The Devilish Duke Can't Sleep

Proofreader: somnium

Of course, Kahel had Calia around his neck and his devilish power was tightly suppressed. However, it wasn’t just the devilish element that made him attractive. Even if he hadn’t had the devilish power, he was already the most beautiful creature in the Logos. Moreover, even at a very young age, he led the family without being beaten by Duke Leonard of House Santella, and he had great charisma.

Miliana fell in love with Kahel helplessly. For a young lady who had never felt lacking in her life, and had never had something that she wanted, Kahel gave her a drug-like thirst. Since then, Miliana has suffered from a mental illness. She would go wherever Kahel appeared, and harass her parents for access to him.

Viscount Horace, a noble of the Santella family, did his best to control his daughter that was hanging on to none other than the Duke of Luave. But the power of love far exceeded the expectations of Viscount Horace. Miliana protested against him for a week, abstaining from food and drink to get access to Kahel. There is no parent who can beat their children, and Viscount Horace eventually submitted an interview request to Kahel Luave.

But that was the decisive mistake of Viscount Horace. When Miliana, who had already fallen in love with Kahel and her energy was weakened by fasting for more than a week, stood right in front of Kahel, she was completely enchanted by his devilish power that gently spread from him.

Miliana wanted to win Kahel more frantically than she had before. But there was no way for a Viscount’s daughter to make the Duke of Luave her own, and in the end, Miliana risked her life.

She wants to be his lover, so she wants him to accept her love, and she calls him to the ‘Temple of Erne’, adding that she will die while hanging on to Kahel’s carriage.

The Temple of Erne was a temple where men and women swore their love. It was a temple with a legend that if a couple was formed there, they would love each other forever, and it was also a temple with a high bell tower.

But Kahel Luave didn’t mind her threats at all. Because there wasn’t just one or two people who made threats like that. But what made Miliana Horace different from the others, was that she really chose death when she wasn’t chosen by Kahel.

Viscount Horace, who had been scouring Ardennes all day in search of the missing Miliana, found her body at around 5 am when the priest of the Temple of Erne rushed in.

Viscount Horace did not understand why Miliana had committed suicide and he held her funeral in great sorrow. And it wasn’t until he found her diary in the desk drawer while cleaning her room that he knew why Miliana was at the temple and why she had committed suicide.

Viscount Horace ferociously resented the Duke of Luave.

“Even if he didn’t accept the child’s love, he could have gone and comforted her just once! He turned away from the child who was willing to give up her life! He’s not even human!”

Everyone else comforted Viscount Horace who was in a desperately boiling resentment.

“It must have been heartbreaking for you to lose your daughter.”

“That’s right. Considering her parents, the lady shouldn’t have been like that.”

Baron Fidelia shook his head in disappointment. Frankly, they couldn’t really understand Miliana, who gave her life just for love. Because they had never seen Kahel Luave before. In that regard, Viscount Delroins had a deeper understanding.

“He’s beautiful enough to make you lose your mind. But shouldn’t everything be in moderation? Excessively beautiful things are more like poison. In any case, it would be better for Kahel Luave to be imprisoned in that mansion, so that no one is swayed by his poison like Lady Horace. It would be better if he died.”

And Viscount Delroins sent Viscount Horace a check for 3 million luans to be used to support the “anti-Duke of Luave” nobility. So he wrote down his signature carefully.

* * *

“Viscount Horace and Viscount Delroins moved.”

At Gerard’s report, Kahel raised his eyebrows slightly.

“Viscount Horace?”

“Yes. Viscount Horace was a nobleman of Ardennes who was associated with Viscount Delroins. It was probably motivated by an incident involving his daughter. It is suspected that the Duke of Santella may have been hiding behind it, but there is no clear evidence.”

But Kahel still had a look on his face that said he didn’t understand.

“What does that mean? His daughter?”

“There was a lot of buzz for a while, don’t you remember? Miliana Horace, that Lady. After confessing her love to Your Excellency, she jumped from the temple of Erne…….”

Gerard looked at Kahel with sullen eyes, as if he were asking to at least remember by this point.

“Aahh! That reckless girl!”

In the end, Kahel seemed to have remembered Miliana, but there seemed to be no further impression.

“I thought the Marquis of Rognac would come first…… What the hell was Viscount Horace in such a hurry for?”

“Marquis of Rognac is also moving, but Viscount Horace was more daring. It is said that his love for his daughter was great, and his eyes were turned over by the desire for revenge against Your Excellency. Viscount Delroins seems to welcome Viscount Horace’s actions with open arms.”

“Tsk tsk. Mistakes happen when you move fast. It’s just that the Viscounts who want to deal with the Duchy of Luave are so sloppy…….”

“Even Viscount Delroins must have wanted to return to Ardennes as soon as possible.”

