The Murderous Duke's Domestic Affairs - Chapter 73

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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 73
My breath came in short, suffocating gasps. I looked up at the woman seated across from me, my vision blurring at the edges. Yet in her gaze, I recognized something achingly familiar—a hostility I knew all too well.
As my body threatened to crumple, a sharp sound cut through the air and my head snapped sideways. A slap. The metallic taste of blood flooded my mouth, but strangely, I felt no pain. How peculiar. Delania Siaz had consumed the same thing I had.
“The drug works quickly.”
Delania Siaz rose from her seat and approached me. She bent forward, pressing down on my shoulders with both hands to force me back against the chair. Her fingertips struck my cheek repeatedly—sharp, stinging blows.
“You mustn’t lose consciousness yet, Lauren.”
Brown eyes drew close. In my unfocused gaze, her pupils gleamed with crystalline clarity. I forced my sluggish mind to work. This was the Enbail Estate. We were in the middle of a Charity Party. I couldn’t comprehend how this had happened.
“…Why?”
“Why? Because there’s someone who wants you.”
Before I could finish my question, Delania Siaz pulled a large pendant from her chest.
Where had I seen that before? I forced my drooping eyes open and stared at the pendant she dangled. As my vision struggled to focus, the shape became clear—a radiant eye-shaped crystal. Identical to the one Ilita Enbail wore around her neck.
“This was a gift from the Crown Prince himself. He gives them to women he favors specially. Soon you’ll be wearing one just like it.”
Delania Siaz laughed, clearly delighted at my impending downfall—I, who bore the Empress’s trust as the wife of Aster Veil Lilywood.
Abarid Bestes. His name echoed through my mind. That voice commanding me to become his mistress filled my skull, pounding relentlessly. I had once told Trace Siaz that if being a mistress was such a desirable position, why hadn’t he offered it to his daughter? I never imagined it would actually come to pass. And I certainly never expected to learn of it this way.
“There are limits to stupidity. Did you really think being good at studying would be enough?”
Delania Siaz held my shoulders as she sneered.
“You should have paid attention to High Society, should have listened to the rumors. If you had, you wouldn’t have so obediently drunk the wine the Crown Prince offered you.”
Was it my fault that you came to fear High Society?
The sound of her tongue clicking in mock pity, her voice dripping with contempt, shattered against my ears. I needed to stay conscious. I couldn’t fall asleep. But the drug’s effects pulled at my eyelids, dragging them shut.
“Lauren Siaz.”
At the sound of my name, I lifted my eyes. No. I am Lauren Lilywood. The wife of Aster Veil Lilywood, whom he called strong. That is who I am.
“You should answer, Lauren Siaz.”
Not the wife of Aster Veil Lilywood. Not the young lady of House of Siaz. Just Lauren Siaz. Delania Siaz stared at me with mockery stripped from her face. How long had we been locked in this gaze? Her grip on my shoulders tightened with sudden force.
“Answer me!”
Delania Siaz’s cold hand raked across my cheek. My head lolled weakly to the side, then slowly returned. My pale cheek swelled crimson, yet I remained silent, breathing heavily. Delania Siaz’s fury spiraled beyond her control.
When the Crown Prince—Abarid Bestes, whom she believed loved her—commanded that she bring me before him by any means necessary, it felt as though the heavens themselves were collapsing. She had given him everything. What was she lacking? What difference existed between her and me that made everyone desperate to possess me?
I made no sound. I did not raise my eyes. Had the anesthetic worn off? Or was I simply pretending not to understand, trying to escape this situation?
Though she told herself to ignore it, Delania Siaz’s rage continued to swell uncontrollably. She raised her hand. Crack. Crack. The sharp sound of violence echoed through the empty room where only two of us remained.
* * *
Lauren was nowhere to be found. Tila felt an inexplicable unease creeping over her. To be honest, she despised the arrogant posturing of the nobility. Yet Lauren had won her over. Their conversations flowed naturally because Lauren didn’t calculate unnecessarily, and I loved her violet-tinged eyes that looked toward the future. Perhaps they resembled the Young Baroness’s gaze so closely because of that. For this reason, I hoped nothing ill would befall her.
It was I who had told Lauren that my instincts were usually correct, that it would be better if she didn’t come alone. Tila clicked her tongue. These cursed nobles refused to conduct business with her husband, a commoner by birth. So even as she was dismissed for being a woman, she had to find trading partners herself. That was why these gatherings left her frantically busy.
But. Tila began to bite her lip. No matter how important the business discussions between fiefdoms were, she shouldn’t have left Lauren alone. Lauren was kind-hearted; knowing Tila’s concerns, she wouldn’t wander about by herself. Yet an inexplicable anxiety gnawed at me.
