The Devilish Duke Can’t Sleep

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You will regret it

Liddell was not at all surprised, although from Fabian’s mouth came a destination that no one in the Royal Family should have known because it had not been announced in advance.

“Yes, it is.
Your Majesty is always watching over everyone.”

It was clear that she was being sarcastic, but at first glance, she had a kind tone.
Fabian’s eyes grew more fierce.

“What is the purpose of not reporting to the Royal Family while planning to use force abroad?”

“Oh! That’s a misunderstanding, Your Majesty.
My father just went to get things related to the business of the family.
So, he didn’t report it to the Royal Family.
Except for Father’s escort, the knights of Santella did not move at all.
You may release the Royal Guard and check it out.”

“If only one Duke Santella can annihilate an army of knights, is that an excuse now?”

“Then it is nothing more than saying that whenever a blood relative of the Santella family or the Luave family goes abroad, they must report to the Royal Family.
Do you intend to leash the two Dukes?”

It was an obvious provocation.
It was obvious that Liddell would come out like this.

“Where is the evidence that Father will use force, Your Majesty?”

“Do you think that I do not know that you are about to attack the Sage’s Village?”

“You are misunderstood.
We only intend to trade goods necessary for our business in cooperation with the Hildebrunn Royal Family.
About attacking the Sage’s Village, I don’t know where you’ve heard of that.
On the contrary, it is highly doubtful that the messenger had any impure intentions, Your Majesty.”

The Sage’s Village will be in ruins due to a ‘sudden’ swarm of monsters.
Evidence of the Santella family’s involvement was nowhere to be found.
It must have been Kahel who told the story, and although she wondered how he knew this, she wasn’t afraid.

Liddell even pushed Fabian’s most sore spot.

“If Your Majesty is sincerely worried, please make me submit with your power.
If Your Majesty is offended enough to use your powers, I will gladly contact him to return.”

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Fabian’s complexion became pale, and Liddell’s smile brightened just that much.
Fabian’s remaining power now, far from subjugating Liddell, even delaying her extinction for more than a year, was in a state of jeopardy.
After a moment of silence, Liddell smiled as if she knew.

“Seeing that you are not using your powers, Your Majesty’s words may not be meant to be sincere.
After all, business-related outings are also permitted by national law.
So now that the misunderstanding seems to have been resolved, can I leave?”

It was quite rude for a subject to request to leave the Palace first.
But Liddell didn’t even want to show that kind of courtesy anymore.
The emotion in her blue eyes was clearly contempt.

“You will regret it, Lady.”

“Me? Do I have any regrets, Your Majesty? As a foolish subject, I do not understand Your Majesty’s words very well.
Ah! I’m going to keep quiet about what happened here today.
It happened due to a simple misunderstanding, but I think it might be seen by some people that Your Majesty’s power has run out.”

Fabian clenched her teeth while looking at Liddell who disgraced her until the end.

“Just go back, Lady Santella.”

Liddell bowed her head in perfect manners, as she did when she first came in, and left.
Even her excessive manners seemed to be mocking Fabian, so Fabian clenched her fists and trembled.

‘It won’t work out the way you guys want it to.’

Fabian was firmly determined that she would never let Liddell marry the first prince, even if she had to raise the granddaughter of Marquis Ravel to the throne.

But Liddell, who was grinning in the carriage going back to her house, also guessed that the Queen must have felt that way.
She’s got the appearance that she’s going to die of hatred, so she won’t be willing to marry her son to Liddell.

But Liddell was relaxed.

‘I’ll let you know clearly that you’re just a puppet anyway.’

Liddell knew well that a Queen without her powers was bound to be swayed by the opinions of the nobility councils and the temples.
The Luave family was a headache, if something happened that they could not do anything about, the opinion that an ordinary nobleman, who had no power, was to be crowned Queen would be heard easily.

Liddell smiled pleasantly as she imagined the Queen bringing her crown to herself.

* * *

“Dilly! Is the brazier ready?”

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“Five braziers with magic stones are ready!”

“Master! What about the golems?”

“I prepared five giant golems and twenty medium-sized golems.
Don’t crush them all.”

“Thank you.
Laurin! Is the raid ready?”

“There are twenty-five in total.
I put magic stones on the body, but I don’t know if the attack will work.”

“It will be fine.
Karazhan! What is the evacuation situation for residents?”

“Children and the elderly, the common people and the sick, and a few people who will protect them have been evacuated to a secret cave underground.
However, there is no way the monsters that respond to magic cannot find them.”

“We have to stop them before they find them.”

Hersh prepared for a fight and looked anxiously towards the thorn bushes.
She kept the enchanted bird attached to Ragdrill, but there was no sign he would delay the attack.
She sent those who were quick to ask for help to the Magic Towers and the great wizards of neighboring countries, but no one wanted to help the Sage’s Village.

