The Original Villainess

CHAPTER 5 pt 2

Ohmygodohmygodohmygod! I can’t believe it! I cannot believe it! Doctor Richards is Duke Langly! I told Doctor Richards that I was in love with the duke! Doctor Richards suggested finding a husband of a decent caliber that wouldn’t mind adopting my child! He proposed to me as the duke! He’s basically saying that he’s the only one who can fix this situation! But why is he Doctor Richards? I mean, Why is Doctor Richards a duke? Or why is a duke a physician? Oh, jeez. I have no idea what I’m even asking anymore! I don’t know what to think! How does any of this make sense? Duke Langly was a side character in the w*******l! He shouldn’t have had anything to do with Brynne Sumner! And now they’re going to get married? How does that work?

I struggled with a slow intake of air, holding it for several seconds before letting it out all at once. My vision cleared up and my brain stopped hitting the inside of my skull. “No. Okay. Stop freaking out. First thing first.”

I don’t care about following the original story. The original story ends with me and my entire family dead, so it’ll be good to get as far away from that ending as possible. But still! Brynne was never supposed to have anything to do with Duke Langly! “How is this even possible?” I murmured in awe, still sitting on the floor of my room.

A knock on the door startled me, and I hurried to my feet, brushing the skirt of my dress off before opening the door.

Duke Langly smirked at me, leaning against the doorframe, arms folded across his chest, leaving little to the imagination, as his muscles bulged heavily under the fabric of his shirt. “Lady Sumner,” he greeted almost smugly, and my mouth watered at his sultry voice, my eyes glued to his tight shirt and what lay underneath.

“Get in here,” I hissed, opening the door enough to tug him inside, then poking my head out to see if anyone in the hall had seen. Once I verified they hadn’t, I closed the door again and whirled around to face him. “Is this a joke to you?” I snapped.

He held his hands up in surrender. “Actually, no. But I do find it entertaining, to say the least.”

I groaned, running a hand over my face. Screw the makeup! Screw the eight hours the maids spent making sure I looked okay for my first meeting with the duke! Screw the proposal! Screw it all! “What are you thinking, Doctor Richards?”

His eyes softened as he reached out, taking the hand that I was wagging at him like a scolding wife, and opened my fingers. My nails had left marks in the scar, but the scar itself was still tight and puckered. “Call me Levi.” He raised my hand to his lips, and he kissed the scar, his eyes meeting mine, full of some kind of emotion that made me scowl.

I yanked my hand away. “I’ll call you whatever I want!” But my voice no longer held the anger it had only moments ago.

He shrugged and took a seat at the tea table. “Why are you so upset? I’m only doing what you asked.”

“I asked for something to terminate a pregnancy,” I hissed.

“Oh, that’s right.” He reached into his suit coat pocket and withdrew a small vial, setting it on the table. “As promised, your medicine. Strong enough to terminate a pregnancy at this stage, but it shouldn’t leave any scarring in the future. In other words, you can kill this baby, but you should still be able to have children in the future.”

I gritted my teeth together. “Alright, I get it! You hate being asked to do things like this! But you don’t have to rub your beliefs about children in my face, okay? What else am I supposed to do? The father doesn’t want this child. The father doesn’t care! He practically r***d me after getting me drunk!”

“Is that the child’s fault?” Doctor Richards asked, voice cold.

“Is it mine?” I scoffed and threw my arms up. “Why…why is it that men think a woman should carry an unwanted child? I didn’t ask for this baby. I didn’t want this baby. This baby never would have happened if a man hadn’t r***d me, yet I’m the one who is being punished! I’m the one who has to carry the child to term and deliver it, possibly dying in the process! I’m the one who had to deal with the rumors and get shunned from society because this child is so precious to a man. I don’t want to hurt the baby! But in case you haven’t noticed, Your Grace, single mothers are not very welcomed here!”

“Do you think I’m an i***t, Miss Brynne?” he asked, getting to his feet. He grasped my upper arms firmly but gently, eyes never leaving mine.

