Duke of the Beast and the Vicarious Bride - Chapter 6

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※ This work contains depictions of coercive relationships, explicit language, and other graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.

Though no one could prove it, the circumstances suggested that Rose was the only family left to her.

From the time Anaïs vanished until now, Fiona had longed desperately to have a family again. The longer she was left alone, the more the young girl craved the bond that only family could provide, the sense of belonging to somewhere, to someone.

The villagers were kind enough to her in her pitiful state, and the butcher Zed and his wife Sarah were well-meaning, but between them and her there existed a wall that could never be crossed.

And she could hardly call that wretched Count her family. So Fiona wanted a family of her own. Imperfect, it could be, but a true family, whole and tightly bound, that was hers.

In that sense, Rose was a gift of a child. And so Fiona gained a new family. And she was determined to protect her family, no matter what.

Even setting aside the question of blood, Rose was a child who stirred one’s protective instincts. The girl, with her bright golden hair so unlike Fiona’s own, and her mysterious light green eyes, was as pretty as a princess from some kingdom.

The only trouble was her silence, which no amount of time could break. No matter how Fiona spoke to her or urged her, Rose would only blink her large, soulful eyes impassively, utterly incapable of speech.

A father who was as good as none, a mother who had vanished, and now a sister in frail health. Misfortune she had never asked for was all that ever appeared before Fiona, yet still she did not break.

For poor and powerless girls, the world was a brutal place. And so Fiona had to grow stronger, even if by force. Particularly Rose’s pretty face often posed a great threat to their daily existence.

Her nature, already more spirited than most girls her age, grew fiercer still with the butcher’s work. As if her childhood dreams of a romantic wedding had been a lie, Fiona grew into a stern woman who wished all men would simply drop dead.

Black-hearted men who cast lecherous glances at Fiona as her figure began to curve; vile boys who tried to lift Rose’s skirt; spiteful old crones who sought to introduce the sisters to wealthy old men in need of a second wife or a concubine. The enemies Fiona had to repel appeared without end.

If one could call it fortunate, perhaps it was. As life went on, there came days when learning to butcher pigs proved useful. Whenever anyone so much as tried to touch them, Fiona would brandish her hefty cleaver and rage with such ferocity that most people fled in utter terror.

As time passed, those in the village who might have troubled the sisters naturally disappeared. All were cowed by Fiona’s nature, which only grew more vicious with age, never softening.

Thus they survived, within the fortress they had painstakingly built, for ten years.

Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine that a crisis she could not possibly repel would suddenly descend. And even less that it would come in the form of a proxy marriage.

* * *

Three days later, Fiona and Rose were placed in a carriage sent by the Count and conveyed to the Count’s manor.

Leaving the small room where she had lived her entire life, Fiona said her goodbyes to Zed and Sarah, who had come to see her off with worried faces. However much she had helped with the work, taking in two orphans had never been an easy decision. That Fiona and Rose had never starved or frozen to death was thanks to their kindness.

Especially Sarah, a boisterous woman with five children of her own, who had often clapped Fiona on the shoulder and told her not to lose heart.

‘A girl who knows how to handle a butcher’s knife has nothing to fear in this world. Once you’ve got a blade in your hand, you can take down at least one bastard.’

When she would next hear that husky voice, now etched into her memory, she could not say.

“Take care of yourselves. I cannot promise we will meet again, but if chance allows, I will come and find you.”

With a brusque but heartfelt farewell, Fiona left that place, her unhappy past behind her. Only God knew what greater hardships awaited her in the life to come.