Chapter Thirty-One: Father’s and Daughters I
1241 Words
My cheek burned.
It wasn’t that I was unaccustomed to being slapped in public. It was more so that I felt exhausted; perhaps that was why the sting felt greater than I anticipated.
I rubbed my jaw as I stared at the Marquis’s fierce gaze.
Perhaps a little more intonation when I was faking my surprise at his presence would have aided in making him less annoyed, but I am spent.
How much longer must I pretend?
We were on the path that led to the carriages, still on school grounds, rather; if any of the students craned their neck, they could witness a father disciplining their ill-behaved daughter, then, as so often the case, they would formulate their own thoughts on the cause of friction.
Of course, most of the bias would involve my deviant s****l habits but…
Gods, I am tired.
“Get in the carriage.”
It wasn’t so much a request as it was a command, so I obeyed, only he did not follow me in the carriage.
He walked straight to the main administration building.
The Marquis was not violent, but neither was he calm. Still, it was his first time striking me.
“If you had listened to the Marquis-,” Father’s knight, and my old trainer, Castile, began as he held open the carriage door.
“Stop with the unsolicited advice, Sir Castile. An ice pack and perhaps a warm almond croissant holds more merit in this situation.”
He scoffed then handed me his handkerchief.
“I am not crying or bleeding. I am in pain.” I said as I placed my entire body on the soft leather couch, ignoring his extended hand, “I have given you my list of demands.”
“Hah!” he scoffed, “How the hell do you still have that much sass in this situation?”
“Where is the Marquis headed?”
“Haven't you heard? The ‘real’ lady Alpensa wishes to start school.”
Did he really need to quantify our existence?
“Real, huh?” I smirked, “Do you think I will forget myself, sir?”
Castile said nothing; it was not that he hated me, but he did not like me either. I was just…an existence to him.
He maintained an odd sense of neutrality that way.
I have always had my suspicions that he was an imperial spy, but is that really my business?
“Isn't it a little too early for her real ladyship's enrolment?” I changed the topic.
Of course, it was not too early; apart from Étienne’s loss of the crown, everything else still followed the game.
Still, he could win it back. It will just be at least forty times as hard because his siblings, Priscilla and Seria aside, utterly abhor him.
In any case, a change of topic might ease my mind.
“Rumours in the manor are she is in touch with the princess.” He answered, then cleared his throat, “His lordship is back.”
Sir Castile took a step away from the open carriage, then maintained his posture.
The warning was much appreciated, however unnecessary. His Lordship would, either way, ensure his disappointment was expressed.
The Marquis entered the carriage in a moment too short, then settled himself across from me, and the doors were shut.
“Start the journey.” He instructed his knight then crossed his legs across from me.
The marquis stewed in his thoughts for the first hour of the Journey; his irritation was evident because he would click his tongue every few seconds.
“These are three folders.” He said finally, the calmness in his gaze too nerve-racking to pursue.
He handed the three documents to me, and for a few seconds, I let the sound of the gentle sway of the carriage take hold of the atmosphere.
“Baron Vernon, Sir Desmond Cane, an imperial knight, and Viscount Foyle?” I frowned.”What is…why do you want me to gaze at folders that tell inflated tales of their accomplishments?”
“Your marriage candidates.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. They are your marriage candidates because I can no longer afford you in my household.”
“So rather than ask me to leave, or to change, you offer me to a baron with six wives? Or…or an already married viscount?”
“I have spoken to them, they will be good to you, and as a plus, they will help you manage the land you will receive from the emperor; you are still a child.”
“Who is apparently not old enough to govern land but feasible enough to sire children with married men!!”
“Not all the candidates are married, Arusei. And you have the option to choose who you’d like as your husband. That and an interview session has already been scheduled during the week.”
“Oh, what an honour.”
At the sarcastic comment, my thigh burn.
The impact of his cane on my thigh was not so much painful but shocking.
“Do you think that I am joking with you? Do you find humour in my words?”
“N-no, father…” the frown dressing my face was so vivid I could literally picture the wrinkle lines.
“If you do not choose, I will choose for you.”
“I-…”
He sighed, realising his hardness would get him nowhere, and for a few seconds, the version of the Marquis I knew was back. He pulled back his cane and stashed it under his seat.
“I would…I would suggest the Viscount.” He said, “Yes, he is married; however, he can teach you the basics of land management...”
“But in the end, the land will be under his name because he holds a greater title than I do.”
“Of course, he is pure nobility.”
“Do- do you plan to denounce me then?” I frowned at the question stemming from seemingly nowhere. “Do you plan to abandon me now that-,”
“You will be married. You will have a new family. What use will you have for us anymore?”
A painful chortle escaped me.
This is…this is the second time he…
How…how is this simple for him? Was I really a replacement? Was I really just …
“Why is it so easy for you to abandon me?”
“My daughter would not lie to me; she would not send me across the empire on a fake journey or send her maid away in some childish prank to avoid a lucrative union!!”
“She left me! The maid le-,”
“Do you really expect me to believe that Arusei?” he interrupted, “Do you think I do not know how you think?!”
Oh…oh…
In a devilishly uninspired deduction, I realised it.
The Marquis already suspects that if push comes to shove, I will kill my ‘husband’, so he plans on linking me to…married men. With the set inheritance laws…nothing will ever remain mine because the men will always prioritise their families.
Meaning that I will spend the rest of my life-fighting.
A laugh escaped me, the ripples of energy from it too divine to ignore.
“No.”
“No?” the Marquis frowned.
“No, denounce me.”
- Writer
