Chapter 5

That was not the answer the Duke had expected to hear. In fact, Sophia was not behaving in the way that he had anticipated at all. Even her aunt was surprised as she looked on between the two of them with a shocked expression.

“No?” he repeated.

“You heard me correctly, Your Grace.”

He shook his head. This might have been the first time that anyone had said no to him in his life. He was used to always getting whatever he wanted, and this came as a huge shock to him.

“My Lady, is that your final answer?” he asked.

“I am fairly certain that it is, Your Grace,” she replied without skipping a beat.

The Duke was beginning to grow offended by the casual manner in which she was able to reject him.

“I cannot say I understand your decision,” he said. “In fact, I do not understand it at all. I expected you to be thankful for the proposal.”

“Thankful?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “Pardon me, Your Grace, but do you feel that because you are a duke, I should be thankful?”

He shook his head.

“No, but we both know what happened when we were intercepted by ladies of the ton. I understand my place in the damage caused to your reputation, and I only wanted to take responsibility for what I have done,” he said earnestly.

Sophia stopped her pacing and looked at him with a serious expression. She was observing his face intently with her hands crossed in front of her chest.

“Do you sincerely mean that?”

“Of course,” Duncan agreed. “Why else would you think that I would make all the trouble to travel to you? I do not want the rest of your life to be ruined because of me. This benefits you more than it does me, but it would be a terrible burden that I would have to carry for the rest of my life if I left you ruined.”

Sophia nodded, contemplative.

Now that he was able to see her in daylight for the first time, Duncan could not place his finger on exactly what it was, but something about Sophia seemed so familiar to him.

As though he had seen her before. Of course, that was unlikely to be true. Her scars made her discernable enough for him to remember if he had ever crossed paths with her before. He discarded the thought quickly.

“You would have all of your needs addressed. Never would you have to worry about anything material any longer. In fact, your life would become much easier. I cannot say that it would be a marriage based out of love, but it would be one that was borne out of a sense of duty,” he paused for a moment, “and I have always been taught that the latter is more important.”

Sophia looked onto her aunt for her approval, who smiled at her and nodded in return.

“My dear, I believe the gentleman is making some very good points,” Aunt Rose added. “You should agree to what he is saying.”

“I could tell that you were a smart lady,” Duncan said, a small smile playing on his lips. He knew that he had to appear charming too.

“Not as smart as you,” Aunt Rose replied. “But in reality, I believe that Sophia is even more charming than both of us together. She has such a lively personality, but she does not let it show until she is comfortable with you.”

“Oh, well, I am most curious to know more…”

Sophia shot them both a look as if to say that she was still in the room.

“I have never been proposed to before, but I am fairly certain that this is not how proposals usually go,” Sophia said, crossing her arms in front of her chest once again.

“Well, I have never proposed to anyone, so it is not as though I bring a great deal of experience with me,” Duncan sparred back.

“Then what has made you propose to me?”

Duncan shrugged.He was finding that Sophia asked far too many questions.

“If I am being fully honest with you, the idea of marriage has never much appealed to me in the slightest, but I am willing to do things that I normally would not do if it means fulfilling a sense of duty.”

Sophia bit down on her lip, and Duncan realized how unromantic his answer had truly sounded. Surely, no girl would want to hear that she was being proposed to because of a sense of responsibility.

But to his surprise, Sophia nodded and looked more interested than she had previously.

“And would this be a purely pragmatic marriage?” she asked. “We do not have to act as husband and wife but only portray to the world that we are?”

Duncan nodded. “I suppose, yes. I have not thought about the details, but what you say sounds agreeable to me.”

“Well…” Sophia said, building up anticipation in everyone present in the room. Even the maid who was hiding behind the door and listening in to the conversation was holding her breath. “I accept your proposal.”

A wash of relief flooded over Duncan. He was not prepared for a rejection in the slightest. At this point, it had become just as much about his ego as it was about fulfilling his duty.

“Excellent,” he clasped both his hands together. “I think you have made the best possible choice that you could have for yourself.”

“However, I do have one condition…”

“A condition?”

The Duke was surprised by the gall she was displaying. His mother had always told him that no girl would hesitate for even a second if a duke proposed to her. It was also what he saw around him. And yet, this woman who was seemingly already outcast from society was putting up such a resistance to him.

If anything, it added to the intrigue that the Duke felt for her. He had always grown bored easy of things that could be attained without much trouble, and the thrill of the chase presented a delicious challenge for him.

“Yes.” Sophia nodded firmly. “I would like for my lady’s maid to come with me when I move to your Estate.”

Duncan shrugged his shoulders. That was not much of a demand.

“Of course, you can bring her with you...”

“And my cat, Cecil.”

“Of course.”

“It is settled then,” Sophia replied.

“Very well.”

Sophia had never imagined that her life could change so drastically in the span of a single day. And yet, here she was, having just gotten engaged.

