The Male Lead isn't Following the Script!
Chapter 107: The Assassin

Chapter 107: The Assassin

He recalled Adeline’s offer... Time to make a choice.

Seeing his son leave, the Duke banged his fist against the table. He took a quick breath to calm down. He would never let Everett find out the truth.

He couldn’t afford for the pawn he’d carefully positioned to question him, let alone turn against him.

Against his better judgement, he prepared to meet the assassin with whom he entrusted the taste of tying up loose ends. He wanted to make sure that there was no evidence of the crime they committed.

But, his main objective was to make sure this man would never speak... The Duke had never killed a man himself, but how difficult could it be to silence someone who had outlived their usefulness? He knew his son, he knew how he loved his mother.

He knew that he would go looking for anything related to his mother, and he could not have that. This secret would be dying with him.

He didn’t know that every move of his was being observed by Adeline.

She had a grim look on her face as she saw how low the Duke was stooping. She shook her head, forget it. At least now she was getting closer to the truth. Provoking Everett was the right decision.

Hours later, under the cloak of darkness, the Duke slipped out of his estate and made his way to a discreet meeting point outside the city.

He wore worn-out and dull clothes hoping that he wouldn’t attract the attention of anyone.

Slowly, he approached a rundown cabin on the edge of a dense forest. He rapped on the door three times, and after a long pause, a tall, hooded figure opened it, ushering him inside.

The assassin dared not to take off his hood. Years of doing others’ dirty work had caught up to him. He lived alone in the woods with his painful injuries.

Injuries that ruined his face. Why wouldn’t he take off the hood? Maybe because he was ashamed of his past actions, or the mark left on his face made him not worthy of even showing his face.

The Duke didn’t care about the reasoning though, he was only focussed on his purpose. He wasted no time, stating his purpose bluntly. "I want assurances. No one must ever find out about my late wife’s... situation."

The assassin’s lips curled into a self-mocking smirk. "I handled it, as agreed. There’s no evidence. No body, no trail." He paused, considering the Duke. "Unless you’re worried about ghosts?"

The Duke’s face twisted in irritation, but he kept his tone even. "I want to make sure my son never learns of her whereabouts or her fate. He’s begun asking questions."

The assassin raised an eyebrow. "If the boy’s anything like his mother, he’ll keep digging. She was a curious woman, full of fire. Pity she trusted the wrong man."

The Duke scoffed, there was no remorse in his eyes, "She knew what she was getting into. No need to pity the dead. Just make sure that there are no traces."

The man shook his head, "As I said, it’s done. You can try your best to hide it but... You can only lie to the boy for so long. Eventually, he’ll see through you."

The Duke’s fists clenched. But he wasn’t about to get angry at this old man. He tossed a bag of gold on the table and shut the door with a slam.

The man didn’t care about the money anymore. What a miserable life he led. Drinking a warm cup of water he tried to sleep. The souls of the people he killed always haunted him.

He deserved it, he thought. To repay for his sins he would live the rest of his life in agony. As much as he wanted to end it all, he needed to live and repent.

"Ah!!" A loud noise rang from the outside. The man immediately recognised it. The voice had to belong to the Duke!

The man immediately rushed outside to see what happened. The Duke lay motionless on the ground. He couldn’t see what exactly was happening, his back was towards him.

The silence was too eerie... He carefully walked toward the Duke who was lying on the ground. He couldn’t see any movement coming from him, not even the movement of breathing.

He looked around inching closer. He couldn’t put his finger on it, something was amiss. He felt like someone was watching him. The Duke was here alone... Without protection...

That would seem highly suspect but given how paranoid he was about the situation... He wasn’t surprised.

Reaching his hand out he flipped him over hoping to see if he was okay.

With a quick motion, a knife swung at him. He quickly backed away, barely managing to evade. The knife struck his clothes, tearing them.

He fell to the ground, he wasn’t as agile and nimble as he used to be. He looked at the Duke swinging the knife with pure rage as if he was the enemy.

He was scared for his life, he kept dodging while he tried to process the situation. Understanding that the Duke wanted to get rid of him, anger began to overcome him.

Maybe he would be able to avenge the poor woman he killed if he managed to kill the Duke. He didn’t care if he would be imprisoned for killing him.

He would die knowing he did one thing right. Dodging one of the attacks he gripped the hand holding the knife and twisted it.

Seeing how the knife was now being pointed in his direction, the Duke immediately let it go. It fell to the ground making a muffled thump sound. Their eyes locked for a second before he threw the Duke to the ground.

The Duke wasn’t willing to give up on his life that easily, years of planning to seize power, he wasn’t about to let this low life take everything away from him.

He kicked the man away and grabbed ahold of the knife planning to swing it again when a force hit him so hard he fell down with a thud.

He looked in the direction where the sudden, sharp wind came from. There stood Dimitri and Adeline looking at him with cold eyes.

The man was surprised at this sudden intervention. Who were these children? Why were they here. He was grateful to be alive. He planned on plunging at the Duke to finish him off when Dimitri blew a gust of wind at him knocking him back.

The Duke took a serious blow, he hit his head when he fell down. He was slowly getting up when he was hit again.