He’s My Real Brother, Duke Chapter 112

 

No, he was clenching his teeth so hard I could see the tendons in his jaw. I gestured urgently in his direction.

 

‘You can’t lose your temper right now!’ 

 

I urged him to hold it together. To my relief, the Duke gave the Marquise Melania a death glare but did not open his mouth.

 

‘Thank goodness, my training has paid off!’

 

For I had told him so earnestly yesterday.

 

— ‘No matter what happens tomorrow, you’re going to stay put.’

 

— ‘…They’re unruly, Astel. You don’t know what they’ll do.’

 

— ‘But I want to look good for the Empress, and I know how to deal with bad people!’

 

— ‘But, Astel.’

 

— ‘Now, promise me.’

 

— ‘Well done, Duke!’

 

Like yesterday, I gave him a little pinky finger and smiled.

 

These days, I was slowly learning to tame the Duke.

 

My earlobes flushed at the memory of him kissing my little finger so delicately, but now was not the time for languid sentimentality.

 

I pulled several cakes from the stall and began to bustle about setting up the prepared drinks.

 

🐾

 

The Empress remained seated at the table, watching Astel’s behavior.

 

She sighed heavily as she looked at Astel with a quizzical expression.

 

‘You look strangely familiar, but perhaps I’m mistaken…’

 

A face she recognized was overlaid on Astel’s face, scurrying around like a rabbit, smiling brightly.

 

“Your Majesty, are you all right?”

 

The Princess asked cautiously.

 

The Empress nodded, suddenly realizing the rudeness of her gaze as she fiercely scrutinized the form of another.

 

“Yes, it’s all right.”

 

After a moment of cooling off, the Empress turned to Astel and cut to the chase.

 

“I’m curious about the cake you’ve been baking, if I may try it.”

 

It was a bit of a departure from social etiquette, but the Empress had her reasons.

 

Unfortunately, she couldn’t stay outside for long. Breathing fresh air quickly gave her a headache.

 

She held her head in her hands and wheezed for breath as she spoke.

 

“I was just wondering.”

 

“Sure, I’ll get it!”

 

The Empress’s expression was subtle, as she had been rubbing her forehead the entire time.

 

Astel moved like a nimble rabbit, looking unconcerned.

 

The Empress’s gaze followed Astel’s back as she smiled brightly at the stall.

 

That gait, that tone of voice, that expression…

 

‘It can’t be… they look alike.’

 

As Astel’s absence filled the table with a cold silence, the Marquise Melania, at the Empress’s side, chirped in her ear.

 

“Your Majesty, you’re not in the best of health, and you’re stopping by a commoner’s shop.”

 

“Melania.”

 

“I am concerned for you. How did you come to this shop?”

 

“It was…”

 

“If there’s nothing else, I’ll have that commoner beaten to a pulp. How dare you dazzle Her Majesty’s eyes.”

 

The Empress winked at the Marquise Melania to calm her down, but in truth, she wasn’t looking forward to it either.

 

‘There is no way a commoner would know about Labyrinthos. I was mistaken.’

 

She pressed down harder on her aching temples, thinking of returning to her normal duties as a conduit.

 

🐾

 

Meticulously, laid out a variety of cakes on the table.

 

With my hands in an upright position on my apron, I explained each cake and drink gently.

 

“I’ve prepared mint tea for the Empress, bitter black tea for her ladyship, coffee for the Duke and Princess, and for the knight outside, a sweet drink with plenty of caramel.”

 

“You are very kind, Astel. Mint tea, black tea, and coffee.”

 

He was deliberately ignoring Cassian Gray’s presence…

 

Perhaps it had something to do with the strange way she was looking at Cassian and the Duke.

 

“It tastes even better with some cakes here, and I’ll show you one of them.”

 

The Marquise took a sip of her tea and eyed me with an unsatisfactory frown.

 

“I have prepared four small whole cakes, and for Her Majesty, a cake with vanilla beans and lilies.”

 

“Yes.”

 

The Empress fixed her gaze on the table with impatience.

 

“And…”

 

Taking a short, deep breath, I pointed to a cute-looking cake.

 

“Here, in our carefully crafted Labyrinthos Cake, we’ve added a few slices of the widely used serrate leaf.”

 

“Did you just say, the ingredient is serrate?”

 

“Yes, what do you think?”

 

“How dare you put a grass that only commoners eat in here?”

 

Apparently, serrate leaves were a commoner’s staple food.

 

Astel only nodded at her words.

 

“Ha! Don’t you know who it is that sits here?”

 

The Duke, whose patience seemed to have finally run out with the string of accusations against me, gritted his teeth and muttered.

 

“There is freedom of opinion here.”

