And Then Came A Duke
In Which Sons Are Abducted, Maids Quit And The Wife Is Selected
Disclaimer: I do NOT own GH...
"Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in."
― Leonard Cohen
"Was that Miss Hara, seen dancing with Lord Davis at the Hara's Ball last night? Maybe the church bells will finally ring for marriage of convenience.
La, we all know that Lord Davis in a passionate marriage is an idea that seems quite impossible. Lord Davis – have no fear, those marriages are 'out de vogue' anyways…" – The Snitch, October 1809.
April 1816 -
Sunlight…
His first, half-formed thought screamed the fact that light was piercing his being, trying to prise his tightly closed eyelids apart, fighting to break through a dull haze that layered his mind, making his body rattle as if the bed was in motion –
Making his body….what?
It didn't take much time for him to calculate that he was drunk…drunk into such a stupor that he couldn't think beyond the obvious fact rotating in his mind. It was, after all, a very common fact that the intelligence of Lord Davis was hardly to be underestimated.
If only he hadn't spent the whole day thinking about what to do with Luella's increasing tendencies towards matchmaking; recently she'd got into a scheme of having one of the footmen patched up with her lady's maid. His mother….really.
As if to rub it in, his bed jerked again, releasing a sound that made him think of wheels creaking when hit by pavement stones. Even the slightest attempt to think drove him mad with pain, all he could see was dull red, a hue that made his head spin violently.
Good. The cold voice at the back of his mind nagged. Keep your eyes closed, whatever you do – don't open them.
Hmm…well he would have no problem obeying that particular instruction, seeing the way his head hurt.
And then a scent wafted in his nostrils, jasmine and expensive soap. Decidedly female…making him see different colours in his head.
Holy Hell, what had he been doing last night?
"Oliver." The voice trilled, calling him agitatedly. "What do you think you're doing?"
Only if he knew…
"Hmmm…" He could only manage that little sound expressing his discomfort.
Any attempts at recollecting the events of the previous night were rewarded with dizziness and then a little of his memories; he had been visiting the tenants, making sure all accounts were correct and no figures had been miscalculated, he had been finishing a treatise on the mind of humans and then went off to dinner with his mother; all the while thinking of how to put her off the schemes she'd been creating of late.
Another slice of sharp, red pain.
The noise of jewels tinkling could be heard in some distant background, the plush surface underneath him jerked violently again as his teeth rattled and all he knew was that he was in some hellhole with a woman, drunk.
Hmm, his thoughts were wry, a rare occurrence.
A very, very rare occurrence…
The truth was that he hardly ever valued wine this much, let alone be inebriated to the state of oblivion – he was so busy each day, carrying out the duties indefatigably, looking to the comfort of everyone except himself.
Not that he would ever admit that to himself in a hundred years.
But then why was he in such a dishevelled state?
"Really." The familiar voice hovered tentatively above his head. "Come now, it was not supposed to be this strong!"
He thought he heard a sigh in another familiar voice.
Out of nowhere, the haze in his mind started to ebb away, letting his thoughts scatter themselves into corner, falling like pieces of a complex puzzle, bringing back his half-dissolved state of thought.
"What the hell…" His first words made him realize that his throat was parched, like dried paper. "What the hell." He emphasised, letting one of his hands run through his hair, dishevelling it more.
"Exactly my point." The deep voice caught at his attention and he knew who it belonged to – Lin.
"Oh, you two are incorrigible." The feminine voice was so known to him that he could not understand how he could forget who it belonged to, even in his drunken stupor. "This is so utterly romantic!"
The woman who he'd been fretting about earlier was none other than his mother.
Slowly, he squinted through one eye, the scorching sunlight making his features scrunch up, his hand pulled at the plush surface he had earlier thought to be his bed, it turned out to be nothing more than the carriage seat.
Speaking of carriages, the vehicle was steadily rolling through grassy meadows as he tried to take the reins of his consciousness and that was when realization struck him.
"What is happening?"
