章節 23: Give Me The Child
"That is not such a severe injury, my lady." Greta spoke through gritted teeth. She was angry that the woman had snatched her limelight.
She was waiting for the duke to enter and see that she was caring about his child so much. But this woman… She took a deep breath. It was fine too. The duke would enter and see how unreasonable this woman was and then he would realize he was giving her too much freedom. That would be a better result than the first scenario. She gained much confidence with that thought and looked at Ana with a frown.
"Do you have any idea of the responsibilities lord Rowan bears? Can he just leave his practice because you want him too? This is not how the life of the child of a ducal family works." she warned when Ana narrowed her eyes and stood up facing Greta.
She had lived on this statement in the past and used this as an excuse for all the suffering of Rowan. He was suffering because he was going to be the duke in the future. If he would not suffer, how would he be strong? He must suffer to understand the harsh realities of life.
She had used her own hatred and jealousy behind those words to let the child suffer.
"I wonder what responsibilities you are talking about?" this time she was not going to use those false reasons and not let anyone use them too. "He is just a child who has a long way to go or are you cursing the duke that he would die soon like his father so Rowan would need to take care of his place?" she huffed as she glared at the woman who thinks that treating a child coldly and harshly was good for them.
"I did not mean that?" Greta gasped as the woman talked about the death of the duke so carelessly when it could be taken as treason.
"Really? Then why does a child need to hurt himself to grow mature at a young age?"
"That.. that..! All the kids of the duchy had been excellent since a young age! Young lord could not fall back or the image of the duchy would be tarnished." she retorted but the cold eyes of Ana was making it difficult for her to keep her ground.
"Ha! The image of the duchy! What is the image of the duchy in the empire? Do you think it would be tarnished just because Rowan would learn sword wielding a year late? We did not even belong to the family of knights!" her voice did not grow loud but her eyes grew sharper and darker as if she would devour the soul of the woman in an instant.
Greta was at the losing end. She looked around for help when her eyes fell on the duke and her eyes glimmered with hope.
"Your highness, please bring justice. The lady is being too fierce that I am not able to handle it. I only wanted the welfare of the young lord." Greta squeezed tears in her eyes as she ran towards Garrison to get her justice when Ana frowned.
She did not like his presence in the palace at all and stared at him with cold eyes as if he was an uninvited guest. The displeased look was so clear that it could not be ignored, making Garrison cough.
"Your highness, the lady is being unreasonable. I tried to add some sense, but she is not relenting at all." Greta added but her face turned sour when she noticed that Garrison was not even looking at her. All his eyes were on that witch as if she had bewitched him and made him her captive.
"Your highness!" she pressed, not ready to give up that easily. She had been working in the palace for long as her family was the most favored vassal family of the duchy. Losing favor would only mean her family would lose the favor of the duke. She would not let that happen in any case.
"I did not agree!" Ana said in a cold voice as she kneeled on the ground and then looked at his injury again.
"The wound is just above his eyes. What if it would have hit him an inch below it? Could the duke afford his one and only son to lose one of his eyes just because he should be proficient in sword wielding at a young age?" she asked in a cold and accusing voice as if it was Garrison who had injured the child. She could not help but feel more resentment growing in her chest.
"If you think that is the way of upbringing a child, it would be better that we do not marry and I will take Rowan with me. He would live a better life in my palace." she added when the Duke did not utter a word but kept staring at her as if she was speaking in an alien language.
"Pardon?" Her words did not leave Garrison stunned but even Rowan, who could not understand the reason for her anger so far, raised his head and stared at her.
"Why? Are you afraid that I will steal your child? You do not need to worry, I will give him back to you after his debutante and I would not ask for any fee or reward for taking care of him.
In fact, I will give up on all the rights as soon as he turns into a fine man. Would it not be enough?" and it would save her from all the hassle of marrying this cold man too. It was a win-win situation.
"And why would you do that?"
".............."
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