FCMD 11

Aster and Lauren sat across from each other at the low table once again.

Since they had decided to invite a reporter, they now needed to align their stories.

Truthfully, it was no easy feat for two people who had married purely out of mutual interest to pretend to be in love.

Even so, Lauren muttered that it was a relief. Aster’s eyebrows shot up.

“I had no time to appear in public because I was busy managing the estate, and you said you stayed only at the mansion after the war.”

“What about it?” “Because as long as we present a picture slightly different from the rumors, people will readily believe it.”

Indeed. That makes sense. However, that alone wasn’t enough to convince the public.

A narrative that the masses could accept was needed—a ‘circumstance compelling enough to fall in love and even undergo a secret marriage.’ That was precisely why the two were sitting together, putting their heads together.

“Normally, when people talk about a ‘love story,’ it begins with where they first met, right? Do you happen to have a first love or something similar to draw upon?”

Aster shook his head with a disgruntled face. According to his explanation, he had lived at the military academy from an early age, so he had rarely had the chance to meet anyone. Naturally, he had never developed romantic feelings for a woman. Lauren tilted her head slightly.

“But you attended social gatherings, didn’t you?” “I did. Though I had no heart for it, so I always sat in the corner.”

Wait. Aster paused mid-thought and looked at Lauren. The last time he had attended a gathering was quite a long time ago.

Eventually, he had grown sick of it and stopped going altogether.

Yet Lauren had said she never showed her face in high society.

How did she know he had attended those gatherings?

A sudden question flashed through Aster’s mind—though it vanished into thin air at Lauren’s very next words.

“You don’t happen to… like men or something, do you?” “No!” “If not, why are you yelling? Well, regardless of whom you like, it’s none of my business.”

At times like this, she drew boundaries with sharp precision—even though she was the one who had proposed marriage first. With a thumping headache, Aster unconsciously pressed a hand to his forehead. He couldn’t understand this woman at all. He wanted a drink—whether water or liquor—because his inside was boiling. A long sigh escaped his lips.

“What about you, then? Do you have one? A first love.” “I have that much.”

He thought she would elaborate further, but Lauren fell completely silent. She had asked about others’ business with sparkling eyes, yet she didn’t want to utter a single word about her own. Somehow, it rubbed him the wrong way.

“Meeting by chance somewhere is the most straightforward option. Since I never left the barony, how about saying you came near the area? The Shiaze Barony had many soldiers visiting to recuperate. A convalescent stay works, and a visit to check on the sick works too.”

Dismissing first love as unimportant, Lauren redirected the topic. She was entirely self-willed. But feeling drained, Aster found it too tedious to even complain now; she would probably just take it as nagging anyway. Running a hand over his face to calm his nerves, Aster turned his body and propped his legs up on the sofa. A wave of fatigue he rarely experienced swept over him like a rising tide.

“I cannot leave the capital. Except when dispatched to the battlefield by imperial decree.”

Leaning his back against the armrest of the sofa, Aster muttered softly. Lauren’s eyes widened. She had wondered why someone as grand as a duke never visited his own domain and handled everything solely through documents, but it seemed he had been bound by such a restriction. What should they do now? Lauren unconsciously bit her fingernail. With the reporter already invited, she felt a slight wave of anxiety as things weren’t unfolding as smoothly as planned.

“…Was the Shiaze Barony in the south?”

Aster, who had appeared lost in thought, asked Lauren. It bruised her pride a little, but it couldn’t be helped. Her father, Emel Shiaze, had been famous because he was a competent administrator; a tiny baronial estate tucked away in a corner of the south, known vaguely as a place for convalescence, was hardly enough to catch the interest of a war hero duke. Lauren quietly affirmed Aster’s question. As she began contemplating what to do, a short gasp escaped Aster’s lips into her ears.

“Come to think of it, there was a time when bandit activity surged in the south, and I was dispatched to subjugate them.” “When was that?” “…About three years ago, I think.”

At Aster’s remark that he had forgotten because he was dragged around fighting here and there, Lauren’s brows furrowed. Three years ago. A matter she had passed over back then because it wasn’t about the Shiaze domain now surfaced in her memory. Was it the neighboring domain, or the one next to it? There had been an incident where the locals rose up in revolt, claiming they couldn’t survive no matter how hard they worked due to exorbitant taxes. So that had ultimately been reported as bandit activity, leading to the deployment of the military. A servant’s relative was said to be a local from that region; she remembered worrying because contact had been cut off. Fortunately, that person’s relative had suffered no harm, but quite a few people must have died or been injured—given that the war hero ‘Aster Liliwood’ himself had been dispatched.

Lauren lifted her head, opening her mouth to say something. But seeing him with a twisted expression, pressing firmly against his left shoulder, she forgot what she was about to say.

“Aster, are you all right?”

And so, she couldn’t help asking—because he looked to be in pain. Aster met her gaze and pulled up the corner of his lips. He seemed to be trying to offer a smile, but his hardened face failed to form a proper one. His subdued green eyes looked somehow darker.

