All I Wanted Was the Alimony - Chapter 29

Lucienne laughed in disbelief. “I don’t know about that, but like you said, I’ll hit you just once. I’ll control my strength, so clench your teeth.”

“What? Gah!”

The sneer lasted only a moment.

Smack! Thud! Crash!

With a loud slap, the man’s body flew and hit a tree some distance away. He trembled with foam at the corners of his mouth.

“Ughhh.”

He couldn’t get up. That didn’t mean he was unconscious, though.

“You tossed manners away, and it looks like your motor skills went with them.”

Lucienne noticed two teeth lying on the ground.

“See? I told you to clench your teeth.”

She lightly dusted her hands and skirt hem, then smiled sweetly at the man.

“You said you’d let me hit you once, so I held back. If you don’t watch your mouth, next time I’ll come to kill you. Got it?”

With that warning, Lucienne turned her head. Her eyes met the hunting dog’s, and it tucked its tail between its legs, trembling.

“What? You want to act up too?”

“Yip-yip-yipe! Yipe-yipe!”

The dog fled in terror without looking back.

Clicking her tongue, Lucienne left the spot. The man on the ground would soon be found by his master.

As she searched for prey, Lucienne encountered many noblemen.

Some were gentlemen who checked if she was uncomfortable and worried about her safety being alone. Others were displeased, calling her a mixed-blood demon.

Whether she was welcomed or not, Lucienne didn’t care.

However, she dealt swiftly with those who crossed the line—those who sexually harassed her, spoke disdainfully, or used rude language.

The nobles might complain to Paello, but Lucienne welcomed the trouble. The more issues arose, the closer her divorce would be.

“Perfect. Should I just go around punching everyone?”

By the time more than four nobles and their servants had lost teeth, word of the incidents reached Emperor Sidell’s ears.

“What? The Grand Duchess of Ronatere?”

“Yes, just look at my face. All I did was joke a bit, and she did this to me.”

The man had a swollen cheek and had lost a molar.

At the same time, he recalled what he had said to Lucienne.

He had taken issue with the way she was dressed. He laughed crudely, saying that if her skirt were to get caught on a branch and tear, her undergarments would be exposed and become eye candy for the men, so she might as well just take it all off from the start. That way, there’d be no chance of her clothes snagging on anything.

Knowing Sidell disliked Paello, he had aimed to humiliate Lucienne on purpose.

He saw Lucienne as just a woman—weak and easy to humiliate. He had hoped she’d turn red with shame and burst into tears.

If the Grand Duchess were deeply hurt, she would probably never visit the capital again.

That would naturally put Sidell at ease.

Such were his calculations. But he ended up being the one humiliated.

He hadn’t imagined Lucienne would be so terrifyingly strong.

After being hit once, he couldn’t even stand.

The hunting dog he’d brought fled with its tail between its legs, not even trying to defend its master.

In the end, all he could do was plead with Sidell, whom he ran into by chance.

“Your Majesty, please punish the Grand Duchess who did this to me.”

To Sidell, the man looked pathetic. Whining because he couldn’t overpower one woman.

Sidell pretended to think for a moment, then nodded. “Very well. I’ll deal with it. Which way did she go?”

There was no talk of checking the facts. After all, the man pleading was one of the nobles supporting the emperor.

The man pointed in the direction Lucienne had gone and replied, “She probably hasn’t gone far.”

Sidell headed in the indicated direction and soon spotted Lucienne’s back.

Lucienne, the only adopted daughter of Grand Duke Pietro, known as the Devil.

And the Demon King despised Lucienne.

He had once told Sidell that if it weren’t for Pietro’s protection, he would’ve killed her.

‘As long as the Demon King doesn’t make it an issue, it’s fine.’

Sidell smirked as he looked at Lucienne, then nocked an arrow to his bow.

The arrow lacked the red feathers that marked official hunting kills.

He had ignored the hunting rules and prepared it in advance.

Yesterday morning’s sudden hunting invitation had been a ploy to create this opportunity.

