Chapter 25 - Lonely Girl
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Leon ran through the alleyways of the Main City's Centre as he started to navigate towards Benica's mansion.
It wasn't so difficult to find since there were hardly any other buildings built as grand and luxurious as Benica's mansion.
Benica's mother, Duchess Madia governed the entire Duchy under her command from the palace at the City of Martez. The Mansion at the Main City was bought and reconstructed under her orders to keep her dying daughter from affecting her reputation or diplomatic relations.
The Duchess rarely ever visited the Main City and hence, only the house workers or maids of Benica's mansion knew about her strange condition.
The Duchess had placed a strict gag order on any news from being leaked out from within the mansion and so, every worker residing in the mansion kept everything that they had to gossip about within the confines of the mansion itself.
None of the workers had the courage to offend a direct order from the governing entity of the region as every statement casually stated by the Duchess would become the law of the land there.
Nana was initially supposed to live alongside her mother in the City of Martinez too, however, the little Princess absolutely refused any amount of cajoling or sweet talk while remaining adamant about living with her elder sister.
In the end, the Duchess had to give in to the little Princess's demands when she started to refuse to eat anything. However, she sent an overseer along with Nana to make sure that Nana wouldn't contract the strange illness from her sister.
The Royal Family was recovering from the internal turmoil from 10 years ago and presently were in no shape to be able to keep the powers of their Generals or the Nobles of the Kingdom under check.
As a result, most of the regional powers started to act autonomously as they paid little respect or tribute to the Royal family while continuing to fill their pockets with the tax money that they collected.
The relationship of trust and loyalty between the Royalty and the Nobility had crumbled into dust as the Nobles only ever tried to display the façade of obedience when in the presence of the Royalty themselves.
The authority of the Royal Family was at an all-time low and in such a chaotic time, the regional powers reigned supreme. Benica's mother was no exception to this situation as she too was busy consolidating and expanding her own sphere of influence.
As soon as Leon approached the outer boundary walls of the mansion, he started to look around for the hidden entrance previously shown by Nana.
Leon soon found the hole in the wall when he noticed how the shrubs had overgrown considerably almost overnight around the hidden entrance. He knew that no casual passerby could even catch a glimpse of it from a distance and would have to uncover it patiently to find it.
Of course, there weren't many that dared to do any such activity around Noble's household, especially that of a Duchess. Any stupidity done carelessly would cause the heads of the entire family to fly off.
Leon snuck inside the mansion through the hole as he squatted down and observed the patrolling guards. As soon as he found a chance, he started to run among the shadow of the trees in the courtyard. At last, Leon saw the building of Benica's residence and went inside it as he tip-toed his way up toward the upper floor.
Upon reaching the bedroom door of Benica's room, Leon tried his best to calm the wild racing of his heart as his heartbeat kept increasing by the second. As much as he tried, however, his heart refused to slow down as the increased blood flow only served to heighten his excitement even further.
At last, Leon grabbed the door and opened it slowly as he peered inside it. And what he saw left him absolutely mesmerized.
From the opened windows right next to her, the moonlight cast a serene glow over the fairy sitting nearby as she calmly read her book with great interest. As Leon glossed his eyes over her slim figure, he noticed a visible change in the air around Benica when he compared it to his visit before.
Previously, the aura of death and despair hung so heavily in the air around her that it seemed like she was a person on a deathbed. Now though, there was a feeling of joy, satisfaction, and calmness radiating from around Benica.
The effect of his previous night's hard work proved to be very fruitful as the complexion of her face and body looked leagues part from her deathly pale self. Instead, a rosy and healthy glow seemed visible on her skin.
Beenica was reading the book with great interest as she was deeply engrossed in reading it. It was by chance then, that her eyes traveled from the book over to the half-opened door away from her.
As soon as Benica realized that her soulmate had arrived at her room's door, a wide smile broke out on her charming face as she happily motioned with her hands towards Leon to come closer.
Leon's mind started to boot up again as he realized how he had been foolishly staring at his own wife's figure. He mentally admonished himself for his stupidity and quickly walked closer to the bed as his eyes naturally looked into Benica's blue eyes.
He couldn't help but smile back at her as he finally spoke to her,
"I-I'm back.."
Benica's eyes widened for a moment in surprise, before a pleasant smile appeared on her lovely face.
"Lord Husband. You finally returned. I am... so glad. I was waiting for you all this while."
As the feelings of loneliness suddenly rushed out of her heart, a mixture of relief and self-pity came along with it. A single teardrop slid down the corner of her left eye as Benica continued to smile at Leon despite letting out tears.
Leon panicked immediately upon looking at Benica crying like that. He quickly rushed towards her and asked worriedly,
"W-What's wrong? Are you hurt somewhere? Or maybe... what we did last night, did it really hurt a lot? I-If you are not fine with it, then. we could find some other way of getting rid of your illness... hopefully."
Benica smiled amusedly at her husband's display of worry and shook her head in denial. She leaned forward to tightly hug Leon as she buried her face in his arms.
"No... it's just that.. I was worried that you won't come back again..."
It was at that point that Leon realized the source of his wife's worries. He felt a sense of relief wash over himself as he thanked his luck that she wasn't hurt by his rash handling of her the previous night.
Leon raised his arms and softly hugged Benica's shoulders with his left arm while he repeatedly patted her smooth and lustrous dark blue hair with his other hand.
"Silly girl. You actually thought that I would go away? I am here to stay, you know? It is too late to even renounce our relationship anymore. You are my wife forever, Benica. And, I will be your husband forever too. For all eternity."
As soon as he finished speaking, Leon felt some dampness around his upper garments. He then realized that his wife had started another bout of crying altogether, albeit even strongly now.
He realized his own inexperience in dealing with women as he continued to hug her slim body in silence while continuing to pat her head to calm her down.
After some more time, Benica separated from Leon as she wiped the tears away from her face with her sleeves.
Benica had worn a beautiful and frilly purple gown that night. She had hoped to appear as her most beautiful self and receive some praise from her husband if he came back. She continued to wait the whole day from morning to night as she tried to remain positive while driving away the negative thoughts.
She used to have a huge wardrobe full of clothes before the illness struck her. But by now, those beautiful and cherished clothes of hers had become too small to be worn ever again. As her illness worsened, she wasn't allowed to appear in public or go shopping outside anymore as her existence was being erased from official records to prevent bringing any dishonor to the name of the Duchess.
The maids only ever picked up some random dress for her whenever she requested for one as the guardians responsible for the two children only ever cared about pleasing Nana. They knew that Nana was the future of the clan, while the question about Benica's survival remained uncertain.
They thought that Benica won't be able to live beyond a year or two. And so, they had no reason left for any pretense or false show of respect for the elder princess.
The gown that she wore tonight was secretly gifted to her by Nana, who bought it while she was away on one of her usual outings.
Benica desperately waited and hoped to be able to see her husband once again as he was the only man that ever treated her so well.
Especially since he didn't fear or despise her because of her strange illness. She also feared that her husband might get affected because of her and might contract the illness from her.
If that had actually happened, Benica might have just done something very terrible to herself due to the immense regret of harming her own loved one, even if that was done unintentionally.
Fortunately, though, her husband had returned safe and well as he was standing right in front of her.
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A/N: Thanks for following me along on this journey, everyone!