DUCHESS 17 “My decisions made for today were in consideration of all the stakeholders in this. In consideration of you, Octavia and me. I also considered the few opssible situation and angles in making those decisions.” Marcus said and I raised a brow at his statement. I heard him alright but the way he said those thins made him look like an old wise wizard in my eyes. “This will be a long talk, shall we have a cup of tea then?” I offered to Marcus as he said a few words. He nodded in agreement and followed me to my office. Once there, I asked Nikos to bring us a cup of Chamomile tea and while we waited, Marcus continued what he was saying. “As I have said earlier, you still have a lot to learn when it comes to starting and maintaining a business. The first lesson was connecting with the other party— connecting— in the means that you are forming a strong bond with them with just a short time. It is best done with agreeing with them or as for the situation that we are in,
DUCHESS 18 Another day, another day where I get to live as the Duchess of the Fortess Dukedom and a cousin of the Crown Prince, another day where I have to think of a way to solve the problems left by my tyrant of a grandfather. Nonetheless, the scenery and nature sure takes all of the stress away even for just a little bit of time. Even though as a journalist, I was rarely able to bond with nature as most of my interviews and articles were done with the focus on a person. And even if I get to be with mother nature, it was always for a short time and I was too focused on my work to even be able to appreciate the scenery that the nature offers. ‘Well, at least now I have all the time to myself to be able to appreciate the beauty that mother nature presents to me.’ I thought to myself as I got up from my bed and walked to the big window inside my room. Opening it was the best thing that I could do for today. With a flick of my hands, I opened the window and welcomed the refreshing br
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