The Duke's Daughter's Third Life

Chapter 26

Claud glared at Aeliana and as he took one step towards her, he paused. She stared at him, confused but he ignored her expression and turned around.

He walked over to his violin case and gently placed his instrument inside before zipping it up. After that, he stormed over to her.

"What on earth are you doing here!?" he yelled furiously, obviously displeased by her unwelcome visit.

"I—I heard music so I followed it!" she speedily answered.

Claud huffed and took a step away from her, rubbing his temples. Aeliana stiffly stood by the door and looked around.

It was the music room but she had never stepped in there before. This was her first time looking inside and the instruments neatly placed around the room put her in awe. Maybe it was the way the light hit inside the room or how the servants cleaned but it seem to make the instruments shine.

"I didn't know brother plays the violin." Aeliana softly spoke out, still looking at the instruments.

"Of course you wouldn't know, I never play it outside this room."

"But you play really well."

Claud raised an eyebrow at her reply and didn't answer back. Aeliana continued looking around the music room before he finally got annoyed by her antics.

"Now that you found who played the song, leave." he coldly said, his arms crossed.

Aeliana looked at him before walking over to him. She stopped once she was in front of him.

He stared at her with disgust, "Get away from me." he scowled but she ignored him.

Rather she was more interested in something else. Her eyes trailed to the violin case.

"Brother can I play with your violin?" she politely asked with big eyes.

He scoffed at her, "Have you lost your mind? I would never let you touch my violin and stop calling me brother."

"But brother I want to try playing a song."

"I said no and stop calling me that!"

Claud yelled and roughly pushed her aside but Aeliana wasn't able to keep her balance which resulted in her falling to her butt.

"Ow..." she mumbled to herself, wincing at the pain.

When she brought her gaze up, she noticed a weird expression on Claud's face.

"...Brother?" she slowly called out, snapping him out of a trance.

He took a step back and hurriedly left the music room with his violin case in hand. Aeliana sat on the floor, looking at the door before proceeding to get up and dust off her skirt.

"I didn't get to play the violin.." she muttered and pouted as she closed the door to the music room, heading back to her room this time.

***

Claud placed his case down on his couch and slammed the door shut. He heaved a loud sigh before messing up his silver-white hair.

"But you play really well."

Aeliana's words echoed in his mind making him grow annoyed by it. He clicked his tongue and angrily spoke to himself,

"What's so great about it? It's not like it can make anyone happy now."

The memory of him pushing her and causing her to fall down was etched in his mind. It was unusual for him to think about it and feel put off by it. After all, it wasn't the first time he had made her fall to her butt.

Claud groaned, irritated by everything and decided to have a nap before it was time to wash up and have dinner.

He didn't want to think about that girl anymore.

***

The day for Aeliana's tea party soon had arrived and Flora along with the other maids were dressing her up. They decided on a white dress with periwinkle-coloured bows and frills that were in certain areas on the dress. She had a simple black necklace around her neck and wore long white laced stockings paired with black mary jane shoes.

Aeliana didn't feel like doing anything with her hair this time which the maids were saddened by but complied with her wishes.

"All done, my lady." Flora said as she finished brushing out Aeliana's hair.

Aeliana looked at herself in the mirror before getting out of her vanity chair and gave a small curtsy with a smile to her maids.

"Thank you for your hard work." she said.

The maids stared at her before giggling,

"My lady, you are truly the cutest girl in the world!!"

"I'm sure that's not true but thank you for your words." Aeliana laughed with joy.

As she was talking to them, there was suddenly a knock on the door and a voice spoke.

"Eli? Are you done getting ready? Your tea party is about to start and we can't have it without the main star there."

"Daddy!" her eyes lit up as she heard the voice.

As the maid opened the door to her room and bowed, she ran over to him, receiving a big hug. Cassian laughed at how excited she was before kissing her on the cheek.

"Looks like I came just in time, let's go for your tea party now Eli." he said with a warm smile.

Aeliana stared in awe. Her father was very handsome and if he ever show this kind of smile to any lady, they will definitely fall for him quicker than the speed of light.

"Daddy you must never show this smile to anyone else except your family." Aeliana said in a serious tone which brought a puzzled smile onto Cassian's face. Seeing that look, Aeliana could imagine question marks to hovering above his head.

Cassian and Aeliana headed into the garden while holding hands. Aeliana could hear sounds as they grew closer to the garden.

"Eli," she heard her father speak.

"Yes daddy?"

"Are you nervous?"

"A little.."

"Everything will be okay and I hope you like your tea party."

"Of course I do! It is the first tea party I ever had."

Cassian chuckled and squeezed her hand, "I'm glad to hear that."

The sounds died down once they reached the venue. A servant at the side announced in a clear voice; "Duke Alston has arrived with Lady Aeliana, the daughter of Duke Alston!!"

---

Author's note: Hi! Sorry this was supposed to be posted yesterday saturday but I was out for a family dinner to celebrate grandma's birthday! We had Chinese food it was yummers (>'-'<)

Thank you for reading this chapter and long ass note hehe see you all in the next chapter <3