My heart thudded heavily in my chest at his closeness. Damn you! Why do you have to be so handsome? Maybe that’s why he wears the wig when he’s Doctor Richards. To distract his patients from how handsome he is. Otherwise, they’d all fall in love with him.

“Why do you think I proposed? Certainly not because I love you. But you’ve been raised in such a sheltered world, you can’t see a way out of this that doesn’t end with someone’s death. So. Why don’t we help each other? I told your brother that my vassals were hounding me to get married. This is true. They say if I don’t get married before the year is out, they’ll go to the king and ask for support in handing my title over to my cousin. You spoke about being worth something only if you have a child. It’s the same for me. The only thing my vassals care about is making sure I have a wife and heir. You are someone who can provide me with both things at once.

“You can use this opportunity to not just gain a husband that your family and all of society approves of, but also a father for your unborn child. I won’t restrict your movements. If you want to join high society, then do it. I won’t lock you up, like you feared. You won’t even have to raise the child, if you don’t want to. I can hire all the best tutors and nannies to make sure he or she is worthy of carrying on my name and bloodline. I won’t ask you to bear my own child. I only need one heir.”

Of course I’ll want to raise the child! It’s my child! Maybe he is an i***t.

His eyes pleaded with me. “Well?”

His face is too handsome. He needs to back off. “Why Richards?” The question slipped off my tongue before I knew what had happened, and I bit my bottom lip. Oops.

He let me go and took a step back, letting out a sigh. “Richards is my mother’s maiden name. Her brother, my uncle, was a physician. He was your father’s physician when you were young. I took the name when I went to the academy, and when I opened my practice. People associated me with my uncle in that way, but I was pretty identifiable as the son of Duke Langly, so I disguised myself whenever I went out as a doctor.”

I scratched my scalp with my nails, trying to relieve some tension, as I sat down by the table. “Well, that explains that,” I muttered.

“What explains what?”

“Oh, nothing,” I said quickly, unable to look at him. “I just kept thinking these last few weeks, that you would look so much more handsome if you cut your hair. Good to know I was right.”

There was a moment of silence, then, “Oh, really?” he drawled, a smug smirk in his tone, and I shot him a sideways glare.

“That was not a compliment! I was only stating a fact!”

“Well, it’s a fact that I am the most sought after bachelor in the kingdom, second only to the crown prince.”

“Though why anyone wants him, beats me,” I muttered, and he snorted, taking a seat next to me.

“Miss Brynne,” he said softly, taking my hand in his. “Will you marry me?”

My heart stuttered inside my chest. Why? Why? Why? What is he thinking? I sighed. “Answer me one question.”

“Anything.”

“You’re not going to mistreat the baby, are you?”

He blinked in surprise, a brief anger flitting through his eyes before disappearing completely. “No. I would never harm a child.”

“And you won’t try to control my every move?”

“I believe that’s two questions.”

I snatched my hand away and smacked him, even as he grinned and caught it again, this time with both his hands.

“No,” he vowed. “I will never. I will treat you and our child with all the affection you need.”

My breath caught. Now why couldn’t I have found a guy like this back home? Why’d I have to die and enter a fictional world before I met a guy like that?

…

Oh. That’s right. Because, you know. Fictional people are fictional. Duh.

“Fine,” I muttered, looking away. “I’ll marry you. But!” I added when I saw his eyes starting to light up. “How is that going to work? I turn twenty in 4 months. By the time I’m old enough to marry, I’ll be showing. People will question your integrity, as well as the lineage of my child. How do you expect to deal with the aftermath of that?”

His eyes glinted as he grinned. “That won’t be an issue.”

I raised a brow. “Do tell.”

“I may have discussed with the king the dilemma set before me by my vassals, and after telling him that I had become infatuated with a certain daughter of a viscount who was still a few months shy of her twentieth birthday, I received special permission to marry her before then, so long as the wedding takes place within a month.”

