The Duke's Masked Wife

After Edgar informed Alessandra of what time it was, Alessandra and Edgar went their separate ways. Edgar left to prepare for dinner while Alessandra took the kittens to have their meal. She purposely waited until she saw Edgar leave the room and then called Sally to help her get dressed.

"Miss Potter seems to match you well, Duchess. You should keep her close by when you attend the ball. Thanks to her job, she knows the personality of a lot of young women. You can make a judgment of them yourself but it would be useful to have a bit of information about them in case they try to use you," said Sally.

"I don't expect to be approached by too many people with good intentions for my first appearance in public. There will be people keeping a distance or approaching me to make sense of my marriage. My expectation is low for finding a friend at the ball. I'm fine with you and getting to know Erin."

"I am your friend?" Sally's hand stopped in the middle of brushing Alessandra's hair. She never thought of their relationship like this.

"I know you are my personal maid but we've spent so many hours together these last two days.  We've talked about many things and I see a friendship forming just as I see one forming with Erin. If it makes you uncomfortable to hear this, I won't bring it up again," Alessandra said as she didn't want to force Sally to be more than her maid.

"It's not that, Duchess. I am just surprised to hear you would want a friendship with me. I thought it would have taken you longer to trust me since you know Katrina wanted me to report on you."

"Just like I do not wish to have anything more to do with Katrina and Kate, I can tell you do not want the same. Plus, you have been warned. I'm sure you don't want to feel the consequences of betraying the trust Edgar and I are giving you.  I've spent a lot of time around fake smiles, Sally. I am able to tell who is pretending in my face better than you think. I learned the difference in smiles quickly by watching my father," Alessandra spoke with sadness evident in her voice.

When she was younger Alessandra was curious about the smile her father often showed because it never felt warm. Eventually, she paid attention to the smile her father showed her and compared it to the one he showed to Katrina and Kate or even his guest. Once she realized it was not the same, she started to read the smiles of everyone else around her. She only saw a genuine smile shown to her when she spoke with Mario.

"Trust me, Duchess. I know not to underestimate what you can do. What makes my job exciting is waiting to see how others react when you prove everything they think they know about you to be wrong. Especially Edgar's mother. Soon, she'll be apologizing for not accepting you right away," Sally pumped her right fist in the air to cheer Alessandra on.

"I don't know about that one," Alessandra frowned as it seemed impossible to make Priscilla like her anytime soon. "I don't know how I can make her like me when I don't fit the image of a daughter-in-law she has always envisioned. Even if I take off my mask and tell her the story behind my scars, she would not like me either way."

"You've shown her enough kindness the first time the two of you met. Going forward, you should simply ignore her unless she is mature enough to have a civil conversation with you. If the Duke is not bothered to have to be close to his mother then don't go out of your way to make her like you. You wouldn't be the first woman to have problems with her mother-in-law. Some mothers are too controlling of their son's live-"

"Edgar!" The bedroom door flew open revealing a man dressed in shabby clothes.

Sally moved to stand in front of Alessandra to protect her from who she believed was a beggar. "Do not step foot in this room. Are you not aware of where you have intruded? Leave at once!"

"Where is Edgar? Why has he been avoiding the letters I've sent?" The stranger took a step into the bedroom.

"Stop!" Alessandra exclaimed, standing up to deal with the stranger. She hoped Edgar or anyone else heard the man loudly calling Edgar's name and they would be here soon. She only needed to stall long enough for someone to help them. She contemplated screaming but was afraid of what it might prompt the stranger to do. "State your name and reason for coming into this house."

"It is you!" The man pointed at Alessandra. He pulled a hood from over his head revealing his shoulder-length messy brown hair and his striking green eyes. "You are the one who waltzed into his life and messed with my plans.

Contrary to his shabby clothes which were dirty and carried holes, Alessandra found that his skin was exceptionally clean. To confirm something, she looked at his hands and found his hands to look smooth as if he had never done any labor.

"Who are you?" Alessandra asked.

"You don't know me?" The stranger pointed at his face, surprised none of the two women knew who he was. "I am the man you have angered, daughter of the Baron. What gave you the right to mess with my plans? Have you truly never seen me before?" He went back to his previous question since he found it unbelievable.

Alessandra shook her head. "No, but I know you must be someone important. You should have placed mud on your skin if you wished to be disguised as a beggar."

"How about if I turn left?" He turned to the left to show his side profile. "How about right-"

"What the fuck are you doing in my home?" Edgar appeared in the doorway, reached out his right hand to grab, and place the stranger in a chokehold. "Have you gone insane to enter my bedroom when my wife is here with only her maid? Tell me why I shouldn't kill you right now?"

"Because I am your king. E-Edgar, I'm choking," King Tobias Castro, patted Edgar's arm to be released.

"The king?!" Alessandra exclaimed in complete disbelief that she was in the presence of the king and Edgar was casually choking him.

"King," was the last thing Alessandra heard from Sally's mouth before her body started to fall to the floor.