Chapter 4

Sophia had been brooding all morning. With her shoulders slumped and her hair still in a messy bun from last night, she heaved a deep sigh as she stared out of her window. The events from last night kept replaying in her mind.

It took her years to regain the confidence to go back into society, and her first appearance back had turned out to be a disaster.

“No one will want you now,” she muttered to herself, staring at her reflection in the window. “Not that anyone did to begin with.”

It was strange. Sophia was not too interested in the prospect of marriage to begin with, but it was at least partially her own choice to refrain from it. Now, it felt like she was ousted to the trenches as a characterless woman, and no one would marry her even if she tried. The idea of being a burden on her aunt weighed heavily on her.

Her train of thought was interrupted by a series of frantic knocks on her door.

“Come on in,” she said immediately, worried that there might have been an emergency.

Instead, Clara walked in with a tray of food in her hands.

“I am sorry if I disturbed you, My Lady, but you have not come out of your room all morning. It is unusual for you to do so, and I got worried,” she explained, setting down the breakfast on the table in front of her. “Please eat something, and you might feel better.”

“I am not hungry.”

“But you must eat to nourish yourself,” Clara stressed. “This is simply not the solution. Downstairs, your aunt is the same way. She has had a long face all morning.”

“I cannot blame her. Her niece has found herself in the middle of a scandal,” Sophia sighed and picked up one of the pieces of bread that Clara had brought in for her. She spun it between her hands, feeling sorry for herself.

Why did these awful things always happen to her? She must truly be cursed.

“I am sorry, My Lady. We all had such different ideas of how the evening was going to turn out. Oh, and you even looked like such a vision in that dress. We spent many hours trying to prepare for the occasion, only for it end in disaster.”

“Do you know what makes matters even worse?” Sophia added, finally setting down the piece of bread. “The man I was involved in the scandal with was the Duke of Blackmoore.”

She felt a strange surge of warmth as she thought about him — perhaps because he had been the only person last night who had not made her feel like she was some kind of an otherworldly creature. His kindness had stuck out to her like a sore thumb amongst the cruelty of everyone else that night.

“Did he express any interest in asking for your hand in marriage?” Clara asked as though it was the most obvious thing for a duke to do.

Sophia let out a small laugh.

“What do you think?”

“Well, it is the honorable thing to do. He must ask you for marriage now that the two of you are locked together in this scandal. If he fails to do so, he is not a proper gentleman!” Clara exclaimed, furious now. “In fact, he should be so lucky to marry such an incredible woman as yourself.”

“Lucky… or cursed?” Sophia laughed, bitterly. “Besides, I do not wish to do that to him. He seemed like a lovely man, and I have no intention of ruining his life with my curse.”

Clara was immediately in front of Sophia, looking her directly in the eye now.

“My Lady,” her tone was alarmed, “I hope that you do not think, even for a minute, that any of that curse nonsense is real?”

Sophia shrugged her shoulders. Over the years, she had learned not to react when people said cruel things to her. She had made herself so strong that everything they said simply ricocheted off of her.

But there was a part of her that believed the words to be true. A part of her that questioned every day if perhaps she was cursed after all.

“I cannot comment,” Sophia replied after a long silence. “However, my life tells the story much better than I can.”

“My Lady, it hurts me to hear you speak about yourself in that way.” Clara’s voice softened. “Anyone who cares for you does not think that way.”

“That is sweet of you, Clara,” Sophia smiled. “Thank you for trying to make me feel better.”

“I am here if you need me for anything.”

“Once again, you are kinder to me than I deserve.” Sophia bit down on her lip. “Have you seen Aunt Rose anywhere?”

“She is downstairs,” Clara replied.

“Very well. You can bring us a cup of tea there. I should like to speak to her.”

Sophia had been avoiding speaking to her aunt ever since she had been caught with the Duke last night. The two women had barely exchanged a few words on the carriage ride back home, but Sophia knew that running away from the problem was not going to make it disappear, so she might as well face it head first.

