CH 13.4

“So why are you here all of a sudden?”

Louie, who thought he had barely averted a crisis with her question, said in a rueful tone.

“How could I stay quiet when I heard the rumor that you were injured? I was so worried that I came to see you here, unannounced.”

Lila snorted inwardly.

“But, miss…”

Becky couldn’t resist the question.

“What happened to your face? Did you meet some mysterious alchemist or something…”

“You!”

Louie jumped, startled by her words. Lila answered as if she had been waiting.

“It was my dream to find someone who would see me for who I am and love me, so I secretly wore makeup, and now I’ve achieved it. Right, Lu?”

Louie and Becky’s faces contorted strangely at the sight of her ragged but cheerful smile, and Lucas grinned.

“That’s right, Lala, and it’s the luck of my life to have met you.”

* * *

Lila followed Becky and Louie to the carriage house. Lucas’s constant flirting during tea forced her to send Lucas away and talk to them alone.

Once they were alone, Louie spoke as if he had been waiting for it.

“What the hell were you doing wearing that makeup. Why did you keep it a secret from me?”

Lila couldn’t help but scoff at the sweetness in his voice. It made her feel dirty.

“Miss, I’m upset, too, and I’ve been taking care of you for years, so why didn’t you tell me?”

Lila spoke in a blunt voice to the two of them, who seemed to be whispering in each other’s ears.

“Why should I have told you, when you could have seen right through me and there would have been no problem?”

Her expression was indeed cold as she wiped the smile off her face, but Louie apologized for her eye-catching appearance.

“Yes, you did.”

But Becky was different.

“Miss, don’t you think you were a little harsh with your cousin, though?”

Becky’s stomach dropped. She’d thought she’d have a hard time marrying an ugly duke, but she was loved enough, and the duke wasn’t ugly.

It was also something she said out of habit, because Louie always liked it when she pointed out Lila’s mistakes.

“Me?”

Lila scratched her head in confusion.

“What are you talking about?”

Louie interrupted her, much to Becky’s dismay.

“You’ve been speaking without thinking.”

Louie said, backing away. Becky shot him an exasperated look, but didn’t say anything more.

If she said anything more, he thought, he might end up punching her like he had once done to Lila.

Lila felt dirty in more ways than one. She was disgusted with Louie for changing his demeanor as soon as her appearance changed, and she was annoyed with Becky for still being unable to ignore her.

“They say a dog with dung on its snout barks at a dog with husks on its snout1to criticize or mock someone who is hypocritical or who criticizes others while ignoring their own faults or flaws. That’s exactly what you are.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

Louie, who didn’t know the Korean proverb, asked, but Lila turned to face Becky and answered her earlier comment.

“If I’m being foul-mouthed, how many verbal assaults have you guys thrown at me?”

Becky was genuinely taken aback by the sarcastic look on her face.

“What makes you say that?”

Becky, who had only ever been respectful when Louie was in the room, blurted out.

But Lila was furious. She couldn’t hold it in, and the injustice she’d been holding in had come out.

“Why do I have to listen to you being so mean, especially to two people who stole my jewelry and punched me in the face?”

Becky, who didn’t think she knew, was deeply agitated. Louie broke out in a cold sweat as he remembered all the things he had done to her in the past.

During their brief time apart, they had forgotten all too easily what they had done to Lila.

“I’m not going to say anymore, because it’s only going to make me feel worse. I don’t want you coming here again. I forgot about you the moment I left the barony.”

She spoke the words coldly and turned away, but Louie caught her.

“My dear, Lila, I was wrong. But not this. This is wrong.”

Struggling against his grip, Lila pulled away.

“What do you mean?”

“With your looks, you could be a crown princess! How could I send you to the ugly northern duke? Now, wake up and listen to your brother, because I…”

Lila’s dark blue eyes sparked. With an intense glare that leapt like blue flames, she spoke.

“I’ve been sent here to find out the truth behind the rumors, and I’ve given it a lot of thought.”

Louie and Becky’s faces grew white at her words, and Lila twisted her lips as she watched them coldly, unable to hide her expression at what she had just said.

“They say people aren’t meant to be fixed. Well, may you live that way for the rest of your life.”

