Married to the Villainous Duke

Chapter 34

"When is the boat going to be ready?" Nathaniel asks.

"I still haven't received news from the others, sire," Clement, Nathaniel's right-hand man, answers.

"Why can't they do it faster? The Black Order will find us if we don't pick up the pace! "

"The men must have been tired from fighting with the Duchess' personal knights, sire..."

Estelle slowly rouses awake. She could feel her arms and legs tied tightly behind her while a cloth was wrapped around her face to gag her mouth. She gingerly opens her eyes and sees that she's laying on a mattress inside, what appeared to be, a small wooden cottage. Aside from the mattress, the only thing in the room was a strange contraption that had dark ink splatters everywhere.

Is that a medieval printing press machine? Where am I? I need to escape!

"If only that wench gave the gold earlier then we could have stolen the boat before we did all this!" Nathaniel yells and storms off.

He enters the cottage, banging the door as he closes it, and spots Estelle staring at him, "oh, you're awake now."

Estelle glares at Nathaniel. She wanted to thrash, scream and protest but she didn't want to waste her energy. With her being tied and gagged, trying to do all those would be useless. If I want to escape, I have to preserve my strength so I can use it at the right moment!

"You're as beautiful as always, my beloved Estelle," Nathaniel says as he goes to her side.

"Your golden eyes are as mesmerizing as ever and your dark black hair contrasting your pale white skin," Nathaniel licks his lips as he runs his hand over her exposed thigh, "delicious."

"I'm sure you're wondering why I'm doing this. Well, lucky for you, I'm getting bored of waiting so let's have a nice chat."

The tall tan man sits down cross legged on the floor and starts stroking Estelle's hair.

He begins speaking, "I love you, Estelle, which is why I spent years being your loyal knight so I could remain close to you. I found out your eyes were set on someone else therefore I searched for a way to get you to love me in return. I heard about a witch who could cast love spells but that bitch was a scammer! I asked her to cast a love spell on you but, instead of falling in love with me, you fell sick. That stupid witch! I wish I was the one who burned her at the stake!"

Is he talking about the witch Morgana Vedma? So Nathaniel was the reason why the 'real Estelle' is gone! Estelle probably died when that witch casted the spell then I took over her body afterwards...

Nathaniel had tears in his eyes, "I really thought you were going to die but, by some miracle, you woke up! I was so relieved! I was even happier when I found out you lost your memories! It was the perfect opportunity to make you believe that you were in love with me."

He suddenly tightens his grip and pulls her hair, causing Estelle to yelp in pain, "but that plan backfired because you refused to cooperate!"

"Now, I had to go through all this trouble just to get that bastard Nikolaidis away from your side!" Nathaniel screams at her, pulling her hair tighter.

On the other side of the forest, Stefano and four other knights from the Black Order are following a lumberjack. They've been up all night investigating the paper robberies and finally found a lead when they encountered a young man who said he had found an abandoned cottage a few days ago in the middle of the pine tree forest that connected the Dukedom of Blanchard and the Capital.

Stefano didn't know that the cottage they were heading to was the place where Estelle was being held captive. There was still no one who knew that the Grand Duchess was kidnapped because all of the knights that accompanied the lady were killed by Nathaniel and his hired goons. Meanwhile, Delia was unconscious and left on a ditch somewhere in the forest. Everyone thought that the Grand Duchess had arrived in the Capital safely.