"Duchess!!"
After saying one word, Callisto was at a loss for words. Looking wide eyed like a shocked kid, hearing curses for the first time.
Callisto never expected such words coming out of the noble Briana's mouth. She had never once in the fifteen years they lived together or the twenty years he knew her from banquets acted like this. It could also be the most vulgar thing she had said, Callisto thought bewildered.
Briana looked at him for some more time to see if he had anything to say before turning around and packing a large suitcase. He really was a child...
Looking at her actions, Callisto panicked. In all his thirty-one years of living, he had never encountered such a dilemma. He was obviously getting dumped and he should naturally be happy about it.
"What are you doing?"
"Didn't you hear me saying I am visiting my father?"
"Why are you talking like that to me? No, why would you go to your father's house?" Callisto said, following Briana around.
Hearing this, Briana stopped, which made Callisto bump into her and fall backward.
"Are you made of stones?" Callisto said, looking at her, annoyed.
Unlike her fair looks, she was sturdy, which made him unable to make her lean on him.
"Why? Because I am worried about him, his sick!" Briana answered truthfully, looking kind of distressed.
Her answer made Callisto furrow.
"Did he tell you that in the letter? I saw him on the way home and he was doing okey.!"
Briana looked up at him. If it was anyone else, she might have misunderstood it for that person not wanting her to leave them behind. But it was Callisto , so he was probably just curious.
"No, he just asked me to VISIT to pay me for some business I have done for him." Briana said calmly, handing him the letter for him to see for himself.
To be honest, she just wanted to share her worries with someone and even if they were on the verge of splitting up, they were still husband and wife. It was hurtful to admit, but she didn't even have a close friend.
Besides, even though Callisto wasn't affectionate, he would still burst out his frustrations and worries that she didn't really want to know about.
Callisto looked at the letter with narrowed eyes. It seemed suspicious, but he couldn't point out where?
"Do you need money?" Callisto asked, still trying to make sense of the letter.
Brian leaned forward and pointed her finger to the end f the letter.
"I do, but I wouldn't be in such a hurry because of that. Look here, isn't it worrisome?"
Callisto saw her cherry colored lips move, but the leaning body was so warm and comforting that he couldn't focus on anything.
His eyes wondered about her face. 'How can she get more beautiful, day by day?'
Gulping down, he tried to focus so he could prevent her from leaving. He wants her to leave his life, but he most definitely doesn't want her to leave now. Maybe after she comforted him for a long time, saying everything is okay, that the important matter is for him to be alive, that he is the most precious person in the world. A month more.
"Explain so I can understand!" he said in a hoarse low voice, feeling anger swelling up. The letter's content was not enough to make her leave in such a hurry. Is she making an excuse to leave him? For a small scar?
She looked into his eyes, with her locking big golden eyes that had long jailed him inside them. The beautiful eyes in a spotless porcelain face surrounded by silky chocolate brown waterfall that reminded him of the soldiers' conversations on the battlefield. Those eyes that hunted him, day and night.
"Women leave their spouses during the war... No one wants a bloodthirsty ruffian soldier to be their husbands when they can have well spoken scholars."
"Poor thing, his fiancee left him saying he didn't want to be with a killer!"
Being reminded of those hateful words made him think that she should soothe him for at least another fifteen years. For a long enough time, so he can forget about the fear of getting abandoned helplessly, like how his parents had abandoned him from the day he was born, giving all their love and attention to his older brother. For those five years, he cursed himself inwardly for saying those words before leaving.
'I won't let her leave until she becomes wrinkly and ugly' he oathed to himself while in the heart of the enemies base. It wasn't his fault, she was the one that showed the thirsty him, a river. He is a thirsty beast, willing to kill whoever plans to take his river, even if it's the river itself and why in the devil does she look like she is in her early twenties? He wondered looking at her, uncharacteristic, cold demeanor.
Briana took off the hand he was unconsciously holding on the scar. Caressing the scar with indifference.
"Shouldn't you focus so I can explain? I am saying my father may be in deathbed! Otherwise, why should he use such affectionate words? With love?? In my entire life, he has never spotted such words to me or any other sibling of mine! He for sure is dying!"
Callisto looked at the letter again, now calmer. So, she was genuinely worried. It wasn't a plan to abandon him. He was crazy to think like that when Briana loves him so much...
The duchess looked at the duke, wondering if he had bought her lies. Of course, she would have known if her father was sick. Besides, her father would use those kinds of words if there was a need to coax someone into doing something for him.
The tense look on her husband's face loosened up. ' Tsk! He is really naïve! If he was so worried I am gonna sell his state affairs to my father, he should have been more insistence on my stay! He will lose everything at this rate...' Briana thought to herself.
Then, she suddenly realised she doesn't have to worry about his life anymore. They won't will not stay related for much longer. Instead, she should make money for herself, so her sons won't starve because Callisto has lost everything.
Determined, she started packing again. Her actions made Callisto uneasy.
"Why is your suitcase so large? Are you going to visit or on vacation?"
The duke, who until now was oblivious to the knight's words, got alarmed. Taking everything she had put inside her suitcase back and pushing away the suitcase.
The duchess, flabbergasted, looked at his crazy actions. He opened the dressing room's door, found a small handbag, and handed it to Briana.
"Here, pack one change of clothes for yourself and one for me. I will shower and get ready."
"What? Are you coming too? I thought you hated visiting my father's manor."
Callisto looked at her with suspicion, thinking, ' Is she hiding a secret lover there?'. He became even more determined to tag along, even though he didn't like the duke.
" Yes, he is but my father-in-law. I should pay him a visit if he is sick. Is there a reason I shouldn't be coming?"
Briana, unaware of his anxious feelings, misunderstood ' So, he really thinks I am a spy delivering information?'. This thought soured her mood. He is the cheating one, yet she is the one getting suspected?
"Won't your pregnant mistress feel anxious if you leave her now?" She said, glaring at him coldly. Trying her best to tell 'Do you really want to come to my father's house after what you did?' with her eyes.