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CHAPTER ELEVEN

“ I cannot believe we had to come this far for that incorrigible menace.”

Lysander sighed and squeezed his eyes shut, clearly doing what he could not to say anything to give away how irritated he felt on the inside. Slowly, he opened his eyes and fixed a deadpan gaze on Julian and stated bluntly,

“You have done nothing but complain, for the entirety of this trip? What was the point of involving yourself in this matter so deeply if you were going to cut my ears off with your tiresome lamenting?”

“Handling the matter personally ensures that my brother is not able to weasel his way out of it, as he does everything else. And I had to take things into my own hands because I so despise people shifting their responsibilities onto others and getting away to live their lives as they wish. Meanwhile the one who now carries their burden now has to bear it. If the child belonged to anyone else, I would have given it away the moment I learned of its existence. But my brother will not get away for being so callous and risking our family reputation even more than he already has and does on a regular basis.” Julian said angrily.

Lysander stared at him with wide eyes, then slowly, he asked,

“You are particularly crabby today. What happened? Didn’t get enough sleep? Fight with your wife?”

At the mention of his wife, Julian fought hard to keep himself from twitching. Because this was her fault, too.

She was the one with the big heart who was caring for someone else’s child so dearly. She was the one risking so much of herself for the sake and well-being of another living creature.

Now, he had gotten closer to her than he was supposed to and suddenly, it was as though every ounce of restraint had bled out of him. He wanted to taste more of her, to listen to more of her cries of pleasure, to wholly be in her – over and over again.

If what had settled upon him after their first kiss had been an itchy of want, he was being consumed by flames of desire now.

He had never felt so impatient, so pushed to the brink of his quickly shattering resolve.

His brother was important to Julian, because they were family.

But honestly, Julian had sworn to God that if things got even marginally more difficult for him, he would feed his brother to the wolves.

“Didn’t sleep well,” Julian grunted after a few moments of disconcerting silence.

“Ah,” Lysander nodded in understanding. “Margaret is the exact same way after a restless night. I, more often than not, find her in a corner of the house napping by a window after such nights, her skin aglow from the soft rays of sunlight bleeding in through the windows. An ethereal sight, I tell you.”

“Did… did you just compare me to your wife?”

Lysander stared at him for a moment, and when the carriage rolled to a stop then, he cheered.

“We’ve arrived!”

Julian allowed him to disembark first, following closely and frowning at the harsh sting of the bright sun in his eyes as soon as he left the carriage. It took some rapid blinking to clear up his vision and soon, he was staring at a country estate that was sitting atop impressive grounds.

“What did you say this place was known for?” Julian asked as they walked towards the front door.

“Arranging cockfights. I am well acquainted with the Lord who owns the property – nice chap, not very bright though – and I had was able to get him to tell me a little bit about Seth’s activities.

Apparently, he has been coming around these parts frequently in the last few months.

” Lysander explained as they walked into the house.

And truly, just as Lysander had warned, it was a much worse sight than the other place they had visited previously.

The grounds outside were pristine, giving an impression of nothing out of the ordinary, but the further they ventured into the mansion, the filthier the floors beneath their feet became.

The air was ripe with the smell of cigars and vomit and there was so much noise all around.

“Shall we split up and search for him separately? This is a lot of ground to cover and I fear we might not be able to cover much if we stay together,” Julian reasoned.

“We do not need to do that. My acquaintance was kind enough to divulge the activities your brother liked to engage in whenever he came here. I know exactly where he is going to be. If you’ll follow me.” Lysander prompted, walking down the hallway that led straight down the foyer.

Julian followed him closely, nearly walking into a wall when Lysander turned right suddenly, sighing with irritation before he continued to follow his friend’s footsteps.

Lysander passed three doors before coming to a stop in front of a door painted green and knocking against it four times in rapid successions.

The door ell open and Lysander walked in as though he was meant to be there, whereas Julian was more cautious, his eyes darting around the room with thinly veiled suspicion.

“I was told he liked the shows that happen in this room. Try and see if you can spot him in the crowd. And don’t faint from whatever that foul smell in the air is.

You cannot possibly expect me to try and lift you out of here by myself.

Do not subject both of us to needless suffering. ” Lysander warned.

Julian waved his friend away with a glare and began his search for his brother, once more wondering why Seth could not simply choose to live a less disgraceful life.

As the older one, Julian had done what he could to shield his brother from all the misbehavior that had been going on around him.

But appeared that he wasn’t too successful as Seth had later developed a thick skin that shielded him from all of Julian’s disapproval, along with a fondness for less than savory activities and habits.

Julian was used to clearing up his messes and paying off his debts, but this was one thing he could not take on as his own burden.

Just as the duke begun to feel tired of the crowd and heat, he spotted his brother cheering among the crowd, clenching a piece of paper in his fist as he demanded something named ‘Knuckles’ stay still and fight.

As Julian began to approach him, Seth raised his head and spotted his brother, his eyes widening a tad before he ducked into the crowd quickly.

“That odious, foolish runt,” Julian mumbled under his breath before he darted in the direction his brother had gone in.

After a few steps, it seemed as though he had lost sight of Seth completely and just as Julian started to let out a string of curses, someone’s movement caught his attention from the corner of his eye and he did not even wait before chasing them down, still swearing under his breath.

Julian cut it quite close but eventually caught up with Seth, reaching out to grab his younger brother by the collar. Seth choked, lost his balance and fell backwards, landing heavily on his back. Julian sighed and hauled him to his feet with a grunt.

