The Original Villainess

CHAPTER 7

There was a knock on my bedroom door. I didn’t bother looking up from my book. “Come in!”

“My lady, Doctor Richards is here to see you. Your mother instructed him to treat your feet after last time.”

I smiled at Dorothy. “Thank you, dear. Can you fetch some tea, please?”

“Yes, my lady.”

I waited until the door clicked close and I heard her footsteps fade away before getting up from my seat on the windowsill, trying to hold in my laugh. “Now that I know what you really look like under all that hair,” I teased, “it’s quite difficult for me to keep a straight face.”

“This?” Doctor Richards reached up and tugged at the hair. “It’s a wig. Strangely enough, no one ever suspects.”

“How? You look exactly the same as your alter ego. Are you telling me that no one knows who you really are?”

“I’ve told a few people. But the hair puts them off, so they don’t bother looking past that. Plus, the wig is black, but my real hair is brown, and once the color changes, it’s difficult for them to process the fact that I could be anyone else but Duke Langly.”

He took me by the shoulders and guided me to a chair by the tea table. “Sit. I have a job to do, remember?”

I rolled my eyes as I sat, slipping off my slipper and sticking my foot out, pulling up the hem of my skirt enough for him to see clearly.

He gingerly took my foot in his calloused hands, as he examined it carefully. “You have a blister on the back of your heel.”

“I know. That’s why I’m wearing slippers. I have two on the other one.” I uncovered my other foot to show him, lifting the skirt of my dress up past my ankles.

He sighed. “You should have just let me check your feet yesterday when you got home.”

“And then what? Ask you to leave so I could summon Doctor Richards here?” I pulled my foot away from him and leaned down until our noses were only inches away. “My shoes hurt my feet, so I took them off. I’m wearing slippers to prevent the blisters from getting worse. I’m fine. What more can you do?”

“I can give you an ointment for them,” he suggested, voice dry, as a knocking at the door drew my attention again.

I laughed, gesturing to his wig. “What is that going to do?” I opened the door only after making sure he had the wig secured to his head, and smiled at Dorothy. “Leave it on the table, please,” I told her. “I’ll pour it for him.”

“Yes, my lady. Anything else?”

“No, thank you. I’ll ring the bell if I change my mind. Off you go.”

Levi scowled at me as I shut the door and locked it. Just in case. Honestly. Keeping his secret is exhausting. “The ointment has medicine in it specifically to help with blisters. Why won’t you use it?”

“I have no need for it. I’m not wearing shoes today, and I can just wrap my feet before putting on shoes tomorrow. It’ll stop the chafing.”

“Wrap your feet?”

“Like socks.”

“What?”

“You wear socks, yes?”

“Yes?”

“Why can’t I?”

He c****d his head in confusion.

What’s wrong with this world that a woman is unable to protect her feet from blisters? I shook my head. “Never mind. If it makes you feel better, I’ll take the ointment, but I’m not going to use it unless they really bother me.”

“Do you not care about the appearance of your body at all?”

I groaned. “The only people who will ever see my feet are my maids, myself, and you, my father’s personal physician. And probably my child. I do not care about the state of something no one is ever going to see.”

Levi c****d his head at me again as he pulled the wig off, setting it on the edge of the tea table. “What about me, your soon-to-be husband?”

I paused in my tracks before smirking at him. I clasped my hands behind my back and leaned in at the waist, eyes never leaving his. “Aw. Is my fiance looking forward to our wedding night?”

He cast me an incredulous look, and I cackled.

“I’m sorry, Doctor,” I cried, stifling the laugh with one hand as my shoulders shook. I took a slow, deep breath to calm myself, and reached for the tea pot. “You looked so serious, I couldn’t help it.”

“You are a strange woman.”

I poured him a cup of tea. “I prefer the term ‘weird,’” I joked as I sat in the chair on the other side of the table, all traces of the laugh gone as I remained poised and refined in Brynne’s body. “Shall we have another intellectual discussion today, Doctor?”

He reached out and yanked one of my wrists until our faces were so close, I couldn’t focus my eyes fast enough. “I told you to call me Levi,” he whispered before his lips touched mine briefly. “How many times do I have to remind you?”

His breath danced across my face as I sat there, stunned by the sudden movement.