“Hm? Ah, I’m fine. It’s nothing.”

Aster looked up at the ceiling, took a deep breath, and ran a hand through his hair. The hand pressing his shoulder tightened and then released its grip. He smiled faintly at her once more. His face looked noticeably better than a moment ago.

“If we met, that time would be ideal. There was a moment when I was separated from the main unit and lagged behind.”

Lagged behind? A skilled soldier like him? Lauren tilted her head in wonder. But she realized the truth soon after. Even an ‘undefeated war hero’ must have been wounded at some point. Perhaps that was the very moment. It seemed he had injured his shoulder back then. Given his contorted face and the hand pressing hard against his shoulder, it wasn’t difficult to deduce.

“We can say you took care of me back then. The fact that I was separated from my unit was widely known even in the capital. There was quite a fuss for a while about using that as a pretext to strip me of my command.”

So that was what happened. Yet Lauren found herself far more bothered by something else.

“Was there anyone who looked after you?” “…No.”

At his terse answer, Lauren let out a sigh she couldn’t swallow back. It must have hurt. If he was left behind, he must have felt lonely—for people naturally feel lonelier when they are in pain. The man she observed by his side might be a ‘war hero,’ but he was certainly no ‘murderous demon’—proven by the fact that he was still alive after her barrage of nagging had thoroughly disrupted his mood. If I had truly been by his side back then… Though she was no doctor, she might at least have helped ensure he didn’t feel lonely from the pain and suffering.

Aster spoke of that time nonchalantly, but it couldn’t be because he was truly fine—not if one looked at his expression and actions.

“Garnet and Leti found me. If they had been just a little later… No, it’s nothing.”

Aster lowered his propped-up legs from the sofa and stood up from his seat. Then, he retrieved liquor from the cabinet. He drank because of trauma; that incident must be a painful memory for him. Under normal circumstances, she would have said something, but Lauren merely watched him in silence.

“Would you like a glass?”

Lauren shook her head. Turning her gaze away from him as he twisted his lips, muttered an agreement to himself, and downed the glass in a single gulp.

The reporter was set to arrive tomorrow afternoon. Leti chuckled, mentioning he had explicitly instructed them to bring a camera. Aster let out a dry laugh, praising him for doing well.

They had prepared everything they could in advance—to the point where they could hand a script directly to the newspaper. Still, speaking face-to-face would naturally be different. Plus, they could get their picture published. In case of unexpected situations, Aster said with a crooked smile that he would leave things to Lauren.

“You’re far better at quick thinking than I am, after all.”

She felt Aster would be quite good at such things too, yet Lauren nodded in agreement nonetheless.

“Using a brain I rarely use has made me tired. I should get some rest.”

Telling her to rest up ahead of the big event, Aster rose to his feet. Since her own head was thumping, she welcomed his suggestion. Today’s work—well, Leti would handle it on his own. He already knew how to do a fair amount of work to begin with, and with his recent training, he had grown competent enough to be entrusted with tasks that didn’t require the explicit approval of the duke or duchess.

Should I skip dinner? She decided to ask Anna and Lize to prepare warm bathwater and a sleep-inducing beverage. Smiling inwardly as she thought about how she had grown completely accustomed to being attended to, Lauren stretched her stiffened back. Aster was whispering something to Leti. Leti nodded with a furrowed brow. Aster had once mentioned that during his soldier days, his lack of flexibility had caused quite a bit of hardship for others. Could he have worn a face like that back then? She suddenly wondered what the two of them were talking about—a curiosity she had never harbored before.

Perhaps I’ve become too comfortable with Aster and Leti.

As Lauren stared blankly at the two while harboring such thoughts, Aster turned back to look at her. I ended up having such a silly thought. Even though there was no way he could have read her mind, her face flushed red. Lauren fanned herself with her hand to cool her cheeks. Aster, who had tilted his head in curiosity, let out a dry laugh after a long moment. Whenever that man smiled with a face like that, she felt as if all her thoughts were laid bare, making her inexplicably irritable. The voice with which Lauren asked what was wrong turned sharp. She hadn’t intended for it to sound that way. The crooked smile hanging at the corner of Aster’s lips seemed slightly softer—though it might just be her imagination.

“Ah, right. Could you make a list of the places Shiaze used to invest in?” “Yes, I will. But why?” “I’m thinking of making a few investments on our end as well. It seems the returns would be quite decent.”

The current Baron Shiaze—Lauren’s uncle—seemed to have no intention whatsoever of investing anywhere, based on what Aster had investigated. Although taxes had reportedly been raised significantly, he had heard that all of it was being spent on building a new mansion or purchasing jewels and dresses. In that case, filling the investor’s vacant seat once again with Lauren didn’t seem like a bad idea.

As if understanding his words a beat late, Lauren’s light lavender eyes widened, and her red lips parted in surprise. Aster let out a dry laugh and stepped out of the room—thinking that her surprised face was quite a sight to behold.