Love Amidst Wars

thirty-two

"And what if the other nobles were to find out about our little escapade, Your Grace?" Juliette giggled as she rested her body on the window stool.

"I might have to prove their rumours right," Jake breathed out as he stared longingly into her eyes from below. "By doing what, Your Grace?" She peeked her head out of the window to get a closer look at him.

"Courting you."

Her heart skipped a beat as she got back inside, pacing back and forth in her room. She placed the back of her hand against her cheek, feeling it warm. The doors to her room suddenly opened, revealing her maid.

"Oh my! You scared me," she held her chest with widened eyes of shock, backing away towards the window. She hoped the fellow maid did not hear any of the conversation or even a man's voice outside her bedroom.

But unfortunately, the maid did. The servant squinted her eyes at her lady, crossing her arms. "My lady, a man is standing outside. Were you talking to him?"

"That is the Duke, Alice."

"Oh, my word! What is he doing here? What if the Viscount knows about this?!"

"Which is why we are not telling him," Juliette's face fell to a slight scowl as she walked to her mirror, scanning herself from head to toe.

"But, my lady, if this were ever to come out, the nobles are not going to leave this–"

"Then," Juliette interrupted, "The Duke just has to start courting me, right?"

Alice's lips rose into a small smile as she rummaged through the closet, searching for her lady's cardigan. "You have to look your very best! This is your first escapade with the man of your dreams!"

"He is not the man of my dreams, Alice. I'm simply giving this experience as an experiment. Whether it can be delightful or something I would never do again."

Juliette spoke as she stared at herself wearing a cardigan in front of the mirror. After taking a few deep breaths, she finally looked at her maid, "I'll go now."

"Make sure to avoid the thorny climbing roses. And I'll make sure to cover you, my lady!"

She gave a nod to the fellow servant before looking out the window again, seeing Jake waiting for her patiently. "You promise to catch me if I ever fall, Your Grace."

"I did," he opened his arms and waited again for her to climb down. For her, he would wait a thousand years if it meant to be with her. As soon as she almost reached the ground, she hopped and landed safely on her two feet.

"I've never done this before."

"Then, you will feel the thrill of running away from everything. Just like running away from reality. Let's go," he intertwined his hand with hers. Her heart skipped a beat one more time, feeling his soft skin brushing against hers.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

"Your Grace, why are we in the town? People might see us," Juliette released her hand from Jake's grip, looking at him with a questioning expression. His gaze softened upon noticing the anxiety she was feeling.

"Have you ever had fun, Juliette?"

"What kind of fun? If exploring the forest, drawing and embroidery is what you meant then yes, I've had fun before."

"Do you like music? Dancing? Drinking?"

"Drinking? Are you going to get me drunk and use me to your liking?" She backed away and kept a wary look at him. He laughed and shook his head before grabbing her hand once again, "Fine then, we won't do the drinking then."

He led her to a secluded alley, pulling her through the dark pathway. She felt fear slowly engulfing her before it soon turned into a relief. They both went into a small building and instantly were greeted with merry music and bright lights.

The ambience was lively with all the people—mostly commoners, dancing and getting along with everyone. She gasped in awe as she looked around, never seeing anything like it.

"So you do know how to mingle with commoners. I thought you were just a stuck-up Duke who despises those of lower class."

"I come here often to clear my mind and hang with people. Those who are not pretentious and cunning."

"Your Grace, long time no see!" A man greeted him with open arms, receiving the embrace back from the Duke. "And you've brought?"

"This is Juliette. My friend."

Juliette smiled at him before shaking hands with the man, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Well!" Jake sighed, seemingly in a good mood before turning his attention to the surroundings of the room, "Since I'm quite happy now, I'll pay for everyone's drink!"

Everyone cheered and began pulling him into the middle of the room, forcing him to dance together. Juliette watched from the corner, being the wallflower as always, admiring how attractive the Duke can be when he spends his time with the people he trusts.

As she was deep in her thoughts of admiring him, a woman approached her. "Pardon me for asking, my lady. What should I call you?"

"Just... Juliette."

"Ah" the woman nodded, "I'm Margaret."

"Pleasure to meet you, Margaret."

"Why don't you dance with the Duke, Juliette? I'm sure it will be merrier."

"I'm used to just observing, Margaret. I'm good, thank you for asking."

"What's it like? Dancing at a ball? Is it like this? Do people drink as well? Do people sing together?"

"It's more uncomfortable there. If you're a wallflower, then you can't hope or expect people to approach you for a dance. And the nobles will gossip about you. But if you were asked, then they gossip about how ridiculous it is for a wallflower to be asked for a dance."

"They don't sing, they judge you all the time. And you're basically walking into a fancy dungeon with eyes all watching you. And you need to socialise but you can't really be a social butterfly so that you won't accidentally offend the elite nobles. It's very... complicated."

"Well then, my lady, you can be as free as you want. You can talk to whomever you want. And you can dance with whoever you want," Margaret brought her to the dance floor and gave her hand to Jake.

They both gazed into each other's eyes for a while before he placed a hand around her waist hesitantly, "May I?"

She awkwardly wrapped her arms around his neck and nodded, "You may."

And they both swayed to the rhythm of the music, blending in with the crowd of lovers dancing with their significant others.