Kissing The Wind

The day that she officially entered the Duke’s household as an adopted daughter, there was no celebration at all. It was only a dinner and only she and the Duke were present. Lady Geneva and Catarina had gone outside to eat. Not that Sydnee mind it, but she was uncomfortable when the maids standing at the side kept on staring at her.

The butler standing behind the Duke cleared his throat. “Congratulations to you, my Lady. You are a Mondragon and no one should look down on you.”

Sydnee raised her head and stared at the butler. He was looking at the floor and slightly bowing his head on her. Sydnee gulped. She did not expect the butler to show his respect on her, specially when he threatened her when they went to the ruins. “Uh…” she sighed quietly.

Suddenly, the Duke put his utensils down and gestured to the butler. One minute and there was no one around the dining room except for her, the Duke , and the butler.

The Duke looked at her and spoke, “When they look down on you, they are also looking down at me. Do you want to tarnish my reputation?” he asked.Original from NôvelDrama.Org.

She froze upon hearing his words. She immediately bowed her head and apologize. “I-I can’t stop them from l-looking at me,” she reasoned out.

Duke Theodore narrowed his eyes on her. “You can’t stop them from thinking bad about you, but you can shut their mouth and pull their gaze away from you.”

“I u-understand.” A bead of sweat trickled down her back. She was not used on domineering side of the Duke. Often, he appeared harmless to her so she forgot how terrifying it was to face an angry duke.

“You will study basic etiquette starting tomorrow. In the afternoon, you will study the history of the kingdom. After you learn this two, you will study basic swordmanship. Do you understand me, Lady?”

Sydnee blinked for a few times before nodding her head. It was one of those few times where the duke spoke longer than usual and she was still amazed by how composed he was.

“Yes, Duke.”

He stared at her, then he stood. She watched him walk away when the butler turned around to face her. “My Lady, please follow us.”

“Err…”

She did not have a choice but to stand and follow the duke. They walked for a few minutes before the duke stopped in front of a well-guarded prison. It was at the back of the mansion with vines hanging at the walls. It was her first time to be there and her eyes widened when two sturdy doors in front opened. Two armored guards standing beside the heavy doors bowed at the duke.

The duke entered and so she was. She then find herself standing in front of a dying man. The lightning in the area was limited so she could not see clearly the face of the man, but it was clear to her that the man was tied on the wall with only a piece of cloth covering his manhood. Bloodied lips were cracked, hair unkept, complexion was pale and dry, blood was dripping from the open wound in the middle of his stomach. What made Sydnee froze was the fact that the nails on his fingers and toes were all ripped away and only rotting flesh remained.

The heavy stench of dried blood and rotting flesh overwhelmed her that she almost lost her balance, if not for the butler who held her still.

“He is a spy from the enemy kingdom that the intelligence recently captured.” The duke glanced at her pale face. “What should we do to him?”

“W-What?” She lowered her gaze and tried hard not to gag. It’s was not possible to capture spies from the enemy kingdom. Every year, there is a mass execution being held in the capital. Anyone could visit and watch the execution, but she never had the chance to visit the capital so it was the first time for her to see a tortured spy. “What do you mean, duke?” she whispered under her breath.

The Duke watched her as she trembled in sight of the dying man. He then looked away. “This is not the only thing that you must see. Being a noble, you will learn the things that a commoner can not learn.”

“I-I see…” She clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. She wanted to escape from that horrible place but the duke was still there and she had no courage to ask for permission to leave.

“You, being a Duke’s daughter, you stood above everyone except for the royal family and anyone who rules a dukedom. Even the business tycoons will bow down to you. You must raise your head and do not show reluctance to punish anyone who dare to look down on the duke’s prestige.”

Her heart skipped a beat upon hearing his words.

‘Stood above everyone except for the royal family and the rulers of dukedoms…’