It took a long moment for my lungs to start working again, and I cleared my throat, unable to move from where his hands held me in place. “Begging your pardon…Doc–Levi,” I whispered, and he smirked against my lips.

“Keep calling me that,” he suggested in a low voice. “I dare you.”

What’s with him? I shoved against his chest roughly, pushing him away a few inches. Not much, but my lungs were able to gobble in some clean air that wasn’t intoxicated from his scent already. “Look. You can’t come in here dressed as Doctor Richards and expect me to call you Levi! What if someone was eavesdropping? Won’t they think it’s suspicious that I’m calling one, my father’s physician by his name, and two, my father’s physician by my fiance’s name?”

He peered into my soul with his dark, empty eyes. “Hm. You may have a point. But having not heard any footsteps approaching since your maid left, I can assume you like being punished, yes?”

My ears reddened as he smiled cheerfully at me, and I shoved him even harder. “Let go of me, you bastard!”

“Such crude words from a pretty lady,” he mused, letting me go with a smirk on his lips.

I glowered at him. “Forget the intellectual discussion. I’m ready to smack you with my slipper!”

“If my own wife won’t respect me, then what will the royal family say?”

I stopped my fit, pressing my lips together tightly.

His smile was an easy one. “Don’t be like that, Miss Brynne. You only have to stay quiet until the wedding. After that, it won’t matter.”

“But…”

He sipped his tea casually. “Speaking of, I have something for you.” He stood and reached for his medical bag, pulling out a rectangular box tied with a ribbon. “Here. Wedding gift.”

“Didn’t you already give me a wedding gift?” I asked, wrinkling my nose at the memory of seventeen boxes of gifts arriving from the duke’s estate.

“Those were engagement gifts.”

“What’s the difference?” I muttered, untying the ribbon.

“The difference, my dear wife,” he murmured in my ear from behind me, his hands gently overlaying mine as he helped me take the top off the box, “is that I expect you to wear this at our wedding.”

I gasped at the necklace in the box. Isn’t this…?

I wracked my memory, knowing I had seen an image of it before.

That’s right. Brynne saw it in a shop window once, a few years back. In the original story, Carson had it gifted to Lily as an engagement gift. The largest purple sapphire found in the history of this world, set on a chain of white gold with a smattering of tiny diamonds. Fondly known as ‘the Mermaid’s Tears’ to any self-respecting jeweler. Twenty-two carats of gems, sitting on your neck. Costs as much as a mansion in the capital. It could feed a family of four back home for ten years. A thief’s retirement plan is what it is. It’s actually quite lovely. The description in the book made it seem gaudy, but it’s really beautiful.

My mouth ran dry as I tried to think of the right words to say.

Thank you? No, thank you? It’s beautiful? It’s too much? What do I say to a man who just dropped a small fortune on a single necklace for a fake bride?

I met his eyes, almost fearfully, and the words tumbled out. “How did you know?” What? How did he know what? How is he supposed to read your mind? Ugh! Kammi, learn words better, so you can speak properly!

“I asked my mother-in-law if there was anything I needed to keep in mind when buying a wedding gift for you.” He extended a hand and removed it from the box. “She told me that the color purple might come into play somewhere. Let me put it on.”

Mother! I wanted to groan, but I bit it back as I swept my hair over one shoulder. At least she didn’t give anything away. “Lilacs are my favorite flowers,” I admitted, “so purple reminds me of them. I may, or may not, have planned my wedding dress with that in mind.”

The chain rested against the back of my neck, Levi’s warm hands sending shivers down my spine.

“Somehow…” he murmured, pressing his lips to the skin as it met my hairline along my neck, “it suits you.”

My heart thudded to a stop, and I quickly rearranged my hair so it flowed down my back, turning in my chair, one hand gently stroking the necklace. It’s so heavy. It’s definitely suited for a royal wedding, but dang! How long will I have to wear this on the day of? “What do you think?”

“Hmm.” Levi tapped his chin as he pondered the question. “I’m not sure if it’s big enough.”

I rolled my eyes. “If this isn’t big enough, I don’t know what is. Do you want me to fall over? I’m barely standing up as it is!”

“No,” he stated simply, pressing a short kiss to the top of my head. “I want the necklace to make you shine more brilliantly than you already are. Unfortunately, I think your beauty drowns out the beauty of the necklace, so I may need to rethink my wedding gift to you.”

