The Duke's Masked Wife

Alessandra and Alfred looked at each other wondering who should be the one to start speaking first. Edgar's calm demeanor while he was clearly upset made the two uneasy.

"Alfred," Alessandra decided to be the first to break the tension. "You should bring the ointment. I will speak with Edgar about what happened."

"I will be back as fast as I can," said Alfred. He left the two newlyweds to talk in peace.

"Where is Sally?" Alessandra looked behind Edgar for the young girl she sent him for.

"She is outside helping to take out some of your things. Let's not beat around the bush now. What happened to your face? Do not try to tell me you fell or walked into anything. I am not a fool," Edgar only wanted to hear the truth.

"I wasn't going to lie to you. Alfred was showing me the art supplies you got for me but then left to get breakfast started faster. The same girl working for your mother entered the room and started to argue with me. She slapped me in the face so I had her sent to your dungeon. Why are you smiling?" Alessandra commented on his facial expression changing from mellow to happy.

"It is surprising you sent her to the dungeon. Even more surprising, you assumed I had one.  Well done, Alessandra. You are proving to be as entertaining as I thought you would be," he praised her. He was glad she did not continue to be walked over. Alessandra was now a Duchess for goodness sake. "You have power, always use it."

"Even though you are smiling ear to ear, something is telling me you aren't going to let this go even though I have handled it," Alessandra saw right through his calmness.

"Smart girl. Although I am happy to hear you took control and ended the situation, I cannot allow this to slide. You should not have been disrespected in the first place as I spoke to my servant this morning and instructed them to treat you as they would treat me. I will weed out the ones who think they are the owners of this house but first, I need to do something about these bites."

Alessandra walked up to Edgar to see what was causing him to be so itchy. "What happened?"

"No one informed me that your house had bugs and now my skin is on fire. Where is Alfred with the ointment before I lose my mind?" Edgar looked around for the butler.

Alessandra opened up the rest of Edgar's shirt to get a good look at his skin. There were red spots with tiny bumps from where he had gotten a bite.

Edgar found Alessandra to be quite bold to open his shirt without permission. "I can't see you naked but you can search me like this. How unfair."

Alessandra glared at Edgar for bringing up what he asked her in the bathroom earlier. "I am trying to help you. This is my fault," she went back to inspecting his chest.

"I had to go to your family either way because the town guard made it a big deal for me to go. Do not blame yourself."

"No, I mean the bugs. I was the one to catch them and release them into the house," Alessandra looked up at Edgar with an innocent smile. "It was meant to be my way of getting back at them in secrecy. I'm sorry."

To say Edgar was shocked was an understatement. He was thoroughly surprised to hear Alessandra was the one to cause the Barretts to have a bug problem. "Where on earth could you even catch such things?"

"I was allowed to roam the fields behind our house but I stopped because I kept getting bit. One day I was upset about something my family did so I went back to the field and picked the tiny insects off the wildflowers. My hands ached for days because I had no ointment but I heard the itching only lasted a few hours after the ointment was placed. I truly thought they were all gone or I would have warned you."

"You are more devious than I pictured you to be. I should be given a reward for having gone through this terrible experience because of you. Since you have nothing to offer me, I will collect it in the future. Fuck," Edgar hissed as Alessandra pinched one of the rashes.

"How about I help put on the ointment instead of me owing you a reward?" Alessandra proposed.

"Why are you so against owing me a reward? You have no idea whether or not you will enjoy what I want. Can you stop pinching me?" Edgar playfully smacked her hands away.

"I'll stop pinching you when you stop being indecent. I don't want to ever know what you want me to do in the future. Besides,  I have already thought of something to give you in exchange for all you've done for me. Now, take off your  shirt." Alessandra wanted to see the full extent of how much he was bitten.

"And yet you are telling me not to be indecent. At least invite me up to our bedroom before you ask me to take off my shirt," Edgar said but still complied with her command and took off his shirt. "You are so brazen."

Alessandra opened her mouth to say something about Edgar's continuous teasing but was interrupted by someone else.

"The doctor gave me the best option for itching," Alfred returned with a bottle in his hand.

Alessandra was surprised to hear there was a doctor already on the property. Did the doctor live here or were they here for something else coincidentally? "I will put it on for him, Alfred. Should we go to a room for privacy?"

"Do it here. I can hardly wait for another second to get rid of the itching. It amazes me how you were able to handle this for days without any ointment, Alessandra. In the meantime Alfred. I want you to gather all of my servants and prepare my sword," said Edgar. He did not forget his lingering anger from how Alessandra was being treated.

Alessandra looked up from Edgar's body at the mention of a sword. "You are not going to kill anyone right? It was only Jennifer who did something to me."

"I am not going to kill anyone, Alessandra. The sword will only be there to scare them."

Alessandra personally did not think Edgar was in need of a sword to make anyone afraid.  She also did not think he needed a sword around in case he changed his mind about not hurting anyone. "Why don't we just speak to them without any weapons around?"

"I personally think that is the best idea," Alfred agreed with Alessandra. He handed Alessandra the bottle of ointment to use on Edgar's skin.

It was bad enough Edgar had to deal with Alfred constantly scolding him but now he would have to deal with Alfred and Alessandra becoming a team against him. "I am not a fan of the two of you getting along. Fuck! Woman, do you find joy in hurting me?"