DUCHESS 19 Nikos bowed his head as he uttered his presence and greeted me good morning before walking in, “Good Morning, Milady. Did you have a good night's rest?” he asked as he pushed the trolley into the room and closed the doors behind him. Showing him a small smile, I walked back to the table that was beside the big window of my room and waited for Nikos to serve my breakfast for the day. “Yes, it was a nice rest. Although a dreamless slumber, but still a nice one.” I responded. This made the butler smile a bit wider than his usual one and then he removed the cover of the food and my tea. “That is good to hear, Milady.” He then served my breakfast: a light omelette with some green peas on the side and a slice of peaches as the dessert. For the tea, it was a Blue Butterfly Pea tea infused with honey. But there is one thing unusual about the tea. It is not piping hot at all. “Why is there an ice in the tea? Did the chef experiment again?” look
DUCHESS 20 Why are there so many unusual things that are happening today? Did I do something? Did I offend some kind of deity or a god to deserve all of these things that are not in my schedule or on the usual things that are happening to me? But no matter, I will handle it and internalize it all after I settle the business with the Duke of Leviathan--- Duke Ruther. As I was doing a little narrative here, inside my head, he was busy telling stories while his stomach bellowed with laughter--- his shoulders shaking at the same time. “Oh I still remember that time when you would always hide behind your mother whenever I visit. Apparently, my stature was too intimidating to you back then that you would cower in fear whenever I visited your grandfather for a drink or maybe a business.” Duke Ruther said to me and Drew, his eyes reflecting that happiness and nostalgia before settling in the feeling of ‘missing someone’ and it is very evident in his eyes. As a response, I let out a little g
DUCHESS 21 At the mini garden, there Octavia let us stay, saying that it is better if we are there away from the chaos that the commoners always bring whenever they are. After a while, she left on the excuse of getting us some food to have and maybe have a cup of tea before leaving. The silence engulfed me and Marcus once again as we continued to stare at the plants thriving at the mini garden, with the fireflies floating around and about giving the whole scenery a nice glow. The silence continued on as neither the two of us wanted to break the fragile silence, or maybe we just do not have the topic to talk about. I turned to him, to Marcus. Seeing his unusual white hair and captivating crimson red eyes— if one were to know the existence of vampires, they would brand him as one. His pale skin is an added characteristic and if his canine teeth were more prominent then he would be immediately executed with garlic bread and a stake. But it is a good thing that this world, this kingdom
DUCHESS 22The next day, I woke up a bit groggy, albeit I was able to wake up early this time, still, my body was aching and longing for more time with my soft bed. It felt like the bed was still calling my name in a sing- song voice and persuading me to come back and lay down a bit longer. But we all know that it cannot be at the moment. There is a lot to do. Well, technically no. all my paper works were all done and completed and right now, I only need to read and send replies from all the letters that I have received in this month alone. And it would take a hell lot of time. ‘Now I really miss my phone and my other gadgets when I was Reine and living on Earth. I miss the convenience of it all.’ I thought to myself, almost crying because of the inconvenience that I am experiencing right now. Maybe I can invent or maybe produce something that would make my life easier as the Duchess? Well, maybe. I can list that to my itinerary of things I want to do in this world. But I believe th
DUCHESS 23 Uriel and I stared at each other for a moment longer before the shock subsided. We then asked each other what we were doing in the kitchen in the middle of the night. Well, the most concerning is why is he here in my estate’s kitchen in the middle of the night. “Seriously, what are you doing here? In my estate? In my kitchen? In the middle of the night?” I am sure that the look of surprise and disbelief were clearly plastered on my face as I asked those questions. “How did you even get here? Did you ride a horse to here? In the middle of the night? Uriel, that is so much dangerous!” I added and began to worry about his safety. Being a Crown Prince is already a lot of threat. He has a lot of competitors in the throne as he has many siblings. But being related to the Duchess of Fortess dukedom is also an added risk--- he could be kidnapped (if anyone was brave or just plain stupid to do so) and used against me to do what else they deemed ‘right’. Even if he is older than me
DUCHESS 24 After that unofficial and sudden visit of the Crown Prince, and Drew waking me up early in the morning, I started my day just like how I do it with my routine. A week passed without any contact from either Uriel or Marcus. They might have been busy in that week and never had the time to reply to my letters at all. I could have visited Uriel in the palace but that would take so long just to travel there and possibly cause a commotion during and after--- maybe even before. And with the fact that he was not responding at all, even with just a simple ‘hi’, then he must really be busy. ‘I guess the fight for the throne has subsided, but the casualties left must have been so drastic that it needed Uriel’s attention to be cleaned silently.’ The fight for the throne was never a pleasant one. There are always casualties involved and it is always unpredictable. Still, it is amazing how the royal family was able to cover it all up, and to keep it silent and unassuming to the public
DUCHESS 25 Getting fed up because Marcus did not respond at all and that I know at this point that he was only pretending to be sick, by the end of the week, I decided to visit his lodging place. In disguise of course and o rode with a horse rather than with a carriage. Carriages travel a bit slower than a horse, and speed and time is of the essence at this point. His lodging was near the border of the Dukedom of Fortess and of the Royal Capital so visiting there would not be an issue of identification. I can just strode in the lodging inn and ask for his name, presenting myself as a companion of his. It is a benefit that I have yet to have an official and formal debut to the citizens of the Kingdom of Sagareste, or else a huge commotion would occur inside the inn of this couple once they knew that they were casually talking to the Fortess Duchess herself. “Oh, you are a friend of Mr. Zoldago? Mhm, you are the tenth one to ask about him this week, and as we have told all of them be
DUCHESS 26 It seemed that the smell of the delicious porridge wafting through the air was able to attract the very tired businessman from the mattress and closer to the table. Since I have already been eating, I also took the time to get him his utensils with mine and when he sat with me at the table, his bowl and spoon were already there, filled with the portion of the porridge. He stared at the bowl for a moment, then he looked at me and stared for a long time. His gazes were something along the lines of ‘are you real?’ or ‘is this real?’ and he continued to do so with a raised brow. I sighed at this and looked at him dead in the eye then said, “Stop staring at me and just eat your fill. You are just hungry, that is why you are so grumpy right now.” With that said, I stopped caring if he is still staring or not, I just ate more of the porridge as it was so good. I even hummed in satisfaction as I ate the last spoonful of it in my bowl. When I looked back at Marcus, he was also e