The inquiry was unheard by the other two; Luella was steadily embroidering her initials into a handkerchief while Lin was sitting with his head bowed, his fingers intertwined as if assessing a deep problem.
"I asked something."
To this, Lin started violently coughing and after the fit, gestured to the carriage.
Oh.
Somebody had drugged his wine at dinner last night, then abducted him, Luella and Lin, could have taken all of Luella's jewellery by now and were now taking to them to some godforsaken place.
Must have been some old enemies of Gene and had kidnapped him in his idiotic (ah but elder) twin's place. This hadn't happened the first time, once their mansion had been ambushed and half of Luella's jewels had been stolen. And once the tenants had been robbed – but it had never gone this far. Not to kidnapping; surely Gene would have done something exceedingly stupid – not that it was something new.
Sometimes he wondered why Gene was born three and a half minutes before him…
"Gene," He sighed, pinching his forehead as he straightened himself on the seat. "This is all his fault."
His accusation caused a sudden silence to descend upon the carriage, a silence that made him heard the little creaking of the carriage, the rustle of Luella's skirts and he could see that the two of them were gawking at him…
"Oh my," Luella exhaled and shot him an astonished look. "But how did you know Noll?"
How did he know - ? Really now, anybody knowing Gene would know that the man had more enemies, friends and affaires than one could count. To his brother, life was something to grasp and wring the essence out of – unlike him. Not that he had ever been siezed by the desire to change his lifestyle or to make enemies (people were rather thick in the head for him to consider them his intellectual equals) or to have friends (God forbid) or to have affaires with unknown females who had more beauty than thought.
He did not want freedom or the trappings that came with it.
"I'm not a simpleton, Mother." He noticed irately that Lin was also staring at him in disbelief. "What are you staring at me for?"
Lin cleared his throat, trying not to give away his inner thoughts.
"So…" The word was stretched out by his guardian. "You are not displeased at the outcome?"
What was Lin drivelling about? "Of course not. This can hardly be helped. Stop talking nonsense. If only my half-witted twin would stop being imbecilic."
"Noll." Luella was giving him a strange, star-struck look. "You're right! You've finally recognized the depth of your mother's concern, haven't you?"
Depths of what - ?
"Noll, can you see my face clearly?" Lin leaned a bit and drummed his knuckles on Oliver's forehead. "Are you sure you don't have the fever? Or is the wine making you talk, though you don't look drunk."
"Lin."
This day couldn't get any worse, stuck in a carriage with two half-wits.
His head pounded against his cranium and he had to bite his tongue from expressing a howl justifying his headache. His vision had cleared considerably and he could clearly see and interpret the scene before his eyes; Lin was wearing his usual black apparel and was seated facing him while his mother was sitting next to him, in all her glory, her posture stiff as usual, her features melted into nonchalance.
"Don't worry Mother." He heard himself muttering to the Dowager. "We'll have us saved in a matter of minutes. Don't exert your emotions. Lin do you have a weapon on you?"
"A gun."
Luella sniffed.
"I would hardly ever need to exert my intelligence or emotions if you and your brother listened to me." To his surprise, Luella hardly looked worried but more like her casual self, maternally meticulous. "Besides over-exertion is unhealthy for me. It will mar my beauty." To emphasize this point, his mother smiled at him before turning back to the knitting on her lap.
What – ?
Lin had a gun, his mother was not worried about thieves, highwaymen or any other brigands that occupied these roads…and Lin hadn't taken any action at all against them even if they were thieves.
She was still wearing the amethyst necklace, and the diamond ring and the pearl earbobs…
And then an altogether different scenario assaulted him, wisps of memories that were too fleeting for him to grasp.
There were no brigands behind this scheme at all, no enemies of Gene, nothing of that sort.
Nothing of the sort that humans thought possible.
Only a guardian and a plotting, conspiratorial Duchess.
Slowly, his jaw hardened, eyebrows touched the fringe of his hairline and eyes turned to slits.
This had better not be what he thought it might be.
