The Duke's Unwanted Wife

“Such a boring party. Maybe I should’ve stayed at home,” Fredrich complained.    

    

“I thought you were burdened with the endless paperwork at home and decided to come here. I told you that you didn’t have to come.”    

    

“How could I possibly miss the swarm of women trying to catch Sebastian’s attention and his scathing rebuttal whenever someone says anything bad about you and your sister? No, this is far too entertaining.”    

    

Natalia shook her head, her hands still moving nonstop to sow the pattern at the edge of the handkerchief. Fredrich observed her curiously, knowing she wasn’t the type to do this sort of thing. She was making it for Marvis, seeing as the letter M was sown in with blue thread.    

    

“I heard he has a wall where he hands these in his room.”    

    

“Have I really made that much?”    

    

“I imagine this is what you use the endless stores of fabric gifted to you from the Merchant Association for. Well, it is quite cute.”    

    

Natalia looked at him with disbelief. In two past lives, he couldn’t stand sitting in close proximity with her and now, they could sit alone across each other at a table and have a civil conversation. She always knew his anger was misguided. To think it was to this extent, that annoyed her a lot.    

    

“You don’t get to call me cute when you blush at the mere mention of her name. You expect me not to notice you have feelings for her.”    

    

“Not a word more from you. She doesn’t need to know anything.”    

    

“So, you like the quiet, innocent types. I’m not surprised.”    

    

“You’re saying it like you don’t have the same preference. Look at Sir Jane. I have never seen him raise his voice, not even when he was being bullied as a knight trainee. You sure have an eye for the best.”    

    

“Zip that mouth shut, Fredrich. At least we’re together. I see you’re still struggling to hold her hands. Well, she runs at the sight of you. Those red eyes frighten her, I presume.”    

    

“Haha, very funny.”    

    

Natalia smirked and turned to spot a certain lady.    

    

“Lady Borisque, over here.”    

    

“NATALIA!”    

    

“Grow a pair, Lord Kristen. You can thank me later.”    

    

She walked away from the disaster she has just caused, walking outside to inspect the artifacts Count Selene had put on display. The collections of the Count were beloved to her but she didn’t think there would be others who found them just as endearing.    

    

One of the artifacts on display caught her eyes. It was a simple black mask one would find at any masquerade ball. However, this simple mask was giving off a dark aura one could only find on cursed items.    

    

“Oh, I knew it would catch your eyes. This is the mask of Queen Helena, the first Queen of Ducroft. Many said she was cursed by a god to roam the underworld blind for all eternity,” Count Selene recounted with excitement.    

    

“You’re telling me this artifact that looks like what was in fashion about fifty years ago belonged to a woman who lived hundreds of years ago?”    

    

“You of all people should know fashion is inspired by history. Why not try to feel the material? Coat your hand in magic to stop the curse. We had quite a lot of trouble obtaining it.”    

    

“Of course,” she replied, doing as he said. She raised the mask and put it to her eyes. Count Selene tried to stop her but his hands burned when he touched her face. Natalia was experiencing something different.    

    

Even though she was seeing through the mask, it was dark. She could hear a woman’s voice laughing in the distance. It wasn’t coming from one direction, making it creepier than it should be.    

    

[I curse you! I curse you! I curse you! Die! Die! Die! DIE!]    

    

Natalia pulled the mask off her face, breathing heavily. Her vision was back to normal and Count Selene was standing beside her with a look of worry on his face. It didn’t look like anything had changed at all.    

    

“That was very dangerous, Natalia. What if you had gotten cursed?”    

    

“Things like that…can’t affect me. Let me buy the mask off your hands.”    

    

“Are you sure? It’s a very difficult item to contain.”    

    

“Yes,” she looked at the mask again, “I’m sure.”    

    

She dropped the mask and continued perusing the items on display like that one moment never happened. Since Count Selene didn’t know the extent of the danger, he convinced himself that all was well. Eventually, the party ended and they all departed to their various homes. The group, however, all went to the same mansion, one that belonged to Adelie Hazel.    

