Telling the Duke 1

The funeral for Hildegarde was over and done with so quickly it all felt surreal for Alex and Felicia. Though they wanted to spend more time grieving and properly coming to terms with the fact that one of their loved ones was dead, they did not have the time. They had a threat to face and could not afford to be distracted any longer.

They would pack their feelings away and return to it another time. Hopefully a time when they could prioritize their own desires rather than be constantly faced with their duty.

It was just past lunch when the Duke called them to his office to explain themselves. He had granted them some time to grieve. Though he didn't see the death of a former servant who had already entered her golden years to be such a big deal, he knew that Moniqua was always very fond of and close to her personal maid whom she'd brought from her own household.

On top of that, Alex had informed him that Felicia had fainted after hearing on her nanny's passing and as such he needed to take care of her and the funeral first before anything else.

So they had gotten that. They had gotten the rest of the day after the fake celebration at the church and the entire next morning to bid farewell to their dear nanny.

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The holy siblings were seated inside their father's study. The door was locked. Tyren and Helena were not welcome and no amount of begging on their part could persuade Alex and Felicia. Nor the Duke, who was fed up waiting for answers and considered their nagging both an annoyance and a hindrance.

Alex had assigned a guard to stand outside the locked door to ensure none of the servants or the mother-daughter pair could eavesdrop.

And so they began. Pulling two chairs behind the desk and sitting as close as possible to the Duke so they would not have to speak in complete whispers, Felicia took the lead and told him the truth.

About herself and Alex.

The Duke was completely baffled by the extent of their secrecy and the fact that they acted as if even speaking inside their own home was no longer safe. Also, why were they practically pressed up against him? Their chairs were touching and they looked to appear as criminals planning a coup.

"Your Grace, Alex and I have been keeping this a secret from you because in all honesty we did not know how to go about telling you and, I mean no disrespect but we did not know if we could trust you with this information."

"What are you on about? What information? And why can you not trust me? I am your father, am I not?" The Duke asked, his eyes moving from one face to the other.

"You are my father, but you chose to turn your back on me after mother's death. Alex did too and the betrayal I faced from both of you cut deep. But he has regained my trust completely and we have gone back to being how we once were. If not closer as we understand who we are to each other and why we must always stand side by side."

She placed a hand on Alex's leg and gave it a slight squeeze.

"But I, more than him, struggle to understand if you are still the father I once knew. If the bond we once shared can truly be brought back? My doubts are still strong and I did not know if you would further turn against me once I told you the truth or if you'd offer to help me."

"But now I must speak the truth as it's unsafe for you to be kept in the dark." Felicia's voice was strong and carried a hint of authority. "You are the head of the Del Montague family, my own father, and I will not allow you to be played for a fool any longer."

The Duke's heart stung with guilt as he watched his daughter's expression. It was true what she said. He really had discarded her because he could not see her without seeing his dead wife. But he had never meant for it to carry on the way it had. He had hoped to become close once more, but after Tyren and Helena showed up, it appeared impossible.

Felicia turned into a hateful and shameless bully. She was never not causing trouble and soon she turned into a source of shame for him. His anger only grew and he could no longer even accept that such a bad mannered girl was his own flesh and blood. Whereas Helena was always so gentle, soft, kind, forgiving and sweet. Naturally, he began to favor her more.

So too did Alex. To the extent that he was always standing behind Helena with an arm around her shoulder pointing an accusing finger at Felicia. It always seemed as if his son had accepted his new mother and sister and Felicia was the problematic one who kept disrupting the harmony.

But that had all changed. And recently too. Alex had become close to Felicia once more and always stuck by her side. He grew distant with Tyren and Helena. And Felicia had voiced out that it was in fact Tyren and Helena who refused to accept her and always tried to push her further away from being part of the family.

The Duke had, initially, turned away from it all and simply focused all his energy on maintaining his wealth and lands. He did not even bat an eye when he heard that Felicia had gone to live inside the annex. He had thought it a bit strange, but he hadn't given it any thought.

That was until he had summoned Felicia to announce the engagement and she had shown up looking very unwell and unkept. She had cried about how she'd been starving and suffering inside the annex; claiming that it was a prison which Tyren had forced her to live in by using his name as authority.

Then Helena had shoved Felicia down the stairs after coming to him to complain about how she'd been hogging all of Alex's time.

Then it seemed as if it were only Felicia who was being socially active. Even having the Crown Prince and Young Marquis Liam visit her while she was unwell after the attack at Hildegarde.

He had thought that incident was a singular one which was solely for the sake of acquiring his children as hostages to bleed his wealth. That matter had been resolved by the Pope. And Felicia had decided to learn how to fight as a coping mechanism and that was it. 

But now, they had disappeared a second time and this time he knew they had not been merely exploring. He doubted if that was what had happened the first time. And this time, they'd involved Liam and disappeared during Helena's sacred day to do...something.

They were hiding something from him. Something dangerous which they tried to face in secrecy and made up excuses as a coverup. But Duke Roelle wasn't merely angered by their deception; he was genuinely fearful for their lives. 

Alex and Felicia no longer appeared as children. Despite being only 19 and 21, they did not possess their youthful glimmer anymore. They both sat before him with heavy set eyes and an almost lethal air about them. When did his children start to appear so intimidating?