I Didn’t Tame The Beastly Duke! - Chapter 2

Marquis Montague rounded Celia as soon as she came out of the hallway, clutching her arms.

“I know you care about Lily.”

Celia gave Lily all of her belongings before she committed suicide. Then, Celia whispered to her to flee when she had the opportunity. Celia wouldn’t have known Leonis Cardian was coming to the Marquis if she had died.

“If you want to save her, you’d better stay calm until you’re married!”

Celia stared blankly as she heard the words her father whispered into her ear.

She would have said, ‘Lily is my father’s daughter too!’ but today she seemed more distant. Marquis Montague wondered whether it was a side effect of the poison, but he didn’t pursue the matter any further. Celia’s role was to hold out until the wedding was over.

After that, Duke Cardian is solely to blame. Marquis Montague’s responsibility ends there. Above all, this marriage was forced to be held by Duke Cardian… If you try to hold them accountable later, you won’t be able to.

Marquis Montague accompanied Celia into the carriage. She had a haunted look on her face.

‘I can’t believe I’m Celia!’

Unlike what is widely known by the public, Leonis didn’t fall in love with Celia at first sight. It was because his madness subsided when he was around her.

It appears that the power has been passed down mainly to the women of Montague. It was a power that only Celia and Lily possessed. If Arthur Montague had realized he possessed such a power, Leonis would have paid him a visit and confirmed that his daughters possessed the same power.

‘Tonight for now… I can get through it without a hitch.’

Because there was a scene in the original story where Leonis, who had heard the report about Celia’s suicide, was unable to move immediately. It occured after a large colony of monsters was discovered in the duchy, and the monsters poured out because the soldiers touched them hastily. It was something they could do even after they put the blame on Montague.

Leonis was unable to enter Montague’s mansion right away, as he went to suppress the monsters. She doesn’t remember how long it took, but it seemed to be longer than a week.

Instead of running away like Celia advised, Lily decided to pay a visit to Fabian. Lily asked why he had sent such a letter at the end of the day.

When Fabian explained that Leonis was the cause behind all of this, Lily believed him immediately and decided to get revenge on Leonis for Celia.

‘I think I can buy some time for the time being, so let’s think about it afterwards. To return to the original, Lily must marry Leonis….’

Unless Leonis killed himself due to Lily’s personality, it was unlikely that she would marry him. After a moment of contemplation, Celia shook her head.

‘I don’t care what happens with the original! I don’t have time to worry about anyone else.’

‘Am I really dead? Did I die and possess this body?’

‘It felt good to be alive again, and I didn’t want to die, but why did it begin by marrying a waste man?’

She doesn’t think Leonis will kill her as long as Celia has the power.….

‘This, rated 19!’

Celia screamed silently, recalling Leonis’s night technique as the master of the perfect match.

✦ ✦ ✦

The bride was transported by Duke Cardian’s carriage, but Marquis Montague and the others also used the carriage to attend the wedding.

Marchioness Montague refused to attend the wedding on the pretext of headaches until the end, but reluctantly got into the carriage because of Marquis Montague’s anger.  The only person that failed to attend the ceremony was Lily, the Marquis’s flaw and the ugly duckling.

Celia’s personal maid, Phoebe, stayed in the Marquis’s mansion because Duke Cardian did not allow them to bring anyone other than the bride’s immediate relatives.

Phoebe opened the door of the warehouse, where Lily was secretly trapped, as it was a command that Celia had given to Phoebe before she committed suicide. Lily, who had been trapped without a sip of water all night, noticed the door was open and sneaked out quietly.

Lily silently left the warehouse when she saw Celia’s maid, Phoebe, leaving.

‘You cared about me until the very end.’

The day before she attempted suicide, Celia gave Lily a lot of money, as well as her own wealth. It was to allow Lily to escape the Marquis’s place and live on her own.

Celia gave her a letter that proved Celia had given it to Lily, even if she had been caught with it.

The Marquis was cluttered with Celia’s suicide attempt in preparation for the wedding. Climbing to the attic of her room was not difficult. The stairs to the attic, where Lily’s room was, were arranged for people to go in and out during the night when the servants were resting.

`Will you be able to stay there well?’

She was worried. Yesterday, the letter arrived from that bastard Fabian, and she knew he had betrayed her, so the emotion would have been unspeakably disastrous.

