After resting for an extra 3 days, i was back to my duties. Theo no longer left the room at the crack of dawn and he no longer skipped breakfast.
We would have breakfast together then go on our day doing our duties. We would then have lunch together and by 2pm he would come find me. At first I scolded him for neglecting his duties but he explained that he had been taking up extra duties because he felt guilty, now he was just delegating the duties to the appropriate ministry.
We would go on a date either to town or we would just spend time together trying out different hobbies. Then we would spend the night in each others arms just lost on the happiness of our love for each other.
I later found out from the maids that miss ivy was punished for screaming at the duchess.Theo wanted to give her the death penalty but after intervention from the fyord's family, she was sentenced to banishment in the fyord's territory never to set foot out of their estate again. Lord Jordan had begged Theo on his knees to spare her life, it made me so angry that he didn't apologize for their crimes 8 years ago but he was shameless enough to beg for her to be spared.
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"Ladies did you hear? Countess dumont has passed away" the ladies around the table gasp.
"Didn't count dumont just pass away not too long ago?"
"Thats right, its scary. What if the family is cursed?"
"Lady Mary, its unbecoming of a lady to say things like that" machioness Deborah snapped at her, she had known the countess for a long time and was aware of her declining health. So it made her angry that they would even speculate it being a curse. After the incident 19 years ago, the countess stopped showing up in high society and from there her health made it impossible to come out.
"Please forgive her rudeness lady Deborah, she just had a debut and knows nothing yet. I'll make sure to teach her well." Lady Tamara tried to smooth things out as lady Mary was scared of the repercussions of what she had just said.
"Does this mean the duke and duchess of runan will be coming to the capital?"
"Why would the duke and duchess of runan be coming to the capital?"
"Don't you know?" The younger ladies around the table looked confused.
"The duchess... is lady clarisa, the only daughter of the dumont family." Lady laria chimed in sipping her tea like she just dropped the hottest news in the empire.
"When did they get married?" The shock was evident around the table, as the whispers began.
"I heard from a reliable source that they didn't have a ceremony.... after her engagement with the prince ended.....she suddenly got married.....it was almost like she was sold off...." everyone gasped.
"Now that I think of it..... the royal wedding will be happening soon right?" The ladies were having so much fun talking about others. Some would occasionally glance at machioness Deborah waiting to see her defend the dumonts but she said nothing. She believed that count dumont and lady clarisa were the reason the countess fell sick, so she saw no reason to defend either of them.
"It's almost laughable, she thought she would marry a prince, only to be sold to a beast. A beast who killed off his other fiancee yet she survived..... i huess you need a villainessto tame a beast." Machioness Deborah chuckled as the other ladies glanced at each other laughing awkwardly.
"But can we blame her? I'd rather marry a beast than a man who cheats me with another woman." the table went silent as everyone stared at lady vivian who sipped her tea nonchalantly.
"Lady vivian are you comparing a saintess to a spoiled noble brat from the dumont family?" All eyes turned to her glaring. She knew what she had said wasn't wrong but high society didn't have a good image of lady clarisa. While she was engaged to prince callus, she had used her position as his fiancée to coerce others to signing unfair deals with her family. She had forced allot of noble ladies to exile in their territory because they dared to stand by the prince.
But she knew better, lady clarisa hadn't done any of those things. They were crimes that count dumont had carried out in her name, she knows this because she was a close friend of saintess estella and a part of an information guild that helped the prince gather information on lady clarisa after their broken engagement.
"Lets calm down ladies, lady vivian i get why you would say that with what happened with you and your husband but it doesn't mean you can....."
"Lady Tamara, keep my personal life out of your mouth. I know things about you that you wouldn't be too pleased if they got out.... i'm not defending her, i'm just saying we should know the full story before we judge."
The atmosphere was suddenly tense.
"Lady vivian, i think it's time you left." Machioness Deborah finally spoke after a while, no one else spoke up so lady vivin saw this as all agreeing for her to leave.
"Thank you machioness Deborah for inviting me to your tea party, I'll not be coming back so no need to send me an invitation next time." she walked out as the ladies called her out for being rude but she ignored them.
"I'm sorry you had to go through all that lady vivian." Lady vivian had come to see me in the temple with information from high society. She is my biggest support in high society and I'm so glad i could get her on my side.