"Tell me." He began as calmly as possible, turning his head to look out of the small carriage window, at the scenery rolling by. "Tell me that this is none of your foolhardy scheme Mother…"
Swivelling his head to stare at his mother and Lin, all Oliver could do was restrain from shouting at the diabolical woman next to him.
The aforementioned woman replied by inhaling evenly and merely concentrating on the crochet embroidery.
"Tell me, that this has nothing to do with Gene's future marriage." His voice was deceptively pleasant, polite event as if he was discussing the weather. "Tell me that Viscount Lin, my so-called guardian did not drug my wine last night."
Luella's face darkened and Lin looked uncomfortable, an aura that he was seldom surrounded by.
Let them be scared.
"Tell me that we are not going to the place where I think we're going…"
Lin cleared his throat and Luella fidgeted, her furrowed eye-brows the only sign of anxiety.
"Tell me."
Luella sighed resignedly and placed a gloved hand upon his own, a slow, mischievous smile lighting up her face, an expression that he had come to develop a strong aversion for.
Oh no. Oh no. Oh no.
"I am sorry, Noll." She didn't even sound one bit of sorry, the woman who could switch roles like a chameleon changing colour, from loving wife to model duchess to mother to a general planning his next strategy on the battle-field. "But we're going to the village."
His eyes turned heavenward. Lin made a sound like a choked groan of protest.
"No." He wasn't sure who had croaked the word, him or Lin but Luella assiduously ignored them and went on looking determined.
"And this time I'm going to find my Gene, the bride that he deserves upon his return."
"A true lady's place is in the parlour – sculleries are for the servants." – A Lady's Guide To Deportment by Lady Draconia Embers.
"Wow…"
Pretty girls burdened by tragic circumstances are probably the only characters that the authors of bad novellas have in their mind when they create a story, which makes it seem as if pretty, feisty girls burdened by poverty are the only ones who can bring a man to rights.
Ha.
Nobody brings a man to rights.
Mai Taniyama watched the ducal carriage roll past as she continued the work that she'd been doing as soon as she learned not to talk unnecessarily and walk properly, without breaking things.
She wasn't even thinking about where she was, what she had been doing or how much money she had in her basket – the carriage was so elegant that she could only stare after it, jaw slack as it crushed the grass, passing over the stones so calmly as if it could not sense the turbulence in her day. She forced her eyes to squint outside the grubby window, trying to soak the sunshine in her bones even if she was standing in the middle of a cold, dank basement; shining china cups as a punishment for breaking one earlier.
"Scrub harder Mai."
It would have seemed strange to anyone, but Mai was used to talking to herself, enjoying the silence in the scullery after all maids had gone to their respective houses for lunch.
Her life was the official definition of drudgery; and she lived in a village surrounded by miracles. Women came here to wear off the town's excitement and enjoy the fresh sea air but it had become almost a routine for one of the ladies to get married by the end of the month to the man who seemed least likely to be her match.
Well, you could take the youngest Miss Hara who had been the odd one out of her family, she had been oddly beautiful and oddly reserved, the perfect idea of an English miss and yet the dashing, debonair flirt of the ton, Lord Yasu had taken her as a bride.
To be exact – they had eloped…
Then Lady Ayako married the tavern's musician, Houshou, against her father's wishes; after their marriage Takigawa had discovered that he was the ancestor to some ancient aristocratic line and was now an Earl. Oh and not to forget, Lady Madoka – the cheerful patroness of the village had married the hard, war-worn Viscount Lin.
It seemed that the village was full of magic for everyone except her.
"Harder."
She was destined to be the scullery maid for the village inn until she was too old to carry the cups back and forth.
Just take today for an example; her Uncle who had been ironically blessed with four daughters and no sons had beaten the youngest one for taking ill and Mai had got a few bruises on her wrists for trying to save the ten-year old. Then she had to work in the poultry before she could leave for the tavern and then she broke an expensive cup which lead to her current scrubbing.
"It's not fair." Mai felt her shoulders sag as she held up another cup for examination. "I mean, it's not fair for the other ladies to wear gloves and silk and satin and what not and for me to scrub cups. Really."