Lila turned away from the two. Chewing on her lip, she strode back into the manor. The Baron and Baroness Este weren’t the only ones surprised by her appearance.

The mansion’s servants were busy staring and gossiping.

It was a different kind of stare than when she wore ugly makeup, but the stares were still the same and unpleasant.

But Lila held her head high. She would no longer be controlled by the original, nor would she care what others thought of her.

Lucas, who was leaning on the railing of the stairs leading up from the first floor to the second, spotted her and straightened up.

Seeing him, Lila couldn’t help but smile, her full lips drawn into a dark arc as she called out to him.

“Lucas.”

“Lila.”

Lucas came down the stairs to meet her with a light step. Clasping their hands together, Lila leaned her face against his shoulder.

* * *

Once he was sure she was asleep, Lucas quietly slipped out of the room. Heading for his office on the second floor instead of his room on the third, he remained expressionless.

When he was with Lila, his expression never failed to brighten, but without her, he was usually impassive or aloof.

As he entered the office, Owen, who had been there first, stood up.

“You’re here.”

“Yes. Did you do some investigation?”

“Yes.”

Owen held out the papers to Lucas as he took his seat.

“It’s a Pinatelli company. Apparently they’re not doing too well financially, but it’s a third-generation company, so they seem to be hanging on.”

“Hmm, I see.”

Lucas pored over the paperwork, which pointed to Charlotte as the culprit in Lila’s case.

During the time Lila hadn’t woken up, he scrambled to find evidence and witnesses. He was able to secure the testimony of a courtier.

Charlotte, a frequent visitor to the palace, was able to easily bribe one of the servants. The servant would intentionally steal the courtiers who would be stationed in or around the tents during the hunting tournament.

Of course, he couldn’t do it for long, so he bought an hour, but it was enough.

The courtier who testified against her suddenly received a letter saying that a family member had fallen, and he panicked and looked for the chamberlain, but couldn’t find him.

A servant who happened to be passing by offered to deliver the message for him and sent him out of the palace first.

By sending the courtier away, she bought herself some time, and later reported to the chamberlain.

The chamberlain’s plan worked because the hunting tournament was a big event, and it was difficult for people in the palace to communicate with each other.

In the hour that the courtiers were gone, Charlotte had to bring Lila’s standing down to the ground.

But Lila is not amused by Charlotte, and in her excitement, Charlotte did something she shouldn’t have.

Trouble brewed, and everyone was arrested. The courtiers who showed up late, the courtiers who were tricked into going home, and the servant who was bribed.

The chamberlain readily confessed. However, the emperor swept the incident under the rug.

Lucas was persuaded by Lila, who was unharmed in the unfortunate accident.

The Emperor’s attitude is deeply suspect, as he would have been outraged that something so unsavory had happened in his own palace.

Lucas was no match for the Emperor, who was threatening his and Lila’s marriage.

He gritted his teeth as he flipped through the papers.

“It’s better for you. I’m not satisfied enough to be dealt with by law.”

The corners of Lucas’s mouth twitched upward. It was none of his business how they’d unleashed the wolf.

He didn’t need any more proof, not when everything pointed to Charlotte as the culprit.

“How dare you try to hurt anyone, you insolent bastard.”

He slammed the papers down on the desk and turned to Owen.

“Start with their flagship commodity, gold.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Tell the regional leaders chiefs to release all the gold in the mines at once.”

“Yes, Duke.”

“Oh, and have you delivered the communications tools to the regional leaders?”

Owen smiled faintly at Lucas’s words. It was unusual for the otherwise expressionless Owen.

“They were very excited about it, and suggested we make it into a product.”

“Hmm…”

Lucas stroked his chin thoughtfully.

“That’s not a bad idea, but I don’t think we could make it in large quantities.”

It wasn’t that he couldn’t make them, but he didn’t see the need to market them just yet.

It would be more trouble than it’s worth to have such a convenient item spread across the empire.

He had no interest in advancing the empire, nor did he intend to make much money from it.

He already had plenty of money. The profits from the duchy were enough, and the company of his empire was getting bigger and bigger.

His Tenebris Company was famous not only in the Empire, but in other countries as well.

The ships that came from the Duchy of Charlesworth this time were contracted to Tenebris Company.

The ships were filled with a wide variety of goods, all of which had been contracted to his shop.