"Your holiness, i don't think I can do it for much longer, they speak without knowing the truth and have fun while tearing others down." I feel so bad, vivian rejoined high society 2 years ago just so she could be my chaperone, she was married to Marquess jack Bremen who lost his life to his mistress when he refused to make her his concubine.
All of high society made it a point to tear her life open without a care that she just found out her husband was unfaithful while grieving his loss. She opened the information guild with the hopes of helping others not fall victim of the same fate.
Now she is one of the most influential ladies in the empire and prince callus's biggest supporter.
"I'm sorry lady vivian, its all my fault." She looked at me and smiled
"Its not your fault your holiness, just like them I also judged duchess clarisa too, I just believed that she was as rotten as count dumont and I wanted to bring them both down." Had she known the truth earlier, she would have never helped me be by the side of prince callus.
"I know it may not be a consolation but I know that duchess clarisa is happiest by the side of the duke. I don't think anyone else would have been able to make her that happy" I may feel guilty but I didn't have a choice, I had my own circumstances which I needed prince callus's help with and in exchange I had to help him get rid of his fiancée. Being married to a saintess was way more helpful politically then the daughter of a count.
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The door opened slowly and Sarah walked in, she smiled softly with a miserable look. She was dressed in a black dress holding a black envelope with the dumont crest.
"Your grace, i'm back. Thank you for letting me finish my duties and return to your side." I enveloped her in a hug as she began to sob silently.
"She must have been very happy to have you by her side in her last days. Thank you for staying with her till the end sarah." I could feel how much countess dumont meant to her, I'm glad I let her go, hopefully that gives her a little closure.
"Hannah!!!" Stella ran to her side as she clutched the wall supporting herself.
"Hannah what's wrong? I'll get someone just wait." She helped her to sit on the ground as she took off running.
"Come help....it's hannah" she had seen Maria and they both ran to the distressed Hannah.
"Hannah what's wrong? Stella go get sir cavill." Hannah clutched her stomach, as Maria pats her back trying to keep her calm.
"What's going on?" Clarisa had ran towards them after hearing from Stella that something was wrong with Hannah.
"Your grace.... I don't know what's wrong." Hannah seemed to be in a daze as she tried to remain calm taking deep breaths.
"Maria have someone get the dr Morgan, ill move her" Hannah was shocked as she suddenly started floating in air.
"Stay calm hannah, I'll move you to a comfortable bed" clarisa had cast levitation magic on her and she was moved to a guest bedroom.
"Your grace..... I'm scared..... what if something is wrong with my baby?" She lay on the bed stroking her belly as she was still deep breathing and groaning.
"I'm sure everything will be fine Hannah, let's wait for the physician."
The door burst open as a frantic Cavill came running in dragging an out of breath and sweat covered dr Morgan along. Dr Morgan looked like he just ran for the first time in his life, just a few steps from passing out.
"Hannah" he ran to her side, I'd better give them some space.
"Dr Morgan please treat her well"
"Yes.....your....grace" he said in between gasps. I turned around to see cavill trying his best, as she pours out her fears to him and he reassures her. I'm glad I didn't punish him too severely, I can see just how much he loves hannah.
"So what's do you want to do now my dear?" Theo has become so much more affectionate, its like all those months of holding back made him more restless.
while eating, he would help me cut up fruit and food, we would go on long walks and before bed he would help me dry my hair with the dryer that carion made. At first it felt overwhelming to have him want to do these things but now whenever I see how happy these little things make him I just can't help but smile. It's almost as though the little bit of hesitation he once had was all gone.
Spending everyday happy with him like this just made me grateful for it all.
"I heard you were invited to the royal wedding my love."
"Yes my dear, although I don't need to attend it if you don't want to." He placed another peeled fruit on my plate.
"I would be lying if I said I was thrilled to go back to the capital but I can't run away for ever, also I miss Arabella."
"Well we can always invite whoever you want to runan my dear. No need to go to a place you have no good memories at"
"Well..... Clark was quite close to countess dumont so I would like to be there for him" why am I getting shy about this, I hope Theo doesn't notice.
"My dear, its fine to miss big brother. I'll send him a letter letting him know we will be coming to the capital for the funeral" it still makes me laugh whenever theo calls Clark big brother. Ever since Clark's visit, they both have been exchanging letters frequently. I've tried to inquire from Arabella about that day but she was also left in the dark too.