Water splashes around the marble floors of the bathing room. There was a golden mirror to the right of the porcelain bathtub. Golden faucets, carved with doves in them, sat atop each end. A white divider stood between the tub and the door, its material sheer but still providing adequate privacy. There was an arched window behind the large tub, and the soft light it emits displays the rays of the rising sun outside. The light reflected by the mirror just in front of it casts a soft glow upon Aina's naked body as she sinks down, her elbows propped up on the rim of the tub, acting as a bar to keep her from further slipping. She props her hand up and rests her temple on it as she looks at the trees beyond her closed window.
Few days have passed since her first meeting with Lorian Fremont. She groans as she repositions herself in order to prevent slipping down on the slippery tub. Unconsciously, she plays with the bubbles that formed in front of her. She watches them popping one by one as she remembers the man that was now her fiancé.
As she feels another mild heartburn coming, she gently swirls her fingers atop of her chest, fighting the discomfort of her heart beating against her chest roughly. She shuts her eyes as she focuses on breathing deep and slow. After a few minutes, the uncomfortable feeling subsides, and Aina lets out a trembling breath as she grips the rim of the porcelain tub.
What is happening to me?
For a few days now, she had been suffering from mild heartburns that occur irregularly at periodic times of the day. Sometimes she gets them at noon, other times before bed, and others like during this day, she gets them in the morning. She had been taking pills that were supposed to help prevent them but they weren't helping at all. She had gotten the pills from Allie who asked the medic for them.
She was informed that the medic wanted to meet her in order to fully assess her, but Aina doesn't even want to entertain such an idea.
When she felt the heat from the water leaving, Aina slowly stood up from the tub, water splashing all over the heated floor. Carefully, she steps out of the bathtub and is immediately greeted with the view of her bare self, dripping wet with pieces of bubbles sticking from her skin.
She looks at herself in the mirror, a silent observer of her external self. Her long black hair gathered the most water as it dripped little droplets of bathwater. Her pale white-lilac eyes were bloodshot and there were dark circles underneath them, a sign of her difficulty sleeping each night. 11 years of insomnia had done a number on the bags underneath her eyes.
It doesn't matter to me anyway.
As if by memory, she feels a touch grazing across her naked skin, a shadow of a man standing behind her who whispers, caressing each and every part of her. A spark of disgust ran down her spine when she quickly took the robes from the stand near her.
At night, Aina doesn't fall asleep due to recurring nightmares.
"You want to be called 'Aina?" The man with brown hair runs a hand across her face.
"But you are Ciana, the daughter of Duke Evrian, is that right, my dear?"
"Why do you call me that?"
"Well, are you not my dear student?"
Unknowing of his true intentions, young Aina nodded shyly. "Oh, I guess I must be," she softly says.
Aina glares at her reflection and there is a fire that burns within them. She locks the memory away. She couldn't dare remember such a thing ever again. What happened then was all in the past. No one could ever hurt her again.
No one will be able to hurt me. If she repeated the words over and over, she ought to believe them.
She steps away from the shadow of the man who stood behind her, locking her in an obsessive embrace. Aina could feel his shadow even in her sleep. A shadow that looms over her, following her wherever she goes, despite the things she did to even attempt to forget everything. Even if she repeated the words for a thousandth time, she knew the reality. That she would always be haunted by him.
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Aina walks in the manor, pacing toward the direction of her father's private study. Located on the second floor of the estate, just beside his own room, Duke Evrian's study was a room not just anyone was able to enter. It was a private room designed to be a place of solitude and relaxation for the Duke.
Lit dimly, the room consists of only one chandelier as its main light. Several lamps and candles stood all over the room, warming the atmosphere of the study. Rows of bookshelves were placed around with most of the books strewn across the floor in a careless manner. A black desk centered the area, with a large chair behind it. In front of the desk, in a considerable distance lay two black leather lounge sofas in front of each other with a rectangle glass coffee table between them. Its interior was comparable to his office, but the scattered books on the floor, and the duvet messily sitting on top of lounge chairs gave the room a personalized ambience.
In addition to the characteristic feel of the room, there was a large painting that stood behind the large desk, a portrait of Duke Evrian himself and his deceased wife, the former Duchess of Evrian. In the portrait, the Duke stood behind the Duchess as he had a lock of her blonde hair, humbly kissing it as he had his eyes only on her. He was looking at the Duchess with such love and gentleness in his eyes it was hard to believe that it was the Duke himself. The Duchess, on the other hand, sat straight as she looked directly at the painter, a small smile played across her dainty lips. They were surrounded by cherubs and roses that anyone would know the Duchess had requested for the background of the portrait be painted in a certain manner herself.
