Erica

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"Count Alvore, you have my full backing in this deal. I place my trust in you that you will secure it and bring further fortune to both our households." The Duke concluded satisfied with the outcome of this meeting.

"Thank you, Your Grace." The Count respectfully bowed his head. He too was happy with the outcome.

"Oh, and one last thing, the King asked me to deliver this to you." The Count reached into his pocket and pulled out a letter containing the royal seal handing it to the Duke.

"Thank you." The Duke wanted to grumble in annoyance but forced himself not to. He had a strong feeling about the contents of the letter.

"If there is nothing more, my son and I shall take our leave." The Count stood up. Sorin who had been standing behind his father for the entire meeting, moved out the way for the Count.

The Duke gave a grunt in dismissal, to busy staring at the letter. He was not happy in the slightest.

Sorin had gone ahead to ready the carriage while the Count retrieved their coats and had a quick word regarding a few details of the meeting with the head butler.

That was when he heard it. The Count froze in place as the beautiful sound reached his ears. It felt like a blanket engulfing him in its warmth and familiarity.

"Erica..." He could not help but whisper under his breath.

The name took him back. It was impossible. His daughter had passed on.

He had last heard her beautiful voice years ago when she was just a child until the horrible accident happened causing her to become mute so even if she had somehow miraculously survived and he had been lied to, there was no way.

The song continued to softly drift through the hallways, it's enchanting sound teasing all those who had the privilege of hearing it. The song however had the opposite effect in the Count, it made him feel many negative emotions.

The more of the song that he heard, the more anger and regret piled up in him. He felt regret that he had not spent more time with Erica, regret that he had not seen her in years, regret that he had no pictures of her. It was a horrible feeling that was beginning to drown him.

Unfortunately, his anger overpowered his regret. As strange as it may sound, it was not only anger directed at himself but towards whoever it was that was singing.

No one ever wants to feel this way about themselves, it is easy to push these emotions onto something else. Redirect them away. It is a very human thing to do, or one may face the consequences of falling into a state of depression.

For a headstrong and prideful man such as the Count Alvore, he could not allow for this to happen. He needed to protect himself from succumbing to such emotions directed at his self-esteem. It was a very egotistical defence and rather common amongst the well distinguished nobles in the high society.

The girl who was singing brought pain and turmoil, it needed to be stopped. The Count's mind and judgement were clouded with rage.

How dare this voice make him think of Erica?!

How dare this voice hurt him?!

His nostrils flared as he stormed down the halls following the sweet sound. He stopped before a neatly painted white wooden door. Whoever was singing was right in this very room. Her voice so so much louder and clearer now.

He was about to slam open the door but stopped when he heard soft delighted giggles belonging to a child.

There were children present in the room. The Duke's children.

What the hell was he thinking? How dare he try cause a scene in the Waisend manor?!

He had worked so long and hard to get onto this powerful family's good side and now here he was moments away from ruining everything. He had lost control over a voice for crying out loud, how pathetic can he get.

Unknowingly he allowed the singing to calm him. He let it get to him and stood awkwardly dazing at the door.

"Um... Father?" Sorin cleared his throat startling the Count.

The singing had stopped but muffled giggling at chattering could be heard from behind the door.

The Count ignored his eldest son and walked past him in the direction of the front entrance. He would never admit it nor show it, but he was embarrassed for being caught.

Sorin followed after his father finding his behaviour unusual but kept quiet about it. Out of all the Alvore family members, Sorin was the one who spent the most time with the Count. This meant he knew his father the best which does not say much for his understanding of his father was not the greatest. The Count was not the easiest man to get to know. He was very reserved and strict when it came to business. It took a trained eye to even try and predict what he was thinking.

Sorin learnt to ignore his father's strange antics and move on. He knew that if he even tried to understand the man, it would leave him with a major headache.

Sighing Sorin entered the carriage after his father, they had other appointments to get to today. It would be a while before he could even think about relaxing.

The Duke of Waisend debated whether or not to ignore the letter. He had nothing personally against King Aleric, in fact he regarded him with high respect.

He had known Aleric since the moment the young king was born. The boy had become like a younger brother to the Duke. There was a sixteen-year age difference between the two but that did not mean a thing. Aleric always used to latch onto the Duke whenever he was in the capital and the young Duke heir always used to spoil the little prince and his nephew Louis.

As much as he cared for Aleric, receiving letters from the King did not mean anything good. It normally meant that he had to do something that he did not particularly want to do.

Grumbling he gently tore the letter open. Sure, enough as exactly what he predicted, he was given a task. It was nothing hard to do and many would see it as an honour but the Duke of Waisend was not one of those people.

It was an invite to a ball. Although Aleric was not the one hosting, the invite was written by him. The Duke of Waisend wanted to laugh. The ball was for his nephew, the young Trencent heir but Louis knew that even if he begged his uncle, he would not attend thus he requested that Aleric invited him as it would be very disrespectful to decline a personal invite from the King. The Duke of Waisend would have no choice but to attend.

The Duke was well known for his hatred towards attending balls.

He was not always like this but once he married his Duchess, he changed. Marrying someone who is not of noble blood and from a neighbouring kingdom did not go well with his noble status in society. The Duke was unbothered by this however his Duchess was overly conscious at this fact.

The other noble ladies always used to pick on her and degrade her when the Duke was not around. Many were motivated by jealousy for the mere fact that she stood next to the most desirable bachelor at the time. It was rough and the poor girl often felt humiliated and embarrassed to the point where she had almost called of the engagement with the Duke of Waisend. Thankfully the Duke managed to prevent this and spoke up for his future wife.

Ever since then, the Waisend's hardly ever attend balls or parties that they know certain nobles would be attending. It may sound like that had let the haters win but in fact it was quite the opposite. It became a huge achievement for the person hosting a ball if the Waisend family would attend, almost as grand as the achievement as the King himself attending. For this reason, only a select few balls were attended each year by the Waisend and that was only if the Duke deemed the ball worthy enough for his beautiful Duchess.

He let out a long sigh. He needed to inform his family. They would depart for the capital in two days.