Capítulo 7: The Duke's Daughter
Eric didn't say a thing to the Duchess, he slanderously glared at her and helped his sister away from the woman who had raised them. He couldn't help but feel guilty, had Mara always treated Ellsie like this? If so how did he not know, why would she be so kind and motherly to him and not to her? The blonde lord escorted his sister into the ballroom hiding the red mark left on her face. "Ellsie what happened?"
"I heard a rumour, from a reliable source that Mother was going to have me killed and you sent to the knighthood and have Clarissa become the next heiress. So I confronted her, believing that it couldn't possibly be true, then well you saw the rest..." Ellsie covered her face with hands as she sobbed into Eric's shoulder. He pulled her closer to him, comforting her as she cried. He knew his sister was so gentle and kind hearted, she'd never hurt anyone, so why would the Duchess do such a thing?
While Ellsie faked her tears, she felt slightly guilty for lying to her brother, but she knew it was only a matter of time before he ends up the same way she once did. She had to keep her brother safe.
~~~
The following morning, Ellsie walked down stairs to see both her father and Mara talking in the dining hall. Her long red hair flowed beautifully down her back, she wore a simple sky blue gown, with her mother's emerald necklace.
"Where are you going this early of a morning?" Her father asked curiously. Surprisingly the Duchess stayed quiet unsure of what might happen if she said anything.
"Oh Prince Lucian has summoned me to the palace this morning." She smiled sweetly. If she hadn't seen it for herself Mara never would have believed the heiress had become more aware, she seemed as naive as ever. Just how long has she known? "We have some arrangements to discuss." She giggled.
"Oh, what kind of arrangements?" Her father was fishing for information, while he had always wished the two to joint in matrimony, he dare never to push the issue, he knew how the Emperor felt about arranged marriages.
"Oh you'll have to wait and see Father," Ellsie gave him a cheeky smile. While she had never really desired to marry Lucian she knew her father did. Her Father excitedly headed for his study.
"You really played me like a fool last night in front of Eric, but remember I have a lot more experience and far more allies." Mara glared at her stepdaughter. Ellsie's expression didn't change she seemed to simply ignore her stepmother, but as she walked past her, Ellsie stopped right next to the Duchess.
"Yes Mother it may be true that you have more allies, but you know what that means more people know your true nature, whereas everyone simply sees me as the sweet innocent Duke's daughter, who are they more likely to believe?" The heiress' wicked smile almost made her face unrecognisable "And you know what they say, the higher they are the harder they fall." Suddenly just for a moment fear spread across the Duchess' face.
"Milady, we really must be going, His Highness is impatient" A tall older gentleman in a black butler's suit, stood at the door impatiently.
"Of course." Ellsie hurried towards the carriage, the butler following closely behind her, watching the Duchess in his peripheral vision.
~~~
Lucian sat in his study behind a large old style oak desk. Piles of paperwork in front of him, he sat there in frustration pushing his fingers through his soft dark brown hair.
Creak! The sound of his large wooden office door opened, the Prince looked up expecting to see a red-haired heiress, but was slightly disappointed to find it was just his elder brother, the crowned prince Jonathan.
"Lucian you've been in here since the party ended last night. What is going on?" Jonathan and Lucian were only three years apart and had always been quite close, but still Lucian was unsure whether he should confined in his brother with these troubles.
"Do you trust me?" Jonathan saw the struggle in Lucian's eyes. Despite how well Lucian had been at hiding his emotions Jonathan could always see right through him. "Does this have anything to do with a certain red-headed heiress?"
"How did you know?" Lucian sighed in defeat.
"Because I watched as she dragged you away and then when you came back you've had this perturbed aura around you ever since. What did she do?" Despite that he'd never said anything and Lucian's attitude towards her, Jonathan knew how his brother felt about the beauty known as the Duke's heiress. He also knew that despite their father's wishes, unless it helped the empire Lucian would never marry for love, this is what made Ellsie perfect.
"She...she needs my help to save her life." Lucian knew how cautious his brother was even if they'd known Ellsie since she was born, if Lucian told his brother how she asked to marry him and offer information about the royal mole, he certainly wouldn't trust her.
"Why you?" Jonathan hadn't been as close to Ellsie as Lucian was, but he knew how oblivious and naive she was, so she definitely wouldn't know how Lucian felt about her, that was the one thing that even Jonathan took a while to confirm. As far as the crowned prince knew he was the only one who knew about it, Lucian himself might not even know.
"I'm not sure exactly, she's coming around soon to talk about it." The second prince got out of his chair and stared out the large window, to see the carriage he'd sent to pick her up, arriving. "But if I had to take a guess, I'd say it has something to do with that wicked Duchess, hopefully she's realised Mara isn't who she says she is." Jonathan walked over to see a stunning young woman with long wavy bright scarlet hair in an expensive blue gown step out of a royal coach.
"Well are you going to help her with taking down the duchess?" Jonathan look curiously at Lucian. In all his life Lucian had done everything for the Emperor, for the sake of the Empire, not once had he done a single selfish thing.
"Why should I?" Lucian acted apathetically, but his eyes didn't leave the heiress as she was escorted from the coach into the palace.
"Because you love her..." Jonathan had said the three words Lucian couldn't bring himself to even think, let alone say. He then walked out of the room without waiting for his brother's reaction.
Was it true?
Was that how he felt about the Duke's Daughter?
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