The Male Lead isn't Following the Script!
Chapter 112: Insanity

Chapter 112: Insanity

"It was... It was the Duchess... She hated your mother! She killed her!" He shouted like a crazy person. Trying to make sure his last sliver of hope doesn’t go out.

The Duchess wasn’t even shocked. This man had completely lost it. The fact that he would do this? He had no bottom line, no morals, nothing! She was disgusted that she allowed herself to turn a blind eye to everything for years...

She knew this man too well to be surprised by his attempts to wriggle out of accountability, even if they were absurd. Yet, watching him now, she realised how deeply he’d fallen into delusion.

She was not an enabler, she planned to shatter his delusions.

She replied coolly, "Why would I do such a thing, Duke? I had no reason to harm Alice. There was no motive, no gain, and certainly no proof of any such jealousy. Your lies are as baseless as they are desperate."

The Duke’s eyes widened as if the impact of her words had struck him physically. But his fear only made him louder. "You were jealous of her!" He screeched, his voice trembling. "You could never understand the bond we shared as friends..."

As he spun the lies the delusion in his mind took over, he really believed what he was saying... As if it was indeed the truth.

He glanced at his son before he continued, "She was someone special to me, and you... you were always suspicious, always doubting. That’s why you had her killed!" His voice rose to a feverish pitch as if his tone would help him believe his own lies.

The Duchess opened her mouth to respond, but the Duke cut her off, refusing to let her speak. He spun back to Everett, grabbing onto a new idea to defend himself. "Everett, listen to me! You were never my son. You’re Alice’s son.

The Duke’s eyes widened, her calm response seeming to unnerve him more than any shouted argument could have. He had to win this argument, he thought.

The craziness in his eyes only grew, "And after her death, I took you in because she meant that much to me." He leaned forward, reaching out as if he expected the revelation to somehow sway the boy to his side.

But Everett’s face twisted in disbelief. He wasn’t a naive child. And the Duke sounded more like a maniac with every desperate attempt. The fact that he would deny any relation to him when everything was out in the open was disgusting.

He hated that he was related to such a man. This selfish man was his father, unfortunately.

Adeline turned to look at Everett, his father tried to cut off any relationship he had with him, she was worried that he would be hurt by this but he held on. His eyes were still red but not one tear formed in them.

Adeline, watching the chaos unfold, broke her silence to counter his claim, her voice steady. "We all know that Everett is your son. He admitted it himself. Stop with these ridiculous lies, your Grace. There’s no one here that believes you."

When she called him ’your grace’ in a mocking tone, it boiled his blood. It was a title that everyone tried to take away from him, his wife, that bratty child, and that distant cousin of hers.

It reminded him of the authority he was so desperate to cling to. His anger boiled over, directed not only at Adeline but at the entire room. He felt as though everyone was against him, stripping away his dignity, his power, and his identity as the Duke.

The Duke’s face contorted further, and he spun on her, fury and frustration combining with a dangerous glint in his eyes. "Prove it, then! Prove that Everett is my son!"

He had stooped so low that he didn’t want to be related to his own child, the child he hoped would be born and trapped a woman for... That child was his only remaining family.

But in his mind, he twisted this fact to justify his actions. He has been doing this for as long as he can remember. Cheating on the Duchess? Her fault for not giving him a child

Tampering so that Alice could get pregnant... He desperately needed a child, her fault for associating with a married man!

Killing her to bury the truth... She crossed the line, someone like her thought that she could get away with threatening the Duke?!

Trying to kill the man... He’s done many things, what’s one more crime? It was necessary if he wanted to keep his secrets from coming out into the open.

So, why would he care? He would always choose himself, Why would he ruin everything by admitting that Everett was his child? Whatever would happen to him was none of his concern anymore.

So what if the Duchess might make him leave? He’ll go back to the orphanage, that’s a better life than most could ever dream of. He should be grateful to him. He scowled.

He turned back to the Duchess, his finger pointing as if it were a weapon. "You think you can get rid of me so easily, don’t you? But I’m still the Duke. And none of you can prove a thing."

His words were both a challenge and a final grasp at control. Whatever happens, he wouldn’t be backing down. Other than the words of an untrustworthy assassin, what did they have to prove he was behind all this?!

He was keenly aware of this, he used this as his last line of defence. The assassin, while present, held no concrete proof of his order to kill Alice. And they definitely couldn’t prove that Everett was his child!

In his twisted view, this ambiguity gave him the upper hand. He knew that since it came to this, he wouldn’t be able to get ahold of the Duchy, but he would rather die than be removed from the position of the Duke.

The room remained silent. Adeline, Everett, Dimitri, and the Duchess looked at him with expressions that spoke volumes. They weren’t intimidated, nor were they shaken by his words. If anything, his ramblings had only reinforced their disdain and disappointment.

He sneered at them, he didn’t care what they thought of him. He was past all that, past the facade he had been maintaining. With a craze in his footsteps, he confidently walked past them and aimed for his room.

His rightful place in this estate, the Duke... The Master bedroom.

Slamming the door shut, the reality of his situation slowly started to set in. How did things unravel so fast? The Duchess shouldn’t have decided to adopt that random brat, and Adeline Kendrick, how dare she?

How dare an insolent child like her try to challenge him? Hiding behind her father’s name... He scoffed, he wasn’t here, how was he going to protect her?!

Losing control over his child, having to eliminate Alice, the damned assassin who dared to cross him, his own wife who pushed him to the brink, and those children... Those damned children who came as guests but slowly tore down everything he worked hard to build.