The Murderous Duke's Domestic Affairs - Chapter 20

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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 20
I gazed up at the shadow of the man standing before me like a shield. His towering frame resembled a massive boulder, easily capable of concealing me from Delania’s view. Aster. I rolled his name across my tongue. Why had he come here? My eyes blinked slowly. A vacant gaze met his emerald eyes. Even through my blurred vision, I could see Aster’s furrowed brow.
“W-what is it?!”
At Delania’s fierce voice, I involuntarily shrank my shoulders. I had tried not to appear weak, but that resolve crumbled without a trace—perhaps from the shock of the slap across my cheek. There was no room to think.
“He asked what I truly was, if I wasn’t really the Duchess of Lilywood.”
At the low, menacing growl that seemed to reverberate through the air, Delania took a step backward. The emotionless emerald eyes looking down at her felt threatening. A murderer. I had forgotten that epithet while watching him quietly stand by my side, but it was certainly his nickname. Like a poisonous plant thriving in darkness, his deeply green eyes sent a chill down her spine.
“S-so….”
“That fool’s newspaper article made me look absolutely ridiculous. Everything’s twisted into a mess.”
Aster pulled one corner of his mouth and laughed softly. His smile was undeniably beautiful—the kind that would captivate anyone meeting him on the street—yet the temperature in his gaze was far from warm. At his sinister eyes that seemed ready to strangle at any moment, Delania’s eyes widened in terror.
“How dare you strike the Duchess of Lilywood?”
Aster stepped close to Delania. His shadow fell across her face. Her body trembled violently. Her brown eyes were drenched in fear. With each step Aster took forward, Delania retreated inch by inch. Eventually, she stumbled against a long chair and fell. A sharp intake of breath escaped her throat.
“G-get away!”
As if sensing a threat to her life, Delania scrambled to her feet and pushed Aster. Or rather, she tried to. Aster sidestepped, evading her final desperate lunge. Delania lost her balance and tumbled to the ground. A loud crash echoed through the room.
How troublesome. Aster’s gaze shifted to me. I sat with my eyes squeezed shut. My shoulders were hunched from the loud noise. Aster clicked his tongue—even that sound was fierce. Whatever he was thinking, Delania shrieked and bolted from the room. Aster watched her retreating figure. She’ll escape on her own anyway. But there was something more important.
“Lauren.”
I didn’t answer. Aster approached carefully and sat beside me. I could feel him trembling as I kept my head bowed. He grasped my hand and gently patted the back of it. At the external stimulus, I lifted my pale face. My violet eyes gazed at him blankly.
“It’s alright, Lauren. The guest has left.”
As if I didn’t understand his words, I blinked. Then I flinched and trembled.
“S-she’s gone?”
“Yes. She’s gone.”
As if to confirm, I spoke. Aster answered me once more at the tremor in my voice. Only then did I release a long breath. Even my exhale trembled finely.
My gaze fell on my swollen, crimson cheek. The puffy skin looked painfully tender from how hard the blow had been. Without thinking, Aster brought his hand to my cheek. As the warm heat touched his fingertips, I turned my head away.
“…I’m sorry. It must hurt.”
“N-no, it doesn’t.”
My eyes cleared slightly. I recovered from the shock quickly. Did that mean I was accustomed to such situations? That didn’t sit well with him. Aster frowned and examined my wounds. Blood beaded at the corner of my torn lip. I should confirm what happened, but first it would be better to apply medicine and let her rest. In his eyes, I looked far too exhausted.
“Your wound….”
I made a small sound. The pain in my cheek, which had felt frozen and numb, finally overwhelmed me. I winced at the throbbing ache. Biting my lip, I tried to stand, but my legs gave way and I collapsed back down. Aster inwardly clicked his tongue and lifted me into his arms.
“Let me go, Aster. I can walk on my own.”
“Stay quiet.”
Aster carried me as he walked. I struggled somewhat, but when he told me to either stay still or risk falling from this height—which would certainly hurt—I stopped moving. He wasn’t as tall as Letti, but he was still quite tall. A fall from this height would definitely be painful.
Aster Veil Lilywood, the renowned war hero. I had wanted to appear strong enough to match his family, but I had failed. I remained as weak as I was in childhood, freezing before Delania. In doing so, I had ruined everything.
I looked up at Aster as he carried me, walking without hesitation. His jawline, sharp and chiseled, looked so strong. Envying him for no reason, I swallowed a sigh and quietly rested my head against his chest.
“My Lady!”
Aster deftly opened the door while holding me. Lise and Anna hurried toward us. Upon seeing my swollen, crimson cheek, Lise let out a cry. Anna stood frozen, as if she had seen a ghost, her face pale white.
“The bedroom?”
