The Murderous Duke's Domestic Affairs - Chapter 11

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 11
Aster and I sat facing each other across the low table once more. Since we had decided to call in a journalist, we needed to align our story. Honestly, it wasn’t easy for two people who had married based merely on mutual understanding to feign being in love. Still, I murmured that it was fortunate. Aster’s eyebrows shot up.
“I had no time to appear before people while managing my territory, and you said you stayed in the mansion after the war.”
“So what?”
“If we show ourselves even slightly different from the rumors, people will quickly believe that’s how it is.”
Indeed. It was a reasonable point. But that alone wasn’t enough to convince people. We needed a narrative that the public could accept. A reason compelling enough to marry in secret out of love. That’s why we sat facing each other with our heads together.
“Usually, when people talk about a ‘love story,’ they start with where you met, right? Do you happen to have a first love or something we could reference?”
Aster shook his head with a bitter expression. From his explanation, it seemed he had lived at the Military Academy from an early age and rarely had the opportunity to meet anyone. He had never naturally developed romantic feelings for anyone. I tilted my head in confusion.
“But you did attend social gatherings, didn’t you?”
“I did. But I always sat in the corner because I didn’t feel like going.”
Wait. Aster paused and looked at me. The last time he had attended a gathering was quite a while ago. He had eventually grown tired of it and stopped going altogether.
But I had said I never appeared in social circles. How could he have known I attended gatherings? A sudden question flashed through Aster’s mind. Though it was quickly swept away by my next words.
“You don’t happen to like men, do you?”
“No!”
“Then why are you shouting? Well, it doesn’t matter to me who you like anyway.”
She draws the line so sharply at times like this. When it was she who suggested marriage first. My head throbbed, and without thinking, I pressed my forehead. This woman is utterly incomprehensible. I want to drink something—water or alcohol. My chest feels like it might burst. A long sigh escaped me.
“What about you? Do you have one? A first love?”
“I have that much.”
I thought she would say more, but Lauren fell silent. She asks about others’ affairs with sparkling eyes, yet refuses to say a word about her own. For some reason, my mood twisted.
“Meeting by chance somewhere is the easiest explanation. Since I never left my territory, what if you came nearby? The Siaz Territory had many soldiers convalescing there. Recuperation works, visiting the sick works.”
Lauren changed the subject, saying first love wasn’t important. So very much on her own terms. But my energy had drained, and now I couldn’t even be bothered to respond. She’d probably think I was complaining. After splashing water on my face to calm myself, I turned my body and stretched my legs onto the long chair. A fatigue I had rarely felt before washed over me like a tide.
“I cannot leave the Capital. Except when I go to the battlefield by imperial order.”
Leaning my back against the armrest of the long chair, I murmured quietly. Lauren’s eyes widened. So that’s why a Duke like me processed everything through documents without visiting his territory. Now what should we do? Without realizing it, Lauren began biting her nails. With the journalist already summoned, things weren’t going as planned, and she grew slightly anxious.
“…Was the Siaz Territory in the Southern Region?”
Aster, who seemed lost in thought, asked me. My pride was a bit wounded, but there was nothing to be done. My father, Emel Siaz, had been famous as an able administrator. A small baronial territory in a remote corner of the Southern Region, vaguely known as a convalescent retreat, would hardly have caught the attention of a Duke who was a war hero. I readily affirmed Aster’s question. As I began to ponder what to do, I heard a short sound escape from Aster—an “ah.”
“Come to think of it, there was a time I went to suppress bandits because they were rapidly increasing in the Southern Region.”
“When was that?”
“…About three years ago, I think.”
At Aster’s words about having forgotten due to fighting in so many places, my eyes narrowed. Three years ago. I had merely heard about an incident that wasn’t in the Siaz Territory and forgotten it, but now I remembered. It was in the neighboring territory, or perhaps the one next to that. The people had risen up because the high taxes made it impossible to survive no matter how hard they worked.
So it was reported as a bandit incident and the military was dispatched. A servant’s relative was from that area. I remember worrying because contact had been lost. Fortunately, that relative was unharmed, but many others must have died or been injured. After all, “Aster Veil Lilywood,” the war hero, had been dispatched there.
I lifted my head and opened my mouth to say something. But seeing him press his left shoulder with a contorted expression, I forgot what I was about to say.
“Aster, are you alright?”
So I asked instead. Because he looked to be in pain. Aster met my eyes and pulled at the corner of his lips. He seemed to be trying to smile, but his face remained stiff, unable to form a proper smile. His sunken green eyes seemed to darken even more.
“Hm? Ah, I’m fine. It’s nothing.”
