Why Is My Husband the Villainous Schemer! - Chapter 23

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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 23
“No, would you like me to walk you home?”
I asked out of courtesy, knowing full well he’d refuse.
Lucian shook his head.
“No, thank you. I can find my way home on my own.”
He was probably right not to worry.
Two impossibly large men—the type utterly out of place in a dessert shop—had been stealing glances at us since we arrived.
The pair, both bearing rather menacing expressions, had ordered Ice Cream and Brownie just like us and were eating them like bears; it wasn’t something you saw every day.
‘No amount of running will let the Crown Prince escape the Imperial Family’s eyes within the Capital.’
They were Lucian’s guards.
If Linea and I had seemed even remotely suspicious, they would have drawn their blades and rushed us by now.
Lucian lived with the constant threat of assassination, as though it were a chronic illness.
If the sole heir died, the Imperial Family’s position would be shaken—their hands already full as it was.
When that time came, the Emperor would either be forced to remarry and produce a new heir, or comb through the collateral lines to find one.
How many people might harbor ambitions based on such a scenario?
I picked up a Napkin and dampened it with a little water.
“Lucian, may I come closer for a moment?”
“Yes.”
Your Highness, please be more cautious.—That’s what I wanted to say, but Lucian accepted my touch with eyes brimming with trust, innocent as they came.
I rose from my seat and wiped the corner of his mouth with the damp Napkin.
The moment I leaned my upper body toward Lucian, I caught the two guards flinch and begin to rise.
“There, all done. You’re clean now.”
I scrubbed away the Chocolate that had crusted around his mouth like a beard, and his pale skin emerged pristine.
Lucian seemed a little embarrassed for some reason.
“Th-thank you very much.”
“Don’t mention it. So you’re heading home now, aren’t you?”
If he didn’t, I swear those two guards would cry.
Even now, their bear-like faces drooped with uncertainty.
Being the Crown Prince, they couldn’t exactly drag him away. Poor things, they must be at a loss.
“Yes, I was thinking of returning home now.”
At Lucian’s earnest reply, the guards seemed to release a sigh of relief.
But his words didn’t end there.
“Will the two of you be heading home as well?”
I shook my head, worried he might suggest escorting us back like in the original story.
“I have something to attend to first, and then I’ll head home. Lucian, you should—”
I nearly called him “Mother,” but I stopped myself just in time.
“Your family must be worried, so you’d best get home now.”
That’s when it happened.
Lucian suddenly asked me a question.
“Will you two… not be coming to the Market anymore?”
“Hmm?”
“I was simply curious.”
As expected, Lucian’s gaze was fixed on Linea.
It wasn’t love at first sight, of course—just curiosity about a peer of the same age who didn’t know his true identity.
“Hmm…”
Should I arrange for Lucian and Linea to exchange contact information?
Truth was, Linea hadn’t shown any particular warmth toward Lucian.
But since spending a day among her peers was valuable experience, she conversed with him readily enough.
So I asked Linea directly.
“Linea, would you like to meet Lucian again and play?”
“Yes!”
Lucian didn’t seem to dislike the idea.
The two of them had similar dispositions, after all.
Both were gentle by nature, both had lost a mother early, and both were young and intensely curious about the world—they were kindred spirits.
I finally spoke to Lucian.
“We never properly introduced ourselves. This girl is my adopted daughter, Linea Delmore, and I am Lady Asha Delmore.”
“Ah… so she is the Young Lady of House Delmore.”
“If you’d like to play with Linea, simply send an Invitation to House Delmore.”
At the words “adopted daughter,” Lucian seemed to grasp that I was their stepmother.
And with that realization, his childish eyes took on a more somber light as he regarded Linea.
He must have sensed that she, too, had experienced the loss of a mother.
“Thank you for today. I will certainly reach out, Young Lady Linea, and Lady Asha Delmore.”
I couldn’t help but smile inwardly at Lucian’s rather resolute manner of greeting Linea.
“Then we’ll be on our way.”
