The Mad Duke.
The minute I entered my room, I ordered everyone to stay out and claimed I didn't want anyone's help for the moment. I wanted to be alone and confide with myself. My heart was still aching, and I could still feel Emilia's emotions running through my head and heart.
I sat on the bed and gripped on the sheets. Okay, the engagement is broken. Technically, there are no more strong ties between me and the Royal Family. Sure, the things between me and the Emperor is awkward after what went down last night, but I made it clear I want nothing to do with him and his siblings anymore.
I can only assume he got the message. My strongest death flag is struck down, now I have to figure out what to do with the two more. The strongest death flag was the Royal Family on how they used me and ultimately sealed my fate of being executed. The other one is the heroine.
I think the one with the heroine is simple enough. I should just ignore her and let her get on with her stuff. Leading the male leads on, alluring them with her charm. Hey, she's got her life going on by stringing along the most eligible bachelors of the Empire after her and I don't exactly have the right to judge her for it.
The last death flag there is right now... is Duke Justin Godfrey. That man would ask for Emilia's cooperation to kidnap the heroine. He saw the vulnerability in Emilia and used it to his own accords. He knew Emilia hated the Saint, and he wanted the Saint to be with him instead of the Emperor because he–quote unquote–'loved', her.
Justin Godfrey is messed up in the head on so many levels.
He was a child born out of wedlock. His father had mourned for his wife's death and comforted himself by screwing any woman of nobility that is willing to let him do whatever he wanted with them.
He didn't have a child with his late wife in fear of worsening her already fragile health, so when a woman suddenly showed up at his doorstep with a boy who was the spitting image of the Duke, he took him in. But killed the woman in the process.
It was rather easy to disregard the value of her life. The woman was the Lady of a Count's house and she was stripped of her noble title because she had given birth to a child who wasn't even her own fiancé's. Her twin sister was also stripped of her noble title just the week before because of the same thing. So with her engagement cancelled and her noble title in ashes, she turned to the Duke.
He had been worrying about an heir but didn't want to adopt a child, he also didn't want to remarry or take in any of his estranged sister's son away from her own family. So when suddenly, this Justin with midnight blue hair and deep orange eyes identical to his appeared at his doorstep, his worries was soothed.
But the damn woman kept insisting she wanted to be married into the Godfrey family and refused any type of hush money. The Duke took in the boy first and introduced him to his new room whereas the mother was being held back in the living room, filled her mind with delusions that the Duke wanted to discuss their marriage one-on-one without the pesky boy around.
The Duke returned to the living room only to swing his sword at the woman, decapitating her head from her neck. His subordinates didn't even flinch and swiftly moved to clean up the mess.
The Duke despised her for trying to use her son to gain her noble title back. He didn't want someone like her as the Duchess of the Godfrey Dukedom so when she kept on insisting she wanted to marry him, he decided that nobody is going to miss this woman anyways.
But, Justin Godfrey loved his mother. Even though she had mistreated him and abused him, he sincerely hoped there would come the time when she fully accepts him as her son. He thought that after his mother married the man she had been talking about, maybe he will finally get to feel her love after she finally gains her happiness.
When the Duke came into his room again only to tell him that his mother had left him, his whole world fell apart in a split second, and the Duke could see that it did. So the Duke treated him like a son, raised him with care and discipline like how his late father did.
For a while, Justin truly appreciated the Duke's efforts and was happy that someone like him was his father. All the while he scorned his mother for leaving him just for money, and thought that she had betrayed him. But when the Duke was on his deathbed with the 15-year-old Justin beside him, the young boy holding his hand tightly because he was afraid of his father dying so early on in his life, the Duke gave into his lifelong guilt and admitted her mother's killing to Justin seconds before his last exhale.
Justin fell deeper than he did when he learned of his mother's betrayal. At first he denied that truth and became so disoriented by it, then one of his father's closest subordinate admitted to burying her body and her head in the forest behind their estate and even told him the grave was unmarked to make sure nobody would find out.