When Aina entered the room, her father was already seated on one of the lounge sofas at the center. He was relaxedly seated as he had his legs crossed and his back resting behind him. He wore his glasses as he lifted a page of the thick book he held in his hands. There was no denying the care the Duke had for books. All of his children and the servants in the mansion knew how much he enjoyed reading.
Though it is unlike the sword of the empire to enjoy reading so much, Aina thought. She once read a passage from a book that Duke Evrian's ancestors were all 'muscle and no brain', if that makes sense.
"Ciana, come" as if sensing her presence immediately, the Duke lifted his head as he beckoned his daughter forward, closing the book carefully and removing the glasses from his head, allowing it to lay across his chest hanging from a golden chain around his neck.
"I greet the sword of the empire" she curtsies formally. The Duke's mouth shut as he stiffly nodded, and there was awkwardness in his voice when he spoke again.
"There's no need to curtsy" he said.
Aina would feel odd not to be formal. Years of being estranged and distanced from her own remaining family instilled habits in her that would be hard to forget. And truthfully, although she was getting along at the moment with her father, she doesn't know if she would ever be able to act naturally around him. It is similar to the feeling of seeing a doll you hadn't played with since you were a child, awkward and embarrassing.
"Of course" she says, though, to appease the Duke.
Finally satisfied again, the Duke nodded and cleared his own throat. "I called you here to inform you about your upcoming engagement with Lorian" the mention of his name sparks a wave of irritation on her.
When she stayed silent, the Duke continued on speaking. "Lorian requested for the engagement's date to be moved to the beginning of January" Because Leianna's engagement to the Crown Prince is during December. No doubt such a narcissist such as Lorian Fremont wanted no one to outshine his own engagement party. And for Aina who wanted to prevent the oncoming engagement badly, it was a done deal.
"That's alright" she says, not daring to defy her father. Though it seemed he was more indulgent with her than she expected, she still couldn't dare to test the limits of his patience.
Duke Evrian may be her father, and he might treat her better than she expected, but she wasn't a fool to know that such treatment could change easily. In the end, she exists as a woman resulting from the whims of Duke Evrian. She was taken in generously, and lived the life of a noble and is now about to marry a Duke. If it were anyone else, they would've celebrated from joy. But Aina had always thought otherwise. I never wanted this life. A life in which her choices were taken from her. A life in which her own life was led by someone else. A life she feels she had never truly lived as herself. As Aina.
After living similarly to a rat inside a glamorous mansion, her father binded her hands with chains that tied her to a man she likened to the Devil himself. Shackles that she wanted to free herself from. I was never meant for this life. And the more time she spends as an Evrian, the more the truth becomes more and more clear for her.
A surge of courage pushes her. "What happens if I don't want this engagement?" She wonders why she asked such a question herself. Asking questions is not proper for a lady, after all.
The Duke eyes her carefully. He savors the question in his mind as he seems to think for an answer. Calmly, he says, "Ciana, this engagement is purely for your own benefit"
How is it for my own benefit? Aina hands gripped her skirt tightly as she tries to control her astonished expression. As if sensing her shock, her father takes a deep breath. "Ciana - " the Duke - "
"No, I understand already" her father was visibly shocked when she cut him off.
"I-I see," he answers. The Duke seemed stunned, though he hid his expression immediately.
She doesn't even want to listen anymore. She felt impudent cutting off her father's words, but she just couldn't listen anymore. Somehow, as she looked at her father's face, she felt he would only try to encourage her to accept the marriage for the sake of both their families. The long awaited unification for the two families who built the empire. Aina knew this marriage was another political move for both Lorian and her father.
Leianna as the Crown Princess.
And I, as Duchess Fremont.
There was no one in the whole Empire other than her father who held the most advantage in this marriage.
I had enough of this.
"Will that be all?" a pained look crosses her face as she shows a small smile at her father. The hurt in her pale eyes further startled the Duke. He was about to stand, and he reaches forward to reach her but stops when Aina recoils away from him.
Her father froze. "I-I - may I be excused?" She stood up hurriedly and without waiting for his answer, Aina left the room.
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