 

But despite the Duke’s words and demeanor, the Marquise Melania was more impervious and unfazed than I expected.

 

She crossed her arms in front and regarded me as if she had no idea that the Duke was talking about her.

 

“See to it that you serve Her Majesty well, so that the Duke’s side of the story is heard.”

 

“My side.”

 

The Duke seemed to be trying to divert to a more sophisticated mode of attack, having been prevented from directly criticizing the Empress by my interruption.

 

I glared at him and shook my head. As if to say, ‘No, please just wait!’

 

After he’d gotten his fill of luck, there was a moment of silence, and then the Princess looked at the Duke and asked cautiously.

 

“Your Grace Duke?”

 

The mysterious woman called out to the Duke.

 

The Duke’s gaze shifted to her, annoyed.

 

“What is it?”

 

After more than a few seconds of eye contact, the princess’s earlobes pricked up.

 

“…Well, I was wondering what you were going to say.”

 

When she couldn’t say more, the Duke quickly switched his gaze to the Marquise.

 

“It’s just that your appearance reminds me of a certain unfortunate knight.”

 

“What? Reminds you of what…?”

 

Unfortunately, the Marquise still didn’t understand the Duke’s attack.

 

But the Empress, sensing a more murderous tone, spoke first, “Regardless, she is still the Duke’s ward, Melania.”

 

“…Your Majesty.”

 

The Empress took the cake from the Marquise, who looked disappointed.

 

“I’ll take a bite, I think it’ll be fine.”

 

Even as she said that the Empress didn’t look too pleased.

 

Smiling brightly, I turned to the Empress and offered it to her.

 

“Yes, please try it!”

 

At my words, the Empress took a bite of cake with her fork.

 

‘Finally!’

 

With my fists clenched, I observed the Empress’s reaction.

 

She swallowed the cake languidly, with a slight frown on her face, perhaps from a pounding headache, and soon became speechless.

 

‘There it is!’

 

I chuckled softly and looked straight at the Empress. The Empress was looking at me wide-eyed, as well.

 

The Marquise was the only one in the room who fidgeted.

 

“Your Majesty the Empress…?”

 

“…”

 

“Are you having a headache again, shall I prepare some medicine?”

 

“…”

 

When the Empress fell suddenly speechless, the Marquise turned to me and frowned.

 

“Commoner, you wouldn’t dare to put strange ingredients in the food for Her Majesty the Empress to eat, would you?”

 

At those words, the Duke shot her a glare.

 

He spoke in a low, menacing voice that would have made the Marquise cringe.

 

“How dare you.”

 

Slowly, the effect of my training was wearing off.

 

Unable to restrain the Duke, I interrupted him, speaking urgently.

 

“No, I dare not, I’ll show you.”

 

I head straight to the kitchen and pull out the ingredients.

 

My forehead was nearly drenched in sweat as I pulled out mint leaves, root, sweet vanilla beans, and rosemary herbs from the kitchen, which was swarming with pastry chefs…

 

“Give it to me, and we’ll move it together.”

 

“That’s right, Astel.”

 

“Don’t be upset!”

 

…But first, the pastry chefs who felt their efforts had been ignored.

 

Huddling near me, they quickly delivered the ingredients to the Empress’s table.

 

“Every cake has been carefully prepared, and I have not added anything unpleasant for you to eat.”

 

Certainly, as a maid of honor, it would not have affected her at all.

 

But as if sensing something was amiss, the Marquise chortled.

 

At her disconcerting demeanor, I feigned a shrug.

 

“Of course, there is a special drug in the cake.”

 

“What?”

 

“It’s not a weird drug, it’s listed in small print in the pamphlet I wrote for the promotion, haven’t you seen it?”

 

Of course, they didn’t. People don’t usually read the fine print in pamphlets.

 

“Who reads that rubbish!”

 

The Marquise jumped to her feet and snickered.

 

“Do you mean to tell me that you slipped some nameless drug into the cake for the Empress, now?”

 

Even the Empress, who had maintained her graceful dignity the entire time, glared at me with her mouth set in a tight line.

 

I felt the overflowing gaze of everyone’s foe.

 

“You’re all being too hasty. Perhaps we should hear the story.”

 

Only the Duke was looking at me fondly, but his hand clutching his cup tensed as if he wanted to spill it at any moment.

 

With an inward chuckle, I flicked him a glance. The well-tamed Duke looked at me, his eyes lowering docilely. But he wasn’t supposed to help me yet.

 

If I’m going to make a splash, it helps to have the Empress and the Marquise Melania provide the firewood.

 

I tore my gaze away from the Marquise and glared at the Empress, who hadn’t said a word to me since eating the cake.

 

Finally, I met the Empress’s gaze, which was looking directly at me.