The Duke's Passion

Since my clothes were ripped, revealing my undergarment, I had to change before we set off. I only realized that when we were by the door and Mildred gave me a surprised look. 

The maids who were helping me change were obviously trembling as they carefully took off my clothes until I'm in my chemise. Our audience, who was sitting on the divan, surely intimidated them.

"Your Highness, you may go first. This will take a while," I said, and also wanted to add how awkward it was to change before his presence, but decided not to.

Sam just rolled his eyes. "Nonsense."

I cast the maids an apologetic smile. Poor them. They seemed as if they would lose their lives if they did even the slightest mistake.

"Are you going to dress her forever?" Sam said impatiently, and they hastened a little bit, albeit still being careful. "My bride's body is too thin it can break at any moment. Now I understand the reason! You dress her too long she doesn't have time to eat."

I turned to Sam. "Your Highness, that's because you're scaring them." I must have lost my mind for a moment, but I already opened my mouth before I could think.

"I have done nothing to them, though." Sam scrunched his nose as he defended himself.

"Not yet," I corrected. A sigh slipped past my lips as I caught the brief stunned gazes from the maids. Please don't look at me like that, I thought. I'm also treading on eggshells.

"Make sense." Sam bobbed his head. "Don't get scared and hurry up. Mind where you touch as well." A closed-lipped smile flickered over his lips and then gone, "I'm not in the mood to kill."

He's definitely in the mood, I thought. I could only pity the maids as they had to hasten while keeping skinship as minimal as possible.

Once I was fully dressed to dine with the royalties, a maid whispered reluctantly to me, "Your Highness, about your hair."

I gazed at the other maids, who peeked at me, conflicted. I couldn't blame them as Sam clapped his hand as he crowed, "Let's go!"

"Your Highness." I sighed as I faced him, sporting an awkward smile. "I'm not finished yet," I said, keeping myself from stuttering as I shared the same fear with the maids.

"Uh." Sam closed his eyes and opened them. His eyebrows quirked before he said, "Not finished?" 

My anxiety rose and crept into my heart. I knew he wouldn't kill me, but the maids had done nothing wrong.

"My hair!" I blurted out. "We need to redo my hair, see? It's a little… tangled."

I twirled a strand of my hair around my finger, showing it to him as I smiled. There was no trace of emotion on his face, so I added in panic, "I don't want to look ugly and embarrass you!"

'Really? Since when did you care about that?' My subconscious mind sassed in dismay, not even convinced I could save a life or two with this lame excuse. Well, Sivi said not to give 'cheap' mercy, but I wanted to try.

"Who said that?" To my surprised, Sam furrowed his brows as he strutted in my direction.

I panicked but fought the urge to step back. "No — no, it's not that..." a meek and tiny voice came as I averted my gaze.

"Hmm." He hummed with a heavy exhale, scanning me from two steps away. "Who said it?" 

"Pardon?"

"Are you daft? Or deaf?" His expression darkened as he frowned. 

Although it was not entirely a lie, I didn't want to cause another problem with something so petty. After all, it was not just one or two who called me ugly, but the majority of the royal family.

"What gave you that impression?" I asked, mustering my lifetime courage as I raised my chin. "I just want to look pretty in your eyes!"

Great! Another lame excuse! What's the point of attending so many classes if the only excuse I could come up with in real-time was like this?

"You don't look ugly," He said, making me gaze up at him in surprise. "I never thought you are. Oh, it never even crossed me even when you were snoring last night."

Moved, I pursed my lips as I held back my tears from falling. I'm melting as I pulled up my knuckles to cover my lips. 

"Too sweet!" I muttered, blushing so suddenly as his words magically washed down the anxiety in my heart. It felt as if for a moment, all the problems didn't even exist.

Sam knitted his brows, clueless at what made me act like this. But he said nothing about it as he took a step, brushing my hair with his slender fingers.

"Just put your hair down like usual," He uttered as he brushed the stray hairs back in their rightful place. "Hand me a hairpin," Sam ordered as he handed his hand. 

The servants were quick to react as a maid passed a clip crested with small rubies. Sam clipped the side of my hair as it tucked behind my ear. I blushed and bit my lower lip as he did my hair.

"Done!" He clapped as he took a step back, planting his hand on my shoulder before he slowly spun me in front of the mirror. 

Sam bent down as he whispered, "See? You don't need to go through that hassle."

I gazed at myself, touching the clip before I shifted my attention to him. "It only looked good because you're the one who put it on."

"Oh, love. Don't mention it." He grinned, taking my honesty as a compliment.

I stared at him through the mirror for a moment before I turned to meet his gaze squarely. I took a shallow breath and pressed my lips together. Sam quirked his brow as he tilted his head, baffled at what I was planning. 

"Ahem." I cleared my throat and gathered my gratitude before standing on my tiptoes and planted a brief kiss on his cheek. "Thank you."

That caught him off guard as he touched his cheek before gazing at me. I grinned and suggested, before tickling his sexual desires. "Let's go?"