Your Majesty, I’m Not that Man - Chapter 9: Plea (4)

He froze, realizing what he had just admitted. His hands shot to his mouth as though to stop any more damning words from escaping, but it was far too late.

The others, previously confused about the mysterious liquid they’d consumed, immediately understood.

“A truth serum!”

“Ho… So you’re saying Levinia has good reason to provoke me against you?” Cassion’s azure eyes burned like twin flames, their beauty now sharp and menacing. Even Zelenka, who often met tension with her usual composure, couldn’t bear to meet the Emperor’s gaze. Hans, too, turned away, suddenly feeling like he was a trapped animal.

“That’s… I mean, yes… yes, that’s true!” Maxim stammered, before wailing and striking himself on the mouth as if it might undo his damning words. But the serum was relentless; nothing could stop the truth from spilling out.

Cassion, his expression both amused and disdainful, leaned back, allowing the corner of his perfect lips to twitch into a mocking smile.

“What exactly did you do?” he asked, his voice smooth but frigid.

“I—I’ve done too much…”

“Well, that’s convenient. I’ve just cleared my schedule to hear every detail,” Cassion said, his tone deceptively casual but tinged with venom. “Start talking.”

Maxim broke down into sobs, but Cassion wasn’t the type to grant mercy simply because someone cried. He was willing to let this coward pour out his sins, one by one, no matter how long it took.

So, Maxim began his pathetic unraveling. He confessed to neglecting Levinia as a child, leaving her to be raised by maids while denying her any warmth or attention. He admitted to giving her an impossible workload, even though he had no intention of naming her as the Wendell family’s heir. He had felt threatened by her competence and punished her by piling the duchy’s burdens onto her shoulders.

Zelenka, listening from the side, was aghast. She had known Levinia took on some of the duchy’s responsibilities, but she hadn’t realized just how much her daughter had endured.

“And yet,” Cassion said, cutting through the pitiful wails, “I don’t hear anything recent. You’re holding something back, aren’t you?”

Maxim, who had just been about to close his mouth, froze. His darting eyes betrayed his desperation, flickering toward Hans for guidance. Hans, pale and trembling, silently mouthed, “Don’t.”

But Cassion’s voice turned cold as ice.

“If you don’t speak,” he said evenly, “I’ll tear out your tongue myself, Duke.”

At that, Maxim’s face turned ghostly white. The threat was more than enough to shatter what little willpower he had left.

“I tried to marry Levinia to Hans’s son!” Maxim blurted out, tears streaming down his face. “And… and when I knew she was in danger… I didn’t save her. I wanted her dead, so I stopped anyone from going to rescue her!”

The confession sucked all the air out of the room. Even Cassion froze for a moment, his icy composure cracking as raw fury bled into his expression.

But Zelenka was quicker to react.

“WHAT?!” she shrieked, spinning toward Hans with wide, blazing eyes.

Hans, who had been crouched low and trying to stay invisible, flinched as Zelenka’s furious gaze bore into him.

“You filthy vermin!” she spat. “You dare lay your sights on my daughter? That bastard of yours—is he really your son?!”

Before Hans could respond, Zelenka launched herself at him, her hands clawing at his silky blonde hair. Grabbing fistfuls of his locks, she yanked and twisted, as though she meant to tear his scalp clean off.

“You disgusting leech! May the heavens curse you!”

“M-madam! Please!” Hans wailed, his voice high-pitched and desperate. He dared not fight back, knowing the Emperor was watching the spectacle unfold. All he could do was cower and let Zelenka’s nails rake across his face.

Though she had resented Levinia and treated her coldly for years, Zelenka had never imagined such humiliation. To think her husband had schemed to wed her only daughter to a bastard child—and Hans’s child, no less! Her rage boiled over, and she let out an ear-piercing scream as she raked Hans’s face hard enough to draw blood.

“I’ll gouge out your eyes and skin that pretty face of yours!” she snarled, yanking his hair violently. “How dare you! HOW DARE YOU!”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry, Madam!” Hans sobbed, curling into himself. “You’re no better to Levinia than I was! She’s not even your real daughter—what’s it to you if I live or die?”

But Hans bit his tongue before the words slipped out. Survival came first, even if it meant groveling.

Zelenka, panting with rage, turned to Maxim, who was still sobbing pitifully.

