Chapter Five

“Ugh, it feels like I’m locked up,” Alessandra muttered as she bit her nails, sitting on the bed in her room at the Terrence duchy residence. The room was lavish and beautiful, just as her room in the Maximillan duchy residence. “Even though I am locked up like this, perhaps it won’t be too bad. After all, Alessandro has to do all my work today, haha. He won’t be able to rest at all.”

“My lady, please quit laughing by yourself. It’s creepy,” Matt said. He had come to the young duchess’s room after washing up. “We’re locked up, my lady. Please do something.”

“Why would I? I don’t have to work today,” she grinned. “And besides, I have a feeling that the food here will be good. The taste of the macarons is still on my tongue. It was too good.”

“Well, the macarons were truly good,” he agreed as he leaned against the window frame and looked outside. “The storm hasn’t calmed down at all.”

“It won’t,” she said. “At least, it will go on for a day.”

“I can sense magic,” Matt said. 

“It’s Duke Alexander,” Alessandra said. “If I am right, he wants to observe me. I think he suspects that I am hiding something.”

“Well, you are someone to suspect,” he shrugged. “If I was him, I wouldn’t believe you either.”

“I understand,” she sighed. Even Alessandra could not disagree with this. She knew clearly what kind of person she and Duke Albert were. 

“My lady, since we have nothing to do, let’s have a match,” Matt suggested eagerly. He liked to play chess a lot, especially with someone who was better than him. He could not remember the last time he won against the young duchess. 

“No. I have nothing to do and that means I wanna rest. I’m gonna sleep as much as I can since I am here. When I go back, surely I can’t get a wink of sleep for at least three days,” she said. 

“Don’t be so cruel. Let’s play, my lady. Let’s play,” Matt whined while pulling the sleeve of Alessandra’s dress. 

“Go out, you brat. You’re ruining the peaceful environment. Go find someone else to play,” she said, being annoyed. “Well, when you play, try to find something suspicious, especially something that can be used to threaten Alexander.”

“Alright, my lady,” Matt nodded. “But are you sure no one heard what we talked about right now?”

“What do you think my magic is for? Child’s show?” she grumbled. “Oh, and if you can, get me the recipe for the macarons.”

Duke Alexander had assigned a group of maids for Alessandra. They had prepared the bath for her. It had been ages since she had been taken care of properly. It was not like she did not have maids to take care of her in the Maximillan duchy, but she was so busy that she could barely take rest, so taking a good bath was out of the question.

“Ah, how serene!” she muttered as she leaned in the bath. Her whole body was being taken care of with utter attention. 

“Young Duchess is very beautiful,” one of the maids said. “The young duchess’s skin is very soft and fair.”

“The young duchess’s hair is very long and silky. The silver hair looks very good and elegant.”

“The young duchess’s eyes are just like rubies. So beautiful!”

I know guys, I know. Alessandra is beautiful, freaking beautiful, thanks to Duke Albert’s extraordinary genes. But the thing is, it’s not just the gene that’s special. 

“Young Duchess, were you born with those black marks in your eyes?” one of the maids asked.

“Yes,” she replied. “I was born with them.”

Alessandra did not know the reason why she had those marks on her eyes. The original Alessandra had ruby eyes, but it was not mentioned if she had two black marks on them. A fraud priest once told her that it was a curse though none of them believed it. But Alessandra had the feeling that there was a meaning behind the marks.

“The young duchess doesn’t have a single scratch on her body.”

Alessandra smiled calmly. A priest was once caught inside the duchy spying on the six years old Alessandra. The priest was interested in the black marks in Alessandra’s eyes. Duke Albert held him captive to threaten the temple. The temple was not supposed to spy on any of the duchies or the imperial palace. They made a deal that the temple would not interfere in any way with the north Maximillan duchy and in exchange, Duke Albert would not report the temple to the imperial palace. 

The priest that was caught was still locked up by the duke in the Maximillan duchy and he had been treating all types of wounds for the Maximillan family. 

“I wonder why there is a storm all of a sudden,” a maid with brown hair said. She had the same hair as Matt. 