“I am sorry,” Sophia blurted out as soon as she saw her aunt. Aunt Rose’s eyes widened, and she immediately wrapped Sophia in a warm embrace.

“My dear, what do you have to be sorry about?” she asked in a comforting tone. “You should not be beating yourself up for what transpired last night.”

Sophia blinked, surprised by her aunt’s reaction.

“But… you were there. You saw me with the Duke. Are you not mad at me for putting myself in a situation like that to begin with? You had such high hopes for the night, and now, they have all been washed away down the drain.”

“But I know you very well, my dear. I trust you fully and know that you were not doing anything that would bring shame to our family.”

Sophia felt a surge of warmth spread inside of her as she listened to her aunt’s words. It felt really good to be affirmed like this.

“Thank you,” she replied, “but I do not think that anyone else would share that opinion. As far as my prospects go, I think I have ruined them for good.”

“Unfortunately, you might be right,” Aunt Rose sighed. “This will prove to be ruinous for your reputation, even though I trust that you did not even do anything scandalous.”

“Well, yours is the only opinion that matters to me,” Sophia said, squeezing her aunt’s hand gently. “I am already used to the world saying less than pleasant things about me. What’s one more added to their ledger?”

“My dear, I have always admired your courage,” Aunt Rose replied. “And you know, perhaps this might not be as awful as we think. Life has a way of surprising you.”

“Yes, but for me, the surprises are never any good,” Sophia laughed, making light of her terrible situation. Just then, Clara walked into the room with a tray full of tea and biscuits.

Sophia knew that her life had only gotten even worse after last night, but for now, she would try to forget about her troubles. Even if it was just for a cup of tea.

It was mid-afternoon when a carriage rolled into Kerling Estate. Sophia was not privy to who had arrived until she heard some commotion coming from downstairs.

“Are you sure it is him, Carla?” Aunt Rose asked in an astonished tone. “We have not been expecting any visitors, much less someone like him.”

Curiosity got the better of Sophia, and she decided to get a better sense of what was happening by going downstairs. She saw her aunt rushing over to the powder room.

“What is happening?” she asked, “Why are you behaving so strangely?”

“Oh, for one thing, we have a visitor that I was not expecting. And secondly, it is the Duke.” Her aunt put some powder on her face in a rushed manner and fixed any stray hair she had in the mirror.

“Quick, you must fix up your appearance as well,” her aunt instructed before heading out, “in case he wants to see you.”

Sophia scrunched up her nose in confusion. Had she heard correctly? What business did the Duke have visiting them?

“But why would he want to see me?” Sophia questioned, but it was too late. Her aunt was already outside to welcome him.

“Your aunt is right, My Lady. It is best for a lady to be prepared,” Carla said, nodding fervently. “Shall I accompany you to the powder room?”

Sophia shook her head.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Carla. I am sure that he is not here to see me. In fact, he must be lost. I do not think he is even going to come inside.”

“And yet, there he is headed right this way,” Carla pointed to the window where they could see her aunt and the Duke heading towards the front door.

“Oh no.” There was a rush of blood at Sophia’s cheeks, and she quickly took cover behind one of the pillars, wanting to hide herself from the Duke.

It was not as though she did not want to see him. In fact, it could be quite interesting to meet him again, but her nerves got the best of her, and she felt a strange shyness take over her at his unannounced arrival.

The two of them went into the drawing room, and Sophia found herself burning with curiosity.

“Carla, you must go check what they are discussing in there!” she instructed her maid, who in turn gave her a weary expression.

“I am not sure if that is very appropriate, My Lady.”

“Ask them if they want tea,” Sophia urged. “I must know the reason behind his visit.”

The Duke straightened up his tie as he arrived at Kerling Estate. Sophia’s place of residence had been easy enough to find after only a little asking around. He was told that she lived there with her aunt.

The red brick building stood in front of him, and he braced himself for what he had planned to do. Duncan had never done anything of this sort before in his life, and he tried to ignore the nervous knot in his stomach.