Suddenly, she felt cold all over her body. The power that the duke gave her was enough for her to feel suffocated. This… a heavy responsibility… can she really do it?

~~~

It’s been a week since Sydnee officially entered the Duke’s household. Since the day that he showed her the dying spy, the duke arranged someone to tour her around Obando where commoners were being bullied by the nobles and rick alike. She was not surprise to see such things because she experienced it beforehand.

But she did not expect those nobles and rick alike to bow down to her upon seeing the Duke’s emblem on her right chest. The duke insist that she would wear the emblem upon touring Obando so people will know who she was.

When she stood in front of them, she felt uncomfortable and relief at the same time. So it was what power felt like. Everyone would show you respect even if they have too powers of their own.

With that, Sydnee’s name as Duke Theodore’s adopted daughter spread throughout Obando and even spread in other neighboring teritories like Consolacion. It did not took long for the academy’s students to know that Sydnee raised in ranks above them all, having the title of Young Miss of Obando.

With her surname as Mondragon, students raised their brows at her.

After a few days of touring around the place, Sydnee came back to school only to find out that she had been the new gossip in the academy. Everytime that she pass by, the students would whisper to each other while looking at her. It was like that when bullying system was still in the academy, but instead of gloating, she was greeted with condemning stares. They thought that she seduced the Duke in order for her to enter his household as his adopted daughter.

There was also a gossip about Diana, her foster Mother who tried to kill her, and Henry, her biological father. But those students did not know the truth behind Lady Geneva and Henry, so they assume that she had no noble blood that’s why they criticized her more and more behind her back. But it was not like she did not know about it. She just kept her silence in order to not escalate things further.

“I heard that commoner became a duke’s daughter. Geez, entering the duke’s household through seduction? What do she think of Lady Catarina?”

“Lady Catarina of Obando will not let her win the affection of the duke!”

“Of course. As a Marquis’ daughter, I knew the dirty things of noble families.  They will try hard to hide things from teh public eyes, but who knows what happens behind the doors?”

“Uh. I really hate that commoner. She really think that by becoming the Duke of Obando’s daughter, she now has the right to be included in nobles? She is dreaming in broad daylight!”

“That’s right!”

“I just hope that she will soon disappear from this academy. A sl*t like her does not belong to this prestigious school. Hah! I need to contact the thugs. Might as well scare her so she will not come back. Who knows what she will do to the guys? We might wake up someday finding that sl*t becomes a prince consort!”

Sydnee’s lips twitched upon hearing the whispers around her. She threw a glance at the group of girls. They smiled at her and crossed their arms around their chest. Her eyes narrowed and she took a step closer to them.

“Are you talking behind my back?” she asked.

The girl in the middle of the group snickered. “Who else is the sl*t here? What? Do you want to fight me?”

Sydnee smiled and before they knew it, she smack the face of that girl. That girl’s butt slammed into the cold hard ground. She heard gasped from the crowd and silence descended around them.

Doing menial tasks over the years made her body more robust than most girls around her age. Although her strength was no match to the guys, still, slapping a girl was not hard for her.

Being a victim of bully made her realize that bullying was directed to her because she did not fight back. If only her bullies knew that she was not as fragile as they thought of her, she might not be a victim for many years.

But she only kept her silence because she did not want to burn her scholarship. Now that she is not a scholar anymore, she has gained confidence, specially when she now became the duke’s daughter and Duke Theodore warned her not to let people look down on her because looking down on her is looking down on the Duke’s prestige.

The girl tipped her head back and glared at Sydnee. “Do you know who I am? I am Marquis Antonio’s daughter!”

She raised her brow and crossed her arms around her chest. “So?”

“What?”

Sydnee smiled. “You are a Marquis’ daughter, but you are nothing before the Duke’s daughter.”

The girl was dumbfounded. She pointed a trembling finger on her. “W-What did you say?”

Sydnee clicked her tongue. “Put down that finger of yours before I cut that down. It seems like the Marquis did not teach his daughter well.” Sydnee leaned closer to the girl who was staring wide eyes at her. “Do you want me to teach you how to respect the person above you?”

The girl’s shoulder shranked back at her threat. Sydnee smiled sweetly before standing straight, turning around, and walked away. The burning gaze of the girl bore a hole in her back but she did not mind it at all. She knew that the girl would hold grudge against her, but she was no pushover.

Although she did those things with confidence, Sydnee felt her hands sweat profusely and a bead of sweat trickled down her chin. She simply wiped it off and released the tension she felt while teaching the Marquis’ daughter a lesson. She remembered that the girl was one of her bullies, so it was not surprising that she would attack her.

Imagine the one who you bullied back then, rising above you in status. Hah. It was a pain in the ego.

Sydnee shook her head. She just took a step inside the classroom when she felt something cold and sticky poured on her from above. Then a burst of laughter echoed inside the classroom.

“Oh my! The Duke’s daughter is taking her bath inside the classroom. What a poor girl. She must be starving too. Give her something to eat!” someone yelled.

Before Sydnee could utter a word, paper crumples was thrown to her, sticking on her uniform.

“Stop that!” she yelled, gritting her teeth in annoyance.

She just finished teaching the Marquis’ daughter, and now, she was greeted by another round of bullies? She thought that the bullying in the academy had stopped?

What did they mean by doing all of this?!