ASLD 48

Chapter 48

As Wolfgang was leaving the room, Asha scampered up to Franz as if to replace him.

“What was that? What did he say? I couldn’t hear a thing.”
“Hmph. Why should I tell you?”
“Oh, don’t be so stingy. I even comforted you when you were bawling.”
“Who was bawling…!”

Hearing their voices fade away, Wolfgang chuckled faintly. Then Levi appeared before him.

Unlike Franz, Levi had grown to resemble him a great deal—far too much. That’s why Katrin worried about him more, feeling pity at the same time.

The child who once feared even playing a simple prank, now spending time with Katrin—his fiancée—eavesdropping on others’ conversations. Could you believe it?

“I’m glad…”
“…”
“…that you returned safely.”

Though still awkward, Levi had managed to say such words.

If he could tell her this news, would she believe him? How happy would she be? If only he could share it with her.

“Yeah. You’ve done well too.”

Wolfgang ruffled Levi’s hair the same way.

Levi, a bit awkward, lowered his gaze, then bowed politely before heading over to his fiancée and younger sibling.

Not only the townhouse but now even the family estate itself would likely be noisy every day.

But before that, there was something to take care of.

“…Honestly, it wasn’t completely unexpected.”

Benjamin muttered as he joined him on the way down to the underground dungeon.

True, it wasn’t unexpected.

That someone would try to seize control of the household in the mistress’s absence. That they would flaunt Bastion’s favor and incite others.

He had also known that they were manipulating Franz’s stability and insecurities alike.

He had only wanted his young son—too young to even remember his mother’s face—to at least have some cheap candy, even if it might be a little poisonous.

“But to think she would dare leave scratches on my children.”
“M-my lord…”
“Eva.”
“Ah, you’ve come!”

The woman behind the bars shed tears as if she had seen a savior.

Wolfgang had never disliked this long-serving maid.

She was quiet, obedient, and so cowed by ambition-tainted admiration that she never uttered a peep.

In his razor-sharp youth, he found that attitude trivial yet convenient.

After Katrin’s arrival, he sometimes wanted to kill her whenever that insolent gleam appeared in her eyes, but he held back because Katrin would have disliked it.

Even when she wrapped little Franz—left alone too early—in her skirts, it grated on him, but in the end, he tolerated it for Franz’s sake.

If only. If only she had left it at that.

“You should have known when to stop.”
“…Excuse me?”
“Then maybe I would’ve overlooked it again, pretended not to see.”

One way or another, he was still the Duke of Bastion.

The so-called Demon Duke. Someone who did not care much for moral or ethical values.

“Even if it’s through rotten means—if my child gains joy from it, I honestly don’t care.”

He muttered in a low voice.

He could already see Katrin, scowling fiercely, swatting him across the back for saying something so candid.

Suppressing a smile by rubbing his lips with his fingertips, Wolfgang continued.

“So you should’ve kept it at a few nasty little pranks. But you dared to cause them real harm.”
“I—I never harmed Young Master Franz physically…!”
“Not him.”

Not Franz? Then who—?

Eva’s bewildered eyes shook.

“I have three children. And two of them have suffered wounds to mind and body because of you.”
“M-my lord…”
“You’re dismissed.”

Dismissal in a household full of secrets like Bastion’s meant one thing: disposal.

Eva’s mouth hung open, about to protest, when—

“Pfft.”

Benjamin, standing behind Wolfgang, suddenly trembled with suppressed laughter.

Wolfgang glanced at him with only his eyes.

Laughing at a time like this?

“You don’t have the best character either.”
“No, that’s not it… Forgive me. It’s just… seeing her so unlike her usual self…”

The unwashed blood from her nose, the missing front tooth, the swollen and bruised upper lip—

Eva, flushing bright red, belatedly covered her mouth, but it was already too late.

Benjamin burst into fitful, spasmodic laughter before finally calming himself with deep breaths.

Laughing at someone’s appearance is crude and thoughtless, Benjamin Cooper. My precious laughter should only respond to Lady Asha’s refined humor.

While the aide composed himself, Wolfgang tilted his head seriously.

“…Wasn’t she always like that?”

A cruel remark, made simply because he truly didn’t know.

Leaving the frozen Eva behind, Wolfgang walked away without hesitation.

Benjamin scurried after him, speaking quickly.

“Come to think of it, Lady Asha suspected something between you and Eva.”
“…What?”

Wolfgang narrowed one eye sharply. Benjamin only shrugged.

“She saw Eva with one of your garments.”
“What garment?”
“Don’t you remember? On the Duchess’s funeral day—you draped your jacket over her.”

Even with the genius aide’s detailed reminder, Wolfgang couldn’t recall.

