The Duke's Unwanted Second Wife

Damian sat with his head hung low, the ghostly voices numbing his senses until he felt hollow. The sky had darkened completely, the stars obscured by an oppressive gloom, yet he felt no impulse to return to the estate.

"Damian, you should go back," Liliana’s voice echoed in his ears, sounding almost pitying.

"No, I don’t want to," Damian murmured to the empty air. The flickers of joy he had experienced over the past few days felt like an illusion now. He was convinced that, in the end, he was destined to be left alone, forever bearing the weight of his losses.

He was so lost in his despair that he didn’t even notice the galloping of horses approaching through the dark. He remained motionless until a sharp voice broke through the fog in his mind.

"Damian! Damian!"

The sound of knuckles rapping urgently on the glass startled him. He looked up to see Eilika peering through the window of the motorcar, her face pale and etched with worry under the lantern’s light that the guard had held. She was breathless, her hair windblown from the ride.

"Damian, open the door," she said again as she glanced back at Sylvian. "He is not opening the door. What should we do?"

"Leave me alone," Damian said, lowering the window just a fraction to let his voice carry. "Sylvian, take her away, please." He kept his eyes fixed on the steering wheel, unable to meet their gaze.

"I am not going anywhere without you," Eilika said firmly, her hand resting against the cold glass.

Damian didn’t say another word. He simply closed the tiny opening of the window, sealing himself back into the silence of the car.

"We should leave him alone for now," Sylvian told Eilika with pity and frustration. "He is of a stubborn breed. Once he feels better, he will return on his own."

"If he is stubborn," she spoke, "then I am too. We will wait for him."

Without another word, she turned and walked back to her horse, leaning against its side to show she wasn’t moving an inch. Sylvian sighed and stepped forward, knocking firmly on the car’s window this time.

"Whatever you’re feeling, solve it in the house, not on a dark road," he shouted, but Damian remained motionless, the words barely reaching him through the windshield and the chaos in his mind.

After some time, he glanced at the side mirror. Eilika’s reflection was caught in the glass; she was huddled against the side of her horse, shivering visibly in the biting night air.

If I show her care now, it will only fuel more emotions later, he thought bitterly. She will grow to love me, and then— He paused, unable to bring himself to finish the thought of her suffering the same fate as Liliana.

Steered by his own fear, he started the engine and drove off, the motorcar roaring to life as he sped away into the darkness.

Eilika immediately moved to mount her horse and chase after him, but Sylvian reached out, grabbing the reins to stop her.

"Don’t chase him, Eilika," Sylvian said.

"But I am worried for him. Something is deeply wrong," Eilika insisted.

"And he needs to resolve it himself. In this state, he will only hurt you with his words," Sylvian advised gently. "The road is dark, and the forest cover is thick here; it isn’t safe for you to be out if someone decides to attack. We should head back to the mansion. Fret not, he will return once the air clears his head."

Eilika’s heart sank as she watched the darkness swallow the road. She had desperately wanted to pull Damian back from the edge, to stop him from falling into the void where Liliana still occupied his every thought. But it seemed that Damian himself wasn’t ready to be saved.

~~~~~

At night, after dinner, Georgia stopped Eilika for a brief conversation.

"Where is Damian? You haven’t said a word all evening, and you look so pale. Is everything alright? Tell me, dear," Georgia stated with deep concern. "If he has said anything to upset you, I will scold him myself."

"He simply left after seeing me in the wedding dress, Mother," Eilika replied softly. "I suppose the sight of it brought back too many memories of his past."

"How am I going to make him understand that Liliana is gone?" Georgia muttered as she lowered herself to the chair in the dining hall, her hand flying to her head in a gesture of weary frustration.

"Mother, you knew about his condition, didn’t you?" Eilika asked despite the ache in her chest.

Georgia looked up at her and nodded slowly. "He refused help from any of us, so we eventually let him do whatever he wanted. Forgive me, Eilika. I tied you to a man who is not ready to even look at you, let alone share his life with you. But as a mother, what else could I do? My grandson was in the darkness of his own. The poor boy lost his mother right after his birth and was fading away. Now, Roman speaks so much more than he used to; he is finally coming alive. But in my desperation for them, I didn’t think once about what would happen to you. I have been selfish, pushing you toward a man who might never truly be yours."

Eilika understood the pain of a mother all too well.

"It is already done, Mother. Nonetheless, I do not regret marrying Damian. If I compare him to the other men in Varos, he has always been respectful toward me. Yes, he has hurt me, but he was truly sorry for it. Now that I am his wife, I will be the one to hold the reins of his life," she declared.

Georgia looked at the determined face of her daughter-in-law, seeing a fire in her eyes that finally gave the Dowager Duchess a glimmer of hope. "I will support you in every way I can, dear."

"Me too, Eilika," Sylvian pronounced with a smile.