The Divorced Duchess

Chapter 17: COURAGE AND RESOLUTION

THE grass glistened in the early, sweet morning dew, reminding Thalia to wake up from miserable reality. She had spent the past few weeks locked inside her elegant chamber, nursing a heart that had been shattered into a thousand pieces. The room bore witness to her descent into grief. Today was different, though. Thalia had had enough of her breakdowns, the endless nights of tears, and the haunting memories of her failed marriage. She decided it was time to face her pain head-on. As she rang the bell, the servants made their way to her chamber with wonderment on their faces.

“I am so happy that you have finally let us serve you, Your Grace,” said the head maid of their house.

She tried to smile, although she was still on the stage of healing a broken soul. “Prepare the best dress I have today. I must show myself to everyone that I can be independent to face this fear.”

The servants followed her command, and then she took the time to complete her preparations. She went down to the restaurant where her brother Aston and her father were surprised at her sudden appearance. They both stood up from their chairs and embraced her in their arms.

“Our Thally has finally come back to life again,” Aston enthusiastically said.

“I have nothing to ask for but for you to live again without thinking about the pain of others, my daughter.”

Thalia could feel her father’s relief now that he saw her gradually moving on. Her journey of letting go was just beginning, but today marked a turning point. She had faced her breakdown, confronted her grief, and continued to appeal her divorce matter to the royal court.

“Father, you taught me how to be brave and independent in the battle of life.”

Count Darvan smiled and said, “You are our only daughter in this house, but this is my way of training you to face the unfairness of life.”

“As far as I am concerned, you didn’t show me the kind of training like that Thally had, Father.” Aston, who was busy chewing a piece of steak in his mouth, interrupted them.

“The training you received was a tough one. Now I remember that you were seen with a commoner at the newly opened pub?” Count Darvan gave a disapproving look at Aston.

“Father, you made a wrongful accusation!” grumbling, Aston made a sullen face.

Thalia laughed at them. Seeing the people she loved reminded her that there was so much she could do, more than focus on one person who would never see her worth.

“Brother, you should be careful about spreading Psycheberg’s seeds to every woman you meet. In any case, it will be a great headache for our father.”

Aston pouted. Who would've thought that her enigmatic brother had a childish bright side?

“That will not happen. I may play as much as I want, but no one woman can tarnish Psycheberg's name.”

Then, Aston looked at her.

“The same with the Duke, Thally. I will do everything in my power for you not to suffer from humiliation.”

Thalia expressed a tender smile at them. In the end, her family was the only confidence she could have.

Thalia was enjoying her morning breakfast together with them when the butler came in and talked privately to her father. Her brother and her father both stood up without a word, but before they could step out of the dining hall, Thalia stopped them.

“What is happening, Father?” She cluelessly asked.

Count Darvan glanced at Aston for a second before returning his gaze to her.

“I have an urgent meeting to attend, my daughter.”

“And brother?” She inquired. Her brother couldn’t help but scratch his head as he reasoned out.

“Ahm…. I,” Aston stuttered. Thalia stared back at her brother because she was suspicious of him.

“Yes, I have to deal with an enem*. I meant I have to meet a friend outside. Honestly, I will welcome him with open arms.”

“Alright, have a nice day to both of you.” Thalia nonchalantly said.

The two men left the dining hall with a disgruntled face as they received a cold shoulder from her.

Thalia continued eating because it had been a week since she had eaten a proper meal. Now she could resolve everything without relying too much on her emotions. She was in the middle of eating dessert when she heard the maids whispering to each other.

“Can someone tell me why everyone is noisy?”

One of the maids hesitantly answered her. “We are ashamed of our actions, you grace. Please forgive us.”

“I am not asking what you have done, but rather what you are gossiping about to each other.”

“The Count and the Young Master are on the way to meet the Duke.”