“Yes, I wonder too. I wonder why,” Alessandra said with a bitter grin. “And I also wonder if the duke knows something about the storm. I’m just worried that perhaps his hand slipped.”

The maids were dumbfounded, but one of them was fidgeting and glancing at Alessandra nervously. Alessandra grinned and looked away. 

You should send a better spy, Duke Alexander.

After the bath, Alessandra took a nap. Duke Albert surely had figured out the situation already even though she could not send a letter because of the storm yet. In her absence, her brother Alessandro was supposed to do her work. 

Most people thought that Alessandro was not good at paperwork. But in reality, he was good at dealing with them as well. But he was not on the same level as his sister and thus, Alessandra became the heir instead of him.

While Alessandra was more like their father, Duke Albert, Alessandro was like their mother. But no one knew about it since their mother was absent for thirteen years from not only their lives but the world. And the disappearance of the duchess was a secret that only a few people knew, including Duke Albert and Alessandra as they were directly involved with the mystery.

“My lady, how long are you going to sleep? The duke has invited you for lunch,” Matt said as he shook the young duchess who only turned a few times in her sleep, but did not wake up. 

“Wake up, my lady. Don’t you want to taste the delicious food here? I even got the recipe you asked for,” he added. After spending all his life with the young duchess, he knew about her more than he knew about himself. Knowing the interests of the young duchess, it was easy to deal with someone as crazy as her. 

“Delicious food, my lady. Let’s eat the food,” he said. 

“Where? Now?” she jerked awake and looked around as if she was hit by the thunder. 

“Don’t wake up so suddenly, my lady. Now you have a headache, don’t you?” he sighed. 

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” she grumbled. 

“You did it before I could breathe.”

She yawned loudly and wiped the tears that fell from her eyes. “It seems like I have to send you for training again.”

“Why?” he asked. “I don’t think I need any training though.” 

“So you can protect me from getting hurt while also breathing,” she muttered quickly under her breath. 

“It’s not fair, my lady. I am always so loyal, yet you mock me for no reason. I don’t care if you do it with others, but I am your one and only personal guard,” he said. 

“I can always change you though.”

“Let’s go and eat, my lady. You have lost your mind.”

Cornelius led Alessandra to the dining room where Duke Alexander was already waiting for her. He gave her a smile the moment she entered the room. For a moment, her heart skipped a bit. She convinced herself that it was because she saw a man as handsome as Alexander for the first time. 

She did not like men with long hair. But she had recently changed her mind after meeting Alexander. Now she was quite fond of his hair and a part of her wanted to touch it as well. 

“I heard the young duchess was napping. Did the young duchess have a good rest?” Alexander asked as he stood up and helped her sit on a chair. 

“Ah, yes, thanks to the duke’s perfect arrangements, I had a good rest,” Alessandra said. She had heard about Alexander’s harsh behavior, but the way he was behaving with her did not have any hint of impoliteness. She wondered if he practiced in front of the mirror or was a natural trickster.

She was served a big steak with boiled vegetables. She took a bite and almost immediately felt like she was in heaven. 

Ahh, I was right. The food here is the best! I wonder if the cook is for sale. 

“Seems like the food matches the young duchess’s taste,” Alexander chuckled as he observed her. “I am glad.”

“Yes, it is good,” she said. “I wonder if I can buy the cook.”

“Haha, the young duchess can joke very well.”

“It’s not a joke though,” she murmured. “Anyway, to make my plan successful, I will need the duke’s help.”

“Of course, since it is for both of us, I will help the young duchess as much as I can,” he said and his eyes suddenly turned cold, “till it crosses the line.”

“Right?” she beamed. “Funny how the duke changes tone in a second...”

“After all, it’s important to keep some secrets,” he laughed darkly. “The young duchess understands it pretty well, I suppose. After all, what happened to the Maximillan duchess is a secret as well.”

“Yes, of course,” she said. “But I am afraid that the death of the duchess was an unfortunate event that still haunts me in my sleep, just like how the death of the Terrence duke and duchess affects Duke Alexander.”