The Murderous Duke's Domestic Affairs - Chapter 13

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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 13
“Not bad at all.”
Aster murmured the words after reading the newspaper article. I skimmed through the same piece in another publication and nodded in agreement. When he’d kicked the table and ranted about money, I’d thought everything was ruined. But the threat had worked perfectly. It seemed a certain degree of fear-based governance was indeed necessary.
“The photographs turned out wonderfully too.”
Letti looked up from the newspaper he’d been studying with keen interest and laughed. At his comment, I forced myself to look at the photograph I’d been avoiding. There I was, leaning against Aster, my gaze lowered, wearing a smile that looked perfectly at ease. I hadn’t realized I could make such an expression. My face felt suddenly warm.
“If only you’d dress like this whenever you have external engagements, sir. It would be such a shame to waste that face.”
“What?”
“Nothing at all, sir.”
Letti lamented upon seeing Aster still dressed in his comfortable shirt and trousers. When Aster’s eyes narrowed, he quickly deflected, claiming it was nothing important.
Aster exhaled with a soft laugh, but he didn’t reprimand or show irritation toward Letti. A murderer? I found it utterly unbelievable. Watching Letti avert his gaze, I let out a small laugh.
“Don’t worry, Letti. Whether you like it or not, you’ll be wearing proper attire from now on.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Is that so?”
The moment my words ended, both their voices overlapped. Aster looked annoyed, but Letti seemed delighted.
“Since you’ve shown yourself like that, whenever you appear at official events with me from now on, you’ll have to dress properly whether you like it or not. It’s even written in this article: ‘What is certain is that Aster Veil Lilywood has changed since his marriage.'”
Aster clicked his tongue sharply in displeasure. I found even that amusing. On the surface, Aster appeared to have a sharp temperament and seemed like an untouchable ruffian, but that wasn’t the case at all. It had only been about two months since I’d arrived at the Duke’s Mansion, yet through working together, studying together, and being constantly by his side, I’d come to understand him well. Perhaps that’s why he no longer frightened me as he once had.
“The first time is difficult, but the second will be easy.”
Speaking in a melodious tone toward Aster, who leaned back in the long chair and roughly swept his hair back, I returned my attention to the newspaper. Aster rested his head gently against me, and a faint smile played at his lips, his gaze toward me soft and tender.
Yes, someone capable of such an expression couldn’t possibly be a bad person. That rumor must surely be mistaken. I lifted my hand and carefully traced the figure of Aster in the black and white photograph. The fact that I was one of the few people who knew him like this made my heart flutter slightly.
“We should call Jasmine Aloria, Aster. Why not have some proper clothes tailored for you while we’re at it?”
“I shall contact her at once!”
Letti seemed even more delighted than before. His light steps as he left the office were almost dancing. Aster pressed his forehead and sighed.
“It’s been a while since that fellow’s been this excited.”
Aster grumbled about whether it had to be this way. His tone was discontented, though not genuinely irritated. I could tell the difference now with just a glance. The laughter I’d been holding back escaped. Aster’s deep green eyes turned toward me.
“You seem to be enjoying yourself.”
“I’m sorry. But there’s nothing I can do about it. Your photograph is already in the newspaper.”
“I know.”
Aster’s lips twisted as he answered briefly. With such extensive coverage, the Emperor would surely summon him soon. At the very least, he’d need to dress properly for that occasion. As I’d said, he needed to demonstrate that he’d changed. The “murderer” who appeared at official events in nothing but a shirt, casting a chill over the atmosphere, now needed to at least look presentable.
His hand moved roughly as he swept back his golden hair. His wardrobe contained only a few old, simplified formal robes and at best the Knight Order uniform he’d worn after the war. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to prepare proper formal attire while he had the chance. But knowing that didn’t make him any more willing. Unfamiliarity was something he simply couldn’t overcome.
And yet. With his head bowed, Aster clenched the hair he’d been sweeping back. His lips, pressed tightly together, drained of color until they turned pale. He didn’t dislike the changes Lauren had brought. But he shouldn’t feel this way.
“Aster?”
“It’s nothing. Really.”
When Lauren called his name as if checking on his condition, Aster smiled reassuringly at her. The forced smile came out as a bitter one, but Lauren simply tilted her head curiously without pressing further.
Even though they’d married, it was ultimately out of necessity. What Lauren and Aster had wanted was freedom. She’d escaped from her Uncle’s grasp, and Aster had been freed from the Emperor’s pressure to marry.
That should have been enough. He knew it well in his mind. He didn’t know how others lived, but at least unlike his parents, there was no need to be constantly together whispering sweet nothings. Besides, he didn’t even understand what love truly meant.
