If You Wish For A Married Couple’s Duties - Chapter 11
Episode 11. What Happened?
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“When did you pack the knife?”
After the commotion in the stables was over, Dooha returned to her room and threw herself onto the bed.
On the other hand, Layla took the kitchen knife that her master had mentioned and lifted it.
“Ah! This is my knife! Come to think of it, the kitchen didn’t return my knife!”
“I’ll give it to you now.”
“Why did you bring a knife? Did you know that something like that would happen?”
“It’s not exactly like that. It’s just that I was going to catch the cheaters, and I thought there would be resistance.”
Dooha smiled as she looked down at her stretched collar.
“I didn’t expect him to grab me by the collar.”
“I didn’t think he would do that! It felt so good when the duke cut off his arm!”
At Layla’s words, Dooha’s eyes squinted.
“Why did he do that?”
“What?”
Dooha laid down on the bed, holding her chin in her hand.
She had an incomprehensible look on her face.
“Why did he cut off his arm?”
“That j*rk grabbed his wife by the collar! How could a husband leave a man who touched his wife’s body alone?”
“Really?”
“Of course! According to the maid, he’s going to be kicked out of the castle. The duke himself ordered it.”
“…That’s even weirder.”
Everyone had a place to lay down and stretch their feet in the castle.
Paul had certainly said that the Duke’s uncle was protecting him.
And Sir Nate, the uncle, was the eldest man of the duchy. He was a person in such a position where even Leonhart, the duke, could not treat him recklessly.
The credibility of that statement had already been proven when the duke cut off his arm, rather than his neck.
“It’s strange that he cut off his arm instead of his neck but then proceeded to have him kicked out of the ducal castle.”
“Well, the Duke must be weaker than he looks.”
‘Does he have a weak heart?’
Dooha smiled in vain. There were no such funny jokes in this world.
Sometimes, it’s more painful to keep something alive than to kill it.
The only skill the man had learned was flattery, and once he gets driven out of the castle, there would be nothing he could do because he was single-handed.
“Princess, what are you thinking?”
“No, just…”
Dooha was engrossed in her thoughts as she looked at Layla who was examining her face.
He was a duke with neither respect nor affection for his wife.
‘In the first place, if he had been worried about my dignity as a Duchess, he wouldn’t have thought of acting as he did on the first night.’
From the Duke’s point of view, it was sufficient enough to simply hand over the wealth and authority of the Duchess to Dooha before proceeding to ignore her.
This was, after all, the only business between the two.
It would have been alright for him to pretend that he didn’t know about the servant’s rudeness and for him to just close his eyes and continue on with his business. Yet the Duke didn’t.
Why did the duke do something that could cause conflict with his uncle?
‘I wonder if he really intervened to stop me from drawing the knife?’
But why did he intervene, knowing that she was hiding a knife in her sleeve?
No matter how outstanding the Duke and his skills were, he would have been able to know after having a close look that she was hiding a knife.
Dooha had been hiding the knife even when Paul grabbed her by the collar rather than taking it out of the sleeve.
She frowned, recalling her husband’s handsome and cold face.
‘I thought I knew him but I don’t really know him.”
It was the first time he had ever been this mysterious.
★★★
The Duke of Esbaden’s study had a rather frugal atmosphere for a high-ranking aristocrat.
With old wooden furniture and all kinds of books piling up in the study instead of fancy decorations.
Filled with furnishings far from fashionable, the place was neither crude nor rustic.
Perhaps it was because of the paintings hanging all over the empty wall.
Perhaps it was due to the accumulations of the portraits of the various heads of state, the people who had protected the borders of the empire, over the years, but the duke’s study had an antique feeling to it.
“What happened?”
“Yes, Duke.”
It was quite late, and Leonhart had called the head maid to hear a detailed report of what had happened during the day.
Starting with Dooha personally grooming the prized hunt that kitchen servants had found difficulty dealing with to everything that happened in the stable. Leonhart’s face was shadowed by a lamp lighting the office.
“…She’s full of energy.”
It was honest appreciation.
How she healed and took care of a wounded servant.
However, where in the world would there be a duchess who knew how to groom prey and tame wild horses?
Even if there was one, she wouldn’t be able to maintain a noble appearance in front of others.
It was something she should never have done as a woman of the Empire.
In addition, she even touched his uncle’s favorite dog.
“She acted like so because you wanted Madam to do well as a hostess as well. Please don’t take it too badly, Duke.”
The maid, who was looking at the face of her owner, carefully continued to speak.
“Madam was not raised in the Empire, so she’s not used to the etiquette here. She’s just a thoughtful and kind person.”
“Thoughtful and kind?”
Leonhart leaned deeply on the back of his chair.
