The Murderous Duke's Domestic Affairs - Chapter 17

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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 17
“After all, we have to dance together anyway.”
Lauren offered no response. She simply stared at him with widened eyes, blinking vacantly. Unable to wait any longer for her answer, Aster spoke first. He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. For some reason, he wanted to appear unhurried in her presence.
“Really? Is that okay?”
“There’s no reason it wouldn’t be.”
“Wow, thank you so much! I’m not sure how well it’ll go, but I’ll do my best!”
Whether from worry or relief, Lauren’s violet eyes suddenly brightened with a brilliant light. Her entire face bloomed with a radiant smile. Aster found himself unable to tear his gaze away from her. She was breathtakingly beautiful when she shone like that. Wait. The thought that suddenly overwhelmed him made him clamp his mouth shut and lower his head.
“Aster?”
“Ah, no. It’s nothing.”
Aster hastily waved his hand. He couldn’t stop the heat rising to his face. He couldn’t even understand what foolish thought had possessed him. Right now, he must look like those Military Academy classmates who got that vacant expression whenever they talked about their fiancées or some opera singer they were infatuated with. Fearing Lauren might notice, Aster took a deep breath to clear his mind.
“Um, Aster.”
At the sound of Lauren calling his name, Aster lifted his eyes. Her brows were furrowed as if questioning when her eyes had become so bright.
Ah, that’s right. Now I understand why she has that expression. Her cousin—that woman—was supposed to arrive tomorrow. The invitation to the Imperial Ball had made me forget for a moment. Even I, seeing her for the first time, could tell at a glance: a greedy woman with no sense of propriety. Intelligent as Lauren is, there’s no way she couldn’t handle such a woman. So there shouldn’t be any reason to worry.
But he doesn’t know her circumstances well. Of course, he had committed the investigation results to memory in detail, but there are things that a few lines in a report cannot reveal. There must be a reason Lauren froze when facing Delania Siaz. It seems difficult for her to speak of it. Lauren, with her head bowed, quietly fidgeted with the rim of her teacup.
“Lauren, as I said yesterday, there’s no need to force yourself to speak….”
“No. I want you to listen. To face Delania, I need to prepare myself mentally in my own way….”
Was she saying that simply by telling him, she could manage some of that “mental preparation”? Aster studied her face quietly. Lauren smiled without lifting her gaze. Her smile somehow hurt to see. That wasn’t what I intended. Aster found himself frowning in the same way she did.
* * *
“It just… happened that way. I’m sorry. Now that I’ve said it, it doesn’t seem like much of a story.”
After a long while, her story ended. Lauren, who had whispered it out in a small voice, drained her cold tea in one gulp. Then she exhaled long and slowly. She lifted her head to smile at Aster, who had been watching her with worried eyes the whole time, but he sat with his arms crossed, his expression grave, staring only at the empty cup.
Why did he have that look? A face much younger than now, buried in memory, suddenly overlapped with his present expression. “The Murderer” Aster Veil Lilywood. Lauren murmured his nickname silently to herself. Seeing him like this, she couldn’t help but think: there was probably no one to whom the nickname “Murderer” suited less than Aster. Perhaps he had never truly changed at all.
“I’ve made a mistake.”
Aster, leaning against the back of the long chair, clicked his tongue. His hand brushing back his golden hair fell roughly. A mistake? She had said it was nothing much herself, but it had still taken considerable courage to tell him. She had thought she shouldn’t feel disappointed, but she was beginning to feel a little hurt.
“If I’d known, I wouldn’t have invited that woman to the dinner.”
But what Aster said was beyond Lauren’s expectations.
“…What?”
“Such memories tend to linger for quite a long time.”
Lauren found herself unable to speak. His gaze seemed directed somewhere far away. What was Aster thinking right now? But Lauren couldn’t ask him. His settled green eyes appeared darker than usual.
“I’m sorry. For making you face someone unpleasant.”
He bowed his head to her. Lauren could only shake her head in response.
“It’s fine now. Talking about it made my heart feel lighter.”
“That’s a relief.”
Aster smiled bitterly. Even though just moments before she had been worried about facing Delania immediately. Perhaps because she had voiced such words aloud, it actually felt like everything would be fine, and Lauren smiled at him. She could smile with a much better feeling than before.
“So I’ll be fine facing Delania. She’s nothing now.”
Yes. She must be nothing. She should have been nothing long ago. Lauren clenched her fists tightly and thought this to herself. So tomorrow, I must act as though nothing is wrong.
* * *
Aster sat down and filled his glass. Today had been truly exhausting. His head was spinning.