    

“You’ve been looking frazzled since earlier, Fredrich. Is anything the matter?” Richard asked, worried. Everyone looked at him, especially since his dark aura was clouding up the room.    

    

“Natalia forced me to talk to Lady Borisque today.”    

    

“Well, isn’t that a good thing? You should’ve taken your chance,” Richard said positively, clasping his shoulder. Fredrich gave him a pointed look.    

    

“I couldn’t help being cold to her. She escaped within two minutes of starting the conversation. She must hate me now.”    

    

“Well, what a way to know if you’re compatible or not,” Alana commented, shrugging. He glared at her, lacking the strength to argue back. While they all chatted in the drawing room, Natalia retired to her room to rest. Immediately she got inside and locked the door, she called Madaline.    

    

“Why do you look like you exhausted your magic once more?”    

    

“You know me so well. I found a cursed artifact today and I put it on.”    

    

“What is with that stupid recklessness of yours? Did you not learn anything from the past incident?”    

    

The past incident refered to a particular incident when Natalia was traveling to the remote kingdom of Winor and was attacked on the way by bandits. At least, they were supposed to be bandits. She was attacked again in the kingdom and again when she was leaving. She thought it was a Winor problem and left it to others to investigate. If only she knew how wrong she was. She discovered she was under attack by a special organization with a powerful backing that was hell bent on killing her.    

    

“They haven’t tried anything recently. This was a coincidence. The artifact belongs to the first Queen of Ducroft, Queen Helena Ducroft the first. Coincidentally, she was the King’s cousin. She was supposedly cursed by a god to wander the underworld blindly for eternity. It made me wonder. What could a Queen possibly have done to be cursed by a god when her husband was a god? Before I realized it, I was putting the mask on.”    

    

“You…” Madaline sighed, shaking her head, “What did you see?”    

    

“Nothing. It was all dark and I heard voices chanting, I curse you and Die.”    

    

“I guess you’ve ticked off all the boxes for a cursed artifact. I will find out more about the story from Quene. In the meantime, don’t put it on your face again.”    

    

“Thank you for your help once again, Madaline.”    

    

It was dark. There was a foul smell and on her hands, she could feel something sticky drying. When she moved forward, her feet was pushing through obstacles that were getting colder. She grit her teeth, moving forward as tears leaked continuously from her eyes without mysteriously blurring her vision, not like there was anything to see.    

    

She could finally spot light in the distance and ran towards it, ignoring the sounds she heard from what she was stepping on. She tried not to think and just find the light. After running for what seemed like eternity, she finally saw the light but…it was the moon, hanging freely in the sky.    

    

She felt hands on her back and she was suddenly falling. She grabbed a hold of whatever she could and found herself dangling from a cliff. The silhouette of someone above the cliff cleared up to reveal…Fredrich.    

    

“Fredrich, please, save me.”    

    

“Save you? Why should I?”    

    

It was then she realized that those weren’t the kind eyes she had gotten used to in the last five years. Those were the cruel blood red eyes of someone who hated her existence down to his core. It wasn’t the Fredrich she knew.    

    

“You deceived me, forced me to like you despite everything you did to me!”    

    

“What did I ever do to you?! Why do you even despise me?”    

    

“Your existence is my hell and I’ll never forgive you till the day I die. I curse you, Natalia! I curse you! I curse you! I curse you! DIE!”    

    

He stomped on her hands and she was unable to hang on again, falling freely into what she came to see as a pool of carcasses. As soon as she hit the ground, her eyes opened.    

    

“NO!”    

    

Marvis was cradling her gently. When Nightmares became a regular visitor to her subconsciousness, he would hold her and cradle her like a child. He wouldn’t let go until she was breathing properly. This time, he knew it was different. Her breath was erratic and she was sleep talking. The room was heating up, a side effect of her magic trying to protect her body.    

    

“It’s okay, I’m here. You don’t have to be scared, or worried, I’ll protect you.”    

    

“Marvis, I…had a bad dream.”    

    

“I know. It’s okay. I’ll protect you against anything.”    

    

She knew he meant what he said but she wondered if he was really capable.