Her ocean-like eyes widened and darkened when she heard the Duke was present in the manor. Thalia readied herself as she stood up and walked out of the manor. She composed herself while she walked briskly and reached the entrance.

“Please, I need to see the Duchess.”

She could hear the Duke begging while Aston and her father were ready to punch him in the face.

“You’ve got some nerve showing up here after what you did to my sister!” Aston deliberately castigated the Duke.

“It is my fault, and I can’t change the past, but I want a chance to make my mistake right.

Make his mistake right! Thalia almost threw up upon hearing the Duke’s reason. She hid behind the tall bush, trying to listen to them.

“Ha! What a bastard!” Aston continued his mockery of the Duke.

“You cheated on my daughter, shattered her trust, and ruined our family's noble name. Do you think you can waltz back into her life?” Her father was calm, yet there was agony in his voice. Maybe because Count Darvan considered the Duke his son.

Noxton, the Duke, kneeled on the ground and his head bowed down with regret. “I understand how badly I hurt the Duchess, and I regret it every second of my life. But let me give myself one chance to rebuild my relationship with her, please, Father.”

Thalia, who was listening behind the bush, came out from hiding. She didn’t have any harboring feelings towards the Duke, but pity for him.

“Thally!” Aston’s surprised expression caught everyone’s attention.

“Duchess Thalia! My Duchess.” Duke Noxton called her name with regret in his eyes.

“Duke, with all due respect, please be considerate of my feelings. I have been enduring humiliation and betrayal. So please don’t make my situation difficult.” Thalia calmly talked to the Duke, but the fact was, she was trembling to break down.

“Please forgive me, Thalia. I will do anything. If you want me to chase away Klarine, I will do it. If you want me to disregard my child with her, I will do it. As long as you withdraw our divorce agreement.”

Thalia creased her brows, “It’s all about the divorce, huh?” She looked at him with disgust. She thought the reason for the Duke’s sudden change was that he had feelings for her.

“That is not what I meant, Duchess,” Noxton said in a cracking voice. “I’m here to beg for forgiveness.”

Thalia sighed. “I can give you forgiveness, but rebuilding our relationship might be difficult for me to do.”

“Is it impossible to mend our relationship? Can we not go back to the days when we were happy? Is it the end?”

Thalia was struggling to listen to the Duke's broken pleas, which was why she turned her back away from them and ran back to the manor.

****

Kallixto was buried in his office for almost a week, and he was exhausted from evaluating documents of the empire.

“For how many days should I stay here?” Kallixto asked Shun, who was also busy writing reports at the other table. They both have black circles under their eyes, and a cup of tea was their companion from a lack of sleep.

“Until you’re done signing them all, Your Majesty.” Shun pointed to the mountain of papers on their desk.

Kallixto groaned with annoyance. His time to roam outside the castle was impeded since Shun had been sticking around with him.

“I want to visit the Mage Tower, but my great secretary is against it.” He sulked like a little boy.

Shun rolled his eyes at him. “Your Majesty, if you try to escape here, please expect my resignation as your secretary.”

“You are so cruel to me, Shun Sixton. I have promised you an exciting holiday for next year as a reward, but you’ve been scolding me.”

Shun shut his mouth and continued working on his desk without entertaining the Emperor’s childish tantrum. As for Kallixto, he accidentally spotted a newspaper on the floor. He began reading the new release of news, and noticed the news was about the Empress competition, and the Pontiff found out about the Hiraya that would soon be announced to the public.

“Good grief!” Kallixto cursed out loud.

“What is the matter, Your Majesty?”

Kallixto seriously looked at Shun. “Shun, sort out all the important documents from the unimportant ones. You have to review them all and leave only the important documents on my table because I need to solve the dangerous storm that will soon destroy the Empire.”

Shun was perplexed, yet he needed to follow the Emperor’s command. “Yes, Your Majest********, Shun was left alone in the office as Kallixto fled out through the windows. He frowned because, a thousand times again, the Emperor outsmarted him.