The Magic Tower had a great influence.
The Magic Tower despised the wizards who went out of their will, calling them cowards, and hoped that the sages would be wiped out by this incident.
That’s why they warned the wizards scattered in other countries not to help the Sage’s Village.

Hersh was upset.
Is it wrong for her to study the laws of nature purely without involving politics? What’s wrong with giving everyone the same results of research that is beneficial to humans? Was she an idealist? Wouldn’t it be that everyone dies or gets hurt because of her?

With such fearful thoughts, Hersh could not sleep well.

Dashar was the only one who had not come back after going to ask for help.

“Will Duke Luave help us? It’s not a normal thing…….”

“I don’t know…….”

Hersh sighed, clenching her magic wand.
Even if Duke Luave decided to help the Sage’s Village, that did not solve the problem.
It takes a long time for the Knights of the Luave family to get here.
Until then, it was unclear whether the village could survive.

“First……We have to persevere to the best of our ability.”

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Hersh made the thorn bushes surrounding the village taller and thicker.
It seemed that evil magic was already flowing over there.

* * *

At the same time, beyond the thorns, the work on leveling the ground was in full swing.
It was to draw a magic circle.

“It looks like information has been leaked.”

Margella grinned as she looked at the thorn bushes of several layers surrounded near the Sage’s Village.
This might have been useful to block the royal army, but it was useless in front of monsters.
She doesn’t know how far the sages know today’s plans, but Margella read their despair as she looked at the thorns high in the sky.

“I still had to put on a camouflage to cover the magic circle, but it turned out well.
We don’t have time, so let’s finish the magic circle first.”

“I will hurry.”

Even in front of the thorn bushes wriggling as if alive, Leonard, whose expression had not changed, sat calmly and watched the preparations for the magic circle.

“Oooph! Hoooppphh!”

Three gagged men hung upside down above a large pail.
All three were skinny and undressed, and they could tell at a glance that they were from slums.

“Start.”

The man standing behind them slit their throat at once at Margella’s orders.
Blood spurted from their necks and began to fill the barrel.
Even at the scene of the horrific murder, Leonard did not blink as if he was familiar with it.

“Is three enough?”

A large number of sacrifices were needed for the black magic circle that summoned a large number of monsters.
Even though he had just wiped out the lives of three people like flies, Leonard was concerned that it would not be enough.

“It will.
We brought along two more just in case there was a shortage.”

“I can’t wait to get rid of it and go back.”

“It will be over soon.
I starved the kids for today’s special meal.”

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Margella’s eyes glazed over.

It was not only Leonard who had been waiting for today.
Margella, who had been persecuted for a long time as a warlock, hated wizards who were respected by everyone, even though they were no different from her.
She couldn’t help but be happy that she could throw such wizards as food for the monsters she had tamed.

Margella began to draw a magic circle with a large piece of charcoal on the flattened floor.
It was a much larger and more complex magic circle than a portal that moved humans.
Perhaps because it was to visually check the results of her previous research, the sounds of screams and charcoal scratching the floor were ecstatic to her ears.

As Margella’s charcoal took the final stroke and retreated, Leonard, who had been watching with a pounding heart, wielded his magical powers, digging deep enough to fit one fist along the line of the magic circle.
Dirt and stones splattered in all directions with a crashing sound, but those who followed Leonard simply marveled at the Duke’s magic.

“Pour it.”

At Margella’s command, the two men who followed Leonard tilted the barrel full of blood and filled the magic circle with blood.

As Margella said, the magic circle of the portal that summoned monsters was ready in no time.

“Shall we begin?”

Leonard rose to his feet at Margella’s expectant smile.

“How much do you think the size of the magic stone stockpiled in the Sage’s Village will be?”

“There are more than sixty wizards in that village, so there must be at least one hundred.
If you add the tools that have already been made with magic stones, there will be more.”

“The Crown Prince asked not to kill all the wizards.
Is there any way to tie up the wizards?”

“However you want.
There will be children, too, so it’s enough to put a leash around their necks.”

“Good.
Let’s start.”

Leonard took a few steps behind the magic circle and raised his hands to slowly release the radiating magic inside his body.
Margella burst into laughter at the sight of the ecstatic appearance.
The purple magic flowed over the blood that filled the magic circle and breathed life into the magic circle.
The magical energy that slowly gathered in the center of the magic circle shone dazzlingly, and Margella stood next to it and chanted a spell to summon monsters.

Rumbblee–

The magic circle began to shake.
The trees all around trembled as if there had been an earthquake, and the birds took flight.
Seeing this, even the Sage’s Village noticed that the time had finally come for the monsters to appear.