Living as the Villain’s Stepmother - Chapter 192 – The Failed Captain

As soon as she stepped into the office, Roxana paused and her eyes drifted to Lila’s desk. She didn’t take long to grasp the situation, her lips just twitched as if she was trying to suppress a laugh. “It looks to me like our master whined at the busy duchess, am I right?”

“You have an accurate understanding of the situation.” Rather than getting offended. Lacias smiled proudly. He seemed not to mind hearing the word ‘whine’ from his subordinate.

Roxana clenched her fists as if she couldn’t bear to watch her master being a romanticist.

Lila was speechless. How can a person look so proud even after hearing such an embarrassing thing from his knight?

Just then the captain turned to her. “Madam.”

Roxana used to call her by her name with the title madam in front with extra politeness as if to draw a line between them. But the fact that Roxana comfortably called her madam meant that she had been officially recognized as The Duchess of The Wipere family. Even though it wasn’t a big deal, Lila was strangely excited. Of course, the time she would remain as the Duchess would be short, but still.

“There were a few things I wanted to ask you about that day. If you don’t mind, may I ask for your statement for the investigation?”

Lila nodded. “Yes, of course. I promise to cooperate as much as possible.”

The more serious crimes Doug Blake was charged with, the better it was for Lila, so there was no reason for her to not cooperate. Besides, she was willing to do as much as she could if it was for Roxana, even if that would bring no benefit to her.

Unlike Lila expected, Roxana didn’t ask many questions. All she did was just a simple confirmation of what she found out through investigation. What surprised Lila was that Roxana already knew the situation so accurately that she knew things that even Lila herself almost forgot about.

Roxana nodded slowly while recording some of the things Lila had confirmed in detail.

“Since the incident took place after the marriage vows, he will also be charged with the attempted assassination of the Duchess. I think things will go as you want, master. Well, he’s just a Baron anyway, so there’s no need to bother digging deeper into this.”

Lacias shook his head, “No, it’s needed. Because Baron Blake is not the only one in this.”

“…What?” Roxana was a bit surprised at his claim but she caught herself again. “So there’s more to it? It’ll be very helpful if you can share what that is.”

“You’ll find out soon,” said Lacias, as vaguely as ever.

He was clearly too lazy to explain to her, especially with his wife in the room. With a small show of hands, he signaled for Roxana to leave the room. The captain let out a short sigh before obliging.

As Roxana turned to leave the room Lacias threw a few mocking words out. “How did she not notice that during the investigation? I guess I gave the title of captain to the wrong person.”

“….”

“As you said,” he continued. “Blake is just a baron. And that same guy dared to plant a spy in the Duke’s house and even fabricated the list of carriages. Besides, a person who wasn’t even invited came to the wedding with a fake invitation.”

Roxana couldn’t hold her temper anymore. “It wasn’t that I didn’t know!” She yelled while turning back. “I did it because I thought it wasn’t right to make a report before it’s confirmed!”

“Roxana.” Lacias called in a cold voice.

“…Yes.” She wasn’t one to disrespect the duke so Roxana quickly came to regret the shouting.

“You know that’s not what’s important right now. You’re the leader, and that’s why you’re held responsible for what happened.”

“…I’m aware of that.”

The Knights of Wipere were in charge of the escort, and Roxana was in charge of leading the Knights. But things didn’t go as she planned, and many issues occurred throughout the wedding. Lacias’ top priority was Lila’s safety, and it was her responsibility to make sure Lila was safe, so she certainly failed to do her job.

“I’ll submit to punishment,” she said in a conceding manner.

“Wait patiently. If you do your job properly before then, I’ll reconsider.”

“Okay….”

As the leader, Roxana felt ashamed of herself. Not only had she failed to prevent the carriage information from leaking, but she had also failed to protect Lila. Even Lugar, who usually laughs and teases her, would not have joked about this matter.

“Leave now and tell Hizette to come to my office. I heard that Hir manifested his ring today.”

“Yes sir…” Roxana was relieved. On her way to Lacias’ office, she was full of anxiety and fear about the punishment she would get. But from his last few words, she understood why her master was much more generous than usual. It was because he heard the good news. She made a mental note to thank Hir later for saving her life.