psithurism

iv: unusual breakfast

I opened the door to my balcony to let the fresh morning breeze enter my room.

I sat in front of my vanity and grabbed a paper and a quill. I started writing a formal letter. It took me a couple of rewritings before I got contented.

I put it in a wine-colored envelope. I sprayed some rose perfume in it before sealing it with a black wax.

"Mama?" I haard Charlotte's sleepy voice.

I looked at her and smiled. "You're up early," I said and carried her. She immediately wrapped her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist.

"Papa promised to play with me the whole day," she said.

That made me halt but I immediately regained my composure. "Have fun, then. I'm going to the viscounty to visit your uncle."

"Have fun too, Mama. And say 'hi' to Uncle Niriko for me. Safe travels!"

After that, we took a bath together and dressed up without the aid of our ladies-in-waiting.

My eyes stared at my reflection on the vanity before my eyes landed on the letter I wrote. I grabbed it and handed it to Charlotte.

"Pray give this to your father as well."

"What's that, Mama?"

"It's something urgent," I said and forced a smile.

That morning, I didn't eat my breakfast in the mansion and chose to travel with an empty stomach.

"Kuya!" I excitedly ran toward my brother when I saw him waiting at the gate of our viscounty.

"How have you been?" he asked me and immediately wrapped his arms around me.

I pouted. "We just met each other the other day," I said.

"I missed you still," he said and beckoned the mansion. "Let's get inside, shall we?"

He escorted me to the mansion. I halted when I saw a man with gray ash hair and golden eyes drinking tea in my brother's waiting room.

I gasped. "You have a visitor, kuya?" I asked him.

He looked at me before eyeing the man. "No. Just some jerk who has nothing better to do but to pester me."

I smiled awkwardly at the man when our eyes met. Luckily, he seems unbothered with what my brother said.

"Have you eaten, Naomi?" kuya suddenly asked.

I smiled at him. "I haven't."

He arched an eyebrow. "And why is that? Is His Grace starving you? Let's go to the kitchen. I'm also hungry."

I followed him to the dining and sat on my usual spot. I was shocked when I saw that the man followed us.

I heard my brother sigh. "Right. Naomi, this is Valerian Duce, he's a foreigner I met when I went to the Ruiz Empire as envoy," he introduced the man. "Val, this is my sister, Naomi, duchess of the Vandecois."

I saw how the man's left brow arched. "The infamous wife of Duke Vandecois?" he asked.

That made me stiffen. The way he said 'infamous' made it sound like he'd known my marriage for a while.

"Watch your tongue when you're in my abode, Val," Kuya said threateningly.

I forced a smile and avoided the gaze of the stranger.

"What could I do? It was the talk of the merchants. Of how a powerful duke of a certain empire neglects his wife," the man said.

I cleared my throat. "And what made you think it was my husband when not even the name of the empire was mentioned?" I asked him. "The hearsays of merchants is never to be trusted."