She frowned – was it just her imagination or was the cup disagreeing with her.
But then again, everything was legit when you were a twenty-three year old servant, spinster.
"No!" She rolled her eyes at the inanimate object. "It's true and you – " she jerked an accusing finger at the cup " – know it's true. If you had an Uncle like mine you'll rather run for the sea than stay there."
The cup twinkled in the afternoon light as if asking her why she stayed – well, if that was the case then she would answer it anyway.
"Well, I stay because he gives me money and I'm saving it so I can start my own business." Mai bit her lip. "And if I leave he'll probably kill my cousins and we can't have that, can we?"
She nodded to herself.
"All done!"
She would have continued her mindless babbling if she hadn't heard sounds in the corridor.
"You can't fire her Jack!" The voices were meant to be whispers but she heard them loud and clear, followed by the scuffling of footsteps. "You're not being reasonable."
That was the voice of the inn-keeper's wife. Who was going to be fired?
"Julia, we're a bit short on funds and I can't fire anyone else – they all are too important."
"But she makes the most wonderful tea in this village! You can't replace her!"
Mai felt something inside her burn…were they talking about her?
"She broke another cup this morning and she's too clumsy with things."
More whispers she couldn't decipher.
"But you know the drunkard her Uncle is! She means well! If we don't let her work here she'll – "
One thing she hated more than dependence was pity. All her life she'd tried to be brave just so she could be normal and not pathetic in the eyes of the villagers. All she'd wanted to was do well, not just mean it.
She felt something wet in her eyes…
"Julia that is enough. Please look to the lunch and send Mai to me."
"Jack but – "
She had gone and made things worse – she had made things more bad by her stupidity, she could never be better, she could never make her dream a reality…she could never do anything.
"Now."
The final words of the innkeeper seemed to trigger something in her and she blindly ran towards the main room, trying to calm her harshly beating heart and to stop her tears as they slipped down. She couldn't be weak, she couldn't be lax – she had to do something, she had to be brave, she had to do something other than overhear their conversation.
What she didn't know was that destiny wasn't on her side now.
Her bare feet rattled against the wooden surface as she ran towards Mr Hustle's room but it caught on a piece of stray rope that held sacks attached to the roof.
Her foot slipped and so did the sack of sugar – high up from the ceiling.
And that was how the inn-keeper found her, sprawled on the floor with sugar crystals all over her, shining in the afternoon light.
Damnation.
"Mai?!" Mrs Hustle, Julia, rushed to her side, her forehead wrinkled. " Are you alright dear?!"
"I'm alright." Mai's joints creaked in protest as she lifted herself from the floor, breathing hard from the impact. "I'm alright. I'm alright."
"Of course she is!" The inn-keeper looked at the floor, fury in his posture. "My sugar, my precious sugar!"
The sugar…it had been the inn's reserve for a whole month and she had just gone and spilled it.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
"I'm sorry Mr Hustle." Mai hurried to her feet, eyes widening in horror as she saw the damage she had made. "Oh my God."
Mr Hustle was silent for a whole minute until his eyes sharpened and a wry smile tipped his mouth upward.
"You'll pay for it."
"I – I'll…"
"You'll pay for this sugar with your month's salary Mai. No discussion."
Mai felt something hard hit her and suddenly all she could feel was anger boiling in her stomach. How would she buy the family any food without means any other than her personal savings, how would she do all the repairs around the small house…and – and winter was approaching, how would she keep the girls warm, how would she manage it all. Her cousins were not accepted by the village children, she couldn't send them to school, she couldn't…
Her life was, she realized with dawning horror, a series of couldn'ts.
"B-but – b-but!"
Julia gasped.
"I quit."
It was a whisper, barely controlled fury, but the innkeeper heard it.
"You can't Mai!" Julia protested, rushing to stand between her husband and Mai. "You're too….poor." She finished lamely.
"I'll manage."
God knew she couldn't.
