"What does he think he's doing to my daughter?!" Duke Henry's voice echoed in his study. All the servants who heard him froze in fear.
Duchess Amelia who also heard the duke's voice rushed into his office.
She flinched at how her husband's study seemed to have dropped its temperature to below zero degrees. Something must have pissed him off.
"What's the matter, dear?" The duchess asked in a soothing voice.
"Look at that bastard. He dares touch my only daughter," Duke Henry replied while glaring outside the window. His hands were balled into fists.
Duchess Amelia followed her husband's gaze and saw the young prince hugging Stella.
"Oh my! Do they already have that kind of relationship?" she jested.
"Come again?" the duke glared at his wife, getting even more annoyed at how she was just accepting the situation.
"I was just kidding," the duchess giggled at the displeasure on her husband's face.
"How could you laugh at a time like this?" the duke held his temple. But before the duchess could reply, they both heard a sharp screeching sound.
The two turned, only to see their son, Hendrick, with his nails clawing at the glass windows. He had a disgusted look on his face.
"That bastard! I will kill him," Hendrick snarled. He looked like he might jump out of the window any second just to separate the two.
"Like father, like son," the Duchess sighed. She often had to hold back the two men in the family, or else they would suffocate Stella with their obsessive love.
"Hendrick, at that rate, you are going to hurt your fingers," Duchess Amelia warned her son.
"Mother, my fingers hardly matter at a time like this," Hendrick instantly replied, still clawing at the glass.
"That idiot Zafir. How could he just watch this?! If I was him, I would have pulled that brat off right away," Hendrick referred to Zafir who was hiding behind a tree.
Zafir had been assigned as Stella's personal guard recently when he turned fourteen.
He was instructed to not reveal himself to Stella if he was guarding her inside the family's residence. And he always followed orders to a tee.
"I am just glad that someone in the family is at least level-headed. This is exactly why you are not allowed to stay close to Stella," the duchess reprimanded her son.
She had always referred to Zarif as her own son since she was the one who raised him and even breastfed him when he was a baby.
"I will not forgive that snotty prince. I will kill him myself if I have to," Hendrick continued. He had the crazy obsessive look in his eyes that the duchess hated.
"Watch your words unless you want to go ahead and get the whole family shamed and hanged for treason. Are you going to get innocent Little Stella caught up in that morbid behavior of yours?" the duchess scolded.
"My apologies, Mother. I will not ever say it out loud again," Hendrick replied.
"Where did I go wrong with educating you?" the duchess held her temple dramatically.
"Nothing. I am perfectly well-behaved. More importantly, Mother, that kid is harassing Stella. How could you be so calm about it?" Hendrick debated.
"He is not. Look, Stella hugged him back. She's even patting his back," Duchess Amelia pointed out.
The father and son duo were petrified. They seemed to crack when Stella even stroked the prince's hair.
"See? If she disliked it, she would have pushed the prince away but she did not. Is it not better if she ends up liking the prince instead of Doctor Arnold?" the duchess pointed out and the two flinched.
The whole family had actually been worried that Stella had grown too attached to the doctor.
For the past months, Stella had been speaking a lot with the doctor much more than she spoke to them, her family members.
When Stella held the doctor's hand and stopped him from leaving, and even asked for knights to escort him and his daughter wherever they went, the whole family was mortified.
It was obvious that Stella did not want to let go of the doctor. They tried several times to talk her into getting a female doctor when her health had stabilized but she still refused.
It scared them that Stella might end up liking the doctor since he was her savior. And the doctor looked too young for his age.
Arnold's daughter was almost the same age as Stella so he just saw her as another little girl.
But the way Stella always had something to talk about with the doctor, scared her family. She seemed way too interested in the doctor for it to be merely fascination or admiration.
They did not want her falling for someone who was still devoted to someone already long gone. She would only end up getting hurt and they hated the idea. And he was twenty years older than her to boot.
"R-right," Duke Henry sighed in defeat. "At least that brat is close to her age."
"Father, we do not even know if that kid is capable of protecting Stella," Hendrick protested. He was more stubborn than his father.
"You are still a kid yourself. Go back to your room and study," the duchess scolded her son.
"Mother-"
"Do I have to prohibit you from ever speaking to Stella again?" the duchess warned.
"I'm going to study," Hendrick instantly left the room.
"What am I going to do to that son of yours?" the Duchess sighed.
"I thought he had finally gotten over his obsessive streak. But look at him. This is all your fault," she blamed the duke.
Duke Henry tended to be overprotective of everything precious to him. He was already overprotective of Hendrick, but it was even worse for the second born who was predicted to be a female.
Despite the duchess warnings, Duke Henry had taught Hendrick before Stella was even born, that he must protect his younger sister at all costs since she was so delicate and precious.
Upon seeing the adorable Stella when she was born, Hendrick instantly fell in love and believed his father's words. Hendrick took all of his father's 'education' to heart. And he turned out to be even worse than his father.
Hendrick became too absorbed in his little sister to the point that it was obsessive.
When they were still little, he often ended up making Stella cry due to his overprotectiveness. He prohibited her from doing almost everything since she might get hurt.
He was also possessive of Stella's attention and often warned Zafir to not get too chummy with her. Every time Stella talked to Zafir alone, Hendrick would ask the latter about it in detail.
At the age of eight, Hendrick even had several servants almost beheaded due to his obsessiveness.
Amelia realized that letting the two children stay together would hinder Stella's growth. The duchess had to prohibit her son from playing with Stella ever again since his behavior tended to suffocate the younger sibling.
Hendrick was only allowed to dine with Stella when the family was there. And he could only speak to his sibling when the duchess was around.
"I just taught him to treasure his sister," the Duke reasoned.
"You led astray a five-year-old kid. Now, look at him. He even refuses to get engaged since he wants to just keep watching over his sister," the Duchess sighed.
"Do not fret, my dear. Our son is perfect in everything else. He would get over it soon once he finds someone else to shower with his love," the duke assured his wife.
"Would that ever happen if he was too engrossed in Stella?"
"It's alright. What he needs to do now is protect his sister. I'm still strong enough to fend off our enemies. When it's time for Hendrick to takeover, I will find him a wife myself," the duke promised.
"You better remember that," the duchess sighed in defeat.
The two watched some more as Stella calmed the crying prince. Stella's actions were effective and the prince soon stopped bawling and they had tea together.
"If that brat is even considering being my son-in-law, he better straighten up. A naïve and innocent crybaby like him would not be able to protect Stella as our son has pointed out," the duke lamented.
"Who knows how he will change as he grows up? Let's just watch over them for now. He was the first friend that Stella ever had so let them be," the duchess responded.
"Exactly. He was her first friend so she would be mistaking friendship for romance. I have to introduce the other princes to her somehow."
"Dear, you are being meddlesome again." She knew how meddlesome her husband could be.
"That third prince is the worst of them all. If Stella was to marry into the Imperial Family, she should at least marry the best candidate. It should be the firstborn who is next in line."
The duke knew that Stella would only have a rough life if she got involved with politics. If she was to join that bloody world anyway, it was best to be with the one who could afford to protect her.
"You are getting ahead of yourself. Just make sure you are not going to mess up and ruin our daughter's life," Duchess Amelia sighed.
She knew that the three princes were getting along fine as of the moment since the Emperor was still in good health. Once the battle for the throne starts, it would end up in bloodshed.
If their daughter was involved with the three princes, she would get caught up in the crossfire or end up being in the middle of the mess.