I swallowed hard at his casual touching. It’s nothing. We’re engaged, so it’s normal. He admitted he doesn’t love me, and I don’t love him, so it’s fine. Stuff like this is fine. “Trust me. If you saw the dress I envisioned, you’d know that this is the most perfect piece of jewelry to wear with it.”

“Now I’m even more curious as to what kind of dress you’re going to wear.”

“Speaking of dresses,” I interjected, one hand clutching to his sleeve. What will he say when I tell him I don’t want a reception dress? I followed his line of sight to where my hand was wrinkling his clothes, and let go in a hurry. “Sorry. I got a little excited. Can you take the necklace off? I want to keep it in pristine condition for the wedding.”

I draped my hair back over one shoulder, and he loosened the clasp, reaching over my shoulders to set it back in the box. It’s like he’s giving me a hug from behind. It feels weird. I set the box on the table and picked up my teacup as Levi sat back down.

“What about dresses?” he asked casually, almost bored.

“You see…the dress the designer is currently working on for the ceremony is also designed for dancing.”

“Dancing?” He set his cup down and leaned forward, elbows on his knees.

I nodded, following suit, whispering, as if I had a big secret. “I know it’s not…traditional, but I want to use my wedding dress for the reception as well.”

He shook his head before I even finished speaking. “Miss Brynne, do you understand the gravity of what you are saying? If you only wear one dress for both the wedding and reception, imagine what the guests will say! You are marrying Duke Langly, and the royal family is paying for it. It doesn’t matter how creative your wedding dress is, they will see it as a sign that the royal family is lacking in finances.”

I groaned into my hands. “I know. I don’t like to think about it, and I don’t care one iota for how my wedding reflects on Prince Carson, but the king and queen seem pretty reasonable to deal with, and I don’t want to put them in a tough spot. But this dress—! It’ll be the best dress! So I don’t want to take it off! And it’s designed for dancing! And it’s getting a little late to run up a whole new dress—” I cut myself off. “Wait.” Images of two piece wedding dresses with a removable skirt came to mind.

“It seems you have an answer to your own question,” he said, eyes glinting, a small smile on his lips.

I laughed as I jumped to my feet, my brain working overtime. That’s right! Back home, several designers did this, didn’t they? And sometimes brides would specifically request something like this, so they wouldn’t have to change, but they’d still be able to have everything they wanted in a dress. “Thank you!” I grabbed Levi’s collar and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I’ll have to draw up some new sketches and send them to the designer. Maybe I should just visit tomorrow, since he might not understand what the sketches mean,” I murmured, pacing the floor in front of Levi.

He reached out and took my hands in his. “My dear wife,” he smiled, pulling me closer until I was sitting on his lap.

Huh?!

“While I’m glad that you seem to have figured things out, can you please turn your attention back to your loving fiance, who has something to tell you?” he whispered into my hair.

Loving? You? But I nodded in silence, biting my tongue.

“I’ve been thinking, these last several days, about where we should live.”

“Huh? We aren’t going to live in the duchy?”

He held up a hand to stop my line of questioning. “It’s definitely more convenient for us to live in the capital, because that’s where my practice is. I go back to the estate on occasion, to get work done, and make sure people remember what I look like, but I haven’t considered it home in a while. The problem is this.” He placed a hand on my middle, and my excitement over the dress died immediately. He said nothing as his fingers entwined with mine, resting both our hands on my stomach.

“No matter what happens, I will protect you, Miss Brynne. Know that. As my wife and the mother of our child, I will protect you. We cannot stay in the capital too long after the wedding. You’ll start showing soon, and everyone will know your secret. So I was thinking I could temporarily close my practice here, and keep you away from prying eyes in the duchy. However, they all know that I’m getting married in a month, so if you start showing a month or two after the wedding, they, too, will be suspicious. That means we cannot arrive at the duchy immediately after the wedding, either.”

I c****d my head and pursed my lips. “Then what do you suggest?”

His strong arms came around me and he rest his chin on my shoulder with a sigh. “Most women start showing their pregnancy between three and four months. That gives us a month to stay in the capital while I pass my patients off to other doctors. I then suggest an extended honeymoon. Instead of heading straight for my estate, we take a roundabout way, take in some sights, and rest up for our lives waiting for us there. By the time we arrive at the duchy, it could easily be after several weeks of traveling.