After his conversation with Lauren ended, he summoned Calvin. Though she still seemed somewhat strained, he had wanted to stop her, but she told Calvin that the people of House of Siaz made her uncomfortable. Though the promise already made couldn’t be helped, if they came again in the future, she didn’t wish to meet them if possible—she said this with her characteristic composed smile, very firmly.
Calvin bowed his head and apologized to her. Lauren accepted his apology with composure. Then, as if she had never been troubled at all, she began preparing for the dinner. Receiving guests was the Duke’s wife’s duty, or so it was said. Lauren, who had worked as the Marquis’s proxy in administrative matters, turned out to be skilled not only in administrative work.
Lauren, who had been putting effort into decorating the mansion, quickly transformed a small room into a dining room. When he asked why she wasn’t using the existing dining room, she answered with a bitter smile that she had been enjoying using it and wanted to continue using it in the future, and didn’t want to give it up for someone like that. Then, rolling her violet eyes, she looked at him.
Lauren asked Aster if he was redecorating the dining room for such a trivial reason. He shook his head. After all, Lauren would be the Duchess. It was only right to arrange things as she pleased. Calvin also expressed his agreement. In the end, a temporary dining room was created in moments according to her preferences.
Aster tilted his wine glass. His consciousness drifted to the opposite side of the mansion, to the darkened forbidden zone. He let out a hollow laugh without realizing it. No one could understand her heart as well as he did. No—that wasn’t quite right. Even Lauren, who harbored no fear in moving forward, might grow weary if she ever learned of the malice sleeping within this Duke’s Mansion. Delania Siaz’s ‘malice’ was nothing but adorable compared to what Aster had endured. He felt sorry for Lauren, who had struggled with even that.
Aster quietly observed Lauren as she worked. It was a dinner with someone she disliked, so she could have done it carelessly, yet she worked with genuine diligence. She personally confirmed the paintings to hang on the temporary dining room walls and even the flowers to decorate the table. When Calvin excused himself to deliver the menu he had discussed with her to the kitchen, Lauren released a long sigh.
Watching her like that made him feel somewhat frustrated, so Aster found himself meddling unnecessarily. He asked if there was really any need to prepare so earnestly for someone she disliked. He sensed his tone had been rather blunt, but it felt awkward to correct himself, so he simply closed his mouth.
Though she could have rested a little, Lauren, who had barely finished preparing to receive guests and was now examining documents again, lifted her eyes and turned her gaze toward him. Her eyes seemed to ask—why would he ask such a question, what was his reason?
Aster could not open his mouth. When he said nothing, Lauren set down her pen and smiled quietly. She said that if she hadn’t invited him at all, it would be one thing, but since it had come to this, wasn’t it better to properly display the Duke’s House’s prestige? He nodded in agreement. The Duke’s House’s prestige. That was something he had lost long ago. Unable to answer otherwise, he simply nodded, yet he could not help but think such thoughts.
If Lauren knew, she would surely find it horrifying and flee. It was Aster who had decided to welcome her as the Duchess, but he had no intention of telling her about the malice and secrets hidden within the Duke’s Mansion. If fortune smiled upon them, they could continue living as they were, but if fortune turned cruel.
He had to stop thinking. Aster shook his head vigorously. Such things must not happen. No more lives could be lost in this Duke’s Mansion. The dishonorable epithet of ‘murderer’ was enough to bear once.
He drained the wine glass in his hand in one gulp, then recalled the contents of the report Garnet had brought. He remembered the fervent longing for freedom that had blazed in her violet eyes when they first met. It was something he knew all too well. It was something he too had desperately desired.
Lauren was an attractive woman. No matter how he tried not to, his eyes kept drifting to her, and whenever he saw her smile, he found himself smiling in return. But just because his eyes were drawn to her did not mean he could bind her to this Duke’s Mansion. Lauren Siaz would become the next Marquis of House Siaz. Perhaps not immediately, but eventually, that was how it had to be. She had lived her entire life to inherit the Marquis title.
He had to let her go. The place where she belonged was the small, peaceful Marquis Territory that she cherished so dearly. The daughter of Emel Siaz, who had saved him and his comrades. He had accepted her to repay the debt he owed, but it should be nothing more than that.
Aster reclined on the long chair, resting his head against the armrest. Gazing at the familiar ceiling, he bit his lip. His eyes kept drifting to her. Suddenly, irritation welled up at his own thoughts. Was that why he had said such a thing? Because the corners of her eyes had drooped when she said she didn’t know how to dance. Wasn’t that something he shouldn’t have done, no matter how much of an excuse the Imperial Ball invitation provided? He had said something truly foolish. He didn’t even know why he’d said it. Looking back on it now, it was a ridiculous proposal. At least Lauren had accepted it gladly, which was fortunate.
Still, he was grateful that she had regained her spirits. Aster genuinely thought so.

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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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