The Duke's Eccentric Lady

Duke Chester Grahams' Estate

Fiona came out of an alley by the streets once she made sure it was clear. She almost ran across several Royal Knights that were patrolling down the streets.

Earlier, Sir Leon Rousseau had successfully escorted her out of the estate in secret. But that was as far as he could go. She had to venture across the capital city alone with just a map. The black-haired woman checked the map she was given again and made sure she was on the right way. She was supposed to be close to her destination.

Her feet were aching and she didn't know how long she had been walking without rest. The map made the capital city look so small when in reality she had walked a rather long distance from home. She was getting parched and tired.

Her hope returned when she finally saw the gates of the Grahams' estates approaching her view. The gates were decorated with insignias of a red rose, which Leon had said was the Grahams' family crest. She must be at the right place.

Fiona's steps halted when she spotted knights guarding the gates, making her hide near an oil lamp post in reflex. It seemed that the knights were the Duke's private knights, after all, dukes and marquises are allowed by the Royal Family to raise a small army of their own. Still, she would be apprehended if she just waltzed inside in the middle of the night like this.

She was scrambling her mind to find out how to gain an audience in front of the Duke when all of the sudden, a luxurious carriage came in front of the gates. As the coach was talking to the knights, Fiona took the chance to jump onto the backside of the carriage and curled her body to fit against the metal frames before the gates were opened and the carriage went inside.

Though, of course, since this isn't a spy movie where the guards just magically became blind and unaware, her actions were immediately spotted when the knights were closing back the gates.

"Hey! Stop the carriage!! You have a stowaway!" One of the knights shouted to the couch before he chased after the carriage. Fiona's heart felt like it plunged into her stomach in panic hearing that.

Hearing that, the coach hastily pulled the horses' reins, causing the carriage to abruptly stop. Fiona was seized by the arm and was pulled away to step down from the carriage's backside. However, she stubbornly clung her free fingers to the metal frames.

"Miss, step away from the carriage now!"

"No, please! I have to meet Duke Grahams!" Cried Fiona as her body was being tugged and pulled. Her fingers that were desperately holding on to the frames were getting sore.

She was so close, she can't stop now.

"What is happening here?" A deep and thundering voice was heard from inside the carriage's box. The authoritative tone of the voice had made both the knight and Fiona freeze in silence. She can hear the sounds of the door being opened and footsteps coming down off the carriage before approaching her position.

As Duke Chester du Grahams came into her view, she couldn't help but to muse again how charming he was. But this was hardly the time to drool over hot, handsome men.

"Your Grace! This unknown maid had snuck behind your carriage!" The knight reported while pulling off the hood of her makeshift cloak to show her face. The Duke glared at her further as if asking for an explanation.

"Your Grace, please listen to me, I am not actually a maid," Fiona pleaded to him. She rubbed the fake freckles off her face and took off the frilled hair cap, letting her true identity be barred. "I am Fiona de la Coventry. Daughter of the late Count Coventry."

As expected, Duke Grahams was taken aback by her words. His face was frozen in a silent shock. She couldn't blame him. The last time they met, she was a murder suspect in a gory murder.

"Lady Coventry, if I remember correctly, you are being held imprisoned in your home since you are the prime suspect of Lady Davenport's murder," the Duke inquired with a curious voice. "What are you doing here? And how did you escape?"

"A knight named Sir Leon Rousseau helped me, Your Grace. He said that he found evidence that can prove my innocence, but it was left unprocessed because the investigations seemed to be rigged to implicate me as the murderer. Sir Rousseau told me to plead the evidence to you before they deployed ways to silence me forever, Your Grace."

Fiona carefully brought out the wine glass she stuffed inside the layers of her clothes before presenting it to him.

"This is the wine glass that I had used throughout the ball. Sir Rousseau told me that my drink had been laced with a magical potion called Fleeting Night that caused me to lose a portion of my memories. I also noticed several things in the murder scene that indicates the murderer was someone else. So, please, Your Grace, please… I am innocent…"

At the end of her sentence, somehow her voice choked. She lowered her gaze to the ground, not brave enough to see what kind of expression the Duke is wearing right now.

Fiona ended up remembering vividly how Marie strangled her in her previous life, the painful last moments of abrupt death. She didn't want to die so quickly once again, tears escaped her eyelids and streamed down her cheeks as she thought about her impending doom if the Duke didn't believe her.

Her voice was whimpering, "Please… I didn't kill anyone… Please, I don't want to die…"

There was silence between all of them. Until all of the sudden, the Duke moved and extended his hand to her—offering her a handkerchief.

This caused Fiona to finally lift her face and gazed directly at the Duke. He still had that firm gaze, but somehow she can feel that his expression mellowed just slightly.

"Wipe your tears with this, Lady Coventry," Duke Grahams told her. He signaled the knight to let go of her. "There is no story you can tell if you keep sobbing and bawling."

The black-haired woman nodded and accepted the handkerchief, using it to wipe her tears as the Duke had told her. Somehow, she can smell the faint scent of roses from the fabric. It comforted her as she murmured, "Thank you…"

Once she had started to calm herself, the Duke spoke, "Your words caught my attention. I shall be listening to your explanation before judging whether or not I lend you a hand."