“I would like to have a word with you, brother,” he stated as he pulled Seth out of the room.

It took him a while to find a place for a conversation to be had discretely, especially thanks to Seth’s incessant struggling, but eventually, Julian found an empty room in good enough shape, pushed his brother in and locked the door behind them.

“What in heaven’s name do you think you are doing? What gives you the right to –”

“Mind your tongue, you reckless fool. I am the one who funds these your escapades and ridiculous hobbies. It is well within my right to do what I damn well please. It’s not surprising at all to see that you have taken none of my words to heart and even tried to live right.” Julian snapped.

“What does it matter to you?” Seth retorted in the same tone. “It is no business of yours what I do with my life. If it pains you to be my provider, then you can simply hand over my inheritance from Father and you will never have to hear from me again.”

Julian laughed humorlessly. “So, you can gamble it all away in a single night? Do you really believe that I would be so foolish as to provide you with all that you would need to finally ruin your life completely? How can you act like this? How can you let a man such as yourself – with your name and title – be caught in such a dreary place?”

“If you do not like it here, then you may leave, Your Grace. I do not believe you were invited to this humble establishment in the first place. Spare me your incessant whining and just leave me be.” Seth scoffed, trying to walk around Julian to get to the door.

As Julian’s anger rose, he slammed a hand against Seth’s chest, hitting and shoving him back as he said,

“I wouldn’t be here at all if your mistakes had not made their way into my life and my home. Do you even know that you have a child? Because your mistress – whoever she is – certainly wished for you to know. That was why she left your son at my doorstep!”

Seth stared at Julian with a blank expression.

“My… son? What do you mean? What sort of cruel trick are you playing?”

“Oh?” Julian said with mock sympathy. “You don’t know? Oh, poor Seth. Too eager to perform actions recklessly and nowhere to be found to deal with the fall out and consequences. Who is the mother?”

“Julian, I swear – I have no idea what you are talking about. I-I am a lot of things – a drunk and a gambling addict. But a father? I have been careful –”

“And you expect me to believe that your methods were effective? Because surely a man of your nature cannot make mistakes? If only we were not just speaking about one of such instances when your character is practically reflected in the sort of affairs that surround you, I might have felt more inclined to believe you!”

Seth inhaled shakily, rubbing his hands over his face. “I am telling you – I do not know what you are talking about. I do not know who is doing this or why or who the child is – if there is one. Believe me, Julian.”

“It is kind of hard to do that, Seth. He has our eyes! Eyes mother always said that we inherited from our father. Need I remind you again why we abhor the man? That child is almost perfectly a young form of you! He cannot be mine because that would be ridiculous. I barely managed to get married – and it was against my will. The chances of me having a child are second to none. Now tell me, who is she?”

Seth threw his hands up in frustration and stated,

“I do not know, all right? I don’t know! I have had quite a number of affairs as of late and as such… it might be difficult assessing which one of them might be the mother of my supposed child.”

Julian stepped closer and pointed his finger in Seth’s face, “Find her. Find her soon and take on your responsibility. And do not even attempt to run away from this, because henceforth, I will stop providing you with allowances until you do as I have asked.”

“What?” Seth exclaimed. “You can do that?”’

“I’m sure you’ll be surprised to learn that I actually can. If you know what is good for you, you’ll do what I have asked. Do not test me any longer, Seth.”

With that, Julian turned around and left the room, relieved to find Lysander waiting for him outside the door.

“All done?” he asked.

Julian nodded and started to leave the room, unfazed when Seth tried to following him, begging him to reconsider.

“Please. P-Please just think about it? How am I supposed to find her without any resources?” Seth questioned.

Without turning around, Julian stated,

“Think on it. I’m sure it’ll come to you.”

Julian felt rather fulfilled by the time he had returned home. It had not gone as orderly as he might have preferred things, but he as truly content with knowing that his brother had been made aware of his son.

Seth might be a lot of things, but Julian knew he could be relied on to do the right thing. With a proper incentive in place. And Julian had given him the strongest one of all. Money.

Now that things were on the right path, he felt as though he needed to look Anna in the eye and tell her that their problems were being dealt with.

He might have not been ready to tell her about his brother yet, but he felt that she deserved to know that he had every intention of keeping his word and solving the issue that had found them.

Except because he had returned home rather late, Anna had retired for the night already. Still, Julian felt a twinge of unease in his chest, one he knew wouldn’t go away if he didn’t see her.

And so, he made his way to her chambers, quietly opening the door to take a peek.

He found her truly out like a light, sleeping peacefully with Nicholas by her side, also asleep. From the position of her hand on the child’s stomach, she had likely been soothing him to sleep when she fell asleep herself.

Julian was aware of this, but he had yet to show his gratitude to Anna for taking care of his nephew. She had no stake in the matter at all but had consistently gone out of her way to wholeheartedly ensure that Nicholas was doing all right in every aspect and he felt thankful for her dedication.

However, he knew that if the child were to awaken during the night, Anna would automatically have to handle him and she was clearly in need of some rest.

And so, he gingerly picked Nicholas up, doing his best to hold the boy carefully so he wouldn’t wake up. Then quietly, he slipped out of Anna’s room and went to his own, figuring that perhaps he could watch Nicholas for the night.

An idea he likely should have thought through because as soon as he entered his room, the child began to wail.