But she couldn't hear anybody, she couldn't hear reason at all, everything was blurred around her – or maybe the tears of her eyes were distorting the whole world.
"I quit." Mai raised her head, her apron scrunched in her hand. "I quit!"
And before she knew where her fury was leading her, she was standing outside, the grass tickling her feet, sunshine soaking her bones.
She screamed in frustration – letting the tension out of her system; one cry was all it took for the tears to resume.
That was the turning point in her destiny.
He thought he heard someone scream…
And that was when he decided that even the high-pitched scream of frustration would be better than listening to his mother make all kinds of plans for Gene's bride.
"You can't do this." He tried to keep the desperation out of his voice but the Dowager Duchess hummed absently as if could care less for him. "This is absurd Mother."
She didn't seem to have heard him at all.
"You just have to choose a girl, Noll!" She chirped and even while making the ridiculous sound she looked every inch of the rich lady. "I can train the girl to be the rightful duchess of Shibuya."
Oliver thought he heard Lin groan. Honestly, he felt like groaning too – since panicking seemed so unlike him.
Her cheerfulness despite the confines of the castle made him sick to the pit of his stomach.
For the past four years he'd been trying to deter his mother from doing what she was doing right now; but as usual his mother thought she was next to Merlin the magician in making impossibilities to possibilities.
"Why did you kidnap me?" He asked annoyed, trying not to think about the end of his mother's schemes. "I want to have no part in your scheme, why don't you go on some ball and choose a wife for Gene yourself?"
Luella huffed.
"Pssh!" She wildly waved her embroidery at him. "I know nothing about the tastes of men and besides you are Gene's twin, you know him best, don't you?"
He refrained from answering which made his mother turn to Lin, who looked as if he was slowly dying from strangulation.
"Am I not right, Lin?"
"You are. Your Grace." He looked as if he was trying to make himself believe that. "As always…"
"There Noll, see? Even Lin agrees."
He, couldn't see…not at all.
The village was a retreat of on-the shelf spinsters who came here to either wear off scandal, look for a husband or enjoy the fresh sea-air. All in all, he calculated, the place would be hell for him.
It's name was one that no man dared utter for one simple fear; holy matrimony.
"Mother, you know that Gene would want to select a wife for him, himself." Oliver pointed out, he did not believe in rationalizing with idiots but this whole situation was a farce. And he was desperate. "I'm not sure if our interference will be appreciated."
"Of course." She nodded sagely. "That is why I'm taking you with me. You are Gene's twin – you know his mind. And besides if that depraved, dissolute friend of yours – what was his name - ?"
"Lord Yasu?" Lin supplied.
"Yes, yes the flirt. Well he met your Masako at the village and they had a love match, did they not? If Lord Yasu can marry and stay monogamous, so can your idiotic brother."
He wanted to point out the simple fact that Masako had never been his to begin with and that their engagement had merely been one of convenience. He had known her since childhood and she would have made a perfect marchioness.
God knew why he'd broken it off, then...
"And Lin." His mother rounded on Lin. "He met Madoka there didn't he and Ayako, she met Houshou at that place – " Turning back to him, Luella pressed her lips into a firm line. "I tell you Lin, that place is magic. All you have to do is choose a girl closest to your brother's choice for a bride, see?"
Oliver wasn't quite sure it was a bride that his brother wanted. Mistresses were easier and of course, less permanent.
The carriage halted and the door was flung open by a footman who extended a hand to Luella and carefully, putting up the haughty, aristocratic façade, the Dowager Duchess of Shibuya descended the carriage.
The village was beautiful – idyllic, the sea stretched on like a beautiful cloth of green and blue, the grass was freshly cut and every piece of nature was in its rightful place.
Except the inn's sign…
"Bulls and Roses." Lin raised an eyebrow at the askew sign and faced Noll. "This brings back memories."
He merely raised an eyebrow at the look in Lin's eyes.
"Hmph." Luella surveyed the place with a critical eye. "So this is where you will select a wife for your brother, take care Noll." She then smiled and Oliver almost lost the heart to say no to her, almost. "- though I don't doubt your choice. You are my perfect son." With a kiss to his cheek, she floated to the entrance, waiting to be announced by the footman inside the inn.