“That way, people would be more likely to assume you got pregnant immediately after the wedding, and, in your effort to enjoy life to the fullest since then, a little extra weight won’t cause them to bat an eye. By the time the baby is born, they will assume it's premature labor by no less than a month. But even babies born a month early can still be healthy and strong. Though they do tend to be a bit smaller in early childhood, by that time, no one would dare to think that you had already been pregnant for two months before our wedding. And should the child take after you, they’ll never suspect that the father is not me.”

I stared at my lap as he spoke, his words confident and gentle. “What if the baby takes after their father?” I whispered, fear filling my voice.

He hugged me tighter from behind, blocking the anguish in my heart from leaking out to the rest of my chest. “Then I’ll love him or her just the same.”

Tears spilled without permission, and I sniffed, wiping my eyes.

“What’s this? Are you crying?” Levi turned me around on his lap, taking my face in his hands while I shook my head.

“No,” I said stubbornly, rubbing my eyes. “I’m not crying. I’m not touched by your words. I’m not feeling uselessly emotional right now.”

“Really?” he asked, voice teasing, touching his lips to my nose.

“You like touching my face, don’t you?” I hiccupped.

“Yes, I do,” he admitted. “It’s so soft, like a baby’s, and your reactions are hilarious.”

“Grr. Let go of me!”

He chuckled. “Did you just growl at me?”

“Doctor!” I whined, and he pressed his lips against mine, his teeth grazing my bottom lip, tugging on it ever so gently, eliciting a soft, sudden moan from my core.

“Keep going,” he urged when he pulled away.

I took a breath and held it, my tears drying up quickly. “I mean. Your Grace.”

He took my bottom lip between his teeth again. “Try again,” he whispered.

“You…” A heat spread inside of me, and I leaned into him before I knew what I was doing. “Stop messing with me,” I pouted. “I’m pregnant and emotional, and I might take things the wrong way.” I pressed myself closer to him, craving his warmth.

Levi let go of my face and set his hands on my shoulders, guiding me off his lap and to my feet. “By the way, would you like another examination?” he asked, changing the subject. “To make sure everything is fine?”

“Huh? Oh. Um, if you don’t mind. But nothing’s been weird lately, so I doubt it’s necessary.”

“I don’t mind,” he smiled easily and gestured toward the bed. I hopped up onto the mattress and laid down, eying him suspiciously. He grabbed his bag and followed me, pulling a few tools out to begin the examination.

“You seem to have accepted the fact that I’m pregnant pretty quickly since your proposal,” I admitted. “You were adamant I was overreacting for a while.”

He met my gaze briefly. “It was something you said, my lady, it stuck with me. It made me wonder…if I didn’t help you, and you were, in fact, pregnant, then your whole life would change—mostly for the worst. But if I did help you, even if you turned out to not be pregnant, I would still be able to get my vassals off my back, and your family would be able to marry you off to a respectable household, which is basically what anybody can ask for their daughter. So helping you actually helped myself. It was a selfish decision,” he clarified, not meeting my eyes.

I watched him work in silence. Hmm. My heart did not react to his words, but it thrummed at his gentle touch. Strange.

“What’s on your mind?” he asked when I shook my head free of those thoughts.

“It’s nothing important.”

He draped his stethoscope around his neck, and for a moment, I imagined him wearing white doctor’s coat in a hospital setting, a trickle of drool escaped the corner of my mouth. What is wrong with me?

“You’re staring at me so intently, you must be thinking about something.”

I gnawed on my bottom lip for a minute. “Why are you doing this?”

He raised a brow. “To make sure the baby’s healthy.”

I shook my head again. “Why are you doing this? Marrying me. Helping me?”

“I just told you, Miss Brynne.”

“Don’t feed me that line about your vassals pressuring you into marriage, because I know for a fact that you could ignore them for another ten years, and they would still not be able to turn the title over to your cousin. He’s young and immature and has absolutely no leadership knowledge. He’s incompetent and incapable of running a temporary booth at the market, much less a duchy. He’d bankrupt the land in a matter of months, and your vassals know it.”