The place where Viscount Delroins was driven out to was in the countryside of Kerouac. Although it was close to Ardennes, it was a region with a small population and no decent nobles, so it would have been cramped for Viscount Delroins who was accustomed to a splendid and wealthy life in Ardennes.

If he had been a bit wiser, he wouldn’t have been so arrogant at this point. It hasn’t been long after he was kicked out. No, he wouldn’t have done anything to get himself kicked out in the first place. In the end, he was just a money maker and not a very smart guy.

Either way, it wasn’t bad for Kahel. Whether it’s Viscount Horace or Viscount Delroins, he has to get things done quickly so he can get rid of them quickly.

“I don’t want to wait long.”

“Probably within a month we can weave up the rats.”

“’Rats……”

“It appears that some of the lesser nobles of Kerouac and a few honorary titled knights have joined Viscount Delroins.”

“Haa. How pathetic.”

Kahel shook his head and smiled when he saw the top of the letter brought by the butler.

“I think the Marquis of Rognac also started moving?”

In his hand was a high-quality letter envelope with a subtle luster. The signature ‘Luahalla Rognac’ was written on the outside in flowing handwriting. There was a hint of dissatisfaction in Gerard’s gaze when he saw it, but Kahel didn’t pay much attention to it. The help of the Marquis of Rognac was absolutely necessary in the business of the Hildebrunn Kingdom in the future.

He opened the envelope and unfolded the letter inside. It was circling with words of noble metaphors and all sorts of expressions that exalted Kahel, but in the end, if he had to condense the content, it would be:

‘I can’t forget your eyes that looked at me that day. What the hell did that mean?’

“What the hell did that mean…….”

It meant that Marquis Luahalla Rognac, a diplomat of the Hildebrunn Kingdom and a popular man in the social circles of the Logos Kingdom, had fallen into the hands of Duke Kahel Luave.

Everything unfolded on Kahel’s palm. In addition to possessing extraordinary magical power, Kahel, who had risen from an early age, received succession lessons from his father from an early age, and he always achieved achievements far beyond his age.

However, even such extraordinariness did not reveal everything about him. From the time he inherited the Duchy, he aggressively raised the power of the Duchy of Luave and the black faction as if unleashing the power he had suppressed.

Even the members of black faction, who were initially dissatisfied with the orders from Kahel, had no choice but to lie flat when they saw that most things were going according to Kahel’s expectations. For Kahel, everything was so obvious that he was rather happy when the enemy attacked him unexpectedly.

A few days later, he received the news he had been waiting for from Gerard.

“The bombs installed in the bloodstone mines were safely removed, but they buried a larger amount than expected. If all went according to their plan, the mine would have disappeared altogether.”

“I’m sure you must have investigated all of mine rangers and guards?”

“We have already selected those to punish.”

“Then, that’s it. But why do you look so upset?”

“That…… The bombs weren’t just planted in the mines.”

“Well? Where else is it?”

“It was also installed on two of the Duchy’s carriages.”

At that, Kahel opened his eyes wide as if in surprise, and then burst into laughter.

“Hahaha! Did they try to assassinate me? As expected, even if you always check everything, unexpected things happen. It’s fun.”

It was the reaction of someone who had heard a joke. However, in Logos Kingdom, an attempt to assassinate a duke was a felony that would not be sufficiently punished even if the culprit was immediately executed. It was obvious, not just symbolic, that the Duke supported Logos, and if there was a sudden void, the damage had to be borne by the kingdom.

Gerard looked at the smiling Kahel with a nervous expression.

“What are you going to do?”

The attack from Viscount Delroins and Viscount Horace was something they had been waiting for, so there was nothing to be surprised or angry about. But what they were hoping to see went a little wrong. As with the attack on the Duchy, the assassination attempt on the duke himself should not be left unattended.

“You have to clean it all up.”

“Viscount Horace has a connection with the white faction nobility, so it would be difficult to deal with him directly. What should I do?”

“Let’s have a formal trial. I will not punish him any more than a consolation payment, in consideration for his deceased daughter.”

In Kahel’s hand was all the information that Viscount Horace and Viscount Delroins had moved. The odds of Viscount Horace winning the trial were less than the odds of his daughter coming back alive. And the outcome of the trial will probably be at a compensation level that Viscounty Horace will never be able to recover from again.

However, Gerard realized that Kahel was letting Viscount Horace slide. As he himself had said, if Kahel was going to take a real revenge, they wouldn’t have ended up with just compensation.

“But Viscount Delroins will have to see me after the trial.”

Yes. Although Viscount Delroins had a connection with the black faction, Kahel had no intention of paying any leniency to Viscount Delroins who tried to attack him.

Note: 

In case you might forget, the woman in Chapter 1 is this Miliana Horace!