His Duchess is a Ghost (Novel) - Chapter 33 (Patreon)

Just as their lips were about to meet, Alena's world shifted with dizzying speed.

The water from the tub surged onto the floor, and within a few heartbeats, a loud thud reverberated through the chamber.

Wide-eyed, Alena found herself gazing up at him, their positions reversed. He now hovered above her, having maneuvered their bodies with a speed that bordered on the supernatural.

When he looked down at her, he coughed.

A trickle of blood emerging from the corner of his mouth.

His hands, large and commanding, secured her wrists before he pushed himself away from her. As soon as their physical connection was severed, the door to the chamber swung open with a bang.

"My lord!" Zilal's voice resonated through the chamber. Alena, turning towards the sound, saw him burst in, sword at the ready for combat.

Reacting instinctively, Alena attempted to move aside, only to realize her form had become translucent once more. She was a ghost again. Right! The duke broke their skin contact and…

Her gaze shifted back to the duke, and she found herself rooted to the spot in shock. The water in the tub was tinted red, and the duke remained on his knees within it, a dagger protruding ominously from his back, buried to the hilt.

As Zilal rushed to the duke's side with urgent haste, Alena's attention was involuntarily drawn to a figure sprawled on the floor. The man, clad entirely in black, lay motionless—an assassin. A dagger was embedded in his forehead. And that dagger... it was hers.

Alena’s eyes stretched wider as realization of everything that happened began to dawn on her. The duke had flipped their position, causing that dagger to land straight into his back. She also realized now that she had indeed felt her dagger being taken in that chaotic moment. The only logical explanation was that the duke grabbed it and hurled it towards the assassin right after he was struck.

Soon after, two more figures burst into the chamber. Among them was a pale, long-haired man with the demeanor of a physician, who immediately attended to the duke, examining the grievous wound on his back.

Noticing Zilal frantically scouring the chamber as if searching for an unseen enemy, Alena was jolted into action. She hurried to the assassin's body on the floor, intent on reclaiming her dagger, only to discover it missing.

Disbelief coursed through her as she scanned the vicinity for the weapon, her gaze inevitably settling on Zilal. Could he have concealed it within his garments? When had he even managed to retrieve it?!

Time passed and the chaos finally settled.

The duke was now on his bed, unconscious. He was lying flat on his stomach. His wound already covered with clean bandages that were wrapped around his body.

General Elkhart also arrived, and upon laying eyes on the duke, he immediately sought the physician's assessment. "How's he?"

"The good news is he hasn't lost much blood, so he's likely to recover," the doctor replied. "However, he'll be contending with significant pain in the coming days as the wound heals. We should also anticipate high fevers."

As Elkhart released a deep breath, Alena’s gaze fixed on the duke.

Why? Why did he… if he hadn’t changed their position… she should’ve been the one who got stabbed. She was still in her living form at that moment, so why did he do that? Logically, he should have used her as a shield, shouldn't he? So why?

Alena was having a hard time processing the situation. What the duke did was just… purely illogical. And right now, looking at him lying there like that… wasn’t this man supposed to be inhuman? Wasn’t he supposed to be extraordinary?

He was able to turn a ghost like her into her living form just by touching her, and yet, here he was now… Wasn’t he supposed to be invincible?

"Just what in the bloody hell happened here?" Elkhart's voice, though soft, carried a cold edge that reverberated quietly through the room, drawing Alena's focus towards him.

Her eyes traced his line of sight to find Zilal positioned by the door, his presence as unnoticeable as ever.

"Someone opened the hidden escape doors," Zilal reported, his tone even. "The assassin gained entry through them."

"Who the hell opened them? No one else is supposed to know about those doors except for the four of us."

"I believe there's a fifth person involved," Zilal posited with a certain gravity. "This individual was with the duke at the time of the assassination attempt. And I'm convinced that they're the one who opened the secret doors."

Alena remained motionless. Zilal was right. She was indeed the one who had tampered with those doors while exploring the duke’s chambers earlier.

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CHAPTER 34>>