“Where has the wife of Aster Veil Lilywood gone?”
I stopped a servant hurrying past with drinks, driven perhaps by anxiety. But the servant merely shrugged and hurried away. If Lauren had gone somewhere, I should have asked them to pass along a message since we were companions.
But Lauren was nowhere to be found. Inexplicable dread enveloped me entirely. Tila unconsciously began to bite her lip with her teeth. This was not normal.
The main event seemed to be starting, as people began gathering in the Ballroom. Lauren had once mentioned she had little interest in jewels or dresses, but as someone who came to the Charity Party, she should have made an appearance. Yet she was nowhere to be seen.
Feeling a gaze directed at me, Tila’s head snapped up. Ilita Enbail, who was hosting today’s party, was staring at me. A smile played on her lips, painted a delicate red, but her eyes held no warmth.
Her complexion looked unnaturally pale. Under normal circumstances, I would have avoided her immediately, but today I knew I couldn’t. Biting my lip firmly, Tila strode toward her.
“My, is something the matter, Baroness Flagwind?”
As Tila stood before Ilita Enbail, the woman’s eyes curved upward in a deliberate smile. Normally, Ilita would have passed by with cold, contemptuous eyes and said nothing. Yet now she smiled at me. Lauren’s disappearance was definitely connected to this woman. It was Tila’s instinct.
“Where have you hidden the Duchess of Lilywood?”
Tila clenched her teeth and whispered quietly. One mustn’t raise their voice in a place like this. Among nobility who openly kept mistresses despite marriage, who knew what gossip would spread if word got out that the Duchess of Lilywood had vanished from the ballroom? Especially when this was ostensibly a Charity Party. For Lauren’s sake, her absence could not become known. Of course, that was Tila’s concern alone.
“Hidden? What a dreadful thing to suggest.”
Ilita Enbail snapped her fan open with a sharp crack. Perhaps because her lips, curved in a cold smile, were now concealed, her jade-green eyes seemed all the more vicious. What on earth was this woman thinking? Tila met her gaze unflinchingly.
“No matter that I’m the hostess of today’s Charity Party, I cannot possibly know what every guest is doing. Who’s to say? Perhaps you met a gentleman of compatible interests at the party.”
Wouldn’t you agree?
Ilita laughed lightly toward the people arrayed behind her. Those standing as her entourage burst into loud laughter. Was that supposed to be a joke? Tila felt irritation rising within her.
In recent years, the world had advanced brilliantly. It wasn’t merely talk of technology—railways, printing presses, photography. For ages, those without wealth had sold their noble titles, and commoners earning fortunes were creating new classes.
Yet as everything transformed, the nobility remained unchanged. They still behaved as though they stood above all things. What was the worth of such titles? They had built nothing with their own hands, and yet they preened.
“The Duchess of Lilywood is not that sort of person.”
“I wouldn’t know. Living with a murderer is hardly something an ordinary person would do.”
Another wave of laughter rose and fell. Tila stared at Ilita and the crowd behind her for a long moment, then turned away. Part of her wanted to overturn the entire Charity Party, but she could not. She was a Young Baroness, while Ilita was a Countess of marquess lineage.
Tila cursed silently. Even if she showed her anger now, Ilita Enbail, bearing the title of Countess, would dismiss her with a sneer. She would use her rank to crush her opposition.
For the sake of the Territory she cherished, such a confrontation could not happen.
“Associating with a Duchess, she thinks herself something now.”
Ilita’s mocking voice reached her from behind. Without any rebuttal, Tila walked on in silence.
Someday a world would come where nobility and commoners mattered not at all. The pompous behavior of such people might become meaningless. So their laughter was nothing. She murmured this to herself.
But there was something more pressing. Lauren Siaz. Tila did not wish to lose someone kindred to her, met after so long.
What the Baroness Flagwind could not do, the Duke of Lilywood could accomplish. After all, he stood near the apex of this hierarchical society. Save for the Imperial Court itself, no other noble could stand against him.
“Are you departing, guest?”
The Butler who had first greeted her appeared. Tila simply nodded. He presented her bag and coat as though he had prepared them in advance.
Ah, there was one more thing she must not forget. As Tila donned her coat and took her bag, she turned back to address the Butler.
“Please summon the knights of House of Lilywood’s guard.”
She needed to inform the knight that Lauren was nowhere to be found. And while she made that known to Aster Veil Lilywood, the knights must watch over the Enbail Estate—the carriages coming and going, the moving of luggage. The premonition that arose in Tila’s mind played out like scenes, then faded.
“Ah, guest.”
The Butler of the Enbail Estate furrowed his brow toward her in evident distress. Tila’s breath caught.
“I was about to inform you that a fight has broken out among the knights….”
Tila exhaled sharply.

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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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