began to become clearer and more balanced just moments after he regained full consciousness, and he directed his sincere gratitude to the System for saving his life from the clutches of certain death.
The System then looked at Lucy, who had already returned to the appearance of "Maxi." She was standing close to them with a smile gracing her face, telling Cain in a calm, artificial tone that what he felt in his jaw and body was nothing more than passing muscle spasms... even though she was the very one who had used her mouth with utter greed to cause him all that pain and shortness of breath!
The System stood completely powerless to comprehend these complex human contradictions. It thought for a moment about informing its Host of everything Lucy had done to him while he was unconscious, but it backed down... it didn’t fully understand the nature or the purpose of this matter itself.
Things had become too complex and intertwined for the machine, even after it had thought for a prior moment that it had found the final answers and understood its Host’s nature... only to realize now that the human world around it was far more complex than any logical algorithm.
Although the System was also designed to learn and evolve, these emotions and motives seemed mysterious and exclusive to human nature alone. Even if it attempted to analyze them with its strict logical programming, the result would be nothing more than a ridiculous, meaningless joke.
Presently, Cain stood inside the palace, gazing at his daughter Amelia, who had just returned after being away the entire day accompanied by the servants and guards outside. Cain stared at her and smiled, saying in a fatherly tone.
"How are things?.. Huh.. Did you make any new friends today?.."
But Amelia looked as though she had absolutely no desire to speak with him; she went completely silent, her gaze drifting as if she couldn’t find the appropriate words or the proper letters to reply to his question.
She moved slowly, utterly unconcerned with his words, walking with her tiny steps until she reached the side of Lucy, who was disguised as Maxi. Lucy, too, had just sneaked into the palace from the rear beach side, from the exact same spot Cain had entered a short while ago.
When Amelia looked at her mother, who was still adopting the appearance of the maid Maxi, a deep sense of disappointment crept into her tiny chest.
For Amelia, who had spent her entire day outside executing her father’s orders, she had thought that her parents would finally exploit this time to discuss their affairs and clear the air between them, and that each of them would eventually realize they loved the other deeply.
She thought that not grumbling as a child and remaining quiet all day—despite her legitimate right to grumble—was her way of contributing to support them; contribute even if it is with your silence!
Her father had ordered her and all the servants to leave today after the incident that destroyed the palace... and after rebuilding the palace anew, only he and her mother remained alone in the mansion.
Thus, she had constructed in her imagination a classic dramatic scenario of the genre:
"The Grand Duke clears the entire house for us alone..." And of course... and most definitely... no man clears the space around him unless he is planning to do something highly naughty and playful!
Something highly obscene and bold, of which the Great Empress of the Star Empire knew nothing in her past life except for what used to be sold in those highly confidential booklets that were forbidden to her since childhood, but which she had managed to explore and read in secret. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
The most obscene and bold thing in history according to her tiny mind... A kiss on the forehead!
Surely her father, the Duke, wanted to do that. He wanted to exploit everyone’s absence and be alone with her mother behind the rocks in the sea, so they could look at each other in warm moments of tenderness, and then the images would suddenly cut to a black screen or sea corals would appear, for each of them to return happy and smiling in the next Chapter of the novel! This was the fixed scenario repeated in most of the romantic manga she had read.
Amelia never understood the true significance of these black screens; when those emotional scenes occurred and the two leads looked at each other, the manga would block the view and settle for displaying a dark, black page, after which the characters would begin spouting highly strange and incomprehensible phrases within that darkness, such as
"Ah... Ah... You are so cruel to me..."
"Shall we do it again?.. I really loved your strength and tyranny.."
"Heh... I will never be submissive to you, I am the one who will control and lead you this time..."
She stood completely helpless before understanding what happened behind that black screen in romance stories, despite being a voracious reader and an addict of this type of novels and manga booklets.
But now, after she returned and saw that nothing had changed in reality, and that her mother Lucy hadn’t even bothered to return to her original form before him, but was still disguised in the simple maid’s attire... she felt an indescribable disappointment. She thought the entire matter was nothing more than a story plot of the type: "The highly powerful Duke wanted to do something romantic, but he realized at the last moment that age had betrayed him and he had lost his passion!"
Therefore, expressing her frustration, Amelia completely ignored her father Cain and didn’t answer him. Then, she turned toward her disguised mother, saying to herself helplessly that none of this mattered anymore, and that the top priority was to check on her mother’s physical health first and see what had become of her.
"Madam Maxi, are you alright?.. Do you feel unwell?"
Lucy gently placed her hands on her daughter’s head and caressed the strands of her hair, smiling at her with a warm, feigned tenderness that suited her role as a mere maid in front of the other servants.
"No... thank you to the Young Lady for asking. This attendant highly appreciates it..."
Amelia nodded her tiny head; she didn’t know how to console her mother or what she ought to say in such a situation. But in the end, after all those stormy events and disturbances that occurred yesterday, she just wanted to ensure her mother’s safety and be closer to her.
Meanwhile, Cain stood watching this silent scene between the mother and her daughter, remaining in his place without uttering a single word or intervening in the conversation. However, after seeing this harmony and calmness prevailing in the atmosphere between them, he decided to leave and step away to grant them their own space, heading toward his distant suite deep within the palace.
This day had been extremely long, exhausting, and filled with dangers that almost claimed his life. Cain simply turned around and began walking calmly through the vast corridors of the palace, placing his hands behind his back as was his habit.
He was in desperate need of recharging his depleted magical and mental strength. It seemed that the System had somehow, miraculously, managed to make Lucy distance herself and back away, which made him wonder in confusion within himself about the nature of the things and threats the System had uttered inside her consciousness.
He wished with all his heart that the System hadn’t made any mistake or said something that might turn against him in the future. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
Cain communicated internally with his mind and said
"System... what exactly happened? And is Lucy really going to be dormant now and show no hostility toward me for a long time, just as I requested from you?"
The System’s mechanical voice echoed within the folds of his mind, answering with a flimsy confidence behind which it hid all its prior panic and helplessness:
{As the Host commanded this System... this System has completely protected the Host within her consciousness. I have fully exonerated the Host before her... and demonstrated to her, through modifying the memory track, that compelling circumstances and the effect of the wine were what prevented you from staying with her in the past, and that the matter was not in the Host’s hands.}
Cain exhaled a sigh of relief, feeling immense happiness and peace of mind upon hearing this response. For through this strategic method, his slate was completely wiped clean before Lucy’s obsession... and she wouldn’t attempt to do anything crazy or reckless against his life ever again—at least until he regained his full strength and reached the Truth Realm once more to be capable of protecting himself.
Finally, Cain was able to release a long-awaited, deep sigh of relief as he continued his walk, venturing deeper into the dark corridors.
Meanwhile, Lucy and Amelia’s gazes met as they watched Cain’s body distance itself and depart from them with his weary back, until he disappeared behind the turn.
Dark thoughts filled with vows of vengeance against the hidden entity swirled inside Lucy’s mind: ’Surely this despicable entity is the one who deceived him and forced him to stay away from us right now just so I would feel distress and pain... Cain is nothing but a victim, and those higher forces are manipulating him for the sake of their protagonist.’
As for Amelia, she tilted her head while looking at her father’s heavy footsteps and analyzed the situation in her own special way
’It seems the powerful Duke is feeling immense distress and frustration after the failure of his obscene romantic plot today... If I go right now, console him, and ease his burden, won’t I be a good and dutiful daughter to her father?.. And who knows, maybe I can exploit the situation to obtain one of those powerful, rare magical artifacts from him as my reward!’
