The Murderous Duke's Domestic Affairs - Chapter 78

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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 78
“If you ask why, I suppose I should answer.”
Abarid’s touch and voice were gentle, as though questioning when I had threatened Lauren. Even that gentleness made my skin crawl, yet I remained frozen, unable to move. And I despised myself for that very fact. Because it meant I too was someone who yielded to power.
“Well, I simply dislike sharing affection.”
As Abarid spoke, his eyes seemed to drift past me toward some distant place. For someone who claimed to be answering, his words explained nothing at all. But perhaps he had never intended to explain from the start, for he smiled softly and gazed down at the necklace in his hand.
Just as I thought he might leave, Abarid spread the chain in a circle above my head. The necklace descended slowly along his fingers, settling gently around my neck. His smiling face took on an almost sacred quality—like a high priest bestowing a holy relic.
“So, before I make you that way, I’d prefer you came to like me of your own will.”
He laughed softly as he drew out my dark hair from beneath the necklace and arranged it.
My violet eyes rolled to study his face. For someone who had kidnapped me and spoke threats, his words were irritatingly tender and gentle.
Under different circumstances, I might have flushed and looked away, but I knew men like Abarid far too well.
If I showed displeasure or irritation here, violence would follow.
It was an atmosphere only those who had experienced it could recognize. No matter how gentlemanly and kind he appeared, Abarid was ultimately like Delania Siaz or Trace Siaz—someone who treated people with a fabricated demeanor, yet could become ruthlessly cruel the moment they failed to show the reaction he desired.
And the more accustomed one was to power, the more brutal that violence became. Just as Abarid had done to his own nursemaid.
“Hmm, perhaps not? To make you obey me, would it be better to threaten your nursemaid rather than you?”
Abarid tilted his head slightly, laughing as he noted how my gaze had wavered when he mentioned the nursemaid earlier. I forced myself to breathe, though my breath came with difficulty.
I didn’t consider myself the sort of person who thought of others—someone who would rather be hurt than see another injured. Yet I hated the thought of others being hurt because of me. Seeing my expression, Abarid seemed to contemplate something, met my eyes, and chuckled.
“I’m quite patient, but I don’t wish to wait long.”
Abarid pressed the pendant hanging at my chest with his fingertip. The cold metal against my neck sent a shiver through me. I clenched my lips to keep from crying out.
“How merciful of me, wouldn’t you say? Simply waiting for your body to heal completely…”
His cold fingertip, which had pressed the pendant, now brushed lightly against the corner of my mouth. The deep bruise there throbbed painfully at even the slightest touch. I suppressed the surge of rage and nausea rising within me.
All of this—whose fault was it? My bitten lips trembled. Delania Siaz had laid hands on me directly, but wasn’t that only because this man had orchestrated my kidnapping?
But Abarid, unaware of my thoughts, seemed pleased that I had become docile. His hand moved slowly again, gathering a handful of my dark hair and lifting it. Then he pressed his lips to it. Hair should have no sensation, yet where his lips touched seemed to freeze over with cold. I wanted to cut it all away immediately.
“Ah, that’s right. I’ll visit here once a day. So don’t entertain any foolish thoughts about escaping or preferring death. Well, I’d prefer you greeted me warmly, but it seems you have no such intention.”
Rising from his seat, he gripped my shoulder firmly. Even Aster Veil Lilywood, who had declared his love for me before others, had never touched me this way.
I couldn’t bring myself to push Abarid’s hand away. The hostility that could be directed at anyone. I was terrified that this man before me could carry out every word that left his lips.
“Then, I’ll look forward to good news.”
Abarid waved his hand and left the room. Until the door closed, his eyes remained fixed on me, obediently wearing the necklace he had given me.
* * *
Another name on the list was crossed out. My sunken green eyes traced slowly over the names I had struck through. My mind held only a single thought.
Where on earth could Lauren be?
The list contained many names. Locations ranging from near the Capital to regions that would take days to reach. I exhaled softly. This list contained the locations of Imperial villas and Abarid’s safe houses. Among them were also the names of battlefields I had fought across.
How long had the war been over? Yet the embers hadn’t fully extinguished before he built a villa. I might have laughed bitterly, but I couldn’t laugh.
I recalled the day I had sought out the Emperor. Honestly, it was almost like gambling. But I could think of no other method. My only clue was an Imperial carriage bearing the royal seal that hadn’t appeared in the visitor logs of Enbail Estate.
Though I bore the nickname of a blood-crazed “murderer,” I was in truth a war hero and a Duke of the Empire. It wasn’t difficult for me, bearing the privileges of my house, to request a private audience with the Emperor. Of course, the Attendant had frowned momentarily upon seeing my attire—merely a coat draped over my shirt.
