Aurelius had already figured what was going on.
To begin with he didn't know anything about Mal save for her name . So he was completely blind on everything else. So he made an educated guess based on her wedding ring on her left hand. Asking for her husband revealed who he was and everyone knew of him.
He was a pathetic scoundrel who spent all his money on whores and beer. However just recently his reputation started raising as a kind man which was complete bullshit.
Turns out he got himself a wife and Aurelius' bet that his reputation raised due to Mal.
Another thing was that Zack was a coward and power-hungry fella so he made deals with shady people.
And since Aurelius didn't know of Mal till recently means she was kept under wraps showing Zack as a controlling bastard.
