Trapped in the Mad Duke's Snare (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 15
The fickle weather, which had rained all night, seemed tired of their bickering and finally stopped.
The sun, which had been hiding behind the clouds, emerged, and the two eventually made their way into town and arrived at the hospital.
The disguise tools Adeline had brought with her when she fled House Credion proved useful.
Just by wearing glasses and changing her makeup, her appearance was noticeably different.
The duke also wore brown contact lenses and a wig, but apparently considering that insufficient, Adeline placed glasses over his eyes as well to hide his irises.
“You have a high fever. Take this medicine three times a day.”
After taking the medicine prescribed by the doctor, Adeline felt significantly lighter.
As her condition began to improve, her mood lifted as well.
“Shall we sit by the fountain for a moment?”
“Now? We’re being chased.”
“Who would recognize us in this state? Let’s rest briefly.”
The duke glanced at the clear sky and then pointed toward the fountain ahead, asking.
Adeline quickly scanned the surroundings.
The knights from House Credion, who had roamed in groups last night, seemed to have left.
“It’s fine—come on, quickly.”
Adeline’s wariness eased just a little at the duke’s urging tone.
‘Well, maybe it’ll be alright for a bit.’
Just as the two were enjoying a pleasant respite by the fountain,
an elderly man with a kind face approached, leading a group of neighborhood children toward the fountain.
He carried a bundle of dolls dangling from strings tucked under one arm.
Upon reaching the fountain, the elder sat down on its edge, and the children naturally gathered around him.
This clearly wasn’t their first time doing this.
The heartwarming sight of the children huddled together left the two unable to look away.
—
This land was originally barren, overwhelmed only by winter.
A righteous hero heard a rumor that a monster dwelling atop the mountain was blighting the land, so he climbed the mountain.
When the hero finally reached the summit, an astonishing sight met his eyes.
A beautiful woman was trapped within a crystal of ice. Even with her eyes closed, her raven-black hair and stunning beauty held the hero spellbound.
The moment he absentmindedly touched the ice crystal, the earth trembled, and a colossal monster appeared.
It roared in fury at the hero for coveting the woman within the crystal.
After a long and arduous battle, the hero finally defeated the monster.
The instant the ice crystal was stained with the monster’s blood, the icy storm raging atop the cold mountain ceased, and a warm breeze began to flutter.
The ice cracked open, and at last, the woman within opened her eyes.
Her eyes sparkled red like clear, pure rubies.
The hero couldn’t tear his gaze away from the woman who had awakened.
The woman approached the hero and spoke.
“You have awakened me, Goddess Helena, and saved this land. Thus, I grant you and your lineage the right to rule it for generations.”
Struck by those words, the hero instinctively knelt in reverence.
The goddess stepped closer and kissed him gently on the forehead.
Immediately, the hero’s eyes began to turn red.
“Rule the world with these eyes. Let them be the proof of the authority I bestow upon you.”
The hero, who had brought warmth to the world, named the land Solatarius after himself and began his reign.
The first Solatarius Emperor immediately built a temple for Goddess Helena in the finest and most sacred location near the imperial palace.
Even now, more than six hundred years after the empire’s founding, under the divine protection of Goddess Helena, exactly one imperial descendant per generation is born with crimson eyes.
All imperial heirs were of Solatarius blood, yet those who lacked crimson eyes were denied recognition by Goddess Helena and could never ascend the throne.
For generations, any imperial heir born with red eyes had to receive formal approval from Goddess Helena before becoming emperor, proving they carried her divine grace.
All who passed this trial ruled the empire with compassion and benevolence.
—
The puppet show recounted the founding legend of the Solatarius Empire.
Though Adeline had heard this tale since childhood, she found herself once again captivated by the elder’s telling.
“Del, is that story true?”
Adeline was puzzled by the duke’s sudden question.
“Yes. Ever since the empire’s founding, every emperor has had crimson eyes, and many were born with black hair. It’s said that only one person per generation is born with red eyes.
But this time, oddly enough, two have been born with red eyes: Duke Torpeo and His Highness the Crown Prince.”
As Adeline continued speaking, she sensed something odd.
“Then why do I only know of three people?”
Adeline couldn’t answer the duke’s question.
The duke and he were the same person. Setting that aside, the crown prince and the duke—two crimson-eyed individuals in this generation.
“Aren’t the crown prince, the duke, and I all red-eyed?”
Fearing someone might overhear, Adeline quickly clamped her hand over the duke’s mouth.
Even she thought it strange.
‘Why do both the crown prince and the duke have red eyes?’
The moment this question—never before considered odd—arose in her mind, Adeline felt afraid.
It was as if she’d stumbled upon a secret she shouldn’t know.
Could it be that the mad crown prince was the one who tried to harm the duke?
Under one sky, there should be only one sun.
Yet in this empire, two individuals bore the crimson eyes—the very emblem of the emperor.
It certainly seemed plausible that the crown prince would try to kill the duke, seeing him as a threat to his throne.
Adeline recalled that the Torpeo ducal family, to which the duke belonged, was a prestigious lineage that had produced empresses for generations.
Hadn’t even the previous empress come from House Torpeo? Though her deposition had ended badly.
‘If it’s House Torpeo, then imperial blood might run in their veins, so red eyes wouldn’t be completely unthinkable…’
Adeline narrowed her eyes as she studied the duke before her.
No matter how close the duke’s family was to the imperial line, unless he was a direct descendant, it would be highly unusual for him to manifest the emperor’s mark.