Yet Emperor Porto Bestes welcomed me warmly when I came of my own accord. The Emperor usually required several commands before he would even show his face, so this was likely the first time I had sought him out voluntarily. No wonder he wore such an expression. He didn’t even know why I had come.
I kept my mouth firmly closed and looked up at the smiling Emperor. Unlike the Emperor’s warmth toward me, my face had grown cold. But contrary to that coldness, a fierce rage surged up within me. Except for the passage of time, the Emperor and Crown Prince looked identical—as though stamped from the same mold.
I wanted to shout something immediately. Could the “murderer” I had been before meeting Lauren have done so? But I had changed. I could no longer be a “murderer,” and I must not be.
Taking a deep breath, I knelt on one knee and requested a private audience with the Emperor.
Porto Bestes appeared momentarily taken aback, but soon regained his composure. Following my request, he dismissed everyone from the Audience Chamber and called me closer.
There was no trace of concern, doubt, or wariness in the Emperor’s eyes regarding why I sought this private audience. He would know nothing of his son’s actions. I bit down hard on the inside of my mouth, struggling to maintain the expressionless face I had deliberately constructed.
“I would like a list of the Imperial Court’s villas.”
Aster Veil Lilywood knew better than anyone how absurd this request was. Porto Bestes wanted to appear as a benevolent emperor, but he could not tolerate any challenge to his authority.
And as expected, the Emperor’s face twisted upon hearing Aster’s demand. It was fortunate that he’d asked the attendants to leave beforehand. The Emperor’s golden eyes, which had shed their mask of benevolence and warmth, blazed with a ferocity that seemed impossible to reconcile with his usual demeanor.
“Duke, had you not been the son of my dear friend and a hero of the Empire, I would have severed your neck for that request.”
A cutting voice struck like a blade. Yet Aster could not retreat. He had to grasp at even the thinnest thread of a clue. I lifted my head, my darkened green eyes meeting the Emperor’s gaze directly.
“The Duchess of Lilywood has disappeared, Your Majesty.”
“And what does that have to do with Imperial villas?”
“An Imperial carriage departed from the location where Lauren was last seen.”
The Emperor’s brow remained furrowed, but he did not silence Aster. I spoke of sightings of an Imperial carriage that appeared in no official records. The Emperor’s golden eyes fixed upon me, burning with intensity.
“Are you suggesting that I suspect my own son, the Crown Prince of this Empire?”
“I am.”
Aster made no attempt to conceal my suspicion. My darkened green eyes met the Emperor’s unwavering gaze. The two of us stared at each other in silence for a long moment. How much time passed? Through the frozen air came the Emperor’s deep sigh.
“I do not believe you would speak such words without cause. You must have had reason to think this way. However, I cannot reveal Imperial secrets based solely on your suspicion. The Crown Prince may be innocent. What would you do then?”
“I will return all the privileges Your Majesty has granted to Lilywood.”
The Emperor’s eyes widened in astonishment as he looked down at the young duke.
The Previous Duke Lilywood, who had been the Emperor’s dear friend. And Aster Veil Lilywood, the war hero whose name struck terror into enemies’ hearts. The privileges granted to that house were not insignificant. Private audiences with the Emperor were always possible, and one need not observe formalities without fear of reproach. Moreover, there was even an immunity—the right to be pardoned once for any crime. Yet Aster’s answer, offering to surrender all of it, carried not a moment’s hesitation.
That Abarid Bestes’s conduct did not leave a favorable impression on others was something the Emperor, as his father and the supreme authority of the Empire, knew better than anyone from the rumors that reached him from all quarters.
Perhaps Aster’s suspicion was merely the Crown Prince’s own doing. Yet the Emperor had never imagined it would be worth sacrificing all of Lilywood’s privileges.
“If you surrender Lilywood’s privileges, you will no longer be able to meet with me in private like this.”
“I am fully aware.”
Porto slowly closed his eyes and exhaled deeply. Aster Veil Lilywood remained, as always, upright and steadfast—unchanged from when his dear friend had brought the boy to him long ago. And Porto’s heart was the same. When had it begun? How desperately he had wished his own son would resemble Aster even half as much. There was only one thing he could offer Aster now.
The Emperor rang the bell on his desk and summoned an attendant. And the list of Imperial villas came into Aster’s hands—including even the Safe House of Crown Prince Abarid, something Aster had never anticipated.
At that moment, Aster quietly reflected that the tremor in the Emperor’s voice as he issued his command to the attendant was surely no mere fancy.

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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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