I Didn’t Know I Had Two Husbands - Chapter 41

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Lucian visited the secret hideout for the first time in a very long while. He passed the vines where he had often spent time with her and opened the iron gate. The action itself felt extremely natural. He had been coming and going from this place for over ten years, so it was only natural.

He strode inside and flung open the door of the annex.

“Don’t you know how to knock?”

A cold voice flowed out from inside. No one would know that the voice, almost identical to his, was originally a higher tone than his own.

“There’s nowhere in the ducal estate that I’m not allowed to enter, Noctis.”

“…Even so, you don’t have to barge in like that.”

Having finished his work, Noctis was sitting on the reception room sofa in a relaxed state. Without the shabby clothes he wore when he wasn’t imitating Lucian, with his bangs let down, and without the lenses that changed his eye color, he looked like a completely different person at a glance.

“Where do you even get clothes like that?”

“From somewhere, from someone, I suppose.”

As Lucian frowned in displeasure, Noctis spoke with a mocking tone.

“This is my real self. Don’t forget that you’re the one who allowed me to do as I please during my off hours, Lucian.”

Lucian sat across from him. He had come to the annex quite often in the past, but this was the first time since getting married. Still, it didn’t feel awkward. The atmosphere was very similar to his own room.

Watching him sit, Noctis crossed his legs and asked,

“Where’s Elaria?”

“She’s probably washing.”

“Then you should hurry back.”

At Noctis’s question, Lucian closed his mouth. After quietly rubbing his chin, he spoke carefully.

“Isn’t this meaningless now?”

“…But Elaria still hasn’t said anything,” Noctis replied.

“She already knows everything. You know she came here.”

“Cute, isn’t she? I never thought she’d sneak in.”

Noctis answered with a look that suggested he wanted to bite her out of affection. Leaning back comfortably against the sofa, Lucian said,

“She’s come this far. Maybe it’s time to tell her.”

“That’s true, but…”

Noctis let out a small laugh as he thought of how unbelievably dense she was. How could she not notice? Anyone else might have missed it, but the two of them had shown quite a few signs in front of her.

Fiddling with his brow, he asked with concern,

“Still, isn’t she really too slow to catch on? Is she even alright out there?”

“I’m here, so it doesn’t matter.”

“You say that well. But she’s probably had more trouble because of you.”

Thinking of Elisa, who had barged in recklessly that one time, Noctis continued in a voice tinged with irritation.

“Those people who clung to you since you were young, do you know how much they bothered Ella? And you can still say it doesn’t matter?”

“…I told you, it’s Ria, not Ella.”

“Ella sounds better.”

“Ha.”

Since childhood, they had insisted on different nicknames, and even now they couldn’t call Elaria by the same one. A sudden sense of frustration rose in him, but since he had to live as one with Noctis for the rest of his life, he had no choice but to respect each other’s preferences.

“Poor Elaria. Her husbands haven’t even called her by a nickname.”

“Stop it.”

Lucian cut him off coldly. Red eyes and green eyes faced each other. At a glance, the two men looked so alike they could be mistaken for the same person, but they were neither brothers nor relatives.

They were simply bound by a long-standing, tiresome connection.

The Asiel ducal family had a long history, but it had not been long since it had acquired its current wealth.

About 150 years ago, the duke of that time who was Lucian’s great-great-grandfather, frequently traveled to neighboring countries to support a family whose finances were steadily declining. His main work was to find local specialties that could be imported, even if the profit was small.

During that process, he also took on side work selling the information he learned, but at that time it was taboo for nobles to buy and sell information.

For that reason, the duke of that era often had to travel not only to large cities but also to remote rural areas, and as if by coincidence, he encountered a man who looked exactly like him.

At first, Lucian’s ancestor simply felt pleased to meet someone who looked so much like himself. Just as he was thinking that it was a waste for such a man to be living in a rural place, an astonishing idea came to him.

A way to expand his business behind the scenes while still maintaining the dignity of a noble.