“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.”
