The Murderous Duke's Domestic Affairs - Chapter 53

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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 53
“My goodness, Aster. Are you hurt?”
Lauren asked with widened eyes. Bandages were wrapped around his hand as he entered the Reception Room, which had been arranged as a Tea Room. Aster gazed down at his own hand with an expressionless face, then twisted his lips into a smile.
“It’s nothing serious. More importantly, thank you for inviting me.”
Aster presented a bouquet of flowers. Calvin had been so insistent that he shouldn’t arrive empty-handed that he’d brought it along. The flowers had been arranged from those blooming in the Duke’s Mansion garden—ones that Lauren herself had planted—but Calvin had stubbornly insisted it was better than nothing.
“Thank you so much! What a beautiful bouquet.”
Contrary to Calvin’s worries, Lauren accepted the flowers with a radiant smile. Aster narrowed his eyes, watching her savor the chrysanthemum fragrance. He should have paid more attention if he’d known she liked such things.
What if he sent flowers to her room every morning? As Aster watched Lauren turn away, the thought crossed his mind for a moment. Warm yellows, brilliant whites gleaming with sunlight, and purple hues. The vibrant chrysanthemums suited Lauren perfectly. Especially the lavender-tinted aster chrysanthemums.
Summer delphiniums and autumn chrysanthemums. Somehow, I felt I would come to love those delicate purple blossoms. Those petals reminded me of Lauren’s eyes before me. Aster suddenly had such a thought. Then, realizing his lips had relaxed, he raised his hand and pressed his cheek firmly. How foolish. That’s what he thought to himself.
Holding the bouquet, Lauren guided Aster to the tea table. Her hair pinned up and the subdued-colored tea time dress suited her perfectly. There was no trace of the awkward smile she’d worn while trying on the dress—she embodied the flawless image of a duchess that no one could find fault with.
Lauren extracted several chrysanthemums from the bouquet and mixed them into the flower arrangement already displayed on the table. The chrysanthemums, which seemed as though they wouldn’t match the white roses that had been there originally, melded seamlessly into the elegant vase with just a few touches of her hands.
Now that I think about it. A memory that had been sleeping deep in Aster’s consciousness suddenly surfaced. Wasn’t it said that gifts brought by tea party guests were placed directly on the table? The image of his mother smiling as she set flowers his father had brought or sweets he’d purchased on the table while away flooded back, and he clenched his fists.
In that moment, my vision blurred. It felt as though another episode would strike. I had to regain control. I didn’t want to show weakness before Lauren. Aster took a deep breath without Lauren noticing. His exhaled breath trembled faintly.
“…Have you grown taller?”
Aster, who had been watching Lauren pour the tea herself from the teapot, opened his mouth to clear his mind of its overwhelming thoughts. Lauren set down the teapot silently and smiled at him. Her smile, which seemed somehow joyful, was so identical to his mother’s that it made him dizzy. Aster bit the inside of his mouth hard. The faint metallic taste of blood brought his consciousness back from the brink of fading.
“Does it look that way? All my hard work has paid off.”
“Hard work?”
“Apparently my shoulders and back became hunched from doing so much paperwork. They said a noblewoman becomes a laughingstock if her posture is poor, so Jasmine Aloria helped me with the correction exercises.”
Lauren tilted her head to one side and laughed. She said she was startled at first by the braces fastened around her shoulders and back, and afterward it was quite difficult. Though she sometimes looked tired while working, she never showed any sign of it.
Aster observed Lauren quietly. He had never thought her posture was hunched, but hearing her explanation, it seemed the appearance of her increased height was no illusion. Aster slowly nodded. He couldn’t understand why she had to go through such hardship, but if she was satisfied with it, then it didn’t matter.
“Drink it before it cools.”
Lauren offered him the tea. Aster lowered his gaze to the teacup with its thin rim and delicate gold leaf patterns. He hadn’t even known such things still remained in the Estate. From the teacup, which he held carefully as though it might shatter at any moment, an unfamiliar fragrance wafted forth.
“…What is this?”
“It’s a trendy herbal tea these days.”
From Lauren’s explanation, it seemed that dried herbs, which had been used for medicinal and culinary purposes, were gradually becoming fashionable in high society as tea. People apparently researched the ratios of herbs to mix and shared them at gatherings. Though the more traditional-minded noblewomen—or to put it kindly, those who preferred classical tastes—still harbored reservations, younger wives and young ladies spoke highly of it.
“By the way, the teacup you’re holding contains chamomile and lavender.”
At Lauren’s explanation that it reduces stress and calms tension, Aster nodded. However, he didn’t truly believe her words. For others, perhaps, but for him, such effects were meaningless. If his condition could be improved simply by making tea from herbs and drinking it, he wouldn’t have touched alcohol at all.
Yet he couldn’t say such things to her. He merely brought the teacup to his lips with a gentle smile. A fragrant aroma he’d smelled somewhere before tickled his nose and lips as it passed. A fresh herbal scent different from black tea. It seemed good for a change of mood.
“Did you know? This bouquet you brought has flowers that can be used for tea as well.”
Dried and brewed, or steeped in honey. Lauren laughed, saying they also had stress-relieving and calming effects. At her words about preparing it next time, Aster found himself unable to say anything. Lauren speaks of the future. But can I truly promise a next time? Unable to tear my eyes away from Lauren, who smiled at me with a radiant face, I found myself already thinking of letting her go.