Of course he wouldn’t remember such a trivial incident, especially on Katrin’s funeral day when he wasn’t in his right mind.

“Me? Why?”
“…You were holding Young Master Franz in your arms.”

Ah, if that was the case.

Since his youngest resembled his mother, he constantly worried he might fall ill.

If his son hadn’t been cold that day, he couldn’t have cared less who took his jacket or burned it.

As they walked along the melting snowy path, Wolfgang cracked his neck loudly.

Even the Duke of Bastion could feel exhaustion.

After returning from slaying monsters nonstop without rest, now there were household troubles to deal with.

He suddenly wondered if he should have just married her off quickly, formally entrusting household matters to her.

That way, she would have settled more easily into the house in his absence. She wouldn’t have been hurt either…

With his hands in his pockets, Wolfgang asked abruptly:

“How far has it spread?”

The aide, well deserving of the title genius, immediately replied:

“Thanks to Young Master Levi’s close attention, progress was slower, but currently, the 1st to 3rd floors are under her influence. Especially on the 2nd floor—those who used to run errands for Eva are almost completely at her command.”
“Unbelievable.”

Wolfgang let out a hollow laugh, when something caught his eye.

Bending down, he picked it up—it was a silver coin.

“…You found money again?”

Wolfgang always did.

Whenever he walked, he’d pick up silver coins, sometimes even gold coins or buttons.

“You really are disgustingly lucky.”

While his aide clicked his tongue, Wolfgang held the coin up to the sunlight.

Closing one eye, he admired the subtle shimmer between silver and gold for a while, before smirking.

“I’ve always been good at picking things up.”

“Strong and powerful morning!”

The mornings had been quite refreshing these past few days.

Both people and monsters had been taken care of. How could it not feel invigorating? And there had even been good news!

First, Eva was thrown out immediately.

Benjamin’s expression suggested something more had happened, but that was none of Asha’s concern, so she didn’t pry.

Next—Asha gained multiple “slaves.”

Those who had been Eva’s underlings—sure to be dismissed if Wolfgang gave the word—she now ordered around comfortably.

Not that she got along with them closely or warmly.

“I can never be friends with someone who pours oil on marble floors to make others slip. Never.”

So she treated them with varying degrees of distance, depending on what they’d done to her and Franz.

Still, there was one—

The freckled maid with impressive skills. What was her name again?

“Angie.”
“Y-yes, my lady.”

On the very day Eva was dismissed, Asha had summoned Angie and made her kneel. Then—

“You’ll be my second personal maid.”

A shocking proposal.

Angie’s round eyes, standing out even against her freckles, nearly popped out.

She was only sixteen, wasn’t she?

In her surprised face, so different from when she acted brazen, her youth showed clearly.

“Honestly, I can’t trust you completely yet. But.”
“But…?”
“I want your skills.”
“M-my… skills?”
“Skills like sweeping away firewood without disturbing sleep.”
“…”
“Or making jewels appear out of nowhere.”
“…”
“That sleight of hand.”

Adults always said to learn a skill.

Any skill, whatever it may be, will come in handy someday. Nimble hands are always useful.

Nodding solemnly, Asha declared:

“Think carefully, Angie. You didn’t follow Eva.”
“Then…”
“You followed power, out of ambition!”

She pointed dramatically, and Angie nodded as if entranced.

“You want to rise, don’t you?”
“Y-yes…!”
“You were born to be a henchman, weren’t you?”
“That’s right!”
“Then follow me now!”
“I will!”

And so, Asha gained Angie.

But that wasn’t all.

“Here.”

Wolfgang handed her something as casually as if he’d picked it up on the way.

It was the source of Eva’s pride—

“A ring of keys!”
“Is it that valuable?”
“Of course! Is anyone richer than the daughter-in-law holding the granary key?”

Asha giggled, hugging the key ring.

The first thing she did with it was return the ruby to its original place.

“To the venerable ancestors of the 12th generation, I apologize for using your symbol of love as a product of violence. Please forgive me. I only did it to survive. If you must punish, please send all your wrath upon that Eva-seba-tuna-mackerel. Amen! Namo Amitabha!”

A sincere apology as a bonus.

Meanwhile, Franz had…

“Please punish me!”

…become a masochist.

“All the scolding I never got before—please give it all now. Thoroughly. I’ll repent, so please, forget about Father and Brother.”

A bold masochist indeed.

And so?

Wolfgang granted Franz’s request to his heart’s content—reducing him to tears and snot.

Though he never raised his voice or hand, one could feel deeply why he was called the Demon Duke.

After overhearing it a few times, Asha herself fled, feeling like her own soul was being drained.

Ah, and Benjamin finally looked human again.

After sleeping for two straight days, his skin regained a natural flesh tone—it had been gray before.