Aster looked up at the sky and took a deep breath, then swept his hair back. The hand pressing his shoulder tightened, then relaxed. He smiled faintly at me again. It was certainly a better expression than before.
“If we had met, that time would be good. I was even separated from the main unit and fell behind for a while.”
Fell behind? Him, a capable soldier? I tilted my head in confusion. But I soon realized. Even an “undefeated war hero” must have been wounded at some point. Wasn’t that exactly when? He seemed to have injured his shoulder. It wasn’t difficult to guess from his contorted expression and the way he pressed his shoulder with force.
“It would work to say you took care of me then. My falling behind became widely known in the Capital. For a while, there was much talk about using it as a pretext to strip me of my command.”
I see. But there was something else that concerned me more.
“There was someone who took care of you?”
“…No.”
At his terse reply, Lauren exhaled a sigh she could no longer suppress. It must have hurt. If he’d been left behind, the loneliness would have been unbearable. People only grew lonelier when they suffered.
The man Lauren observed from his side was a ‘war hero,’ perhaps, but certainly no ‘murderer.’ The fact that he still lived after enduring her relentless reproaches proved as much. If only I had been there then. She was no physician, but at least she might have spared him from the solitude that pain and anguish could bring.
Aster spoke of those days as though they were nothing, but Lauren knew better. His expression, his manner—they betrayed the truth.
“Garnet and Letti found me. If they’d been even a moment later…. No, never mind.”
Aster lowered his legs from the chaise and rose. He retrieved a bottle from the cabinet. He drank because of trauma. Those events were painful memories for him. Under ordinary circumstances, she would have said something, but Lauren merely watched him in silence.
“Will you have a drink?”
Lauren shook her head. Then, twisting her lips, she said yes and turned away as he drained his glass in one swift motion.
* * *
The journalist would arrive tomorrow afternoon, Letti had laughed, insisting he bring his camera. Aster had chuckled, saying that was well done.
Everything that could be prepared in advance had been. The script was polished enough to hand directly to the Newspaper Company. But speaking face-to-face would surely differ. They could include photographs. For any unforeseen circumstances, Aster had said with a crooked smile, he would leave matters to Lauren.
“You’re more resourceful than I am.”
Aster seemed quite capable of improvisation himself, yet Lauren nodded in agreement despite her thoughts.
“Using my mind in ways I haven’t before has left me exhausted. I should rest.”
With a major undertaking ahead, he urged her to rest, then rose from his seat. Her temples throbbed as much as his, so his suggestion was welcome. Today’s work would fall to Letti, surely. He’d always possessed some competence, and with his recent training, Letti had become capable enough to handle matters that didn’t require the Duke or Duchess’s approval. Lauren stretched her stiffened back, inwardly amused at how completely accustomed she’d become to receiving attendants’ service. She would ask Anna and Lise to prepare warm bathwater and a soothing drink for sleep. Aster was whispering something to Letti, whose expression darkened as he nodded.
During his military days, he’d lacked flexibility and caused others considerable trouble, he’d once mentioned. Might Letti have worn such an expression then? Suddenly, she found herself curious about their conversation—a curiosity she’d never experienced before.
Aster and Letti seemed to have grown quite comfortable with each other.
As Lauren stood gazing blankly at them with such thoughts, Aster turned to look at her. How foolish her musings were. Her cheeks flushed despite knowing he couldn’t possibly have read her mind. She fanned her face with her hand.
Aster tilted his head quizzically, then after a moment, let out a soft laugh. When he smiled like that, it felt as though he could see straight through her, and for reasons she couldn’t explain, irritation pricked at her. Her voice sharpened as she asked what was the matter. She hadn’t meant for it to sound that way. The crooked smile at his lips seemed to soften slightly. Though it was likely just her imagination.
“Ah, right—could you prepare a list of the places in Siaz Territory where we’ve been investing?”
“Of course. But why?”
“I’m thinking of making some investments here as well. The returns seem promising.”
The current Baron of Siaz Territory, Lauren’s Uncle, showed no inclination toward investment from what Aster had investigated. Though taxes had risen considerably, he spent it all on constructing new mansions and purchasing jewels and dresses. Filling the investor’s vacancy herself didn’t seem like a poor idea.
A beat late in grasping his meaning, Lauren’s violet eyes widened and her crimson lips parted. Aster laughed softly and slipped from the room, thinking her astonished expression was quite worth seeing.
A beat late in understanding his words, Lauren’s violet eyes widened and her red lips parted. Aster let out a short laugh and left the room, thinking that her shocked expression was quite a sight to see.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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