Contract Husband.

The dinner tragedy.

"How did did it go?" Ma Griselda asked as she hurriedly took eager steps towards her son and his wife.

"We met Sir Ernesto and his wife" Victor replied. Ma Griselda's face turned White, she froze at the spot, her fingers already began to tremble. Rosalind walked to her, taking her hands in hers.

"But we got to the palace and I was able to meet the dowager before they both arrived" Rosalind smiled. Ma Griselda sighed softly in relieve, she looked at Rosalind and smiled faintly.

"How did it go?" She asked.

"Well I believe she took my words seriously" Rosalind answered.

"For all our sakes, let's hope she did" Ma Griselda said. "But Isidora is a smart woman, I believe she will do the right thing" she said, "you did well Rosalind, you two should get some rest and prepare for supper" she continued as she made her way back into the mansion.

Just as Rosalind was about to head towards the mansion, Victor's cold hand pulled her back, she turned her slightly and gazed at him, "what's the matter?" She asked,

"I want you to spend the nights with me starting from today" Victor said, mischief was written all over his face, even when he smirked. Rosalind's eyes widened in shock, she couldn't move and when she wanted to talk, only air escaped from her mouth.

"Wwwwwwwhat?" Rosalind managed to ask.

"Tell the maids to move your belongings into my Chambers immediately, we would stay together in the same room from now on" Victor said as he let go of her hand and walked past her towards the large mansion. Rosalind still stood there, her heart began beating hard in her chest, she felt her face burn even though the weather was quite warm.

"Oh no, this isn't it" Rosalind whispered as she shook her head in disbelief. "Is he having feelings for me? We just had s*x once, we never bonded" Rosalind thought to herself and wondered what Victor was up to. She stood in front of the building, staring into nothing for about a minute when her maid walked up to her.

"Is there anything I should do my lady?" The maid asked, the sound of her voice broke off Rosalind's trance in an instant, Rosalind turned to the maid and smiled.

"Join the others to move my belongings into Lord Victor's room. But before then, I'll love to have some light porridge, I'm quite hungry" Rosalind ordered. Her maid bowed and took her leave while Rosalind walked into the large mansion.

"My lord, my lady, dinner is served" a maid bowed.

"Why can't we have ours upstairs?" Victor asked the maid.

"Ma Griselda wanted a family dinner, this is strictly her orders" the maid answered with a bow.

"Alright then we'll be down right away" Victor said and the maid took her leave. In no time, Victor and Rosalind had entered the large dinning room, every member of the household was present each seated according to their rank and importance in the household. Ma Griselda sat at the centre of the splited table, when Victor and Rosalind walked in, she smiled at the two of them.

"Come sit here you two" Ma Griselda said, she gestured them to sit on the two empty seats directly at her right hand. Victor and Rosalind bowed as they made their way to the table and took their seats. Ma Griselda stood up from her seat and began to scan everyone in the room from the biggest person to the smallest person in the room.

"Today is one of those rare occasions in which we have a family dinner together" Ma Griselda began. "I want to use this gathering to officially welcome Lady Rosalind into our family and I hope she continues the family custom when I am no more" she continued. Rosalind smiled, Ma Griselda nodded gently and continued.

"Let's have a toast, to the new Mrs Hernandez, Lady Rosalind, welcome to the family" Ma Griselda said as she raised her glass, everyone raised their glasses and after saying their cheers, they all drank from their glasses. "Now let us eat our dinner before it gets cold" Ma Griselda said and soon everyone began to dig in. Everything was going well, servants moving round the table, attending to anyone who needed something when all of a sudden, Victor began to couch, it wasn't serious at first, but soon, he began to cough violently.

"Victor, are you okay?" Ma Griselda asked anxiously.

"I'm fine mother, it's just a slight......." Victor collapsed without finishing his statement. The Room went into a frenzy, a crazy frenzy. Ma Griselda stood up immediately and rushed to the side of her son.

