บท 77: Rights
He led her upstairs to his office. She barely climbed up the first floor and her body gave away. She began to get tired more quickly and became out of breath. Even though she barely made it to the second month.
Erebus lifted her and took flight to the third floor without a word.
He saw Jafar getting out of the office and chanced upon them.
"Master...and my lady?"
Luciana blushed and requested Erebus to let her down.
"Don't stress yourself." He ignored her plea.
"Master! I'm done organizing your office. So I will be leaving to attend to other duties." He grinned and passed by them waving some yellow parchments.
"I will ask Blake to bring in some refreshments for the lady." He called out and vanished.
"See. There's no need to worry. We're married after all." He shrugged and entered the office.
Her face was red when he put her down on the couch by the hearth.
She awkwardly sat and looked around the office.
It was a simple room. The walls large were stone bricks. Above the doors she saw a head of an animal she couldn't recognize. Perhaps a moose.
The iron chandelier hung from the ceiling with wax candles lit.
There were yellow parchments piled up. Some books stacked beside his wooden desk and a book shelf in far corner that was half empty. The lower shelves were reserved for books and the upper half with old scrolls that were covered in dust.
The large animal pelt covered the area near the hearth where the couch stood above it.
He came back with a thick fur blanket that he used whenever he slept in his office and offered it to her.
It had a faint smell of blood mixed with his scent. But she didn't mind it. These smells were a part of him that she had gotten used to.
She was surprised by how considerate he'd become after he regained his memories. The void that destroyed his vortex no longer existed.
"The study is quite messy so don't mind it." He said scratching his neck.
His hair had grown longer almost reaching below his nape.
Luciana knew that men always had trouble with organizing their workplace. Her father was clumsy. Horos always begged him to put things in the right place. Octavius and her uncle were no different.
She giggled reminiscing about the time when her father and uncle were reprimanded by her late mother for misplacing an important document.
-"She laughed!"
He felt relieved and sat beside her.
"It's still hard to be believe that you're Aphrodite's...I mean the empress' daughter."
Luciana looked at him. His gaze was on the rug with a faint smile.
"But I'm not." She denied.
"I'm...not at all like my mother."
She was no longer smiling. He looked at her. He didn't understand why she would deny her appearance when they looked similar.
"Mother was a strong willed person." She told him.
"We may look alike. But mother was a true born ruler. She never feared anything. And she was a role model for many including me and my little sisters. There was one thing she always told me."
She put her hand on her abdomen. The feel of the new life being born brought a smile.
"A woman draws her full potential when she embraces motherhood. Now I know what she meant."
Being an orphan Erebus had no experience how it felt to have parent's love.
And now he knew that he himself had become a father embracing parenthood as a part of his life.
"Luciana. The old man Derran suggests that a woman who's experienced should aid you until you safely birth the child. The woman he suggested is Jafar's relative."
He paused momentarily and looked away.
She could see he felt troubled about it. However he didn't speak anything else about it.
He asked for her opinion.
After thinking about it for some time she nodded and asked him to let her meet the woman.
" I'll ask Jafar to bring her to the fortress. If she meets your requirements, we will hire her for you."
He got up and headed for the desk where the pile of documents rested and a quill pen and inkpot with candelabrum pouring light over the wooden surface.
"Please wait." She got a hold of his sleeve to stop him from taking another step.
He stopped and looked at her.
"T-there's something I want to talk about too."
She was flustered to see him retreat on the couch.
For him it was the rare moment that Luciana took the initiative to talk about something that only with him.
"Is something bothering you?" He asked her. This time his voice was calmer and softer than before.
"Oh! No not at all. It's just...that I have a request." Her face turned red.
Erebus felt like teasing her for how shy she was to ask him anything.
"The contract condition you offered before marriage...is it still valid?"
She looked at him. He stared at her recalling that he had offered her anything except for divorce and she could not leave the domain.
He nodded and asked her what she desired.
"Please give me the rights over this domain, as your wife."
He was stunned to hear a peculiar request from her. It was not odd for women to run the domain in their husbands' or father's absence.
"What...will you do if I give them to you?"
His question was obvious to her.
"If I want to live here, I want to see this domain to be independently thriving. For the sake of our children."
He saw the determination in her eyes.
After she explained him her reasons he let out a deep sigh.
Delving into many recurring thoughts he displayed his conditions to her.
First: She was not to leave the domain without him.
Second: She would go out of the fortress taking a handful of guards he assigned in his absence.
Third:She would hide her identity if she were to meet others out of the fortress.
"Lastly, if you risk your health for it, all rights will be confiscated."
Luciana agreed to his terms. After signing on the parchment, he went to put the paper in the singular drawer of his desk.
"A letter?" He winced recognizing the royal seal on it.
-"One after the other... can't he leave me alone?"
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