I cannot speak of it. Aster recalled a faint smile. The same smile as always, with one corner of his mouth raised slightly higher than the other. Fortunately, Lauren didn’t seem to find it strange. That fact brought him genuine relief.
* * *
It was only the early hours of dawn, when the sky was barely beginning to brighten. Aster sat on the long sofa in his Office, listening to Calvin’s report. Regarding the episode Aster had suffered a few days prior, neither he nor Calvin spoke of it aloud. He hadn’t said there was no need to worry about that day, nor had he bothered to confirm whether he was alright. As though it had never happened, they proceeded as they always did. Without speaking, both understood the same thing: it simply hadn’t occurred.
“Garnet says he will escort Hale Siaz to his Territory and return.”
“He’ll likely be delayed.”
Aster murmured lowly, gauging the distance from Siaz Territory to the Capital. Calvin’s brow furrowed in turn. Lauren’s visit to the Empress Palace was drawing near—just two days away. Even if they rode the horses at full speed, it would be impossible to return within a week.
“It’s nothing new to say, but truly, it is a great distance.”
At Calvin’s words, Aster nodded silently. The same image occupied both their minds: the small woman with jet-black hair who had found her way to the Estate through the cold rain pouring down in torrents, having ridden that distant path. Calvin recalled her confident gait, unshaken even by the splashing of wet shoes, while Aster remembered the pale face with wet black hair clinging to it, yet those brilliant lavender eyes that gazed directly at him without wavering.
Aster shook his head vigorously to dispel the thought. Then he took a deep breath. There was no room for such musings. No matter how much it was the Empress Palace, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t encounter Abarid, who was of imperial blood. His hand moved roughly as he swept back his hair.
“Assign Letti Torres as her escort.”
“Are you certain about this? Your workload….”
“What could possibly be wrong with it? I’m an unfaithful lord who hasn’t even visited his own territory once, and I don’t even have a commission in the Military anyway.”
A young officer who had thrown himself into the Battlefield without even graduating from the Military Academy, bearing the nickname of a “murderer” for slaughtering his family and Estate servants, had risen through successive battles to become the Empire’s youngest general. Since his achievements were as real as the deeds he had accomplished, many believed it only natural that he maintained a commission in the Military.
But after the war ended, Aster Veil Lilywood removed his uniform. The Emperor had hoped he would remain in the Military and continue working, but Aster, having decided to leave, would not budge. It was a rare display of stubbornness from someone who would normally step forward without hesitation at the Emperor’s command.
Self-mockery was etched across Aster’s face as he spoke his circumstances aloud. Calvin Stewart gazed down at his superior with reluctant eyes. The boy he knew—one who had smiled more brightly and purely than anyone—had grown, and was now being twisted by circumstances beyond his control. The despair and ennui that boy had learned, Calvin wished, if possible, to keep from him until the very last moment.
“…Couldn’t you simply visit your Territory?”
“I suppose.”
Aster, leaning his back against the long chair, smiled bitterly. But that smile faded almost immediately. Visiting the Territory would likely be impossible. He could not leave this Estate, could not leave the Capital.
Blaze Lilywood and he were bound together by a curse carved into their arms in the shape of a chain. If one died, the other would die as well. Blaze, knowing this fact well, would throw tantrums whenever Aster tried to leave the Estate. He would scream and hurl curses. That Aster had returned safely from the Battlefield, which he had entered countless times, might well have been because of that curse.
“That’s not what matters.”
Aster drew out his voice as if speaking to himself. Yes, that wasn’t what mattered. What mattered now was the matter of Lauren’s escort to the Imperial Palace.
“Letti missing one day won’t cause any problems.”
Aster opened his mouth as if driving a nail. It was merely an escort, after all. Whether that escort was a noble or not was supposedly of no concern, but the place Lauren needed to visit was the Imperial Palace. Since it was her first visit, he couldn’t afford to draw too much attention. Letti, who had been Aster’s adjutant even on the Battlefield, had earned recognition for his military achievements and obtained the rank of Baron. The situation might be considerably better than with Garnet, who was entirely a commoner.
“I do hope he doesn’t throw a tantrum about this not being his duty.”
Calvin bowed his head and smiled gently. To him, Letti was also a younger brother whom he had known since childhood, no less than Aster. The sight of him complaining was quite endearing. Aster, too, seemed to recall this, and his eyes softened slightly.
“Come to think of it, shouldn’t his disciplinary period be ending soon?”
Calvin nodded. The mistake Letti had made, which Lauren had caught, had ended with three months of salary suspension. And now that period had ended; last month’s wages had been paid normally, and Letti had been overjoyed, practically bouncing, that he could increase Leonora’s allowance.
“Add a bit more bonus to that. Then he won’t complain about it being outside his duties.”
Aster bowed his head and smiled softly. Drawn by his laughter, Calvin smiled as well. The fact that he had begun to smile like that was entirely thanks to Lauren. So, handling a little inconvenience was something he could manage without difficulty. Calvin noted his superior’s order in his notebook and bowed deeply.
As he left the Office and closed the door, through the gap, the lonely-seeming silhouette of a young man with long golden hair gazed out the window.

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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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