If Paello died in an accident, there would be noise for a while, but at least no one would question his lineage.

Sidell aimed precisely at Lucienne’s back. Concentrating, he infused the arrowhead with aura.

Soon, a pale blue aura shimmered at the tip before the arrow was loosed.

Whoosh! With a tearing sound, the arrow hit Lucienne squarely in the back.

‘Got her! Right in the heart!’

Sidell clenched his fist.

There’s no way a half-demon could survive an aura-infused arrow. He imagined Lucienne gasping her last breath.

“?”

A situation unfolded that made him doubt his eyes. The arrow had certainly struck Lucienne. Yet, it had bounced off in another direction.

Lucienne looked back in confusion, and the emperor, startled, quickly ducked.

She glanced around, waved her hand, and frowned.

“Ugh, come to think of it, there must be bugs. What if I get bitten by mosquitoes?”

As if it were nothing, Lucienne walked further in.

Still crouched, the emperor was dumbfounded.

‘No, no way.’

The entire process of the ambush replayed in his mind.

‘Did I forget to infuse it with aura? Was the arrowhead dull?’

No matter how he thought about it, it was neither.

Even if the arrowhead had been missing, it should have caused serious injury.

After Lucienne completely disappeared from view, Sidell looked for the direction the arrow had ricocheted. He found half a broken arrow a short distance away.

The arrowhead was eerily sharp. As he examined the broken arrow, Sidell finally remembered what the empress had said the night before.

He had laughed off the idea that poison didn’t affect her. It couldn’t be true.

‘What if what the empress said was true?’

In the Demon Kingdom, there was only one person completely immune to poison and aura-infused weapons.

Only one word came to mind.

The Demon King.

The very thought made Sidell break out in goosebumps, and he covered his mouth.

‘No way. What is this?’

His mind became a tangled mess. He even wanted to contact the Demon King right away to confirm his suspicion.

But he bit his lip. This wasn’t something he could ask, nor should he.

Cradling his head in his hands, he let out a hollow laugh.

Surely, he must’ve forgotten to infuse the arrowhead with aura.

‘It’s only natural. Normal arrows don’t work well on demons.’

The more he thought about it, the more absurd the whole situation became.

There already was a Demon King, so how could there be another?

Sidell brushed himself off and stood up. He could leave the Grand Duchess alone and just deal with Paello.

***

From the far side of the forest came a signal sound and a plume of red smoke. It was a signal summoning imperial workers.

It seemed someone had hunted a beast too large to drag alone.

Just seconds later, signal sounds and plumes of green and blue smoke rose in the opposite direction.

“Ah, looks like some already caught something big. When’s my prey coming? I want to go back before the mosquitoes swarm.”

While grumbling and wandering the forest, Lucienne suddenly heard a faint cry from some animal.

She followed the sound to its source. A rather large cave was hidden by the underbrush.

The cry sounded like that of a baby animal and was coming from the cave.

It was full of caution and fear. It felt desperate, as if calling for its mother.

Lucienne entered the cave.

She hadn’t taken more than a few steps before her eyes met with a jaguar.

“Hm? Isn’t that a leopard?”

Jaguars and leopards looked similar but had different markings. Lucienne didn’t know the difference between the two.

Deep inside the cave were three gray bear cubs, crying and brimming with wariness.

They huddled close, clutching one another tightly. They were trying their best not to get taken by the jaguar, who had invaded while the mother was away.

“Grrrrr.”

The jaguar now turned its body and glared at Lucienne.

Sensing that she had become the target instead of the cubs, Lucienne raised her switch.

She figured one strike might be enough to subdue it. The only concern was that she’d likely get bitten or clawed at least once in the process.

‘Will it hurt a lot?’

Whether bitten or clawed, she was bound to get hit once, and that worried her.

Still, if she could rescue the endangered cubs and successfully capture the jaguar, Lucienne might just be able to aim for victory herself.

“Grrrrr.”

The jaguar lowered its body and let out a deep growl. Its eyes gleamed fiercely.