The Villainess Enjoys Her Married Life
Chapter 31
Chapter 31
Episode 31. That Man’s Favor
2023.12.31.
Bright sunlight streamed through the parlor windows of the ducal manor.
Eshika took a seat slowly opposite Lesvan, who sat in the seat of honor.
Silence hung between them while Sella prepared the tea.
While Eshika kept her gaze lowered slightly, Lesvan’s eyes remained fixed on her.
Intensely enough to make her feel the weight of it.
“The Duke will arrive shortly.”
After a long stretch of silence, those were the only words to leave her lips.
A faint smile brushed Lesvan’s lips.
“Is that all you have to say to me?”
“…….”
At his words, Eshika raised her eyes and met his gaze.
Her own reflection shimmered across the brilliant golden eyes that symbolized imperial blood.
His red lips parted once more.
“I went so far as to eat a cookie that could have been dangerous for your sake, yet I have not heard a word of gratitude.”
Eshika’s brow twitched.
Rather than genuinely wanting thanks, he seemed to be playfully testing her.
“……Thank you.”
In moments like this, it was easiest to simply give the answer he wanted without unnecessary words.
Lesvan let out a quiet chuckle at her stiff reply.
“As expected, your reaction never strays from what I anticipate.”
Lesvan’s intervention, however, had strayed far beyond Eshika’s expectations.
Kalian hadn’t needed to eat the cookie.
What Eshika had wanted was merely to plant seeds of doubt between mother and son.
A fracture born from within oneself was far more destructive than overt discord.
By intervening, Lesvan had driven a definitive stake into Kalian’s suspicions.
Though the outcome exceeded her expectations, feeling indebted to Lesvan was rather burdensome.
“Reluctant though it is, I shall accept your gratitude.”
Lesvan lifted his teacup.
Even the way true masters drank tea carried a distinct poise.
It was a realm of skill where even the subtle ripple of tea in the cup revealed a quiet mastery.
“Does Your Highness truly have a peanut allergy?”
“I do.”
His low reply sent a faint ripple through Eshika’s eyes.
The Crown Prince’s face—holding her wrist, gazing directly at her as he bit into the cookie—remained etched in her mind.
“Why did you do that? It could have been truly dangerous.”
In this place, there was no concept of using inner energy to suppress bodily afflictions.
Which meant there was no telling if one could delicately manipulate qi to ease an allergic reaction.
Such matters were strictly the realm of imperial physicians administering medicines.
“You are not the type to show your hand without certainty.”
Lesvan brought the teacup to his lips with a calm, composed voice.
“Rather than acting clumsily, you would have kept your mouth shut. Just like this.”
He spoke as though he had seen right through her.
After a moment of thought, Eshika spoke.
“The reason Your Highness does not inquire about what happened earlier……”
Eshika parted her lips.
“is because Your Highness, who knows even the number of knives in Klaus, is already well aware of this household’s affairs.”
She watched Lesvan’s throat move as he swallowed his tea.
A man in whom sheer beauty and raw masculinity coexisted, he set down his teacup at an unhurried pace.
Then he merely stared at Eshika with golden eyes harboring inscrutable thoughts.
A strange stifling feeling settled in Eshika’s chest.
As if indigestion had struck without her having eaten a thing.
‘The reason he shows me favor is……’
As she reached for her teacup, Lesvan’s deep voice broke the quiet.
“If you hail from the Brigitte family, you must be familiar with Freehats and the sea.”
At his abrupt shift in topic, Eshika flinched inwardly.
The word ‘Hasetz,’ written on the note he had sent, flashed through her mind.
Hasetz—a place notorious even within Freehats for smuggling—was an area Eshika had visited with her oppas as a child.
Still, there was no need to reveal that she had noticed the hidden word on the note.
“……Yes.”
When Eshika answered in a calm, steady tone, Lesvan’s gaze deepened.
Eshika did not avert her eyes.
Though she could not fathom his intentions, she held his gaze in silence.
A moment later, Lesvan parted his lips.
“Beneath a placid surface, the currents run fierce. It seems the Klaus Ducal Manor is no different.”
Eshika answered as if unbothered.
“Everything in this world differs inside from out; why should this place be any exception?”
“A pity. Even the Duke of Klaus is not on your side.”
It was a blatant jab, carrying not an ounce of genuine sympathy.
Having spoken as if teasing her, Lesvan smirked and continued.
“Ah. While etiquette dictates that one should not meddle in another household’s affairs, I am a man who forgot courtesy after years of tumbling across battlefields, so please understand.”