“If my wife had really been considerate, she wouldn’t have thought of touching my uncle’s dog.”
He stared at the maid with a sharp look.
“And you know that you are also guilty since you didn’t stop her even though she was right next to you, right?”
“I’m sorry.”
She bowed her head obediently at her master’s comments.
“But, Duke, how many people in the world would act like that?”
Who among the nobles of the empire would rip off their skirt for an injured servant?
Who would interrogate the one favored by the uncle of the Duke for committing injustice, even while knowing that he was his favorite?
She bet no one could ever do so.
“I am a person who has been brought up as a daughter of a noble family to my very core. I know better than anyone that Madam’s actions were against the aristocratic rules of the Empire.”
Nevertheless, the maid couldn’t stop the Duchess.
All she could do on the spot, unlike the Duchess, was to stand up and stop her from getting entangled in this mess.
“The duchess’ actions were against the rules, but not against the laws, and out of common sense, yet also similar to recognition,”
The maid bowed deeply in front of the duke.
“I was moved by the Duchess today as a ‘human’, rather than an aristocrat.”
“You must have liked the duchess quite a bit, if you, who are stingy with compliments, are coming forward and defending her like this.”
“The Duke knew that Madam was not wrong, so you cut off Paul’s arm. I’m sure Sir Nate will be upset over this.”
“I was going to cut him off anyways. I was busy and just forgot-”
“You had no definite reason to. It was not that the Duke was too busy to do it. Even though you knew about his corruption, you also could not tolerate it.”
Leonhard did not answer her.
He finally opened his mouth after looking at the candles that had been on his desk for a long time.
“Sylvia, I understand what you’re saying. You meant that my wife is a clumsy but sweet person and today’s actions were never malicious.”
The maid lowered her gaze silently, agreeing with the Duke’s words.
Leonhard saw her straight face and stood up.
“You will need to make sure the servants keep the lid on this matter closed tightly.”
They appreciated what the Madam had done, but they still tend to spread useless rumors.
The Duchess touching the carcass of an animal, like a butcher… When she saw a mere stablekeeper, she tore off the hem of her skirt, making it clear that she had affection for him…
Gossips like those…
Perhaps today, there would be all sorts of bizarre rumors surrounding the Duchess.
“If anything strange comes out about the Duchess today, I will hold you responsible.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, Duke.”
Leonhard turned his head, still having had something to say, while leaving the office with a firm face.
“And increase the number of doctors working here.”
“How much should it be increased by?”
“Increase it to 10 people.”
“So many? That’s twice the number of doctors we have now.”
“You never know when or how those who work for the Duke will get hurt, so you should prepare in advance.”
Leonhard raised his lips as if he was getting more playful the more he thought about it.
“I don’t want the Duchess to tear off part of her skirt for anyone like today.”
“…I’ll do whatever you want.”
‘You really are a lot of work, my wife.’
He left the study with a light sigh.
However, the emotions on his face were far from annoyance or fatigue.
In the Duke’s two deep blue eyes, there were very slight, silent emotions that were similar to joy.
It was an emotion that he himself didn’t realize he had at all.
***
“Today, instead of having breakfast, I was wondering if we should have lunch together. You don’t look good today, what happened to you?”
At noon the next day, Dooha deliberately smiled innocently as she saw Leonhart radiating more chill than usual.
According to the head maid, the duke had been called to a council meeting early in the morning and suffered because of the vassals.
They nagged about how not only did the Duke cut off the arm of his uncle’s favorite servant, but the Duchess did the job of a butcher in front of the servants.
It was only natural that the vassals were upset.
“The council meeting was longer than usual.”
“Oh, my. I guess someone caused trouble”.
Dooha lightly asked a question in a teasing tone, not thinking much of it, but the answer she received was unexpected.
“There wasn’t a problem, it was the right thing to do.”
Leonhart put the tableware he was holding down gracefully and wiped his mouth with a napkin.
His gaze was directed towards Dooha, who had a slightly bewildered face.
“Of course, it would have been better if you had kept your dignity while doing so.”
It was said that she was looked down upon for grooming the animal in front of servants.
Meanwhile, Dooha looked at him without saying anything in response to her husband’s words.
Angry or annoyed. She thought he would be one of the two.
‘Just that?’
It was really surprising.
Well, just yesterday, he had an incident where he cut off Sir Nate’s beloved servant’s arm, so he wasn’t in a position to reprimand others.
She thought he was just a proud and stubborn imperial nobleman, but that was not the case.
‘I don’t even know if I really know you.’
Dooha looked at the Duke and slowly chewed the meat in her mouth.
She wanted to crack open his skull and see what the man in front of her was thinking.
It was then.
“Duke, there is an urgent message from the Capital!”
An attendant came in with a tired look on his face.
