The Duchess' Daughter

Episode 15: The Public Ball II

"Suppose . . . "

Hindi natagalan ang pagtitig ni Lara sa kabilang mesa dahil bukod sa mukhang wala naman sa dalawang nakatayo ang may planong lingunin siya, tuluyan na rin siyang napaharap sa katapat na duke. The man's forearms were laid on the table, and his veins were appearing beneath his pale, aged skin.

". . . your father did kill Duchess Liria, what would you feel?"

Lady Lara breathed midway when she heard it. Napakaseryoso at sinsero ng titig ng ginong sa kaniya, tila ba'y nakahanda na itong pagalitan siya sa oras na mali ang maisagot niya.

What do you mean? Oh, dumb, Lara, dumb. Think. Think. Think.

Her hands were sweating inside her gloves when she pulled them down toward under the table, hiding them from the intimidating look of Duke Cassano.

"Is your ears still functioni—"

"I feel ill. I feel betrayed. I feel distressed." Her lips were fidgeting as she uttered those words. "I feel like . . . " she gulped. ". . . the world has already ended for me."

The stern expression on the man's face deliberately changed into a relaxed look before he grinned. He slumped back to his chair. His lips ahead his face, he slowly nodded while staring at the girl. "Feel?" he emphasized. "Has? So you believe it already?"

"What?" Lady Lara miserably shot back.

Duke Cassano rolled his eyes, a rare sight for a man to show.

"Come to think of it." He straightened his posture again as he leaned closer, and Lady Lara could see Prince Rohan in him. "Does finding justice only mean to have someone take the blame?" His brows arched, stimulating Lady Lara's total consciousness to come into surface. "And then the game ends. Is that what you think, young lady?"

Lady Lara had no other facet of the hall to look at as she was pulled by those pair of earnest eyes into concentration. "I-It's not what I think," she countered. "Hindi ako naniniwalang magagawa ni dad 'yon. There's no way he would kill—"

"Well, physically he could," Duke Cassano cut her. "Anyone could. With enough weapons, plot, and everything, anyone could cause the death of the duchess of Charlotte, even her self." He repeatedly nodded, convinced by his own statement. "But the question is who would?"

There was a pause. Lady Lara looked like scanning the man's face. Her mouth almost dried up, waiting for a word to come out of it.

"I assume you don't have a single hunch. Why did you come here again? How did you travel to the capital?"

"I don't know, by train—" she panicked.

"With Rohan. Right, with Rohan. Your future husband."

Lady Lara gulped, feeling strange.

The duke sighed. "Listen. Empress Celesta . . . my daughter—if you're still unaware—she doesn't want you to be her successor." It sounded like a question. "That's totally not the case. She mainly approved of Rohan taking you as his bride after your mother died  because she thought it's the best way to take custody of you. Oh if only I could describe how sissy-cheesy both those women were and how Celesta dislikes her very godfather, Fuerto, that she immediately suspected him to be his own wife's murderer right after her first glance of the circumstance."

Lady Lara's mind fortunately caught all those information crammed into a fast-paced speech but what she wasn't in control was her question escaping from her mouth after it. "Why does she dislike—"

"Let's not start with that," the duke stopped her. "What I'm pointing out is, Celesta does not have enough grounds for accusations. She is simply driven by her emotional attachment to Duchess Liria and her disgust toward your father."