PAK! PAK!

7:00 am, I just woke up from my dearest slumber, I combed my hair, changed my clothes, I was ready to cook for Maria, and yet the first thing that I saw this morning was Maria, slapping her father in the dining room.

TWICE!

At first, I was dumbfounded, but when I realized what just happened I didn't do anything. The Duke and I had an agreement that he will let Maria slap him this morning. It also looks like he already told her that the King will come today.

"Maria..." I uttered. I winced when I saw the red palm mark on the White Duke's face, there was a bruise on it. I unconsciously touched my cheeks.

I can feel the sting by just looking at it. Looks like Maria's slap is really worse than a punch.

Maria glanced at her father with a blank and icy stare. I can feel the tension between Maria and her father. Her lips turned into a curve. "Are you even a human?" she asked with a mocking tone. "I can see that you can't really feel anything," she said in an icy tone.

The Duke's face was still calm. It doesn't show any expression nor reaction. It feels like staring at a statue that can breathe.

But his body movements can't fool me. 

I glanced at his hands behind his back and it was trembling but it's only a little, it is actually unnoticeable unless you focused on it. 

It stings, was it Duke? I bet Maria didn't hold back.

Maria was about to slap him again, but she suddenly holds back and averted her gaze. She placed her hands on her stomach. Her hands were also trembling. "Do anything that you want, I don't care about the King," She uttered.

"I don't care about anything in this household or anything about your decision. Just do everything that you want, I won't be staying here that long anyway," She coldly said, "Just do anything as usual. Do not care about me."

She pushed away from the Duke and turned her back on him. She suddenly stopped when she saw me but she didn't say anything.

I gave her a warm smile.

"Have you had breakfast?" I asked. She glanced at me and carefully shook her head. "Okay, go to your room and I'll ask them to send something for you. I will bake you some cookies later," I said.

I went in her direction and gently patted her head. "Well done, Maria," I uttered.

A small smile appeared on her face. "Thank you," she said. Maria immediately went to her room. A servant followed her which made me breathe in relief.

At this moment, Maria needs time alone to think.

I glanced at the man who's still standing at the Dining Hall. He was currently touching his swollen cheeks and his face is slightly wincing.

"Your Grace..." Allan, the knight uttered.

The knight glanced at me 

"It hurts, right?" I asked the Duke. "I can't believe that His Grace can hold the sting," I joked to make the atmosphere lighter., but I failed. Instead, I receive a deadly glare from Sir Allan.

Awkward...

I scratched my cheeks as I glanced at the knight. "Sir Allan, do you any have first aid? Please bring it here." I asked him. Allan pulled away from his glare at me as he nodded his head.

Tch, this knight is really ugh.

He looks like a mother-in-law telling a girl to back off his son.

"Yes, My Lady," He said as he went away. 

I noticed that the Duke is currently staring at me. He's still holding his swollen face and he seemed to be in a daze. I went in his direction and pulled him on his arm. I took out a chair from the table and made him seat. 

"Does it hurt?" I asked a foolish question. Of course, it hurts, why am I even asking? "Let me see," I said. I touch his chin and slowly tilted his face. "It has a bruise..." I uttered.

Will he be able to face the King with this condition?

"Whip is more painful," he uttered with a straight face. I stopped looking at his cheeks.

"Whip...?" I asked carefully.

"Hmm," He nodded.

"Wait what whip?" I asked.

"My Lady doesn't know a whip?" A voice behind me suddenly said. It was Allan and he is holding a box in his hands. "If a child is really naughty, parents use a whip to discipline them," Allan explained.

The f*ck is that?

A whip? Isn't it painful?

"I know what's a whip, but I never experienced it..." I uttered, "Oi don't tell me parents really whip their children?" I asked.

I and my brother never experienced it...

"Maybe Lady Gabriella was a pampered child," He said with a smirk. "Besides parents only whip the legs so don't worry about it. Nobody will hit their children to the extent of being injured, it was merely used as a disciplinary action of parents. Parents use a special whip to reduce the effects of pain for their children."

Oh... like slippers that Asian moms use.

"Oh, I understand, but I used a slipper to discipline my brother back then," I chuckled. "Sometimes I use some unique punishments to discipline him."