"The Dowager Duchess of Shibuya." Luella went inside, her spine straight, looking every inch of the Duchess that she was. "Viscount Lin." Lin, shaking his head, followed in her wake, looking tired but eager to see the village again.
"Lord Davis."
This was the part he despised the most – smiling for the reassurance of insignificant others, life would be so much easier if people didn't expect him to be cheerful and smiling like Gene.
The mention of his brother made him sigh but he was skilled at maintaining appearances.
So he entered the hell hole with a smile on his face, knowing that not even one of those ladies could guess that it was a mere stretching of lips over bared teeth.
The inn was filled with ladies; blonde headed, blue eyed, red headed, brown headed, pretty and normal, lots of them, sewing, reading, playing the pianoforte, copies of an etiquette book lying haphazardly on the floor as a contented poodle chewed on them, all in all none of them were interested in paying attention but his immediate entrance caused a sudden hush to fall upon the place.
Women gawked; as usual and he knew that his handsomeness had done it again – made him invisible. This place was filled with spinsters all vying for a husband but he could care less, they were not for him – heaven help him if he ever decided to marry – they were for Gene, who was…
"I am the Dowager Duchess of Shibuya." Luella's clear, imperious voice broke his train of thought.
At this there was a rustling of skirts, a uniform curtsying and the familiar chorus of 'Your Grace' by everyone.
Luella nodded approvingly at the crowd of women.
"And I am here to find a bride for my son Eugene Davis, the Duke of Shibuya – "
The ladies immediately looked up at him – ears visibly perking at the very mention of marriage.
"My son, Oliver, here – " At this Luella turned to gesture at him. "-will select one of you to be trained as the rightful duchess of Shibuya since Eugene is currently taking a tour of the Continent and will be returning home this month."
The silence was so intense; every girl in the room had frozen – one of the ladies had pricked her finger on her needle but she was looking at him in rapture, ignoring the blood on her finger, the servants had paused in mid-air, eyes wide at the sudden announcement.
"Go ahead Oliver." His mother turned to him, smiling wildly. "Go ahead my son."
Wild thoughts rang in his head; he couldn't risk the future of a woman like this, his mother would be aghast if she knew, and all for a person…all for a person.
He should have told her…Lin should have told her…somebody should have told –
And that was when he saw her.
She was nondescript from the distance when he spotted her; hair sparkling for some unknown reason, dressed in drab grey, walking in through the back-door while clumsily fingering the door knob, her head bowed in – misery – he presumed.
He didn't see her like that – he saw her as a panacea for everything.
She was perfect, poor, unfashionable, clumsy, high strung; everything the exact opposite of a duchess, a touch too pretty but that didn't matter; he couldn't be too picky when it came down to this.
He knew how to end this matter, this was perfect, almost too easy, too calculated – he could smirk at the easiness of the plot that he had just hatched.
Let his mother deal with this disaster.
"I know who I'll take." He raised a finger and pointed, amidst the gasps and surprised squeaks form the women around. "I'll take her."
She swung around and their eyes met over a distance – a rich shade of brown clashing with his blues and for some reason something inside him…
Shifted.
Her jaw didn't go slack with his handsomeness, her ears didn't perk up at the mention of anything and she simply looked at him and the corner of his mouth tipped downwards as if displeased by something in his face.
A rebellious one – his smile turned smug – even better, even more difficult to handle.
His mother looked like a dying gold-fish, striving to splutter and Lin was shocked, his face struggling with a particular expression – epic.
The girl looked up at him, her eyes wide, her mouth finally parting in astonishment as if she was trying to reel from some intense impact.
Just perfect; drama they wanted, drama he would give.
"I'll take her." His finger hadn't lowered, it still pointed towards her, his voice echoing. "She's perfect."
She's perfect.
One word – and that was when all hell broke loose.
A/N: Review? Please? :3
Edited: 3-1-'16
