The Male Lead isn't Following the Script!
Chapter 88: Eliminate the Problem

Chapter 88: Eliminate the Problem

The Duke’s plan was finally coming together. His son Everett, was quietly brought from the orphanage to his estate. This had been his only choice if he wanted to secure his power.

For too long, he had worried over the lack of an heir... Someone of his own blood to inherit the Duchy. The Duchy wasn’t rightfully his... It belonged to his wife who inherited it from her father.

The fact that he would have no claim over anything haunted him. He could not remain like this, he needed to take action to secure his position. And that was why he started to implement his plans in the first place.

Without an heir of his own, there would be no guarantee that the Duchy would remain in his hands, something he could never allow.

The Duchess was infertile and she did not care about having kids at all, this frustrated him. That was why he went ahead and made sure to have a child of his own. If she wouldn’t give him a child, he would have to make sure it happened himself.

He had no intention of sharing the truth with Everett. He didn’t need to know the circumstances of his birth... That his mother was a woman the Duke had quietly paid off.

A woman whose very existence he erased to cover his tracks. Love was never part of the arrangement. He viewed it as purely transactional. His sole purpose in having Everett was to produce an heir who would inherit the Duchy.

He did not bat an eye when the assassins he hired told him that she had been killed. She should have known what would happen when you involve yourself with a married man, he laughed.

Nothing was ever his fault, but he would always be the target of fate. Born into a powerless family, marrying a woman who was useless- could not even give birth to a child! Not having any power of his own... Why was the world so unfair?

It was fine, he would take it by force if he had to.

Eventually, the Duchess would want an heir. He knew she wanted to adopt. She was a woman after all, eventually, she would long for a child, he would simply wait for that to happen.

He would make sure his child got adopted and soon inherited the Duchy. And to make sure his mother wouldn’t be a hindrance, he paid her off.

And... Have her killed. He wanted to eliminate her before she became a problem.

So he kept the boy hidden, sending him to an orphanage to be raised among commoners until the time was right. He made sure that no one could trace him back to his mother.

It was unfortunate that he kept asking where his mother was, he didn’t need to know anything he doesn’t deserve to, so the Duke told him that his mother left and that he was the only one who cared about him.

He couldn’t let this child become his enemy, he was his blood after all.

He made sure to establish his background as nobility. He would have the blood of a noble and the humbleness of a commoner. The Duchess only approves of well-behaved children... And she gives great importance to bloodlines.

Now that Adeline misled him into believing that the Duchess would take in Dimitri, the child with noble blood and train him herself... He had to act quickly and bring his candidate inside.

He had to act before the Duchess could train Dimitri and mould him into the heir she wanted.

Meanwhile, the Duchess had been embroiled in problems of her own. Her focus was on managing the Duchy, which had recently suffered under a wave of illness that spread from the capital.

What started as a manageable flu evolved into a large-scale outbreak! Her efforts to maintain the Duchy’s finances and supply chains were unending, leaving her weary and overworked.

She needed to get down there and assess the situation herself. She normally wouldn’t have done this but because of the increasing unrest among the commoners, she decided to show herself and assure them that she would take care of it.

The Duchess was strong, sure. But she wasn’t strong enough to escape the plague...

In her meetings with traders and council members, she had already come into contact with people unknowingly infected by the illness.

Her focus remained on the Duchy, and her energy was spent trying to restore the economy. Even though she grew weaker by the second, she vowed to perform her duty as the ruler of the Duchy.

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"Gotcha" Adeline whispered. The butterflies she sent finally landed on the man who visited an orphanage. He handed the letter over and waited outside.

She got her butterfly to stay near the head of the orphanage’s study. The man didn’t bother being secretive he read the letter out loud. It was about expenses and inquiries about the children’s well-being.

Adeline got bored in the middle of it. Was it just a routine check-up? She wondered. She almost wanted to recall the butterflies when something interesting happened.

He took the letter and carefully delivered it to a young boy... Now why would a headmaster do that? She carefully sent the butterfly into the room.

It was a dark room... It was lit up because the door opened. The butterfly was standing out. Before the door closed and exposed the butterfly, she made sure to cram it into a corner away from plain sight.

She just hoped she wouldn’t get caught.

The headmaster bowed and left the room... That was when she knew that she was in the right place. Why would he bow to a simple orphan? Unless he was the child of the Duke...

Was the Duke crazy? Was he trying to get caught? She shook her head.

The boy looked about twelve years old. He had black hair and brown eyes. Maybe his face shape was that of his father’s but most of his features had to be from his mother’s. They didn’t look too much alike.

He carefully took that letter and placed it near the only candle in that room. Adeline couldn’t clearly see what was happening. She wanted the butterfly would go closer but that would mean she could get caught!

She took a deep breath and tried her best to make out the words from where she was. At least the headmaster would speak the words out loud making her life easier.

But this kid was tight-lipped. There was no other choice but to get closer. Just what was the Duke’s plan? She was hoping Dimitri’s presence triggered him enough to do something reckless... She was counting on it!

Slowly she made the butterfly go closer and closer. It was a butterfly made of light in a dark room! Just as she viewed the contents, Everett turned around.

Just from the glimpse she saw, she could make out that the Duke was asking him to come. But she wasn’t able to catch when and how. She would only be here for a month, and in this time she had to expose a scheme the Duke hid for about ten years.

She almost shrieked when she saw that Everett turned around. He was startled by the butterfly before him. He stood up, eyes narrowed and started walking closer and closer.