My eyes widened and my mouth popped open. “You did what?”

“This is not the first time such permission has been granted, by the way, so you’re not actually that special. But it’s the first time someone of my stature has asked for said permission, so you kind of are that special.”

My jaw moved, but no words came out.

He raised my hand to his lips, eyes flashing again with an unrecognizable emotion.

“Your Grace,” I whispered. “Are you sure it’s the crown prince that’s the womanizer here?”

“I told you,” he said gently, carefully turning my hand over to kiss my scar again, “to call me Levi.”

I shook my head. “My apologies, Doctor Richards, but that will be quite difficult for me right off the bat. I can’t simply undo years of training, can I?”

“Then I suppose I’ll have to punish you every time you slip up. I can’t have you giving away my secret to the rest of your family, can I?”

“How can they not notice?” I pondered in a quiet voice, when the rest of his words hit me like a bag of bricks. “Wait, punishment?”

He straightened, looking down at me with an eerie smile.

All he needs now is a fog machine behind him and Halloween lights.

“It’s simple. Everytime you’re about to call me anything other than Levi, I’ll just have to keep you quiet.”

I wrinkled my brow. Uh. Like…is he going to gag me? Clamp a hand over my mouth? What exactly is he planning?

“Curious?” He leaned in close, and I could feel his breath on my face. “Try it.”

I’m not curious. I’m not curious. I’m not cur– “Doct–” I interrupted my own train of thought.

He slipped a hand around the back of my neck and swooped down, placing his lips on mine.

I jumped at his touch, but his arms were firm enough around me to keep me from falling back.

The kiss only lasted a few moments, during which, my heart ran a marathon across several mountains. My face was heated by the time he pulled away, his lips hovering over mine for several seconds, twisted into a knowing grin.

“I dare you to call me that again,” he whispered in a husky voice that made me blush even more, and my tongue tied itself into a series of knots.

There was a knock at the door. “My lady?” Dorothy called tentatively, and I jumped.

“Eep!” I clapped my hands over my mouth, and Doc–no, Levi. let me go gingerly, even as he laughed.

“You act like we’re doing something wrong.”

That’s because we are! We may be engaged, but that doesn’t give you the right to come into a lady’s room and randomly kiss her! I facepalmed myself. Wow. Brynne’s memories are really annoying. Did she forget that she literally had s*x before she was old enough to marry? Such a rebel. Now she thinks she can remain a proper lady? If we switched bodies, and she’s in my world, she’s going to have a rough time assimilating.

Another knock sounded on the door. “My lady? Did you lock the door?”

What? No, I didn’t! I glanced at Levi, who failed to meet my eyes, looking seemingly distracted as his gaze roamed the room. I narrowed my gaze at him. He was already planning this, wasn’t he?

“My dear,” he said kindly with a simple smile, “if you continue to stare at me like that, I just might kiss you again.”

“Hmph!” I stomped over to the door, taking a moment to breathe and calm myself before opening it, smiling at Dorothy. “I’m sorry, Dorothy! I must’ve locked it accidentally in my rush to close it. Please come in!”

She eyed me suspiciously as she stepped into the room, gaze roaming over the duke as he stood immaculately at the window, peering down at the garden like a picture of perfection.

“Accidentally, huh, my lady?”

“It really was,” I murmured, taking her arm. “Please don’t tell Mother and Father. We were only discussing the engagement.”

Her eyes lit up drastically, forgetting immediately about my improper behavior. “So you’re saying yes?”

I rolled my eyes at her. “Yes, I have already agreed.”

She threw her hands in the air and raced out of the room. “My lady is getting married!” she screamed.

I winced as her voice stabbed my ears, taking a deep breath to steel myself before meeting Levi’s gaze with a pleasant smile. “I suppose we couldn’t have kept it a secret much longer, anyway.” I sighed and shook my head lightly. “We should get out of here. If more people find us in my room, it’ll look even more suspicious.” I glanced at him long enough to make sure he was following me, and led the way to the sitting room, where my family waited.