“You…” she hissed, her voice trembling with contempt. “You had the gall to scorn me because I didn’t bear you a son. But you… You dared to scheme this—to marry my daughter to that bastard’s brat?!”

“D-Darling…”

Maxim glanced at Cassion nervously and stole a quick look at Zelenka. Zelenka scoffed at the term “wife,” which she hadn’t heard much even during their honeymoon.

“Fine. I cheated and ran wild. I didn’t even show affection to the child… I did a lot of unforgivable things to Levinia, too. But selling out my own child? I never stooped that low!”

With that, Zelenka lunged at Maxim. She seemed intent on tearing his face apart, clawing at it with her nails. Maxim screamed and shoved her off, his voice filled with panic. Unlike Hans, a commoner who had endured mistreatment quietly, Maxim was a duke raised in luxury.

When Zelenka fell to the floor, the maids screamed, “Madam!” and rushed to catch her. Thanks to their intervention, they managed to prevent her from hitting her head hard on the solid ground.

“Your Majesty!”

Finding herself unable to handle the situation with brute force, Zelenka turned to Cassion, bursting into tears.

“Please save my daughter! That poor child… Oh, please…!”

To Cassion’s eyes, Zelenka’s tears seemed like those of a crocodile. However, compared to Maxim, she at least had the moral high ground—albeit just barely. The difference was minuscule.

While Cassion had conducted background checks on Maxim, he hadn’t expected anything this extreme to emerge, leaving him momentarily dumbfounded.

“Duke.”

At Cassion’s call, Maxim’s shoulders twitched violently. He couldn’t bring himself to meet Cassion’s gaze and shifted his eyes restlessly, clearly searching for an escape route.

“You know what crime you’ve committed, don’t you? This isn’t just about neglecting the duties of a noble. As the duchess pointed out, you’ve committed an atrocity that’s nothing short of monstrous. Stripping you of your title would hardly be unjust. Do you grasp the gravity of your sins?”

Especially since your actions were aimed at my Levinia.

Cassion’s expression was calm, but his icy gaze radiated a chilling intensity, as though he could slice Maxim into shreds a thousand times over. Maxim, feeling cornered like a trapped animal, hunched his large frame and bowed his head.

“I-I didn’t mean to… I swear, I had no real intention of going through with it… not as far as marriage, I mean…”

At those words, Hans turned his head sharply to Maxim. Though he had already suspected as much, hearing it directly from Maxim’s lips made his blood boil.

“Even so, if your mistress encouraged it, you would’ve gone through with it, wouldn’t you?”

“…”

Perhaps it was the truth serum’s effect, but Maxim couldn’t muster a denial. Instead, he trembled with fear, tears streaming down his face.

“Your father was said to be a lion of a man, yet his son turned out like this…”

Cassion clicked his tongue at Maxim’s tears. While the tears of the weak might inspire sympathy, those of the guilty only stoked anger.

“There was a rumor long ago,” Cassion began. “Not because Duke Alexander doubted his wife, but because his son was so foolish, he wondered if you might’ve been switched with a servant’s child. So, he had a paternity test done at the temple.”

It wasn’t just a rumor—it was the truth. Alexander had doubted that such a cowardly and despicable person could truly be his child. And yet, the test confirmed Maxim was indeed his son.

“I thought it was odd that the late Wendell Duke, who trusted you so little, would pass on the title without some safeguard. So, I looked into it. Sure enough, there was a clause in his will.”

At the mention of the will, Maxim raised his head in panic. Even Robert, the butler, didn’t know about the secret hidden within.

“The late Wendell Duke must have suspected you’d either divorce your wife or harm the duchess. He left a web of protective measures. If you were to harm the duchess, the title of duke would pass directly to Levinia.”

Zelenka, who also seemed unaware of this, turned to Maxim with a sharp, gleaming gaze. That look alone told Maxim everything—this was the end for him. Zelenka would fight tooth and nail to divorce him now. She could live comfortably on the allowances granted as the mother of the duke.

“Furthermore,” Cassion continued, “there’s no option for anyone but Levinia to inherit the title of duke in the next generation.”

“What?!”

Hans, who had been quietly listening, suddenly screamed. Though he quickly bowed his head under Cassion’s disdainful glare, he couldn’t hide his growing fury. What, then, had all his efforts with Maxim been for?