The reason his gaze kept drifting toward her was simply because she was exceptionally capable. He favored capable people. That’s why he kept Jasmine Aloria, Calvin Stewart, Letti, and Garnet close and employed them. When they were no longer needed, he was already thinking of discarding them. After all, he was a willful “murderer,” so no one would dare speak against him.
The people Aster kept close and used diligently were only those he’d been with for a long time or those whose backs he’d trusted in battle. Perhaps that’s why he had no one skilled in administrative work. Aster’s gaze turned toward Lauren, who was focused on her documents. Her violet eyes sparkled as if she were delighted by the work itself. The fountain pen, which looked too crude for her hands, danced across the papers.
She was truly capable. Just by skimming through documents, she grasped the problems, and her solutions were always rational. She was exactly the person he needed right now. It was clear she was too valuable to lose.
So he was simply playing along.
Aster thought this as he looked down at the newspaper.
* * *
“A visitor has arrived. An unannounced guest.”
Visitors to the Duke’s Mansion were extraordinarily rare. The few who came were merchants delivering foodstuffs or necessities, or retainers reporting on estate matters—but they would meet with Calvin or Letti and depart, hardly qualifying as guests of the Duke and Duchess. Given the rumors of Aster being a “murderer” and my own absence from society, it was fair to say no one would come calling on us at all.
Yet Calvin had deliberately sought me out in my office. I lifted my head to regard him. His usually gentle face was clouded with irritation—a rare display of emotion from him.
“Did they not give a name?”
“They only insist on meeting with you, madam. They said you would regret it if you refused to see them.”
Calvin had shown the visitor to the Reception Room. I nodded at him and rose from my seat. Who on earth could this be? I had no idea.
Calvin, who had escorted me, knocked on the Reception Room door. At the sound of the visitor’s hurried voice, I started and took a step back. The person waiting beyond that threshold was someone I knew all too well.
“Lauren!”
“…Delania.”
The figure who sprang from her seat was my cousin. Now that I thought about it, even from the Marquis Siaz Estate, far removed from the Capital, one could receive the Capital’s newspapers, though it took time.
When I lived at the Marquis Estate, it was to hear news from the Capital. My Uncle continued to receive the newspapers for appearances’ sake. Though in truth, no one actually read them.
One fact was certain: Delania Siaz had seen the newspaper containing the interview with me and Aster. How naive of me to assume no one at House of Siaz would read it. I had grown so comfortable with life at the Duke’s Mansion that I had forgotten the most crucial matter. My hands clenched into fists.
Calvin, recognizing that the unannounced visitor was someone I knew, excused himself with an offer to bring tea. My gaze, now rigid, fixed upon my cousin. Delania, her deep burgundy hair—nearly black—braided down her back, smiled at me. Her brown eyes gleamed with an unsettling sharpness.
“You seem to be doing well.”
I pressed my trembling lips together, simply observing Delania in silence. What was she doing here? My violet gaze swept over her. She had dressed quite lavishly for a visit to the Duke’s Mansion. The dress she wore seemed oddly familiar—it was originally mine, though Delania had altered it so extensively that little of its original form remained.
“You haven’t changed. Here you are, a Duchess, and you still dress like a governess. Is being a Duchess itself not a lie?”
“What are you trying to say?”
“Won’t you invite me to sit?”
Despite her words suggesting I hadn’t invited her, Delania dropped herself onto the long chair with an audible thump. I drew a slow breath. I did not want her to perceive my agitation. Delania had a keen sense for such things—the wrong kind of keen. She may have already guessed. I closed my eyes briefly, then opened them, and took a seat across from her.
“Do you know how angry Father was when you disappeared?”
Delania pouted her full lips as she grumbled. I already knew that much without being told. Yet I found myself unable to speak. Since coming of age, my conversations with Delania had been few and far between. She had wanted to humiliate me as the heir to House of Siaz, but I had paid her no mind, ignoring whatever she said.
After my parents passed and Uncle stripped me of the Marquis title, the meaning of her words shifted. Everything I had done became worthless, and Delania rejoiced in it. Taking my dresses and jewels, assigning me a servant’s quarters—all of it had been her doing.
What was the point of her words now? That Uncle Trace Siaz would be angry was something I, who had fled the Marquis Estate, knew better than anyone. And precisely because I knew it, I had chosen to stand beside Aster Veil Lilywood, the one called a “murderer.”
“Why are you here?”
“My, I’m your older sister, aren’t I? It’s only natural for me to visit my younger sister.”
“Delania, get to the point.”
At my clipped tone, Delania smiled wickedly.
“Still won’t even greet me properly. Fine then—shall I speak to that ‘point’ you’re so fond of?”
Delania’s beautifully painted lips twisted. Leaning far across the table, she reached toward me. Her manicured, cold fingertips tapped my cheek lightly.
“Because you ran away, Lauren, I’ve been put in quite a difficult position.”
Her narrowed brown eyes fixed upon me with an unsettling intensity.

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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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