Perhaps it was just her imagination.
Adeline finally dismissed it as baseless paranoia and composed herself.
No matter how high his social standing, the mark of the emperor? That was simply absurd.
“Let’s head back now.”
Adeline stood up and held out her hand toward the duke.
[This is the timeline separator]At that moment, Severus reclined into the sofa facing the table.
He had stayed at what was supposedly Horn’s finest inn, but it still didn’t impress him.
He had just received word that Adeline’s trail had been found in Horn.
“My lord Marquis, we’ve discovered signs that Lady Adeline headed south. It appears she exchanged the jewels she took for gold coins at a pawnshop.”
“What’s her route?”
“She continued straight south, so we expect she’s in the Horn region.”
Horn was far from the capital, where House Credion maintained its townhouse.
Known as a remote frontier town, Horn was the least populous region in the Solatarius Empire—essentially an underdeveloped backwater.
Of all places to flee to, she chose a village lacking even proper local nobility.
Adeline had vanished without a trace at dawn, right after news arrived of the crown prince’s marriage proposal.
Since childhood, Adeline had shown no interest in marriage.
Or more precisely, she never cared for the things noble girls typically desired.
‘Marriage, luxuries, high society.’
Adeline had shown interest in none of those—except money.
She had always been fascinated by commerce, the sort usually reserved for merchant guilds.
So while he’d expected her to dislike the engagement to the crown prince, he hadn’t anticipated she’d run away like this.
For an instant, the marquis’s eyes gleamed sharply.
At first, he’d assumed it was a simple case of running away, expecting her to return after a few days.
She hadn’t inherited much wealth, so the assets she took couldn’t last long.
Having lived her whole life as the only daughter of the marquis, he thought she’d eventually come back sobbing and reluctantly agree to the engagement.
But a day turned into a week, then a month, and still Adeline showed no sign of returning.
“My lord Marquis, His Highness the Crown Prince is deeply displeased. It’s been a full month since he sent the proposal, yet there’s been no reply.”
“Surely Lady Credion hasn’t truly gone missing? Not when her engagement to His Highness, the sole crown prince of the Solatarius Empire, is imminent.”
The secretary’s words carried a sharp edge—an unspoken demand that Severus find Adeline and finalize the engagement.
In the end, Severus had no choice but to go searching for her.
Upon receiving the report that Adeline had gone to Horn, Severus assembled a knightly contingent and headed south.
He expected to find her quickly—after all, she bore a striking resemblance to him and would stand out anywhere.
But she proved elusive.
The marquis took a deep drag from his lit pipe and exhaled slowly.
The murky smoke drifting through the air seemed to mirror Severus’s frustration, making him clench his jaw.
Just then, a knock sounded, and one of his subordinates entered.
“My lord.”
“What news?”
The man approached Severus and knelt before him.
“I apologize. We deployed the knights, but we couldn’t locate Lady Adeline. It seems she’s quite skilled at disguising herself…”
Severus picked up the cup on the table and hurled it toward the knight captain.
*Crash!*—the teacup shattered violently beside the man.
A shard flew up and slashed diagonally across the man’s cheek.
Seeing the red blood dripping onto the floor, the knight captain turned pale.
“You expect this Marquis Credion to come all this way and just leave empty-handed?”
The chilling voice echoed through the room, and the captain bowed his head deeply to the floor.
More than a few knights had been dismissed for provoking the marquis’s wrath.
“My deepest apologies! I’ll scour the entire empire if I must, I’ll—”
Before the knight captain could finish his sentence,
the marquis’s secretary, who had been standing silently in the shadows behind Severus, stepped forward and bowed. The man was Severus’s closest confidant.
“My lord, it’s time to return. Leave the search for Lady Adeline to them and depart now.”
Severus frowned at the secretary’s words.
“You have a banquet appointment with His Highness the Crown Prince in three days.”
The “them” the secretary referred to were the discreet operatives who handled House Credion’s secret affairs.
Severus muttered “useless” toward the knight captain and rose to his feet.
To be manipulated by that green, pale-faced crown prince simply because he couldn’t find his own daughter.
“We’ll return. Your punishment will be decided once we’re back.”
Severus’s glare toward the knight captain was as cold and sharp as blades of frost.
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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MANGA DISCUSSION
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Chapter Comments (49)
From now on, I hope her whereabouts will not be revealed to her father.
Haha, the duke is so possessive and obsessed with this scoundrel, Hero, who clearly likes her.
I hope this Heilo person is just a friend and doesn’t have any romantic feelings for her..
Inline Comments (27)
He couldn’t allow anyone to take Adeline away. He needed to confirm that she bel
It’s unusual how quickly the Duke seems to have developed feelings for Adeline. These feelings appear to go beyond ‘I believe this person to be my lover therefore I treat them well’
He understood perfectly how anxious the butler and the rest of the household mus
Who said the Duke is the hero? He’s a filthy, despicable bastard. How could he do that to her and abandon her? Didn’t she mean anything to him? The people I hate most are the scoundrels who deceive girls and leave them. Poor Adeline, it’s a truly awful novel.
His tender voice sent an involuntary shiver down Adeline’s spine. Still pretendi
Isn’t this a pretty bad lie for her to go with? What if the seal is found in the luggage? This girl appears to be losing intelligence the longer the story goes
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Miioo
That vile scoundrel hoped Adeline would escape and not be caught.