*PREVIOUS CHAPTER*
"Duchess, what are you doing?" It was the duke's voice, he was standing in the doorframe looking at the book I was holding. I wanted to hide Naralia, but luckily she was already gone. "Why are you so interested in that book?!" The duke snatched the book away and threw it, he was furious.
***
I was so scared that I just held my hands against my ears. My parents in China also screamed like that, they used to fight a lot and got into many arguments. I was always crying when that happened, not being able to do anything about it. The duke reminded me so badly of my parents that I started to cry. I couldn't hear anything anymore since my hands blocked all sounds. I kept crying, helpless and not knowing what to do.
I felt a warm hand patting my head, it was very comfortable. I slowly opened one eye and saw the duke with a worried face in front of me. I quickly closed the eye again, scared that he would throw a tantrum again. Instead, he gently grabbed my hands and put them down as I kept crying.
"I didn't know that you would get so scared, I'm sorry" The duke put his hand against his mouth, it was the first time he ever apologised. I just sobbed and didn't look him in the eye, I was so sad but embarrassed at the same time. I always used to cry alone, crying myself to sleep. The duke grabbed a handkerchief and wiped my tears away.
"I'll ask a maid to prepare a bath for you". The duke left, making me sigh a little of relief. "Master, are you alright?" Naralia popped out of nowhere and sounded worried. "I'm fine" I was sniffing a little but felt less awful after seeing that the duke also had a gentle side. I had mixed opinions about him, one said that he was the angriest and coldest person I know. The second told me that he was nice when someone felt down. I convinced myself to put the duke's personality simple, just a pretty face that can explode anytime soon.
***
It was evening and I started working on the design of the fan. I wanted a fan that gave me a feeling of Spring and home. I drew different designs and chose the one that stood out the most, a fan with a sakura tree. Since it would be a light coloured design, I went along with a wooden fan. Since paint dried very slow here, I wanted an embroided one. The duke had no supplies here so I had to go downtown to buy some.
'Life here sure is hectic....'
***
*The following morning, 10 a.m.*
I woke up and my back hurt. I quickly got up and realised that I slept on the desk while working on the design of the fan. I stood up and something fell, it was a jacket. It was clear that it was a jacket from a man, it looked like the jacket that the duke wore. I smiled and grabbed the jacket, I put it in the laundry basket before going out to train.
***
The duke wanted to accompany me to downtown and I couldn't even refuse, he already prepared all the arrangements. When we first arrived I was shocked by the food stalls, so we had to buy food! I even saw a stall that sold something similar to mochi, my favourite food! The duke couldn't help but smile when I bought food from almost all the stalls here.
The duke had to go somewhere so we parted ways and meet each other later at a fountain. I quickly went to a craft store and bought different kinds of fabric. Mary recommended to visit a herb store too so I went there.
"HELP ME, MY BAG GOT STOLEN!" A woman yelled. I turned around and saw a man running, 'that must be the thief'. He turned around the corner and I quickly ran after him.
"Finally some real action!" I said, it would improve my stamina during training so I was quite happy. The thief kept turning his head, seeing that I came closer and closer. He stopped and dropped the bag. "Young lady, you're quite a beauty! Sadly you made the wrong choice!" The thief pulled a knife out of his pockets. I just stared at him and laughed, I also brought the sword that I got from the duke. The thief ran towards me, ready to stab me but I dodged. I drew my sword and pointed it at his throat. He looked at the sword in panic, seeing the blue primrose engraved on it. He looked at me and panicked.
"You- You are Celestine la Luvenis?!" I pointed the sword closer to his throat. "No, I'm Celestine Florys now." I heard people gathering around us, the Florys guards finally caught up with me and were shocked. Was the lady with the sword really their duchess?
"I'm sorry duchess Luvenis, I mean Florys!" The man begged for forgiveness, I must've looked quite fierce to let him beg like that now. "Call some guards and take him away" I grabbed the bag and handed it to the lady who lost it.
"I'm so sorry to have the duchess handle such a problem!" The lady quickly bowed down, just like everyone else who stood around me. "Everyone, please get up! Just keep an eye on your belongings in the future" I gave everyone a smile, they all had an admiring look in their eyes.
They probably all thought the same: "Was this really the woman who was found in the woods?"