"Get the family physician, run!!" Ma Griselda screamed and everyone scrambled out as if to search for a solution except Rosalind. She knelt down beside Victor and placed her head on his chest.

"He's heart is still beating, he's alive" Rosalind announced, Ma Griselda sighed softly, but she was still uneasy. Rosalind lifted Victor slowly unto her laps, "he'll be fine, I believe he will" Rosalind said to Ma Griselda who at this point, was already in tears. Almost immediately, the family physician ran into the room. Ma Griselda frantically ran to him.

"He collapsed, I don't know what what happened but he just collapsed, just like that" Ma Griselda said, she tried to keep a brave face but her lips trembled as she spoke, her eyes looked desperate,

"He should be taken to his bedroom, I'll need the guards or able bodied men to help with that" the doctor said, just then three men sprang out and carried Victor into the room. Ma Griselda and Rosalind followed closely behind the men alongside the medical doctor. When they all got to the room, Ma Griselda entered, but Rosalind was stopped.

"Why can't I come in?" Rosalind asked.

"I'll only need his mother, I'll send for you when you are needed" the doctor answered and immediately shut the door behind him. Rosalind just stared blankly as the door banged on her face. She didn't know how to react, she couldn't get angry or sad at the action, she was just dazed.

"Wow, that was harsh, good lord, I hope Victor is okay" Rosalind whispered to herself. She paced to and fro the corridor restlessly, lot's of questions rang through her rang through her mind, "did he have an underlying illness I never knew of?" She thought to herself, "I doubt it, he would have mentioned something like that to me, at least, rumours and gossips would have hinted on it a little" she resolved. "Or has he been sick these past few days?" She thought again, "nay, I doubt that too, I would have probably noticed, unless...." Just then her eyes lit up in horror, her fingers began to tremble, she began to look left and right frantically, "no no no no no, it can't be, he wasn't, or was he, poisoned" she blurted. Just as she was battling to accept or reject this notion when the door swung open, the doctor and Ma Griselda walked out of the room, Rosalind ran towards them, her eyes were searching for answers as if it were written on there faces.

"Lady Rosalind, come with us" the doctor said. Rosalind was confused.

"What went wrong?" Rosalind asked still in confusion.

"Just come with us to the library" the doctor insisted and walked away, Ma Griselda glared at Rosalind and followed the doctor immediately. Rosalind just stood there, she didn't know how to react to everything that played out, she followed them anyways. Immediately they all entered the library, Ma Griselda shut the door, locked it with a key and put it in the pocket of her gown before taking a seat.

"Ma, what's going on?" Rosalind asked again still in confusion.

"Lady Rosalind, it seems your husband has been poisoned" the doctor said. Rosalind gasped, her light skinned face turned pale but Ma Griselda didn't flinch.

"But we can't determine the kind of poison he injested and that is strange" the doctor continued.

"So what can I do, how can I help?" Rosalind asked desperately.

"You can't do anything, you are a suspect" Ma Griselda said sternly,

"How so? I could never hurt my husband, I have no motive!" Rosalind yelled, she was so shaken to the core by the accusation.

"If I am correct, you never wanted to marry Victor, you family's desperation drove you to marry him, it is rumoured you ran away a day to your introduction, so why won't I suspect you have ulterior motives?" Ma Griselda asked, her voice was stern and cold, piercing through Rosalind's ears and soul.

"Madam, let's assume that was true, that I have ulterior motives, do you think I would act rashly and early? Don't you think I'll take my time to fit into the family and solidify my position, probably I would have thought of taking you out of the way first before targeting your son? Madam, I implore you to investigate thoroughly, even you know very well I can't be too careless if I really had ulterior motives" Rosalind said firmly, Ma Griselda glared at her while she spoke but that didn't scare her, she had made her point and that was what was important. Ma Griselda stared long and hard at her and after a few minutes, Ma Griselda shook her head.

"I doubt lady Rosalind could do this, she isn't that careless, she's too smart to play this kind of trick" Ma Griselda concluded.

