Chapter 5 - The Duke

The Duke took me to his office, he said he wanted to get to know more about me, unexpectedly we talked about a lot of things, and most of the topics were about me,

The more we talked he also share some about himself, how he doesn't have a family at the age of 25, his an only child, he loves helping people, and he has a garden that he would like to bring me there,

"Do you have parents?"

I asked like a curious cat,

"I do, and they died in a car crash",

He said straightforwardly, without shedding any tear as if he doesn't care about that story, most of the things he told me were somewhat had some lies behind them, however, he is sometimes hard to read, it's as if he knows how to hide them well,

"Pia, do you miss your sister?",

He asked out of nowhere,

"I do, and sometimes I really wanna see her",

As I replied focusing on his eyes, wondering why he would suddenly ask that question,

"What if I tell you, your sister isn't here anymore?",

As he said that focusing on my reaction, although I do know how to carefully react as to how my mother would always slap my forehead whenever I raise a single brow, this is an easy thing for me to control,

"The count told me you send her to another manor",

I replied quickly, the count told me to not talk about my sister but the duke brought it himself,

"Yes, I thought you would be asking for her, surprisingly it looks like you trust that I'm taking good care of her",

The duke stood up and came close to me, brushing the bangs that were hiding my right eye away,

"You should get rid of this hair, it's blocking your beauty",

Weirdly enough he kept looking at my eyes as if it's a work of crystals and stones that you would keep in your treasure box,

The next thing he did was call for the butler and ask if he could take me away to my room, and as I was in my room filled with extravagant kinds of stuff such as stuffed toys dolls, and a fluffy bed along with the pillows and the blankets, everything looks like a dream for me, it looks out of reality for a commoner like me who just dreams of these pieces of stuff,

As I sat down on the chair I saw a strand of a hair, it was a beautiful blonde hair like my sister's, and that struck me the "what if this was my sister's room",

And as I was thinking maids suddenly barge into my room, and I got surprised as I hurriedly hide the strand of hair under the pillow,

"My lady I am the head maid here, and my name is Olivia",

A white-haired old woman with a glass that seems like a cold person greeted me, and then 4 maids were behind her,

"We were instructed to get you clean and ready for an appointment with the duke, well then we must start now",

The maids took me away and began to clean me, surprisingly the water was full of dirt when they were cleaning me, and the brush hurts as they kept scrubbing off the dirt from me,

"His highness said to take the bangs off her right eyes",

The maid was discussing how to dress me up,

While the maid was brushing my hair she took the bangs with all my hair, and all of the maids gasped in the air,

They continued working but this time it was faster, the work has finally ended and the 4 maids left the room, however, I heard them talking because of the thin door,

"The duke might've brought her here because of those eyes right?",

"Yeah, she also had a beautiful navy blue hair and a beautiful face--"

As they got far away the voices were getting thinner and harder for them to be heard, the head maid was left standing in front of me,

"I will be escorting you to the duke now",

We were walking through the very long hallway, I saw many Hand drawn pictures on the wall, some were art and it looked like a family picture frames from the looks of it, the picture doesn't have any smiles from it looks empty just like a dead person on a frame,

"We have arrived you may walk through the garden outside and you will see a greenhouse there, well then I must leave you now here",

Olivia left and I was alone walking through the garden, the garden is completely organized from lilacs to roses and tulips. The place is so beautiful however so quiet like no living beings are residing in it,

I saw the beautiful greenhouse with many beautiful flowers and trees residing in it, and I saw the brown hair that was shining from the light of the lamp,

The duke noticed me and called for me, I hurriedly walked towards the greenhouse, remembering the words of the count to act like a lady and to not run like a beast,

I got inside the greenhouse and like a child, I admired everything inside the place, I sat at the table full of food, and all of them looks so appetizing however I can't trust them, the duke still seems suspicious of me, and sometimes I think he has this plan he wants to do, while I sat there the dike was smiling at me,

"Why don't you eat?",

The duke asked,

"I don't want to start eating before you, your highness",

I said in return to see if the food is poisoned or not, the duke is still a mysterious person to me and he is connected to my sister's suicide,

"Well, then I will eat first",

The duke sliced his steak and cut them into pieces and he ate one, while he was munching it kept giving me chills for some reason, scared by the future I will have inside this house, why did I only think about it now? Was I too focused to meet him not knowing that he is related to my sister's death?

My sister might've not killed herself, I know my sister and no matter what happens to her she won't kill herself, then the only one who is capable of killing a person and changing the alibi would be him, The duke.