At Aster’s low voice, Lise quickly opened the bedroom door. Aster approached the bed with quick steps and carefully laid me down. Then he instructed them to bring ice and the first aid kit. Anna rushed from the room, and Lise began helping me change clothes.
I thought he would leave and return, but it was Aster, not Anna, who came back with the first aid kit in hand. Sitting on the bed, I smiled bitterly. I felt sorry for troubling him. I waited for him to sit beside the bed before I spoke.
“I’m sorry, Aster.”
Words are necessary for feelings to be conveyed. I bowed my head to Aster in apology. His words to Delania—that he looked ridiculous—weighed on my heart. I had suggested the newspaper article, or rather, I had suggested marriage in the first place, causing him to endure something he shouldn’t have had to face. No amount of apology would be enough.
“Give me your hand.”
Aster let out a small sigh and offered no response to her apology—he simply stated it plainly. My hand? Not my cheek? Lauren lowered her gaze to examine her own palm. Across the white skin, deep nail marks were etched in red, mingled with traces of blood. So that’s why it stung when I washed my face. I had no idea the wound was this severe. Her eyes shifted toward Aster.
“The Estate has no physician on staff. I’ll summon a military doctor tomorrow. For now, just disinfect it and treat the wound.”
There was an undeniable force behind Aster’s words. She extended her palm toward him.
“There’s no need to call a military doctor for a wound this minor. I’m not a soldier, after all….”
As Aster pressed a cotton swab soaked in disinfectant against her palm, he lifted his eyes and glanced at her sideways. His subdued green gaze seemed to be studying her intently, so Lauren pulled her lips into a smile. But her split lip throbbed with pain, and she let out a small whimper instead.
“Then what about having one of the household staff who has medical credentials attend to it?”
“That much….”
“Very well.”
He answered curtly and lowered his gaze back to her wound. She had said it wasn’t serious enough to warrant a doctor’s visit, but Aster seemed to have interpreted her words the opposite way. Yet Lauren couldn’t bring herself to speak again. Just before he lowered his eyes, she thought she saw him smile with a hint of relief—a smile different from the usual sardonic sneer whose target she could never discern, or the fierce grin she knew so well.
Lauren bowed her head and quietly observed Aster as he treated her wound. Long golden hair cascaded past his shoulders. His lashes, the same color as his hair, appeared longer than she had previously thought, perhaps because his eyes were downcast. The dimmed lighting—perhaps he intended for her to rest early—made his hair and lashes shimmer. He looks beautiful when he’s concentrating. The thought caught Lauren off guard, and she startled at her own reflection.
In that moment, having finished the treatment and wrapped her palm in bandages, he lifted his eyes. Their gazes met—his green eyes locking with hers. Uncertain where to direct her eyes, Lauren quickly lowered her head. Aster tilted his head slightly as he regarded her.
“Lift your head, Lauren.”
He issued the command in a low voice. Lauren slowly raised her eyes in obedience to his words. He’s simply examining the wounds. Don’t be unsettled. She murmured to herself. His touch as he disinfected and applied medicine to her split lip and cheek was nothing but gentle, yet why did she keep becoming aware of it? She had resolved not to.
Lauren forcibly turned her gaze away from him. Yet she found herself repeatedly checking what expression he wore—as if reliving that distant day preserved in her memory.
* * *
Inside a darkened room. Streetlight filtered through the parted curtains. The shadow of a man sprawled across a long chair moved slowly. Outside noise had seeped through the windows. The man set down the newspaper he had been reading and approached the window. Shrill voices shrieked and wailed, grating on his ears.
The man swept back his long golden hair and looked down from the window. A woman with dark auburn hair—nearly black in the dim light—was being dragged away. Her voice, spewing curses, was savage. The man’s lips curved into a smirk, and he let out a soft laugh.
“Cursing the Murderer Duke, are you? How bold.”
The man murmured in a low voice. Then he abruptly drew the curtains shut and turned away. He returned to the long chair and collapsed into it with a thud. Stretching his body with one leg propped up in the empty space, a cold, sharp smile played at his lips.
“Something interesting seems to be unfolding.”
Unlike the blade-like glint that flickered in his blue-tinged green eyes, his voice was soft. Lowering his head, he gazed at his own arm. Beneath the rolled-up sleeve, a pitch-black thorn chain was carved into his forearm. He let out a hollow laugh. The man reclined fully across the long chair.
“Aster, what on earth are you thinking?”
The man murmured with one corner of his mouth raised. His head resting against the armrest of the chair, he stared up at the ceiling. His blue-tinged gaze drifted along the patterns of the ceiling before his eyelids slowly descended over his eyes.
“I truly have no idea.”
The man’s quiet voice dissolved into the darkness. Beyond the curtains, a faint light fell upon the newspaper he had set down. The folded newspaper bore a large photograph of Lauren and Aster, along with an interview featuring them both.

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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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