The Duke's Masked Wife

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Sally pressed her ear against the door to listen for any movement on the inside of the Duke and Duchess’s bedroom. “Why hasn’t the Duke left yet so I can tend to the Duchess? Did he leave long before I arrived? Should I just take a risk and see if he is in there or not? It’s way past the time for breakfast. Isn’t anyone else curious?”

“I am,” Alfred whispered right behind Sally.

Sally smacked her hand over her mouth as she screamed to avoid waking up Alessandra. Turning around, she found the butler with his ear pressed against the door. “How did you sneak up on me? I didn’t hear you coming.”

For someone with a lot of years behind him, Sally found Alfred to be quick and light on his feet. She was certain the butler must be a ghost with the way he always popped up unexpectedly.

“You were too busy being nosey to notice my arrival. The young master has not left his room. He would have notified me of having to leave early. I suppose the two of them are tired from the ball. I cannot hear anything.”

“Me neither,” Sally pressed her ear to the door once again. “At some point, we’ll have to wake them up for breakfast.”

“I have a feeling Edgar is awake,” said Alfred.

“Why-ah!” Sally exclaimed, falling forward when the door suddenly opened. She fell onto the floor alone as Alfred somehow did not lose his balance when the door opened.

“What the hell are you two up to? What do you want?” Edgar looked at Alfred for an answer while Sally scrambled to get back on her feet.

.....

“We were trying to decide if to wake you and the Duchess. Breakfast has long passed and I was worried the two of you would be hungry. What would you like me to do?”

“Have it sent to our bedroom. Do not accept any visitors today unless it is an emergency. You can return thirty minutes after we’ve eaten to get Alessandra dressed. Goodbye,” Edgar closed the door. “I know that you are awake, Alessandra,” he said to the woman faking being asleep on the bed. When would she learn she wasn’t meant to be an actress?

“Are you not human, Edgar? It is not possible for you to know that I am awake. I hardly moved,” Alessandra opened her eyes and sat up. She had been awake for a couple of minutes but when she felt Edgar’s arm still around her, she did not move.

“That is my little secret, Alessandra. We’ll be having breakfast here and when you are ready, we can start painting.”

“I will wash up before breakfast arrives,” Alessandra threw the sheets off her body but then reached for them quickly after she saw her dress was riled up and her legs exposed. She fixed her night dress under the sheets and then carefully placed the sheets to the side.

“Your maid was outside patiently waiting to tend to you. Do you want me to call for her?” Edgar asked as he watched Alessandra’s every move.

“No, I am capable of bathing myself and getting dressed on my own as I have done for most of my life. The only thing I need help with is when my dresses need to be tied or buttoned up at the back. Why doesn’t anyone tend to you as they do with me? If they think I am in need of help getting dressed, shouldn’t you be the same?”

“It is the number of things you need to do when getting dressed that requires you to have help. I simply have to put on a shirt and pants. Instruct your maid you will only need help with your dresses and hair if that is what you want. I can always offer my services to help you bathe,” Edgar smiled, getting his morning tease out the way.

“No thank you,” Alessandra rejected his offer. She could already picture the embarrassment from the many things he would say.

It was surprising enough she was able to live through the night with their bodies so close together. She hoped Edgar had not noticed she had woken up in the middle of the night. Her mind was a complete mess as she tried to make sense of what she felt when Edgar held her.

‘I wonder if there is a book to help me figure out what it is,’ she thought.

Seeing her lost in thought, Edgar could not help but ask, “Last night was quite comfortable, wasn’t it?”

“W-What?” She looked up at Edgar feeling as though she was caught thinking about being held by him. “It was. I am going inside of the bathroom now,” she hurried away before Edgar could say anything else.

“Why would anyone place an innocent lamb before a dangerous wolf? She only has herself to blame,” Edgar stated due to the fact Alessandra was the one to propose they had a contract marriage.

On the inside of the bathroom, Alessandra leaned against the door trying to calm down her racing heart. What would it have taken for Edgar to not mention the way they slept last night and now bathing her? Edgar helping her to bathe was not something she wanted to hear when there was a strange feeling she was trying to figure out.

“Am I starting to like him too? Is this what it feels like?” Alessandra was clueless. She never experienced liking someone or having someone like her to know if that was behind what she felt last night.

It was weird. When Edgar touched her it felt like her body tingled and she anticipated something more. What was more? What more did she want?

“Snap out of this,” she shook her head to clear her thoughts. “We have not known each other that long for me to be expecting something. I was simply freaking out because of how close we slept together. I will get used to it soon enough and the feeling will go away. I will not concern myself with feelings. Edgar will soon realize what he felt for me was a phase and we will continue with our contract.”

Alessandra groaned, not fully content with the conclusion she came to. All of this was Edgar’s fault. They should have continued to sleep like normal last night instead of so close together because he claimed she rolled around.

“I’m getting worked up while he’s teasing me. It’s a new day and I will no longer think about last night. I need to start organizing the supplies for us to paint together. It would be fun if we placed what we painted around the house or maybe that will ruin the look of his home. I will ask once we see how the paintings look.”

Alessandra turned on the tap to run water in the tub and dropped a soap to bubble up as the water flowed in. She then took off the mask she wore to bed and for once in a long time she looked at her entire face in the mirror. “Should I show him?” She wondered out loud as her fingers traced the lines engraved on her face. “They are not as bad as before.”

The scars had long healed but there was still evidence of what was done to her face.

“He has not judged me not once and has been kind from the very beginning. Edgar has done more than he needed to. The least I could do is show him my face and tell him what happened. I want to...but I can’t,” Alessandra finished her sentence after a long pause.

Alessandra knew Edgar would comfort her but at the back of her mind, she feared he would give her that same look everyone else did when they saw her face. “I can’t group him with other people,” she gripped her hair out of frustration.

It was frustrating how she knew how Edgar would react but then her mind turned it negatively.

“I should show him my face soon and get it over with. If something in our day-to-day relationship changes, I can accept that. I never expected Edgar and I to be acting like friends.” Alessandra made up her mind to find the right time to show Edgar. It would be easy to do right now when her mask was already off but today, she only wanted to enjoy painting and think of nothing else.

“Oh my!” Alessandra panicked as the sound of water falling onto the floor was heard. She moved carefully to turn off the water. “That was close,” she sighed. If she hadn’t heard the water right then and there a bigger mess could have been made.

Alessandra lifted her nightdress over her head and stepped into the tub, causing the water to flow over. “I am gaining weight already,” she looked at her hands. Anyone else might not have noticed it but she did. “I should watch how much I eat to avoid becoming too fat. I wish everything wouldn’t taste so good so I could resist eating more.”

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