"Mn... Duke sir?""Rose?"
Rose stopped twirling her red hair, and then pressed her naked body to the man next to her, as their warmth covered in the white sheets in the soft blankets of the bed. Her little fingers crawled towards the chest of the man beside her, tracing slow circles.
"I didn"t drink the pills today."
"What?" Alphonsus" voice was laced with nothing but shock and anger. "Rose, I firmly told you to drink every time I"m here in the capital! What did I tell you? And this day—of all the days you could skip the pills—"
"Why are you getting so angry?" Rose pouted. "It"s not like I will destroy your future."
"Rose, listen carefully," the duke says. "I have a wife. I can"t hurt her."
Rose"s eyes fumed into a scorching glare, but it quickly sobered into a lesser aggressive gaze, a sad smile.
"Is that so?" She asks. "But what if there"s life that"ll bloom from this night? What if it"s a baby boy... or a baby girl?"
"Rose."
"I"m kidding." Rose answers, and then turns away from the duke.
Alphonsus Feuerlon was certain he heard a few hitched breaths, shallower than usual. Shaking shoulders and oca.s.sional wiping on the face after a few minutes of silence.
"Are you crying?"
"N-no."
"Rose."
"I said I"m not crying." Rose says, but her last work broke into a silent sob.
Slowly, the duke wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to his chest. He buried his face to the back of her neck, and then gently whispered soft and shallow words of love and affection. He then tentatively wore her a silver necklace, which in turn made his lover"s sobbing stop almost instantaneously.
"I love you, Rose,"
Rose on the other hand, gave in to his sweet, little words. She swiftly turned around and embraced him back tightly, as she stared down to the necklace he wore to her; a brooch-like pendant with the pattern of snowflakes captivated her eye, which made her heart flutter into happiness she couldn"t contain.
"I love you too, Duke."
**
"The d.u.c.h.ess had a miscarriage again..."
"She barely survived the birth of young master Lucas, too..."
"How will she fulfill the late Duke"s prophecy?"
"Maybe she won"t be the one to fulfill it."
Adalia stared weakly as she felt a hand caressing the back of her almost-numb palm. In her clouded gaze, she saw the worried face of a man. Her husband, the duke.
"Alph..."
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"Shh."
Her tears slowly started to fall, like beads falling through the floor.
"I lost the baby again," she murmurs. "The m-magicians said it was a g-girl,"
"Shh, Addy," Alphonsus hushes, rubbing her thumb on the corner of her eye. "Don"t cry. It"s okay,"
"Is it?"
The duke lowered his gaze, unable to answer the question. A knock from the door both had their attention.
The butler entered the premises, his face was laced with worry and anxiousness.
"Duke." He says. "A... woman asks of your presence outside the gates,"
"A woman?"
"She says her name is Rose..." The butler says, fidgeting slightly. His eyes were tracing back and forth to the d.u.c.h.ess and then the duke. "And... she wants to tell you about a... "life" blooming within her..."