CH 11.4

She turned to Lucas and smiled brightly, as if asking for his opinion.

“Lu, I’m sure she did it without realizing it, so let it slide. I was taught that it’s an elder’s virtue to tell you when you don’t know something so you can fix it.”

Lucas couldn’t take his eyes off her, so different from her usual self.

The fierce look on her face today bothered him, but he couldn’t help but fall in love with her expression, her makeup, and her regal demeanor.

His heart was racing. He was thrilled that such a beautiful, regal woman was his wife.

Even if Lupus hadn’t meant it, he would have fallen for Lila. No, he already had.

He grabbed the small hand that rested delicately in his palm.

Determined not to let go, Lucas wrapped his arms around her slender waist and faced Hilda, who was getting tiresome.

The truth was, Hilda was a very uncomfortable person for him. She’s been that way since they were kids.

I’m telling you this for your own good. It’s not polite, it’s not proper. I understand your sense of entitlement. I can help you.

As Lucas searched his mind for a memory, he suddenly had a flash of clarity. What Lila had just said was eerily similar to what Hilda had said to him.

The feeling was very strange. He couldn’t believe that Lila was able to pinpoint the exact things Hilda had done and said that he had found them offensive and uncomfortable.

“Hmm…”

After giving her a searching glance, Lucas turned his head and spoke to Owen and Hilda.

“Let’s go get something to eat then, it would be a shame to send you away after coming all this way.”

He lifted Lila’s hand and kissed the back of her hand. Without taking his gaze from her shifting cobalt eyes, he spoke.

“Whatever my lady wants, I’ll do, even if it’s someone I don’t like.”

Watching Lucas indirectly spin Hilda, Lila raised one eyebrow once more.

But then a wry smile flashed across her face.

“Lu’s thoughtfulness is truly admirable, and I’ve always admired it. I’m happy that my husband deserves it.”

Lila’s lips trembled intermittently as she spoke. It was harder to act like an aristocrat than she thought.

She didn’t know how all those nobles do it on a daily basis.

And then she thought to herself.

‘Oh, I’m a noble now, too.’

…

She tried to get away from them, but in the end, the only thing she learned from being passed back and forth between them were social skills.

Even though she’d done it to herself in anger, she felt helpless. Lila walked into the dining room, holding Lucas’s hand tightly.

When she saw the surprised looks and frowns on the faces of the servants, she felt even more depressed.

After the meal, Lila and Lucas returned to her room.

Whether Lila’s words had worked or Owen was present, Hilda ate relatively quietly.

The stony expression on Hilda’s face was quite telling. When Lila entered the room, she found a glass of water and drank it.

Then she went into her dressing room to change. Lucas, who was sitting on the couch watching her as she came out in a lightweight dress, spoke up.

“Why are you so upset?”

He had been puzzled by the way Lila often frowned or sighed softly before or during meals.

The way she spoke to Hilda, the way her brow crinkled in displeasure, the way she seemed to be angry when he wasn’t…

Lucas hadn’t eaten much at the sight of her impatient expression.

In response to his question, Lila quietly sat down next to him and looked at him for a moment without speaking.

Tugging at her hair, Lucas asked this time.

“So why did you suddenly do that?”

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb, tell me. What happened to you that made you suddenly become so aggressive?”

Lucas was so damn quick. Lila smoothed her skirt unnecessarily.

“I just didn’t like the dismissive manner in which she treated you, perhaps because I’ve been treated similarly before.”

“So.”

“I didn’t mind the name-calling, or the open mockery, because then I could just ignore them, and I wouldn’t have expected much in the first place…”

“But?”

Lila’s mouth opened more and more at Lucas’s response, and she asked.

“I mean, it’s not really fair, you know. She made a big deal out of politeness, and I thought it was funny how she was saying things like, ‘It’s not polite, it’s not proper,’ and you know, I hate it when people who don’t even know what they’re talking about are so sure they’re right. Why are they always pointing out what other people have done, when they don’t know what they’ve done?”

Like a bubble bursting, Lila’s thoughts exploded, perhaps more so because she had no one to talk to until now.

“I think that superiority masquerading as compassion is cowardly, to the point that it makes their hostility seem pure.”

Lila’s gaze was blank and thoughtful for a moment before she spoke.

“I’ve been putting up with it, and now I don’t want to.”

Lucas listened, realizing he had answered his own question.

“I’m a bit of a sissy, too. I didn’t say anything when I was on my own, I was too busy avoiding it, but now the Duke and Michael are on my side.”