Before heading home, I needed to grab a quick meal and call Carcel.
Strike while the iron is hot.
I’d declared my intention to flirt with him, after all, and got drunk last night without even managing a proper date.
‘I need to learn more about Carcel this time.’
I was curious about Carcel—a character barely mentioned in the original work.
Before leaving, Linea waved to Lucian, and seeing her gesture, he awkwardly waved back in return instead of bowing.
‘He’s acting his age now.’
With that thought, I said my farewell to Lucian.
“Take care going home. See you next time.”
“Yes! I hope you both return safely.”
Lucian saw us off.
And so the Crown Prince and Linea’s first meeting came to a close.
* * *
At that same moment, Carcel was asking his butler a question with an utterly serious expression, taking up slack for Matt who’d taken the day off.
“Is there any way to make the Rose Garden more grand and magnificent?”
“It is already the largest and most dazzling rose garden in the vicinity. I doubt even the Imperial Family has one of greater scale.”
“Asha must be amazed and entranced when she sees it.”
Half the sprawling grounds visible from the manor were ablaze with blooming roses, yet Carcel remained unsatisfied.
“What about the other half? Is there some lovely flower we haven’t planted? A sheer display of volume might not be a bad approach.”
Carcel, who had been raised from childhood on battlefields waging war against Monsters, was not particularly refined in his aesthetic sensibilities.
All he knew was that there was nothing money couldn’t buy.
The butler, watching his master edge dangerously close to another bout of extravagance, tried to dissuade him.
“In my humble opinion, sir, any more flowers than this would overwhelm the garden’s theme and make it appear cluttered.”
“You’re saying the garden is already enough to make Asha happy?”
“At least in my experience, I cannot imagine any lady failing to express admiration for such a beautiful garden.”
Carcel nodded, deferring to his butler’s understanding of aristocratic tastes, which surpassed his own.
While the butler released a relieved sigh that Carcel had stopped short of demanding a complete overhaul, Carcel murmured to himself.
“I don’t know when Asha will contact me.”
This was Carcel’s greatest dilemma yet.
Not even when he’d charged into battle at just fourteen years old in his father’s stead, hacking through Monster heads with abandon.
Not even during that bitterly cold winter, when he’d been separated from his party after sustaining an injury from a Monster’s trick on a frozen mountain and survived alone through two nights.
He had never agonized like this before.
Carcel spoke with conviction, as if to reassure himself.
“So this house must become perfect as soon as possible—perfect enough to feel like a satisfactory Newlywed Home.”
That was it: decorating the Newlywed Home!
Normally, Matt would have had enough understanding of romance to offer advice, but of all times, he was on leave today.
So Carcel had no choice but to rely on his butler—a man who had married, divorced, and even had grandchildren.
‘What exactly does a woman want in a Newlywed Home?’
One thing he was certain about: the original mansion was hardly suited to a woman’s taste.
Though it served as a residence, the administrative wing had swallowed up so much of the space that the interior had taken on a rigidly austere atmosphere.
‘Besides, it’s not as if we’ve ever entertained guests.’
So Carcel had already begun renovations that very morning, reworking the interior.
At his insistence that everything be replaced with designs women would prefer, the contractors were delighted.
The mansion’s interior, which had once possessed a classical, Gothic elegance, was now filling with bright, elegant furniture and decorations.
The butler ventured a question.
“Have you taken such a liking to that woman? This is the first time you’ve invited anyone to this residence as a private matter, is it not?”
An unmarried man had no mistress to serve as hostess and could not hold social gatherings.
Which meant Carcel had never before invited anyone to the mansion on a personal basis.
Only his butler and advisors knew of his circumstances.
‘Truthfully, this entire situation is rather extraordinary.’
The Marquis of Ribandel’s Mansion, given to him in his unusual Double Life, had originally been constructed not for administration but for social entertaining.
However, due to his estrangement from his mother at the Duke’s Residence, Carcel had been conducting official business here instead.

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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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