“You seem to know quite a bit about my cousin, Miss Brynne. It’s making your future husband jealous.”

Only what the original story said. I pushed myself up onto my elbows. “I don’t care about your cousin. He’s nothing compared to you.”

Levi blinked twice before sitting on the edge of the bed with a sigh. “It’s true they are getting antsy, but you’re also right. I don’t have to get married right now. But I do actually care about you, Miss Brynne. I’ve watched you grow up these last few years, and all the times I’ve come here to treat your father, I feel like I understand your situation better than you do at times. So when you came to my office that day and announced that you were pregnant…I didn’t want to see you or your family ruined. I thought I'd be able to help you while pushing back the vassals who like to make my life difficult. I told you, it was a selfish decision, but I'm not lying when I say I care about you. I know I’m eight years older than you, so it might be strange–”

“My father is twenty years older than my stepmother,” I reminded him, sitting up. “Age doesn’t really mean anything to me in a relationship.” Not to mention, this isn’t my first life, so I’m mentally older than you, dude.

“Age is not usually a thing that’s taken into consideration when you’re from a noble family,” he agreed with a nod. “But you’re still young, so I didn’t want to scare you away due to that.”

“I’m not scared of you,” I laughed lightly, taking one of his hands in mine. “I’ve never been scared of you.”

“You’ve never been fond of me, so long as I was ‘Doctor Richards.’ The only time I ever saw anything besides fear in your eyes when I was in front of you, was the day you cut your hand to hide your secret rendezvous from the night before.”

I fell back onto the bed with a fluffy plop. “Oh, come on! That can’t be the only time I’ve ever not looked terrified of you!’’

“Well,” he said with a small smile, one hand stroking my hair. “You haven’t looked scared of me since.”

So basically, Brynne was scared of him for some reason. “It was your hair,” I blurted out. It’s obvious, if I think about it.

He blinked at me. “What?”

“Your wig! It’s like something out of a horror movie!”

“Horror movie?”

“Never mind that. Your wig is creepy, and it doesn’t suit you. I prefer you without it.”

He grinned, almost evilly, as he leaned over me. “Is that right, my dear wife?”

“Are you so pent up, Doctor, that you have to assault a patient like this?”

“Assault? Whatever do you mean? I just want to punish my dear wife.” Then he closed the distance, pressing his lips against mine. Only a moment later, he urged my lips to part, using his teeth to nibble on them lightly before using his tongue to deepen the kiss.

A solid heat spread through my core, and my arms snaked around his neck, pulling him closer, even as I moaned into the kiss.

There was a knock at the door, and my hands automatically went to Levi’s chest to shove him away, leaving me breathless and unable to look at him. “Who is it?” I sat up and slipped off the bed.

“Dorothy, my lady. Are you still speaking with Doctor Richards?”

“Um, yes! I’ll be there in a moment!” I snatched the wig off the tea table and tossed it to Levi. Then I took a quick glance in my vanity mirror and made sure none of my makeup was smeared. My eyes flickered toward the duke for a moment, widening in horror at the unmistakable stain on the corner of his mouth. I gestured for him to check it, and hurried to the door, unlocking it before I poked my head out. “Sorry, Dorothy. He was just doing an examination, so I wouldn’t have to go see a doctor next time. Thought I’d save time, since he was already here.”

“O-oh. Okay.” The maid glanced at me curiously before slipping into the room. She gathered the teacups onto the tray.

“Then, I must be going,” Levi said, bowing slightly at me. “If you’ll excuse me, Miss Brynne.”

“W-wait, Doctor!” I flinched as he turned back to look at me, a fire in his eyes that could have seduced hordes of young women. But I can’t exactly call him Levi right now! “The ointment,” I stammered, trying to come up with a valid reason for stopping him. “For my blisters. You said you’d give me some.”

With a stoic face, he stared at me for a long moment before dipping into his medical bag and pulling out a small jar of ointment. “Will you use it?”

“Will you get mad at me if I say no?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll use it.” I smiled brightly at him and held my hands out. He placed it directly on the scar on my palm, and I winced at his hidden meaning. Then he took my other hand and kissed my knuckles, his lips lingering on my skin.

“I’ll take my leave now, Miss Brynne,” he murmured.

I let him go, the fire inside me neither growing nor fading.

This is going to be a long month.