Chapter 3: Fear

"I- I-" Alexen wanted to explain himself that he wasn't upto anything bad, but the woman didn't give her any chance to speak. She directly rushed towards her daughter as she embraced the crying girl in her arms and tried to console her, "There! There! What happened, huh? What happened to my dearie? Is my baby scared? Don't worry now. Momma is here, okay, baby girl. No one will harm you. Shhh! Shh! There! There!" Winter tried to console her daughter, and soon enough as she spoke sweet words to her, Liana calmed down and soon fell asleep in Winter's embrace. Duke Albert, Amelia and the eldest young master, Aiden looked at the scene with pursed lips. Amelia even glared at her second brother assuming that he's the culprit of her sister's misery, whereas the other two men looked at him with disappointed eyes. The day before in the Royal family banquet, it was because of this second young master that Evelyn had almost lost her life. While playing with the other teenagers, Alexen had pushed teen Evelyn after an argument who ended up colliding her head on a nearby stand. And there was even a poisonous snake near it! Even though, the snake was dealt within the time before it could harm Evelyn, the shocks from the fall and the snake, made her faint on the spot. The night before, Evelyn had woken up, but only for a moment before she went back to sleep again, after whispering strange words to Winter. "Thank you so much for being my mother." Doctor Luke, their family doctor had assumed that it was because the girl was shocked and only Winter's presence was her safe place, so she had said those words before fainting. And he also clearly told she had a minor concussion. Amnesia was also a part of it. Winter hadn't slept for the entire night and only left her daughter's side in the morning, but only after carefully appointing Kesi to attend her young Miss. It was only a few minutes ago that she asked Kesi to wake her daughter up to have some breakfast. But who would have thought she would witness such a thing? That brat Alexen was again trying to harm her daughter! Earlier when Kesi reported that her daughter couldn't recognize her, she was scared to her wits. But before she could leave, the second young master left the place saying, "What is she upto again? Let me check first!" Whereas, she, the mother of the patient had to wait for the master of the household first, before taking any further step towards her daughter. Luckily, the Duke still cared of his reputation in front of the servants, and didn't dilly dally. But the moment she entered, she saw her daughter being bullied by the same person again. And when she embraced her daughter, she could feel her shaking and trembling. It was clear that her daughter was traumatized and scared. But she was so powerless in the Duke household that she couldn't even glare at the culprit of her daughter's misery. As a mother, she was really hating herself at the moment! After all, directly or indirectly, she was the cause of her daughter's pain. If only! If only she hadn't married the duke as per her best friend's wishes and took the responsibility to take care of her children. Then maybe... Her daughter wouldn't have! She heavily sighed as she struggled to lift her daughter up in her arms, but because she was fully exhausted herself, both physically and mentally, she couldn't. Even though, she used be a female knight at her primes, she's a weak mother now! "Let me do-" When Amelia saw that her step-mother was struggling to carry her grown up sister, she nudged her father at the side to help. The Duke who was too stunned at the scene of his youngest daughter fainting at the scene, didn't know what to do at the moment. But the moment he was about to help his wife and their daughter, Winter stopped him. "I can still afford to take care of MY daughter!" She said coldly as she avoided the touch of her husband, pressing on the word 'my', as if making a wall between them. There was an unconcealed hatred and anger in her exhaused face. Duke Albert looked at his wife with wide eyes. That was the first time he had heard his wife speaking so coldly to him. A part of his heart ache momentarily, that soon vanished in the next second as he returned to his indifferent state. With a 'Hmm' he retracted his body as he stood there with hands crossed behind his back. Winter struggled a few more seconds before successfully placing her daughter on the bed. And as soon as she sat beside her daughter, Kesi came and announced the arrival of Doctor Luke. Doctor Luke checked Evelyn's body and asked Kesi to describe what happened after she woke up. After hearing everything, Doctor Luke concluded, "I don't think she's having an amnesia. According to you and Lady Crawford, your young miss is just traumatized from escaping the near death situation. If not, she wouldn't be found near the mirror stand after you left, Miss Kesi. She might have been too shocked to believe that she was still alive and that's all." Alexen's heart skipped a beat, 'Is it that serious? This girl actually thought to that extreme?' "But if what you're saying is true, then why was she crying like a pig bei... I mean so pathetically?" asked Alexen. He intially wanted to say 'Pig being slaughtered' but after a glare from Duke Albert and his other two siblings, he changed his wordings. "It's because as per I just said, Young Master Alexen. Young Lady was too shocked to believe that she was still alive after escaping the near death situation." "Oh!" Alexen exclaimed as he felt a little guilty somehow. It's not that he had never argued with that young child before. It's just that her words at that time was too much to bear and he lost his self control, and in result he hurt her. But he could swear that it was intentional. He just wanted to stop her from spouting anymore non-sense. Moreover, it was true that it was him who started that quarrel. And as hot-tempered as she was...., For the first time, he felt guilty for bullying his younger sister only because he hated how her mother took his mother's place forcefully. After Doctor Luke left, the servants also left the room, leaving only the family members of Whitford family. "You all may also leave and finish your breakfast," Duke Albert said in his stern voice which was obediently followed by his children. The first one who left the place was Alexen who was too embarrassed to stay in the place for any longer for bullying his sick sister. It was only after everyone left, that Duke's expression softened and sat at the other side of his daughter. This is the first time he was looking at Evelyn properly. And even though, she had dark circles under her eyes, her face was slightly reddish and swollen for her crying non-stop and was also filled with pimple marks due to her teenage, he couldn't help but soften his demeanor when he discovered she nearly looked like him. A female version of Duke Albert. And he couldn't help but think how everytime, something would happen, Evelyn would look for his figure. But he never cared about her before as she was the living proof of his broken promise to his love, his first wife, Karen Relishson. And now, when Evelyn was crying so miserably and only calmed down in her mother's embrace and sweet words, without even looking at his direction, he felt like someone had snatched something important from him. For the first time, he felt the urge to caress her face and give her all the love she ever wanted. After all, she was misbehaving only because she wanted him to notice her presence and love her just like how he did to his other children. He clearly knew but he feared that by giving up his restrictions, he would get adapted to the mother-daughter pair.... And that he didn't want to. His heart belonged to Karen only and this pair in front of him is his broken promise to his beloved. Yet... He still subconsciously remembered this little girl's past words that were once buried in the depth of his memories, "I also want you to love me like you do to my brothers and sister. I also want to call you Father like them and in front of all. Are these too much for me to ask?" Duke Albert raised his hand and was about to touch the little girl's forehead, but was stopped in the midway by a push, as a cold voice followed by it. "Please don't touch her, Mi'Lord. She may wake up. She has just quietened down in her sleep." With a pursed lips, he retracted his already extended hand. It wasn't like his usual self, where he would mock his wife if she says something against his wishes. But that time, he did. Because there was something in her voice, which stirred his heart a little, as a ominous feeling of losing something rose in his heart. And he didn't like that feeling. Not at all. With a huff, he left the place. Even though Winter was little shocked of hus unusual attitude, but she didn't care less. She just kept on attending her daughter, along with Kesi. Evelyn didn't wake up anymore for the day. She was too exhausted mentally. Winter didn't return to her room that night and decided to keep her daughter company, after dismissing Kesi. But, who would have thought she would almost get a heart attack that night?! Surprisingly, that night, the duke who was always 'busy' came back to Evelyn's room in his night wear and stayed in the room with his wife and daughter, for the first time. Well, it was also a great shock and blow to the knights who were standing at the door outside.

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