“Be a man, and do the right thing,” he muttered to himself.

It seemed that the residents of Kerling Estate had become aware of his arrival already as he saw the figure of an older woman waiting for him at the entrance. He realized that must be Sophia’s aunt.

“My Lady,” he greeted her politely, “Allow me to introduce myself…”

Lady Rose shook her head.

“Your Grace, since when are you in need of any sort of introduction?” she said with a warm smile. “I must say that I am quite surprised by your visit, but of course, Kerling Estate is here to welcome you any time.”

“Thank you, My Lady. Your hospitality means a great deal to me,” Duncan replied. “I hope that you were not occupied this afternoon as I was hoping to have a word with you.”

“Of course,” she smiled. “But we must do it the right way — over a nice cup of tea. Please, help yourself inside.”

She led him inside the estate and over to the drawing room. He was pleasantly surprised by how polite and welcoming her aunt was being. Given that he was the main reason why her niece’s reputation was now in tatters, she seemed to be treating him quite well.

Once they were inside the drawing room, Duncan cleared his throat once again. The nervous knot in his stomach returned once more as Lady Rose looked on at him expectantly.

“My Lady, the purpose of my visit this afternoon is quite formal,” he started, sticking to the script that he had prepared in his head beforehand. “Last night at the ball, I had the pleasure of making acquaintance with your niece, Lady Sophia. As you may know… that ended up being causing quite the stir.”

Lady Rose’s face turned serious, and Duncan noticed the worry lines creasing the side of her face. It gave away her age as she looked quite youthful otherwise.

“Yes, but Sophia told me about what happened,” she replied. “I trust her when she says that nothing happened between the two of you. It is a shame that the whole matter has been blown out of proportion.”

“So, you are well aware of what happened?”

“Of course. I know that neither of you had any bad intentions,” she pressed.

Duncan found it endearing how much she had faith in Sophia. Many people would be jumping to blame the woman.

“However, I need to know what your intention is now.”

“My Lady, I am here precisely for the reason you may think that I am. I want to do the honorable thing and ask for Lady Sophia’s hand in marriage.”

Duncan had rehearsed the words many times in his head his way here, but his heartbeat still staggered like a racehorse.

A wave of relief washed over her aunt’s face as he had expected.

“Do you really wish that?”

“Of course, My Lady. I would not be sitting here if my intentions were not a hundred percent pure,” Duncan promised.

“And how long did you take to make this decision?” she asked. “Given that the two of you only met for the first time yesterday.”

Duncan paused for a moment. It was not as though he had some kind of a romantic answer to that question.

“Let us just say that I made the decision very early on,” he replied after taking a moment to contemplate over his words.

“Well, this is terrific news,” she smiled brightly. “However, I do not want to answer for my niece. I think it is better if we call her here and let her answer herself.”

Duncan shrugged.

“Of course.”

Rose gestured for the maid and summoned her niece. A few moments later, Sophia walked into the room wearing a cream-coloured dress. Duncan sat up straighter as she arrived.

“My Lady…”

“Your Grace.”

“Sophia…” Her aunt smiled, her gaze darting between the two of them. “His Grace has something very important to consult you regarding.”

“Is that so?” Sophia’s eyes pierced through him. “Have you been getting bothered by the women from the party for standing up to me? If that is the case, then I would suggest that you do not think about it for some time. Eventually they will stop when no one gives them information that they can react to.”

“That is surprisingly good advice…”

Sophia shrugged her shoulders. “I just know how to handle these things.”

“Well, My Lady, you have my intentions for this visit all confused. The real reason I am here today is…” Duncan paused, taking a deep breath. “I was only wonderingif you would like to get married to me and be my wife.”

Sophia blinked, confused by his statement.

“Pardon me?”

“You heard me correctly, My Lady. I am here today to ask for your hand in marriage.”

The words finally sunk in, and Sophia began to shake her head immediately.

“Oh, no. No, no, no,” she exclaimed, pacing around the room. “I have no intention of doing that to you.”