"Do you have any other guesses?" The doctor asked.

"I don't but I should investigate further, please doctor, do you have any cure for the poison?" Ma Griselda asked him desperately.

"I'm afraid not yet, whoever administered the poison really wanted to kill him, so the person used a poison we can't detect, I just gave him some potions to slow down the effects but we need to determine the poison really fast" the doctor said.

"Please I have a request" Rosalind said.

"And what might that be?" Ma Griselda asked.

"I would want to see Lord Victor" Rosalind requested.

"Why should I allow that?" Ma Griselda asked.

"He is my husband, I can't just let him die, I would want to examine him to determine the poison, I studied a little about poisons and it's effects. Since my brother died of poisoning, I began to take interest in studying it" Rosalind said.

"So you can determine the poison?" Ma Griselda asked desperately.

"I can try, I'll have to be with him for at least three days, I'll be sure to come up with something" Rosalind said.

"Are you sure of this?" The doctor asked. Rosalind at this point became very scared, "what if I don't succeed?" She thought to herself, she didn't even know where the whole courage was coming from. She took a deep breath and then gave her answer.

"Yes I am" Rosalind answered boldly.

"Very well then, you'll care for Victor for three days, but if you can't come up with any symptoms and probably a lead suspect, you and your family will pay the price for everything" Ma Griselda said as she stood up, unlocked the door, walked out of the library". Rosalind was led out of the library in the company of the doctor and the two got back to the room they had left only that this time, Rosalind came into the room. She saw Victor lying on his bed, he still looked heavenly, but his lips were pale. She just stood there, staring at him till the doctor finally broke the trance.

"I'll be leaving now my lady, I'll come to check up on him in the morning, in case things escalates, give him this" the doctor said as he shoved a tiny medicine bottle into Rosalind's hand.

"Thank you doctor, you've done well" Rosalind said and the doctor bowed and took his leave. She resumed to looking at Victor who seemed to be sleeping soundly. "I am doing this to save you and my family, you aren't such a wonderful person, but you need to live, you keep a lot of things together here" Rosalind said as she continued to stare at Victor who wouldn't move or make a sound. She took a seat at the room table table, thoughts once again flooded into her mind, countless questions began to pop up in head. Who is responsible for this? What is the motive of all this? Why am I trapped in all these? Rosalind thought, she sighed heavily as she placed her head on the table, in no time, she began to drift off as sleep began to rub into her eyes. Just as she shut her eyes, she began to hear soft moans, immediately she woke up and looked at Victor, he was turning slowly from side to side on his bed and moaned softly in pain. She stood up and ran up to to him, she touched his body with the back of her palm an then she noticed his body temperature was dropping.

"No no no, Victor don't do this" Rosalind said frantically, but Victor still moaned in pain, and despite his dropping temperature, he was sweating, but it was cold too. Rosalind ran to the table and took the small medicine bottle the doctor had given her. She ran towards Victor with the bottle in her hand, "I pray this works" she whispered before opening the medicine bottle, she the held his head still and immediately, she emptied the content of the bottle into his mouth, when she was sure he had swallowed the medicine, she lay him down slowly, she still sat next to him and began to watch him, she remembered how strong, arrogant and proud he was when he was healthy, she sighed sadly and shook her head. After a few minutes, he seemed to have calmed down, so she covered him with the duvet and went back to the table. She couldn't sleep anymore, especially because of the episode Victor had just few minutes ago.

"What would be be the cause of the cold sweat and the sudden drop in his body temperature? I think I read that somewhere" Rosalind thought, "think Rosa, think" she whispered as she began to paced round the room, suddenly her face lit up. "I think I have the idea, but now I'm confused, two kinds of poisons are responsible for this" Rosalind said to herself. She walked to Victor again and checked his body temperature, it wasn't so bad anymore and she sighed in relieve. "I hope the day breaks quickly, I need to report my findings and take some rest" Rosalind said to herself once again.