He gestured to her to ride inside the carriage with him. "Please, be my guest, Lady Coventry. Let us continue this inside my mansion."

Fiona nodded and entered the carriage with his help. It turns out that behind his intimidating aura, Duke Grahams was actually the very epitome of a gentleman. She sat down on one side of the seat, noticing there was another man who was waiting inside the carriage, his gaze looked extremely tired and blank that he barely greeted her. Now that she thought about it, it must've been already late at night. And yet, the Duke had just returned to his estate, he must've been very busy.

Duke Grahams came inside as well and sat at the opposite of her. He knocked the side of the carriage twice, a signal for the coach to go. Fiona can feel the carriage slowly moving again. She peeked outside the window, and the view of the Duke's mansion soon came into sight. Due to her altercation with the knight, she hadn't noticed how splendid the estate was. It was larger than the one her family has. It took all of her willpower not to gape her mouth open so unladylike.

The carriage stopped once they arrived at the front door. The Duke and the unknown man went down first before the former allowed Fiona to follow suit. An elderly butler came out of the mansion, looking rather surprised at her appearance.

"Your Grace, this is…?" The butler asked.

"This is Lady Fiona de la Coventry, she came to plead her case to me," Duke Grahams explained. The butler nodded in understanding. "My Lady, this is the head butler of my estate, Robert. And I hadn't had the chance to introduce you, but the man who rode with us earlier was Mr. Ricci, he is my trusted secretary."

It seemed that Mr. Ricci didn't hear what he said and merely stared blankly into the distance. The Duke cleared his throat, "Do forgive him, he must've been dead tired."

"No, no! It is perfectly fine, I was the one who abruptly came after all," Fiona answered quickly.

The butler lightly laughed, "I am sure all of you must've been tired. So, please, come inside and let the servants take care of you."

Fiona and Mr. Ricci followed the Duke when he entered his mansion and a row of servants greeted him immediately. It seemed that Mr. Ricci was provided lodging inside the mansion because he went inside one of the rooms after he was excused.

Fiona didn't know where to go so she followed the Duke from behind. She thought he was going to lead them to his study to talk, but to her surprise, Duke Grahams told Robert to prepare a room for her and accommodate her so she can go to sleep comfortably.

"Why does your face look so surprised, Lady Coventry?" Duke Grahams chuckled teasingly, making her flustered.

"I thought you would want to question me immediately, Your Grace…"

"You are visibly worn out. We can have the conversation tomorrow once we have had a good night's sleep. Although…"

He extended his hand in front of her, "I do need you to hand me the wine glass that you showed me earlier. I hired a mage in my estate, I shall send the glass to him to inspect the Fleeting Night potion you mentioned."

"Ah, of course," Fiona fumbled. She took out the wine glass again and handed it over to the Duke. For a moment, she hesitated. She was still afraid deep down that he would shatter the glass and get rid of the evidence. But the black-haired woman breathed in deeply and decided to put her trust in him.

"I shall see you again tomorrow, Lady Coventry. Good night."

"Good night, Your Grace."

Fiona followed Robert as the head butler showed her the way to the room provided for her. The elder butler commented how the Duke may seem intimidating and scary, but she shouldn't fret because deep inside he is a kind gentleman that wouldn't let injustice go rampant. It seemed that Robert was very fond of Duke Grahams, she noticed him smiling so brightly every time he told her about his master.

"Here is your room, Lady Coventry," Robert told her, several maids followed her in after being told by the head butler. "I hope you don't mind changing into the Dowager Duchess' dresses. His Grace told us to take some of her old clothes that she never wore anymore to give to you."

Fiona was taken aback. Dowager Duchess as in Chester Grahams' mother? "I couldn't possibly wear the Dowager Duchess' dresses—"

"Oh, believe me, she would be delighted to see you wear them when she wakes up tomorrow. The Dowager Duchess always wanted a daughter, or at least, a daughter-in-law. Alas, Duke Grahams never even brought a woman home outside of work issues."

She was still feeling reluctant, but it seemed that Robert wouldn't accept "no" for an answer, so she decided to accept the grace. Besides, the maid dress that Margot gave her had already worn out and was dirty since she had been running all night wearing it.

"I shall be excusing myself, then. Good night, Milady," Robert said to her with a smile before leaving her with the maids.

The two maids that entered the room with her earlier attended to her and helped her change into the sleeping dress Robert had given her.

"Do you want some refreshments, My Lady?" One of the maids asked.

"Oh, no, thank you," Fiona answered, trying to be as courteous as she could be. These people aren't her maids, after all, they are Duke Grahams' maids. "It's all right, thank you for helping me change. It was such a big help, but I am too tired and I wish to sleep now."

"We understand. Good night, Lady. We hope you have a pleasant dream."

The maids carefully closed the door as quietly as they could when they went out. Once she was alone, Fiona crashed her exhausted body into the bed. She tucked herself inside the duvet and snuggled against the pillows.

Fiona still needs to explain things to the Duke of Crime tomorrow. But for now, she can finally lower her guard and fall asleep.

'... I hope that I can properly explain things to the Duke tomorrow…'