Eshika knew he was not like that at all.
Lesvan was neither ignorant of propriety nor did he act on whim or emotion.
Rather, he was a schemer who saw ten steps ahead with every single stride.
If that weren’t the case, dealing with him would not be this difficult and vexing for someone like her, who easily read people’s inner thoughts.
“…….”
Lesvan leaned forward slightly, bringing his eyes level with Eshika’s.
Then he spoke in a low, whisper-like murmur.
“If a man like me were to reach out a bloodstained hand to offer help, would you take fright and run away?”
Caught in those golden eyes shimmering with a faint madness, Eshika suddenly felt a chill run down her spine.
His voice carried a thick, suffocating pressure.
An ordinary woman would have been paralyzed with fear just meeting such a gaze.
But Eshika was different.
“My affairs……”
Eshika parted her lips.
Finding her voice somehow felt harder than usual.
“……are matters I can handle on my own.”
At Eshika’s reply, Lesvan’s brow twitched.
With a composed face, Eshika continued.
“I am grateful for Your Highness the Crown Prince’s concern, but I am not so foolish that I cannot forge my own path.”
Naturally, Eshika did not trust Lesvan.
His true motives were unknowable. She could not fathom what drove his interest in her, nor how perilous it truly was.
As she smiled without revealing her inner thoughts, a faint smile brushed Lesvan’s lips.
“As I thought…… you are truly intriguing.”
A moment later, Kalian entered the parlor.
Unlike earlier, when he had confronted Eshika with fierce, questioning eyes, his face was now rigidly stiff.
“Forgive me for keeping you waiting, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”
With a calm look in his eyes, Lesvan addressed Kalian.
“How is the Grand Duchess?”
“……She is recovering.”
At Lesvan’s inquiry, a tremor wavered in Kalian’s pupils.
Eshika could glimpse the lingering turmoil and suspicion in his gaze.
Shifting his gaze toward Eshika, Lesvan remarked:
“Your wife’s hospitality was most satisfying, so I was not bored in the least.”
Not having anticipated such words, Eshika’s hand twitched slightly.
Kalian looked slowly at Eshika.
Without meeting Kalian’s eyes even once, Eshika offered a slight bow to Lesvan and slipped out of the parlor.
**
Leaving the parlor behind, Eshika walked down the corridor.
The wandering maids paused in their tracks, and the whispering servants clamped their mouths shut.
Everyone was aware of what had unfolded today.
The incident where Riona had attempted—and failed—to frame Eshika for triggering an allergic reaction.
And the fact that the Duke’s temper was thoroughly unsettled.
Following behind her, Sella practically had her nose held as high as it could go.
“…….”
Maids who had never once greeted Eshika in all their lives now bowed their heads.
This mood spread like wildfire among all the servants in the manor.
Having spent their lives serving others, they were quick to read the shifting air.
Who held the real power, who stood second in command, and who was being disregarded by the family.
Through such information, they swiftly calculated how to treat their superiors.
The contempt toward Eshika had been openly fostered by the Grand Duchess.
Yet today, the Grand Duchess had feigned a sham allergic reaction only to be carried off in disgrace.
And the Duchess, victorious in her war against her, had even entertained none other than the Empire’s Crown Prince, Lesvan Deon Lusane.
“You were truly magnificent today……”
Once inside the room, Sella chattered to Eshika with sparkling eyes.
“I have no idea how everything turns out exactly as you say, Madam. It’s simply incredible.”
Eshika had known all along that the Grand Duchess would try to frame her at teatime.
She had brazenly ordered peanut cookies to be made on purpose through Head Maid Yuri.
Had Eshika not taken precautions in advance, she would have fallen victim to the trap.
And Kalian, bound by deep sympathy for his mother, would have vented his wrath upon Eshika.
“I am a little tired today.”
Eshika furrowed her brow and gazed out the window.
Despite it being a successful day, her heart was thumping at an uneasy pace.
Unlike the sunless back room she once occupied, the beautiful garden spread out before her in full view.
Her eyes caught sight of Lesvan, along with Kalian seeing him off beside him.
With the sun at its zenith, Lesvan’s shadow was short, yet she had the illusion that an unseen shadow was stretching all the way up to where she stood.
Just as she tried to tear her eyes away from him, Lesvan suddenly raised his head and looked at Eshika.
Under that heavy, intense gaze, her heart dropped once more.
Though she drew the curtains, the smile that had lingered on his lips remained behind like an afterimage.
