My Villain Husband

“Are you enjoying your newlywed life?” Alexandra asked.

“Yes. I am so happy,” replied Tiana.

“It seems so. I can tell from Lucius’ behavior these days. Oh, is your wound all right? I heard you got injured in an accident. I forgot to ask about that first.”

“It’s fine. It was a serious injury, and I received treatment right away, so it’s getting better now.”

“Thank goodness,” nodded Alexandra.

“By the way, you said you can tell from Lucius’ behavior these days? How?”

“Don’t ask.” Alexandra burst into laughter when she heard Tiana’s question. Tiana focused on her words as her reaction was more than she had expected. “When he comes to the palace, he has a smile on his face all day. It isn’t a huge smile or anything like that, but it shows right away if he smiles even a little bit since he normally doesn’t show much expression.”

“Right,” Tiana smiled.

Alexandra continued, “In the past, he was just expressionless and didn’t used to express much emotion, so it didn’t show on his face, but people are surprised because he smiles more and more these days. I’ve seen it from time to time, but it’s the first time for others to see my brother’s various facial expressions.”

“Oh…”

Was Alexandra worried out of fear? Just what Tiana had expected. The surprised reaction was natural because Lucius didn’t usually interact with the people in the palace on a personal level. People in the grand duchy were barely getting used to it.

“It’s a lot better than when he was so stiff, but seeing him suddenly change like this, they can’t adjust to him. As I already know that my brother isn’t a creepy person, it’s good to see him like that, but I think he’s going to be talking a lot more, inside and outside of the palace.”

“What did you say?” Tiana asked.

“People change after they get married, even my brother. He’ll say things like, ‘Hey, you have to get married’, ‘Get along well with your mate’, or ‘Don’t just marry anyone.”

Tiana smiled gently at Alexandra grumbling with a rough look on her face. But thankfully, she hadn’t said anything too negative about him. Instead, she seemed to be a little hurt inside. Alexandra was at a good age to get married, so she will probably feel the pressure now. Actually, her situation was quite unique.

Although she was at that age, it was right for her to get married or leave the palace on her own since the emperor had died and Rael ascended the throne, but she was the only imperial woman of the emperor and the only sister of the current emperor, so she remained in the palace.

In the original story, she left the palace on her own without even getting married, but it wasn’t clear whether she’d do that this time around. Tiana thought that it would be fun to see the free-spirited woman dating and getting married.

Slowly, Tiana listened to her updates and social affairs, and they had a little chat. She brought up something when she was drinking her second cup of flower tea.

“I heard you started working in the grand duchy, is it manageable?” inquired Alexandra.

“Yes. Thankfully there are a lot of things similar to what I’ve done before, so it’s no problem. Since the scale of work is much bigger, I’m getting help from the butler and head maid with other things.”

“That’s great. Those two are very skilled and reliable. Is anything else hard?”

“Hard, shall I say…? There is something on my mind,” Tiana spoke.

“What is it?” asked Alexandra.

“Lucius’ internal budget is a bit too much… I was thinking about how to use it, and I discussed it with him and decided to start a business.”

“Oh my, really? What kind of business?”

Perhaps the story caught her attention, the look in Alexandra’s eyes changed. Tiana said, hesitating to look at her, “Basically, it’s an investment welfare business; I thought it would be nice to provide welfare to the lower class, such as orphans and commoners.”

“I see. That’s good intent. So what’s next?”

“The amount of funds I can use is bigger than I expected, so I decided to make it a business, but if Lucius wants to do it properly, it’s better to include not only the lower class but also the aristocrats in the list,” Tiana elaborated.

“Oh… Right. I think I know what you mean. The aristocrats have a lot of petty jealousy, so they won’t let that welfare go to the lower class. What they possess now isn’t enough.”

“That’s why I’m trying to invest in the aristocracy. I received the data because I wanted to invest mainly in those who are in business or those who are not able to develop their talents due to low status or funding issues, but it’s not easy to select them.”

The criteria have been set, and thanks to Lucius, the data can be easily obtained and selected, but it has become a little difficult to select by looking at the written data. Warren wrote in detail about each business, which helped a lot, but something about it lacked vividness about what kind of business and what kind of person Tiana was. She wanted to see if it was worth the investment, but it wasn’t easy either.

“Are there any aristocrats or businesses that caught your eye?” asked Alexandra.

“I haven’t looked through too many, so there is only one.”

“What is it?”

“At the Grassel estate, there’s a café business run by Baron Evett June; I think there are plans to expand the branch,” spoke Tiana.

“Evett June… he must be the owner of Café Laurent!” exclaimed Alexandra.

“Really? It caught my eye because he is an aristocrat of the Grassel estate, but I didn’t know it was that café.”