Something snapped inside Justin. The warm and outgoing boy became cold and ruthless, he suddenly worked hard on his studies and sword. In a year he graduated from his prestigious academy and had killed his uncle for refusing to give him the title as the Head of the Godfrey Dukedom.
Emperor Cain forgave him because it really did seemed like his uncle tried to take away his right to be a Duke, but ordered Justin to compensate his aunt for the sudden death of her husband. He went along with the order because he found no fault in it, but he made sure to scare his aunt so that she moved far away from the Capital.
Then the Emperor told him that he is too young to be a Duke, and he didn't experience what his father did before he became a Duke. So he was sent to conquer a land filled with barbarians for the Empire to claim just like how his father did back in the days. His other uncle will look after the Godfrey Dukedom for a while until he returns. The Emperor gave him his word that when he returns, the Dukedom will no doubt be given to him. His uncle will step down and the Emperor will make sure of it.
So the young 16-year-old Justin Tristan Godfrey begrudgingly left to fight a war to prove his worth. Emperor Cain expected at least 5 years because the barbarians of the land he wanted to claim were absolutely savage even though they were less than 30 thousand in number, but Justin managed to finish the job in 3 years and the Emperor was nothing but pleased with his efficiency. He even allowed Justin to enjoy his title as a war hero.
Now that he and his men were on his way back, and his Homecoming Ball is another 9 days away, I can't help but to get nervous of our impending meeting. It was said that before his father died, Justin was always curious of Lady Emilia's situation. Like him, she was an illegitimate child too. Although both of them had their family names, the high society still casted them aside and made them feel like outsiders. Even after the whole revelation of what really happened in the living room, Justin had always wanted to greet her.
The only thing that's different with his curiosity is back then he genuinely wanted to connect with Lady Emilia because she seemed lonely, but now... he just wanted people to be around him for his convenience. He wanted to stay on top and let it be that way until he died. Using people for that to happen is nothing to him. He'd do anything he can for it.
And I always thought he was more dangerous than Emperor Cain because how truly twisted his mind was. Everyone who read the novel knows that there's the villainess–Emilia, who was nothing more than a girl who was used for her vulnerability–then there's true villain of the story, Justin, who disregarded the value of everything and everyone for his own gain, for his own desires and selfishness.
Unlike the Emperor who genuinely cared for the Saint and truly loved his siblings, Justin trusted nobody and didn't care for anybody. He didn't love the heroine, he was only obsessed with her because of how much she resembled his mother. Granted, they shared the same grandmother.
That man was totally infatuated with his own cousin, the daughter of his mother's twin sister.
He scares me.
When I realized my hand was trembling right on top of my stomach, I sat up. I rested my head against the headboard and sighed. I had dreaded the meeting with the Emperor, but to meet with this man is... it's terrifying to even imagine it.
I hope to steer clear from his path. He is nothing but bad news and I don't want to get involved with that mad Duke.
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[CHANGE OF POV]
I ordered for me and my soldiers to rest for the day. They efficiently prepared a camping site and in a span of fifteen minutes, the tent for me to rest in was up and everything that needed to be in there was placed nicely inside the tent. In another 3 days, we'd arrive at the Capital and I could finally try to figure shit out.
It's been a full damn year since I entered this world and into this body that belonged to a truly twisted man. He made me wonder what sin did I commit back in my past life for me to be reincarnated this way. As a selfish man with no moral compass and unable to see past his desires.
To say that I was shocked when I looked into his mind and memories is an understatement. I was repulsed, I was scared of what was inside his brain. He didn't seem to be okay in the head but I guess I should pity him of the things that happened to him when he was young. But that shouldn't be an excuse for all the terrible things he did.
I get frustrated and lonely from time to time when I realize the people I truly cared for in my past life is left behind and nobody that I know will fully understand the struggles I'm going through being reincarnated into this new, peculiar world where magic exists. But even though magic exists in this world, I was infuriated that there's no such thing as caramel macchiato.
Do you know how hard is it to have to start my morning without that drink? I was wrecked, man.
When I arrive at the Capital I'm going to introduce it and gladly claim myself as it's creator.