“What a gentleman,” Aunt Rose gushed as the two ladies sat together after Duncan had left. “I am so impressed by his principles.”

“I agree with you. He was not what I expected at all,” she noted.

Sophia had always thought that a duke would be too full of himself to ever care about anyone else, but Duncan had just proven her wrong. A part of her still felt suspicious about his true motive, but then, she reminded herself that this was perhaps her only shot at finding a husband for herself.

After all, she could not live with her aunt for all her life. She would have to move out at some point, and she was already twenty-three.

“It took you so long to agree,” Aunt Rose mentioned. “I was worried to death that you were going to refuse his proposal.”

“I just did not think it would be fair to him, you know?” Sophia sighed. Now that the Duke had left, she could finally voice her insecurities.

“In what way?” her aunt questioned. “You are a beautiful woman, belonging to a respectable family. What more could he desire?”

Sophia shook her head, growing quiet all of a sudden.

“I think you know what I am referring to...”

“Do not be ridiculous. It has been many years. Are you still holding onto the absurd idea that you are somehow cursed?”

“Did you not hear what the people at the ball were saying to me last night?” Sophia questioned. “No one let me forget even for a moment that I was cursed.”

“Sophia,” her aunt’s tone turned serious, “are you really going to let the opinion of a bunch of bored housewives and their daughters get to you? You know they have nothing better to do than gossip. If anything, the Duke does not seem to care about any of it.”

Sophia was quiet. The reason she had not agreed immediately to the proposal was not because she believed she could do any better than him. It was blatant that he was the best she could do for herself. It was more so out of her concern for him.

The last thing she wanted to do was pass on the curse to a man who was so kind to her, but since he did not want to have a real marriage with her, she figured that perhaps she could save him from the curse by staying out of his way.

It was not a perfect solution, but it was the only one that she had at the moment.

“You are not cursed, my dear,” Aunt Rose continued on, oblivious to Sophia’s inner monologue. “If anything, the people that are accusing you are cursed in the worst of ways. They have cursed thoughts.”

Sophia shrugged her shoulders. Her aunt and Clara were always telling her the same thing, but she never allowed herself to be too convinced by any of it.

“I had never thought that I would be getting married like this,” she admitted, “to a man who only wants to marry me to fulfil a sense of duty.”

“Well, things happen in unexpected ways. We cannot change the course of it.”

“It has been a long day.” Sophia got up. “I would like to rest for a small while in my room if that is all right with you.”

“Of course, my dear.”

Sophia bid her aunt goodbye and retired to her room. It was only evening outside, but she felt tired enough to sleep already.

Now in her bed, Sophia tossed and turned. She felt restless. It took her many hours until she was finally able to fall asleep.

Sophia found herself standing alone on the edge of a desolate rock overlooking a vast lake. The moon hung low in the dark sky, casting an eerie shadow over the water.

A sudden gust of wind whipped through her hair as she took a hesitant step forward. There was something in the water that was beckoning her to step forward.

One more step. It was as though Sophia was no longer in control of her body and was being guided by a force outside of her. The ground beneathher feet was slippery, and she tumbled as the unevenness of the rocks caused her to lose her balance.

Sophia knew that she should turn away now, for if she ventured further, it would be too dangerous. But this once, she was not able to control her own movements.

The lake was directly beneath her. If she were to only take one step forward, she would easily slip into its deep waters. The idea had never appeared more tempting to her.

But as she looked down at the dark body of water, she could see figures appearing on the surface. First it was a pair hands and then a mop of blonde hair followed by a shoe.

A profound sense of terror gripped Sophia immediately, and without thinking of anything else, she took the plunge. Within moments, her entire body was engulfed by the cold water. She tried to swim her way to where she had seen the things, but her surroundings began to blur into a watery chaos.

Sophia tried to swim her way back to shore, but the water pulled her deeper, swallowing her into its inky blackness.

“Help,” she called out, realizing that she had no hopes of getting out of there of her own accord. But she only began to sink deeper.

Her lungs burned for air as she began to suffocate under the water. Even if she tried to rise to the surface, it felt as though someone had tied a heavy weight to her body, causing her to sink further down.

Panic surged in Sophia’s veins, and she screamed out for help, but her voice never travelled outside of the water. Only muted bubble escaped her lips.

Finally, she managed to swim to the surface. By some miracle, she had gotten rid of the weight that had attached itself to her body, but as she reached the top, she found it sealed.

A cover of ice had formed on top of the lake’s surface, trapping her underneath its depths. She began to tap furiously at the icy surface, but it was to no avail.

Her lungs were beginning to fill up with water every time she opened her mouth to scream. Hopelessness filled her up, and her body began to go limp.

“Let go,” she murmured to herself as she began to sink deeper and deeper towards the lake’s floor.

Sophia woke up gasping for air.

“It was just a dream,” she reminded herself, but her face was stained with her tears. She quickly wiped them away with her sleeve. “It was just a dream.”