"Unique... punishments?"

"Yes, for example..." I suddenly bit my lips while trying to hold my laughter. "Making him do things that he doesn't want to do."

To be precise, I made him wear a cute dress when he was 9 years old... But I won't tell them, my brother will smack me!

"Like?" Allan asked.

"Don't mind it," I said. "Give me the first aid," I said. Allan handed me a first aid kit. I started to treat the Duke's swollen cheeks and put some cream on them.  "Anyway... Did you also use a whip... Maria?" I asked.

I glanced at the Duke with a curious expression, but the Duke didn't bother to reply.

Allan became quiet. "This Lady..." He uttered, "His Grace will never do that to his daughter. He didn't even hold the Young Miss when she was a baby, he doesn't know how to hold a child, but His Grace never intended to hurt his daughter." 

Never held Maria? 

"Allan," Duke Evan called his name, but Allan did not stop. If I were this knight, I will stop, can't he hear the cold tone in the White-haired Daddy's voice?

"It's just those damned spies who mistreated her. If I only knew about it I would've slashed their necks before the Young Miss did that," Allan continued to speak. "Even if His Grace exterminated those families, it wasn't enough!"

"Exterminated?"

"Allan, that's enough," The Duke said in a cold tone. I suddenly felt chills when he said that. The chocolate-haired man stopped talking. "Go outside and do 30 laps." He said.

"But Your Grace!"

"Do I have to repeat it?" The Duke asked. I secretly bit my lips to refrain from laughing. What a poor knight. "Go outside," He said with a stern face. "30 laps,"

"Yes, You're Grace..."

With a defeated look he went outside. His head was dropped like a dog dejected by his master. As he left my eyes went back to my patient, I keep damping creams on his cheeks so his bruised face will heal sooner.

Hehe, this is also my chance to touch this handsome face.

I'm not a pervert!

Just a simp.

Definitely a simp.

"So, you exterminated the families who sent the spies, huh?" I asked. He didn't answer me, but he doesn't seem to stop me from talking. "Did you know that what you did is wrong?" I asked again.

His eyes went down.

"Wrong?" He asked. A soft laugh came out from my lips.

Why are suddenly acting like a puppy?

"Pffft." 

I stopped treating his cheeks. I went to the first aid kit and carefully arrange them. 

I suddenly noticed him looking at me. "You used the wrong method," I sighed, but a smirk bloomed in my face while thinking of an idea. "If I were in your position I will make their lives a living hell. Extermination is an easy death, it's not even acceptable."

He raised his eyes. "Wrong method...?" He said

"Do you know what makes people miserable?" I asked, But he remained silent. I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know as well but I'm sure that it's not death," I said.

"Have you ever faced the same thing?" He asked.

"Nope, uh maybe yes? I don't know? I'm not a vengeful person..." I paused, "Oh wait, I remembered something," I reflected, "One day someone threatened the family who raised me... They did not only threatened us but, they also hurt my brother..."

Not just my brother but also Leonardo and almost Melissa. It was the time when Leonardo's family was still climbing and building big connections for their family.

It happened when I was 14 years old.

My nerves are still burning whenever I remember that day. I wasn't there that day since I traveled somewhere for our business. I wouldn't mind it if it's just a threat but to hurt my little brother...

Those f*ckards, They broke my brother's arm that time, it's a good thing that we managed to heal Gabriel.

They did that because they know that Leonardo's family are soaring higher than anyone.

They even threatened us to come back and kill Leonardo's family, especially my brother. Those types of sh*ts are a speck of trash. 

The one that hurts my brother is the one who can't receive my mercy.

But that was all in the past. My brother is stronger than me now, hehe~

"What happened?" The Duke asked. "Did you jail them?" I stared at his curious face.

A chuckle escaped from my lips "Jail them? No, they will escape if I did that, They have connections and they might even do something to turn the tables on us," I said.

"Then what happened?" He asked again.

"They become slaves..." I uttered.

The truth is I tricked them and turned them into slaves...

"And I sold them to a violent master..."

I don't even know if they are still alive.

••••

Lol, I'm laughing at my chapter title...