The Duke's Masked Wife

"I found it," Simon returned with a bottle in his hands. "This one is quite strong so I doubt Kate would be interested in it. I told a servant to bring something light for you to drink, Kate."

"That isn't necessary. You should spend some time alone with your friends, Simon. Since Dale is a busy man with relationship problems and Kyle is more interested in the red-light district than meeting with us, have a moment with your friends. I welcome them to join us for dinner another day when they are free," Kate said. She needed a moment away from Simon.

Simon didn't want her to be out of sight from him. "Nonsense-"

"Come on, Simon. I know it must be hard for you to pull yourself away from your wife, but it is time the men have a drink and talk. We won't be able to catch up with you when you become a father. Which by the looks of it," Kyle glanced at Kate's neck. "Is not far from now. Dale and I are not staying long anyway. Why bore your wife with our talk?"

"Fine," Simon sighed. "You can go."

"I will see you soon. Oh! I almost forgot. Since Kyle seems to be the only one here without a partner, I have a dear friend of mine that I would love to set him up with, Simon. She's a lovely young woman who would be happy to be set up with him. I'm sure marriage wouldn't be far off once they meet," Kate said with a smile at the end.

She made her way out of the drawing room knowing Simon was aware of what she was saying. Kate couldn't help it. Kyle was nothing but a bother to her. She wanted to make him shut up for once. Soon he wouldn't be as cocky as he was now when he realized the insane bastard Simon is. Others had to join her in this hell.

"Marchioness," a maid greeted Kate before hurrying off to do her tasks.

'That's odd. She's the first servant to greet me since I found out about Simon. Is she not loyal like the others?' Kate wondered. She had to watch this particular maid to see if they could work together. There were a few maids who had the chance to go out in town on their days off. Kate would love to deliver a message to the town guards.

Kate had not made it far from the drawing room and she already felt the other servants watching her now that she was away from Simon. 'What exactly has he done to turn them to be like this?' She thought.

There was no way Simon had somehow hired an entire household of servants with the same sick twisted mind as him. He must have threatened them.

Kate feared how much he had threatened them as no one made an attempt when they were out of the house to tell a town guard or even a stranger about what was happening in this house. If the servants took the chance to expose Simon, they would succeed as everyone in town wanted the culprit to be caught so the claims would be taken seriously.

Kate quickly learned that servants would go to the room where Bella was to feed her so it wasn't like they didn't have evidence to reveal what Simon had done.

"I cannot believe I wasted my time decorating this house," Kate muttered.

Instead of going to the bedroom, she was meant to share with Simon, she went to a guest bedroom as Simon had left his parents in their room to scare her. Even when they were removed from the room, Kate had no plans to ever sleep in that room.

Kate somehow managed to get him to remove Lila's body because she lied and said she wanted to see Lila's parents crying over the loss of their daughter.

Kate entered the guest bedroom and closed the door behind her.  She was tempted to lock it, but Simon had one rule if she wanted to sleep in this room, the door had to remain unlocked.

"Why am I so unlucky?" Kate muttered.

She had the title of Marchioness, but nothing about her life was wonderful as she planned.

The next day in Lockwood, Edgar found himself once again standing face to face with a guest he considered a nine.

"Why are you here again? Did you miss it when I said you can visit once a week and you must give us a heads up?" Edgar asked, holding the door to stop his mother from entering his home. It was bad enough that they had to deal with Melanie forgetting how to be a mother, but now he had to deal with Priscilla who wanted to suddenly start acting like one.

"I planned this day with Alessandra. It isn't my fault she said nothing to you. Everyone else welcomes me here. Why can't you do the same when I am trying to make up for my actions in the past?" Priscilla asked, no longer trying to push past Edgar. He needed to let her in without this struggle each time.

"Just because Alessandra requests your help and Alfred has forgiven you, does not mean I enjoy regularly seeing you. The point of having you send notice a day before your arrival was so I can prepare to see you walking around my home," Edgar said.

Priscilla never thought that was the reason why. She thought Edgar was just being petty and wanted her to do something extra when coming to his home to toy with her. "I apologize. I will start sending a letter a day in advance, but my arrival today was discussed with Alessandra already. She must have forgotten. Should we talk once more, Edgar?"

They talked when she was in his dungeon, but Priscilla knew there was more left for the two of them to discuss. She could not fix her relationship with Edgar as easily as she did with the others.  If not for Alessandra being pregnant and the two of them running into each other, she would not dare step foot in Edgar's home.

"Not right now," Edgar replied, opening the door wide for his mother to come inside. "I have to leave home soon and I would rather not have to deal with this right now."

"Okay. You do know that I am sorry for all that happened because of me right?" Priscilla asked.

"I know. You're not the type to fake an apology to get back in someone's good books. Perhaps I inherited that from you. Alessandra is in the room Alfred picked out for our children. It is close to our bedroom," Edgar said, walking with his mother as he planned to spend a bit more time with Alessandra before going to speak with Simon.

"I cannot believe you have a room picked out already, but then again this is Alfred. Years ago this would have ticked me off because of my jealousy. I birthed you, but Alfred became your mother hen. When will you stop saying Alessandra is pregnant with more than one child? She sighs every time she hears it. I can't recall the last time someone in our family birthed twins. Childbirth is already scary. A relative of mine recently died," Priscilla softly spoke. There was that fear of the mother not getting to meet her child.

"Leave that negativity at the door. Alessandra will be fine. I will get the best doctors around the kingdom to help her. I will stop saying there is more than one in there when the big day comes and only one child comes out. I can always aim for more the second time," Edgar replied.

"You've changed so much. For years you have hated children and now you are looking forward to your children. Have you heard of it?" Priscilla frowned as she remembered the bad news she heard. "Your father and that woman met with each other."