HOW DO I KILL THEE?

"LADY ROCHESTER, do you know that I can easily kill you right now?"

"What a coincidence. I just thought of three ways to kill you," Zoe said while munching on the macarons. She brought a plate of different pastries and a bottle of red wine when Isaak Viotto asked her to go with him to the garden. She was glad that she wore her cloak again because it was cold outside. It was also pretty dark, and they seemed to be alone in there. "This is a good murder spot, too."

Isaak Viotto just raised a brow at her.

"As long as you don't use your magic tricks, I can take you," she said, then she paused. "In a fight."

[And maybe on the bed, too.]

"Really now?" he asked curiously. "Let's say we're fighting without using our Mana. I'd like to hear how you plan to kill me."

"How do I kill thee?" she asked, referencing a poem that was somehow stuck in her head. "Let me count the ways."

Then she observed the ghoul duke.

To be precise, she was looking at his vital spots.

[He still has the same anatomy as a normal human, after all.]

"Eyes, neck, throat," she said. "That's the spots I find easiest to hit. I can use this fork to stab your eye," she said while waving the fork in her hand. "If I stab your eye hard and deep enough, you could die. The bone behind the eyes is thin, after all. A knife would be better, of course. But since I refuse to use my knife other than for cooking, I'd use the sharp heels of my boots instead. I'd twist the heel back and forth inside the cranial cavity to cause brain trauma."

Once again, he raised a brow at her. "You're going to use your boots as a murder weapon?"

"Anything can become a murder weapon if you know how to use it properly," she said, then she raised the red wine bottle in the same hand that held the fork.

Yes, she had both the fork and the bottle in one hand, while the plate of snacks was in the other. Women's fingers/hands had "evolved" to be that strong because of the lack of proper pockets in their clothing for many, many years.

"For example, I can use this bottle to hit your head," she said playfully. "Then I'll use the broken part to stab you in the throat."

Just like what she did to the butler a few days ago.

"If I can't grab any weapon, I'll just use my hands and feet," she said casually. "I'll crush your windpipe by either using the chisel fist to your throat or my elbow. Both work just fine." She paused, then she looked at the colorful macarons on her plate. "I could suffocate you with these macarons while I crush your windpipe. But even though I'm like this, I will never use food to kill a person."

"You sound like an expert in that department, Lady Rochester."

She raised her head to meet his questioning gaze. "What can I say? It's dangerous for a feeble lady like me to live in this kind of world without learning self-defense."

"The methods you just mentioned aren't simply self-defense– they are meant to kill people," he said bluntly. "You look strong enough to protect yourself."

"I'll tell you my weakness because I want to gain your favor," she said, then she pointed at her head using the fork. "I'm not smart."

He ignored that and changed the topic right away. "Are you working for Nigel Ratliff?"

She scoffed. "Of course not. If a dumb person like me worked for a dumber dude like your brother, it would have been a disaster."

"Then explain," he said coldly. "This is the only chance you have. I will decide whether or not to kill you after I listen to your story."

She blinked, then she laughed. "Isn't it funny that we were just flirting a while ago and now we're threatening to kill each other? But come to think of it, this is pretty hot, too."

The blank look he gave her obviously meant that he didn't understand her "nonsense."

[Fine, let's head straight to business.]

"I wasn't actually the one involved in Count Nigel Ratliff's schemes," she said, then she squatted down to place the plate and the red wine bottle on the ground. She kept those things near her so she could grab them easier if Isaak Viotto suddenly attacked her. After ensuring that her weapons were within reach, she stood up and began taking off her cloak. "It was actually my stepmother-wannabe."

She liked how the ghoul duke didn't turn his gaze away from her like a little boy, but he also didn't stare at her body like a pervert.

He simply didn't break eye contact with her.

[Well, it's more like he's watching my every move. And he also looks like he'll kill me if I do anything funny. But whatever.]

She slipped her hand under the chest area of her dress to reach the letter that she hid under her bra.

Much to her surprise, Isaak Viotto spun his head to tear his gaze away from her.

He didn't look shy or aroused, though. In fact, it looked like he just didn't want to see her act like she was seducing him.

