The Duke's Masked Wife

"Fear looks good on you, Kate. I want to see it again soon," Alessandra snatched back her mask from Kate thanks to her being distracted.

Alessandra released Kate's other hand as she was finished with what she came for. She placed her mask back onto her face as she stood up looking down at the pitiful state of Kate.

"You should bring more maids to help her get cleaned up. She's filthy," Alessandra told Sally who stood by the door in shock.

Sally had never once witnessed anyone bring this much shame to Kate. Kate was normally the ringleader, the one to embarrass others but now she laid naked in shit.

It was a good sight to her and for once in her time working here, she liked Alessandra. Alessandra did what no other person could when it came to Kate.

"Hello," Alessandra waved her hand to get Sally's attention. It was evident the maid was enjoying this but if she wanted to keep her job, she should move quickly to help Kate right now.

"I am going to tell my mother and father of this," Kate sat up, fuming with rage. Never in her life had she been so embarrassed like this. A baron's daughter was not meant to be treated like this. Not by someone like Alessandra. Not even by the king himself.

"Please do but you seem to forget one important detail. Father can do nothing while I am to wed the Duke. He'll simply say you deserved it and laugh it off while your mother bites her tongue. Do you really want to waste your breath? I've been in your position too many times and it's better to just shut up."

"If Edgar calls this marriage off then you're dead. Do you not realize that? Be careful with what you do now, Alessandra. Men change their minds so easily when a better option comes along then you'll be trapped with us again," Kate could hardly wait for it to happen.

She'll get rid of the confidence Alessandra was starting to have and make her more timid than she was before.

"I know how easy men can change their minds, Kate. I've heard of your suitors marrying your friends instead. Goodbye," Alessandra proceeded to leave the bathroom. The stench was starting to become overbearing and it would no longer be a good day if she spent too much time with Kate.

Just in case Kate was stupid enough to retaliate again, Alessandra knew it was best to return to her room to pack up and hide everything which was valuable to her.

"My lady-"

"My lady?" Kate glared at Sally. A personal maid wasn't useful if they were only going to stand to the side while someone threw literal shit at their master. "You are fired. Send someone else to do your job right now," she threw the dirty cloth she wiped her body with at Sally.

"How many people are they going to fire?" Alessandra muttered as she exited Kate's bedroom. "The house is already empty. The cooks act as servers, the gardener acts as the coachman, and next to you know we'll have a cow thinking it also has to be a horse."

Alessandra didn't know what her father could be doing with his money for the house to be in such a state. The amount of money he spent on the party would have been enough to turn things around.

"He did all of that expecting the Duke would find interest in Kate but it did not work. Why couldn't they have taken Kate to a place the Duke frequents instead of spending so much money?" Alessandra shook her head.

They were depending on Kate's marriage to turn their situation back around but the best person to do that was now marrying Alessandra.

'Unless Kate has a flash marriage I will be the one to save this house but the Duke does not care for my father to give him a large sum of money,' Alessandra thought to herself. 'I don't want to ask the Duke for any money either.'

"It's best to let my father drown himself with what he created," Alessandra whispered. 'Still, Kate's marriage could save them.'

Alessandra didn't know what to do as yet. It had not been long since her engagement to Edgar. "It's better to take time to plan rather than rush things. It would be better to slowly ruin them than to get it over quickly."

To ruin them quickly would not be satisfying enough for Alessandra.

Reaching the hall leading to her bedroom, Alessandra decided to go outside to check where Kate had buried the kitten and her mother's dress. It wasn't hard to find the spot as it was the only patch of dirt piled up outside like an ant hill.

Alessandra stared down at the hole in which her mother's dress was buried. She was tempted to dig it up but if she did, Kate would have won. Getting down on her knees to dig back up the hole after making Kate do it would make Kate happy.

"I'm sorry mother," Alessandra apologized as she made the decision to leave the dress as it was. "It is with the kitten who kept me company while you were away. This might be better than me wearing it. If you ever return and wish to have it I shall dig it up myself and place it back into your hands."

"I have some of your belongings saved for when you return so that I can give them back to you. If you can't return for me, return for your belongings. When I do give them back you should apologize for leaving me here with my father. You should have a good explanation for why you ran away and left your daughter here or I shall ruin you along with my father."

Alessandra never forgave her mother for leaving her while she ran away from her marriage. Still, Alessandra sat patiently waiting for her mother to remember the daughter she left behind and to come back for her. She wanted to hear what excuse her mother would have and how she planned to make up for it.

"It's unfair for me to have two bad parents, mother. I'm putting faith in you to return and ask for forgiveness. The world cannot hate me so much to put me through this. I hope that you are still alive and return quickly," said Alessandra.

Alessandra would never go looking for her mother. Instead, she had a date on which she would stop caring, and should her mother ever appear before her, she would be nothing more than a stranger. Then, she would truly believe the world hated her enough to curse her with this life.

"Where the hell is she?"

Alessandra looked up at the sound of Katrina's angry voice.

"You!" Katrina exclaimed when she caught sight of Alessandra outside. She leaned her upper body out a window to get a better view of Alessandra. "What on earth did you do to my daughter?"

"I threw her personality onto her," Alessandra bluntly replied. "Do you wish for me to do the same to you, mother?"