Murderous Suitor | Rebekah Mikaelson

Chapter Ten

 Rebekah sat alone in Vittorio's chamber for a long time. Everyone was right to warn her, to be concerned about her. It was all true. Vittorio was exactly the man they said he was, possibly worse. How could she let herself fall in love with a man like that? She was angry with herself for so much as smiling at him.

 Overcome with emotion, Rebekah fled his chamber and began to roam the halls of the house. She didn't run into anyone else as she walked along, especially when she got to the other side of the place, far away form the duke's rooms.

 Rebekah learned from Vittorio that this part of the house contained the Duchess' private rooms, and since there was currently no Duchess, they had remained empty. Now she stood looking at the door, wondering what it was like inside.

 It was locked up, of course, so she would have to find a way in. She snuck back to Vittorio's bedchamber and began to go through his desk. There could be a key in there, and there was. At the very bottom of everything was one key, a key that looked as if it would fit perfectly into the lock. She made her way back and slipped the key into the lock, and the two went together perfectly.

 The rooms Rebekah entered looked similar to Vittorio's, except that these seemed to have more a woman's touch, as the decorations seemed more feminine. If they were inhabited, they would have seemed beautiful to Rebekah. But they empty and dusty, and they seemed cold and hostile.

 Rebekah sat down on the bed, and then stretched out across it, looking up. What was it like to be a duchess, she wondered? She imagined it being difficult. You lived in a big house and had plenty of servants for whatever you needed, and you had an important title and were of a noble rank, but to her, that didn't sound appealing.

 What was it like for that woman with the sad eyes? What did she suffer at the hands of her husband? Was she so unhappy in life because of him? Did he have mistresses? Did he ignore her?

 Thinking about it, Rebekah hoped that woman hadn't killed herself because of the duke. It seemed like a waste to take your own life over a man like that. And if Francesca was indeed a good woman, then that would certainly have been a waste.

 Turning her head, Rebekah felt something. It felt like something hard inside the pillow. Feeling at it, it felt like a key.

 Intrigued, she lifted her head up, and carefully tore a hole in the pillow. There really was a little key inside. She held up and looked at it, wondering what it was for.

 Turning to the window, she noticed there was a small desk before it. She got up from the bed and went over to it. Sure enough, it was locked up, and the key she was holding could be it. Sure enough, it worked.

 Inside the desk was one simple leather-bound book. Lifting it carefully and opening it, Rebekah realized it was a journal, one written by Francesca herself.

 Rebekah sat down on the bed with the journal in her hands, and began to read through it. The early entries, it was clear that the Duchess had been unhappy in her marriage to Vittorio. She was very fond of Lucrezia, and thought of her as a daughter. But she never wrote anything good about Vittorio.

 Reading through it, Rebekah saw that Francesca, despite being so sad, was a kind person. She gave kind words and welcomes to everyone, it seemed. She wrote of how her husband had told her to 'act like a noblewoman' and to stop saying such enthusiastic things to every person she met. She even wrote that she suspected him of having mistresses.

 And then Rebekah got to something else. Francesca began talking of a man named Roberto who worked in the orchard. It was clear that she began to have a romance with him. She wrote that she hated her husband with all her heart, and felt the exact opposite for this Roberto.

 Then her final entry came:

 I am to go to bed soon, and I fear this may be my final night in the world of the living. My husband knows about my affair with Roberto. It would seem that though he has had lovers of his own, he believes that I should be condemned for having only one.

 I know my husband has doe something to me. I can feel a change inside of me. Perhaps he has poisoned me. But I die tonight, I not lament leaving this life. I have been so unhappy for a long time.

 I kissed Roberto for the last time today, but I am sure he will soon be dead at the hands of my husband. My sole regret is Lucrezia, who will be left entirely at the mercy of her brother. I gave her a fond goodnight, and can only hope she will not forget me. 

 That was where it ended. The Duchess went to bed that night, and never got up again.

 Rebekah slowly closed up the book. She knew what this meant, and what it would mean if anyone discovered it.

 Then she froze when she heard a voice.