[He's an iron wall.]

Good thing her mission was to save the abandoned Crown Princess and not to seduce the immovable ghoul duke.

"I brought the letter that Viscountess Clarke sent to Millicent Ashmore, one of my family's servants," she said after pulling out the letter from her bra.

She didn't have anywhere else to keep the letter secured.

Well, she could have hidden it in her cloak. But she knew that she had to take it off at one point. Thus, her bra was the safest "vault."

[I should have looked for a dress with pockets.]

Isaak Viotto turned to her. "Isn't she the lady that Marquis Rochester apparently got pregnant? It was a huge scandal when the news broke out."

"My father isn't the baby daddy of that woman's child," she said firmly. "I didn't know that you're interested in other people's family affairs."

"I'm not interested, but I have to know the nobility's affairs," the ghoul duke said, then he accepted the letter that she handed to him. "I exist to keep you all in check."

"That's heavy, my man."

"I'm not your man."

"That's heavy, my homie," she said. When he gave her a cold yet demanding look to explain, she did. "Chill. 'Homie' just means 'friend.'"

"And what kind of language is that?"

"Holy language," she lied with a straight face. "We use it in the temple."

[I'm sorry for using your experience as a priestess for sprouting stupid lies, Zoanne.]

The ghoul duke just gave her a blank stare. Then he opened the letter and began reading it quietly. It seemed like he was a fast reader because it only took him a minute to read the long content of the letter.

"Ah, so the original plan was to serve me human limbs to humiliate me," Isaak Viotto said while folding the letter. "But as you said, the letter came from Viscountess Clarke. It also seems like the wives of high-ranking nobles are involved in this scheme. But why do you act like you know that Nigel Ratliff is the real mastermind?"

Oh, damn.

She was taken aback by his interrogation. It took her a few seconds before her brain came up with an excuse.

"I locked up Miss Ashmore after I discovered that she stole my seal and used it without permission to write letters to her clique," she lied, hoping that the ghoul duke didn't notice her nervousness this time. "The letters didn't mention Count Ratliff, not even once. But when I interrogated Miss Ashmore, she confessed that the one backing up their clique is the count."

"Did you record Millicent Ashmore's confession?"

She shook her head. "I didn't."

"Then we have no proof that Nigel is the mastermind," he said. "Even if you show me all the letters that Miss Ashmore received from Viscountess Clarke, only the people mentioned in her letters would be punished. I wonder why your "stepmother-wannabe" didn't burn the letters despite Viscountess Clarke's instruction to do so."

"That bitch probably wants to frame me up," she said, ignoring the shocked look on the ghoul duke's face when she cursed. "She used my name and my seal. Miss Ashmore probably wanted me to take the blame and lose my status as my father's successor."

"Well, that's plausible."

"I know, right?"

"Miss Ashmore will probably get killed tonight."

Her eyes widened in shock. "What?"

"You sabotaged their plan in order to approach me," the ghoul duke said casually. "But for Nigel Ratliff and his cohorts, Miss Ashmore is nothing more than a piece of evidence that they need to eliminate now."

"Miss Ashmore is pregnant," she said worriedly.

"You don't have time to worry about other people," he told her in a stern voice. "Nigel will probably send his men to kill you as well for ruining his plan."

If they were in her world, she wouldn't worry about that since she was capable of protecting herself. But in this world, magic and shit existed. Worse, she remembered Empress Liane saying that the original Zoanne Rochester's body was weak.

"Isaak Viotto."

"That's 'Duke Viotto' to you, Lady Rochester," he said. "Let's mind our manners, please."

"Okay, Mr. Manners. I have a plan," she said, much to the ghoul duke's obvious irritation. "I'll take you home."

Isaak Viotto raised a brow at her. "Excuse me?"

"Help me save Miss Ashmore," Zoe said, then she curled her index finger– gesturing for him to come closer. "Let's spend the night together, Duke Isaak "Let's Mind Our Manners" Viotto."

***

NOTE: Hi! Please consider ADDING 'I Won't Let The Ghoul Duke Go Hungry!' to your LIBRARY. Thank you! <3