章 1: Meeting the Duke
"Young miss! "
"Don't run!!"
"That's not how a lady behaves."
"No one will marry you if you continue to run like this."
Nanny's desperate cries echoed in the corridor, but my heart raced with excitement, and my feet refused to obey her. Today, he was coming to meet Father – Duke Alexavier Agnes, the very name that had become a fixture in the maids' gossip and the local newspaper. Today, I would meet him in the flesh.
As I sped down the hallway, my own pulse matched the pounding of my shoes on the marble floor. The anticipation was unbearable, and I couldn't fathom stopping now.
Until now, I had only heard about him from the maids' gossip. I always saw his portrait in the local newspaper, but this was the first time I was going to see the real thing.
Duke Alexavier Agnes
The center of ladies' gossip was finally at our mansion.
"Lady, stop!!!"
"Marquis will not like this type of behavior of yours."
"Lady, stop!!!"
And then, it happened. In my haste, I collided with someone, a gentle collision that sent a shiver down my spine.
"Ouch," I murmured, rubbing my forehead.
"Lady, are you okay?" A soothing voice, unmistakably his, reached my ears.
Trying to regain my composure, I replied, "Ah yes, I'm..." I stopped.
"What happened? Lady, did I hurt you badly?" It was his voice.
The young Duke Alexavier was here.
Duke Alexavier was here, right in front of me. Our first meeting was far from the graceful encounter I had imagined. Was it my luck or misfortune that he had seen me in such an unladylike state?
"Ah, I'm okay."
"Sorry, I couldn't see you," he said, a hint of concern in his voice.
"I'm truly ashamed of showing you a lady unlike my side of me," I said while bending how a lady with etiquette should behave.
"Oh, no, it is my fault that you hit me."
"A lady shouldn't bend down in front of someone," he spoke to me like a proper knight and crossed past me, knowing I was okay.
My heart was thumping really loud. I couldn't contain my excitement at seeing the real Duke in front of me. He looked so dazzling with his black blue eyes, which the entire nation thoughts a of as a monstrous red eye , while his golden hair resembled nothing but royalty.
But my rendezvous with Duke Alexavier was short-lived.
"Lady, I finally got you."
"You ran in the middle of your etiquette lesson."
She was almost out of breath chasing me.
"By the way, nanny, if I run the way I did, if I talk loudly like boys, if I wear pants like boys, then what will happen?" I asked.
"No one is going to ask for your marriage," she said.
"No gentleman likes a lady who acts like a boy, so you should learn complete etiquette just the way you behave in front of the duke if you want him to ask you for marriage," she strictly said.
"Nanny, how did you-"
"I know you, lady."
"I keep looking at you and taking care of you from the moment you were born, so I know what you're like."
"I looked at you, how you kept on cutting those portraits of the young Duke from the newspaper and sticking them in your memorable diary and looking at them each night before bed." Ah, I'm truly ashamed of the way the nanny says.
"So, what should I do, nanny?" I acted spoiled while holding the hem of her skirt.
"Oh lady, you're already at the age of marriage, but you're still acting spoiled like a little kid," she said, but she ended up patting my head, making me feel spoiled.
"Bernice," I heard a stern voice.
I turned to look and found my father looking at me with his angry expression, as if he would eat me up right this instant if I acted the way I behaved in front of the nanny.
"Greetings, Father," I bowed.
"What are you doing here?"
"What about your etiquette class?"
"Can you now finally walk without letting the book fall?"
His voice was too strict, making me feel scared.
"Lord, the lady is still learning," Nanny came forward and spoke. I was almost about to sigh in relief, but then I heard my father's voice again.
"Did I ask you?"
"Don't you know when the lord of the place is talking, then the lower people shouldn't utter a word? Or do you want me to take you to the underground dungeon and make you know your place again until you behave the way you need to?"
My body shivered.
"I apologize, my lord," Nanny walked backward.
Now I was only standing in front of my father with my fragile body.
"I apologize for my unacceptable behavior, father."
"I'm still learning."
"I will learn everything soon and make you feel proud," I said somehow, even though I was trembling like a rabbit.
"You better, or I will have no place in the Balliol family," he said and walked past me.
As I saw no sign of him, my legs gave up. I fell on the ground.
"Lady, are you okay?" the nanny asked.
"He was scary," I started crying.
"Why is he so scary?"
"Why does he always speak so cold to me?"
"It is already okay, Lady," the nanny tried to console me.
"It isn't. He always speaks this way to me. He either glares at me with those green snake-like eyes or just asks about my studies. But he never ever asks about how I'm living. Why did he never ask what I ate today? But I always get scolded. Should I run away?"
I looked at Nanny, but a bonk ended up hitting my head.
"Ouch, nanny, why?" I asked.
"Because you are thinking something absurd," she said, and we again ended up going to my study room where I saw my little brother learning swordsmanship from his new teacher.
"Sister," he called my name and came running toward me.
"Yes, Excalibur," I answered him.
"Will you learn swordsmanship with me?" He asked. Seeing those swords, I too wanted to be a part of it, but I stopped.
No, I had to learn my etiquette properly, or I could never ever make Duke Alexavier ask for my hand for marriage.
"I apologize, little Marquis, but I have to decline."
"You know I have my classes as well." I ruffled his hair, but all of a sudden I took my hand back.
"Oh, it's okay, sister. Maybe next time," he said and ran back to his teacher while I kept looking toward him from afar.
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