Lily was concerned but Celia told her that she was fine, and to just get out of the Marquis’s place and live well.

‘Now that it’s not too late, why don’t unnie and I run away together?’

Lily, who had been locked up for the entire day, had not heard of Celia’s suicide attempt. It was because no one told her and no one was near the warehouse. Even now, she is avoiding the eyes of the servants, so she can’t hear them talking.

“Lily, don’t mind me and find your happiness.” Celia whispered to Lily with a pale complexion.

He was Duke Leonis Cardian, dubbed the Duke of the Beasts by the monsters, although she might be better off by his side than living a life wandering about.

Celia was the Marquis’s precious child. Lily, on the other hand, was treated like a maid by the Marquis and was abused. The Marquis had always stated that as soon as Lily came of age, he would sell her to a sick and filthy old man. Lily had no choice but to flee before her coming of age, which was just a few months away.

‘Sister… I’m sorry I couldn’t be of help.’

Lily dressed up as a man and packed her belongings and the clothes she had prepared ahead of time. She exited the Marquis’s garden through the open hole she normally passed through, leaving the house without making a sound.

How’s Celia doing now? She was worried, but she believed Celia would get along with anyone because she was a sweet and friendly person. Perhaps…. Leonis Cardian was a good man, contrary to rumors, and he might make Celia happy.

Rumors are just rumors anyway.

Lily hurried out of the street where Marquis Montague was. She’d first go to the market and buy a horse, then ride out of the city and flee. To a place far beyond Marquis Montague’s reach.

✦ ✦ ✦

Leonis clicked his tongue at the information he received from the spy planted in the Marquis’s estate.

Taking poisons and attempting suicide was a blind spot. He was thinking of the number of times when the Marquis didn’t want to send her away, or the possibility of Celia running away with her lover.

“I didn’t expect she would take poison.”

He didn’t want to take her as a concubine but as a duchess. He didn’t anticipate her resistance would be this adamant. Although she had a good relationship with her ex-fiancé, she was a young girl from a noble family. He thought that the appearance of falling in love was just an illusion.

‘I don’t know if it’s naivety or stupidity.’

If he had known that Celia was that type of person, he reckoned he would have approached her and seduced her by himself. Well, there is the curse problem, so if they had met, he might have hated it more.

The curse of blood.

It was a curse that would cause madness if it didn’t take a living thing’s life for a day. It is said that when the madness occurs, it will slaughter all living things in its vicinity until the madness subsides.

Leonis was never driven by madness since he always had something to kill, but his father had missed the timing once. Fortunately, Duchess Cardian escaped from the mansion and saved her life, but most of the remaining employees in the duchy did not.

After that, the Duchess became extremely afraid of her husband. She had to live in fear of his madness for the rest of her life.

Leonis, who had been told from birth that he would inherit the curse, deeply despised the Imperial Family for it. Duke Cardian only put up with it on behalf of the Emperor because he was related to the Imperial Family.

He found it disgusting that the curse had been placed on such a subject, but they forced him to marry and have a child out of fear that the curse would return to the Imperial Family.

‘…Celia Montague has a clue to solve the curse.’

Even if he committed to slaughter once a day, Leonis was aware of the presence of madness within him. The curse had just sunk under his subconscious and remained with him throughout his life. If he wasn’t a strong-minded man, he would have been consumed by the curse and become a mad killer.

There was a moment when the madness that always bothered him calmed down for the first time.

It happened when Celia Montague passed by him. Exactly when she hit him on the shoulder at a ball he attended while hiding his identity.

‘I have never felt anything from Marquis Montague or the Marchioness, so it may not have been a power that was passed down through the bloodline.’

Leonis had not met Lily yet, but he was so determined that his choice would not have changed even if he had known her. Celia was the daughter of Marquis Montague’s wife and Lily was the illegitimate child.

If Celia’s mind had been stronger, she could have made a different choice. However, he now thought Celia was the only one to lift the curse. He was preoccupied with how to convince Celia, who is on the verge of committing suicide.

Leonis was also aware about the letter that Fabian had sent. Along with the fact that the emperor threatened Fabian and made him act in such a manner.

‘…She was betrayed by her fiancé and killed herself impulsively.’

He was angry at the situation where he pushed a woman to consume poison because she didn’t want Leonis. To some extent, it was self-inflicted.

‘Celia Montague……. I don’t know how to treat you.’

Leonis frowned, irritated.