The Duke's Masked Wife

"Speaking of Sally, I had an interesting conversation with her before you arrived. She thought you were rushing to sleep with me, which is why we are eating in our bedroom tonight. I told her no and she brought up this ridiculous notion that you must be looking to get pleasure from another woman," Alessandra informed Edgar.

"Well, it happens quite often for people who have arranged marriages. There is no love and the married couple does not speak with one another. Everyone concludes the husband will find a mistress but never think the wife will have her own partner on the side. I have stumbled upon wives without their husbands but it is not my business. We should all mine our own marriages," Edgar replied.

If certain people would stop poking their noses in other people's business their life would be so much happier.

"Sometimes couples have arrangements that work for both of them. They don't love each other so they agree to have a partner outside of their marriage to keep themselves happy and pretend to be happy to keep their relatives happy. I will agree there are husbands who will cheat on what you can call good wives but yet again, it is not my business. All you have to care about is that I won't cheat on you."

Alessandra never thought that he would. What would be the point of Edgar marrying her just to run around with another woman? He could have remained single and enjoyed not being tied to anyone. "I know you won't but it is just odd how one little thing we do can mean so much more to the people watching us. I am honestly glad my head wasn't filled with what not to do in marriage."

Alessandra would have rather not gotten married if she heard about the rules women had to follow to keep their husbands happy and the household together. Still, she was curious to know what else women were told.

"Hmm. Should I close the window? You seem to be cold. The air is chilly this time of the year because winter is approaching Lockwood."

Alessandra rubbed her right hand up and down her left arm. The air was indeed chilly but she wasn't shivering from the cold. It was bearable. "I am not cold."

"Then perhaps, are you excited to see me? I will close one of the windows a little bit and throw wood into the fireplace. Wouldn't want you to freeze by the time morning comes," Edgar walked past Alessandra to do as he said he would.

"Excited to see you?" Alessandra did not understand his words and brushed them off as it might be explained later on. Perhaps she was shivering from the cold and had not realized. "Did you find Alfred?"

"No, that man is quick on his feet when he is hiding from me but I have an idea where it is he runs off to. However, I rather stay with my wife than play hide and seek with Alfred. I know he means well by trying to make the two of us fall in love. If there is anyone who wants me to get married more than my mother, it is Alfred."

"Why didn't you get married? You are one of the most sought-after men in the kingdom. I was sheltered but even news of your existence reached me." Alessandra didn't understand why such a desired man was still alone.

"Because everyone likes me does it mean I have to like them back? My parent's marriage was not the best example for me to consider it as something that I want. Love is something foreign to me and I am certain I will never love anyone the way they want me to love them. Rather than have someone waiting around for me to fall in love with them, I will rather be alone," Edgar replied.

"This contract works for you because you inevitably need an heir right?" Alessandra started to piece together his train of thought.

"I inevitably would have needed an heir but I long made up my mind to either have the son of a relative inherit what is mine or simply adopt and give the child my last name. I did not agree to your offer because I am in dire need of a child. I did it simply for entertainment. You are the first woman to amuse me, Alessandra."

"You are the first person I think has gotten married simply for entertainment," Alessandra muttered. Still, she was glad it all worked out in the end for the both of them.

Alessandra played with her fingers watching Edgar throw wood into the fireplace as her nerves went up once again. When there was silence in the room, her heart could not stop rushing and there was an invisible lump in her throat. This might have been easier to handle if they came straight from the dining room and went to bed right away but by eating in their room, there was an intense build-up to the moment they would have slept in the same bed.

"You look as if you are about to pass out, Alessandra. Was the fact that I am not going to touch you tonight not enough to calm your nerves? The bed is big enough for us to sleep on both ends and have enough space for ourselves. Unless the true problem is that you are afraid of me?" Edgar narrowed his eyes.  If that was the case, he wasn't offended and would sleep in another room tonight.

"No, I am not scared of you. This is the first time I am sharing a bed with anyone and you are my husband. It is embarrassing for me to be in front of you with such a thin dress when I don't look-"

"There is nothing wrong with the way you look, Alessandra," Edgar interrupted before she could talk down to her body. "Have you already forgotten that I ask if you were trying to tempt me? I wasn't teasing you back then. I don't know what you see when you look at yourself but you are a beautiful woman broken by the jealousy of others."

One side of the mask covered her scars but the other side showed her beauty. It showed Edgar why Kate was jealous enough to try ruining Alessandra. The Baron clearly had a diamond in his hands that would have countless men begging to have in their own hands. Anyone could speak ill about the mask Alessandra wore but they would be lying to themselves if they called her ugly.

"I don't like to look at myself too often. I don't want to see what others frown at when they see me coming. I broke a lot of mirrors in my room when I was younger and I think it was fun for Katrina to keep having a maid bring in more," said Alessandra.

Edgar's hand itched to find his sword and return to the Baroness to do what was on his mind from the beginning. The Baroness and her irritating delusional daughter should be punished for what they made Alessandra endure.

Deciding against choosing violence tonight, Edgar chose to comfort Alessandra. Moving from the fireplace, Edgar went to the bed and stood right before Alessandra. He did not know her for long but her sadness stirred something inside of him. Never before did he have something he wished to protect from the evil of this world.

Alessandra flinched when Edgar's fingers were suddenly in her hair. She looked down at her lap while his fingers played with the ends of her hair that were thrown over her shoulder from when Sally had been brushing it.

"Look at me," his words came off as a command.

Building up courage, Alessandra lifted her head to meet Edgar's eyes.

"You know that I have no need to lie to you, right?" He questioned and when she slowly nodded, he added, "Then know that when I say you are beautiful, I mean it truthfully because that is what I see when I look at you."