“I’m taking Dorothy’s screeching that you’ve accepted his proposal?” My father eyed me carefully as I walked into the room.

“Yes, Father. We were discussing the details, when Dorothy interrupted us.”

“Then join us for tea. Don’t discuss the details without your mother present. It’ll hurt her feelings.”

“I can’t believe this, Brynne!” Zane glowered, fists clenched tightly at his side. “You’re not even twenty, yet, and you’re accepting proposals?”

“One proposal,” I corrected him. “I don’t make it a habit to accept marriage proposals from every man that I cross paths with.”

“What other man do you cross paths with?” Zane roared.

I gave another sigh and ran a hand over my face. “Zane, I love you. Shut up.”

His jaw slacked.

“It’s not so unusual, darling,” Mother soothed him, as I took a seat next to her on the sofa. Levi sat on my other side. “Plenty of people get engaged while nineteen, and then use the time to plan the wedding, so they can get married as soon as their twentieth birthday comes around.”

“Ah,” Levi said. “I suppose that is one way to do it.”

No! Not a way to do it! I can’t be obviously pregnant during my wedding!

“I didn’t actually think of that,” he continued, sipping at the tea the maid poured for him.

“What do you mean?” Mother asked, and I pressed my lips into a tight line, refusing to say a word.

He started it, he can fix it.

“I mean, I received permission from the king to marry your daughter while she’s nineteen. The wedding is set for next month.”

My mother dropped her teacup, and Zane’s mouth popped open, tea spilling down his chin. My father’s face remained stone-like as he continued to stare at Levi.

“If this is because you don’t think you can…wait,” Father growled lowly, and I blushed at the implication behind his words.

What are you thinking, Kammi? The duke clearly doesn’t see you like that.

“Not at all,” the duke replied cheerfully, seemingly unaware of the tension his words had caused. “The king was so excited to learn that I was willing to get married in the first place, that not only did he give permission to marry as soon as possible—out of fear that I would change my mind before your daughter turns twenty—but he also insisted on hosting the wedding at the palace. So all you need to worry about is finding a wedding dress for Miss Brynne. Everything else is being taken care of.” He took a sip of tea casually. “My cousin has been begging me to get married for years now. He’s not turning down the chance to make sure I get hitched as soon as possible.”

I gaped at him. He never told me this! I don’t want to get married at the palace! Palace weddings require the presence of all members of the royal family! It’s even tradition that they each grant a blessing to the new bride and groom! It’s fine when a royal is getting married, but Duke Langly is like, 9th in line for the throne! There’s no reason for him to get married at the palace!

“Oh, did I not mention it?” he asked simply when he saw me staring.

“No! You didn’t! This is something you say, Levi! You can’t just drop it out of nowhere, and expect me to be okay with it!”

I felt stares on me, and I hesitantly turned around.

“Levi?” Zane snarled.

“Oh. Um. He told me to call him that. So.”

“So you easily just start calling a man by his first name?” my brother shouted.

“You think it was easy?” I snapped back at him, remembering the kiss the duke had given me when I tried to address him more formally. “I didn’t just accept it, okay? But he’s right! If we’re to be married, wouldn’t it be weirder to keep calling him ‘Your Grace,’ or ‘Duke Langly’ all the time?”

I whipped my head back to Levi. “And if you keep acting like this, I’ll call the whole thing off,” I hissed.

He smirked at me. “You must think it’s incredibly easy to call off an engagement to a duke, my lady.”

I glared at him. “I really hate you right now.”

“Keep telling yourself that.” His eyes shone with smugness as he sipped his tea in the most immaculate manner I had ever seen, and my mind went back to the claim I had made a week ago.

I facepalmed myself with a defeated sigh before pushing myself to my feet. “Do what you will!” I gave in, throwing my hands up in the air. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, apparently, I only have a month to find a wedding dress suitable for the palace!