“Lu.”

“…Lu and Michael are so supportive of me. You say it’s okay to do anything, and that’s why I’ve changed.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being different.”

“…Yes, so what, so I said what I wanted to say. I wanted to show her that she wasn’t right, and then…”

Lucas, who had been leaning against the couch, raised his upper body and took Lila in his arms. Slowly stroking her back, he asked.

“But?”

Lila whimpered, sinking further into his embrace.

“But… it doesn’t feel good, it doesn’t feel right. I guess I’m just an idiot.”

“What kind of idiot is that? You just whipped that horse like a whip, and I thought it was hilarious, because I’ve never seen her shut up. Even Owen can’t handle her needless sense of righteousness, but you did, and you did it in a very short time. You did it the right way.”

It was hilarious on second thought, and Lucas shook himself and burst out laughing.

“I swear… I’ll never forget the look on her face.”

Lucas pulled Lila into a strong embrace as she squirmed in his arms.

The scent of her body wafted into the air. Taking a deep breath and forcing it into his lungs, Lucas smiled softly.

He felt relaxed and happy just being around her.

* * *

The next afternoon, Lucas accompanied Owen to the duke’s council chambers, where the assembled elders rose to their feet to greet him as he opened the door and entered.

But they could not hide the contempt in their eyes. Lucas ignored them and took his seat at the head of the table.

“Duke, I have something to tell you first.”

Before Lucas could even open his mouth, a middle-aged man rose to his feet. It was Hilda’s father.

“My daughter traveled here yesterday, and she told me that you have overridden the decision of the Senate to decide who will be the Duchess of our House of Montefeltra…”

Count Ezrada sneered at Lucas, who looked directly at him.

“I’m sure you didn’t really mean that, and I don’t mean to misunderstand the Duke’s meaning. You know, without me telling you, how much our Senate has devoted itself to the Duke.”

“Of course I do, Count Ezrada.”

“Considering how much we care about the Montefeltras, I doubt the Duke would ignore us.”

“You have a point. To ignore us would be to ignore all the families that support the Duke!”

As each of them spoke, the room became as noisy as a marketplace. Count Ezrada let out a satisfied chuckle and stroked his beard.

“Owen.”

Instead of answering them, Lucas held out his hand to Owen. Owen pulled a stack of papers from his briefcase.

A steady stream of papers came out of the briefcase.

“Duke, what are those?”

Count Ezrada asked curiously. Lucas pointed his finger at the papers, which were categorized according to each family.

“These?”

“Well, even though you are a duke… We are the Senate. Please be polite, that is etiquette.”

“Hmm… I don’t think so, looking at your daughter.”

“…?”

Lucas leaned back loosely on the one-seater couch and crossed his legs. It was a dossier he’d been working on for some time, but he was proud to present it on this occasion.

“Your Highness, I am the head of the family of Count Ezrada, a pillar of support for the Duke of Montefeltra since time immemorial.”

Count Ezrada was not pleased that Lucas seemed to have ignored him.

He hadn’t seen him in a long time, not since his meeting with the former Duke, but he assumed it was the same old story.

After his conversation with Lila last night, Lucas was troubled.

Not about how to make it up to her, but about what she had said.

She doesn’t want to put up with it.

But she wasn’t happy. She thought it would be cathartic, but it wasn’t.

Remembering Lila’s words… Lucas opened his mouth with a cold expression.

“I’m well aware of that. It’s just that the pillar was a rotten pillar.”

“…Duke?”

Count Ezrada, who was about to speak at length, stuttered in disbelief, and then anger.

“How could you say that? No! If you doubt my family’s loyalty, I will no longer attend the Senate!”

Count Ezrada snorted, blowing hard. Lucas looked unimpressed by his behavior.

“Owen.”

Owen pushed his glasses up slightly, slid the papers in front of the Count, and said.

“Last year, you went to the capital and visited your lover. Did you have a good time with the mistress at the secret gambling house?”

Count Ezrada’s expression grew grim as he roughly grabbed the papers Owen held out and checked them.

It detailed a sum of money and expenses that he had thought he had managed to keep out of the public eye.

The Count lifted his face with a stern expression and took a good look at Lucas’s face, which he hadn’t been able to look at properly for so long because he didn’t want to see an ugly face.

The younger Lucas was cold and high-pressured, not the boy he remembered.

“Owen.”

As if he was used to Lucas calling him by his first name without explanation, Owen stood beside the Count and explained the contents of the dossier in a way that all the Senate understood.