“It seems the late Wendell Duke was truly disgusted by you,” Cassion remarked dryly. “He intended for you to be nothing more than a placeholder duke.”

Maxim wanted to scream in outrage but instead collapsed into sobs. All the rights he should have held were slipping through his fingers. And his father, using the will as a tool, had ensured that Maxim would be powerless to do anything.

Even the choice of the next duke wasn’t his to make. Alexander had even prepared for the unlikely scenario in which Levinia predeceased Maxim. In such a case, the title of Duke Wendell would transfer to a distant relative, an earl’s family.

Hans slumped to the floor in despair. Even if Levinia had captured the emperor’s heart, Hans had believed there might be a chance if Maxim passed the title to Albert first. But it was all a foolish fantasy—there had never been any possibility from the start.

“Even without all that,” Cassion added coldly, “you still conspired with your mistress to commit unforgivable crimes.”

Cassion’s gaze grew even colder as he stared at Maxim, who now seemed like nothing more than a pitiful insect.

“Duke.”

“Y-Yes!” Maxim stammered, his voice shaking.

“The title of duke is far too grand for someone like you. You understand that, don’t you?”

Maxim trembled, his head bowed low. Zelenka, watching him, couldn’t hide her satisfaction and kept her eyes fixed on him with an almost triumphant glee.

“The Wendell family holds many titles beyond that of duke, but none of them will be passed to you. You’ve proven yourself unworthy of any noble title. Not even a minor title will be given to you.”

“Huhh…” Maxim stifled a sob with his hand over his mouth, tears streaming uncontrollably.

Cassion sighed inwardly, frustrated by his inability to simply dispose of such a despicable creature. But, after all, Maxim was still Levinia’s father.

“However,” Cassion continued, “out of consideration for the fact that you are the father of the princess, I won’t take your life. It wouldn’t do for the father of a future empress to have no title at all. I’ll leave you with the rank of knight. It’s far too generous for someone like you, but…”

It felt like an insult to knights everywhere, but there was no other option.

“Additionally,” he said, his tone growing icier, “you’ll have no access to the Wendell family’s wealth. Every penny belongs to Levinia.”

“T-That can’t be…”

“Have you not enjoyed yourself enough until now? Pushing all your rightful duties onto your daughter… I’ll allow you the equivalent of a lower noble’s monthly living expenses. Go live quietly in a rural villa. I’ll even assign servants to look after you.”

That suggestion sounded more like an order—one that meant he would be monitored and forced to scrape by in a countryside exile. While the monthly allowance of a baron’s household would be an enormous sum compared to that of a commoner, for Maxim, it wasn’t even enough to cover his clothing expenses for a month.

“N-No, Your Majesty! Anything but that—”

“Not allowed?”

Cassion’s voice, now ice-cold and menacing, made Maxim cower instantly. He felt as though one wrong word might cost him his tongue.

“No, no, Your Majesty… I-I am deeply grateful for Your Majesty’s infinite grace… sniff… deeply…”

“Spare me the nonsense and get out. There’s someone waiting for you outside.”

Maxim staggered to his feet, his face pale and lifeless. Sensing an opportunity, Hans attempted to slip out alongside him, but Cassion’s sneering gaze landed on him.

“I don’t recall giving you permission.”

Hans flinched and recoiled in fear, while Maxim glanced nervously between Cassion and Hans, unsure of what to do.

“B-But, Your Majesty… he is my attendant—”

“An attendant? He’s a commoner who dared to conspire to make his son a duke. Surely he knows the punishment for deceiving the imperial family?”

Though the Wendell family lacked royal blood, as a ducal house, they were treated as near equals to the imperial family. The accusation was a severe one. Hans turned to Maxim, pleading silently for help, but Maxim, trembling, only avoided his gaze, focusing on Cassion’s reaction instead.

“What are you waiting for? Duke, do you want to add more punishments to your name?”

“No! No, Your Majesty!”

Maxim, startled as if scalded by fire, bolted out of the reception room. Hans, his face turning ashen, returned to his seat, his body trembling violently.

Cassion then turned his cold, stern gaze toward Zelenka.

“Now, it’s the duchess’s turn. Why did you come looking for Levinia?”

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