Betraying the Duke Read Free

saying.
    “That you have found a husband for me so that I will not want to study anymore?” Sophia cut in saying.
    “Sophia, you need to understand, we are doing this because it is better for you. You are too young to understand the consequences, we love you and we want you to be happy, but you may not necessarily know what happiness is at this moment, and so we have to decide for you,” her father responded to her in a much calmer manner, trying to make her see things from his point of view.
    “That makes absolutely no sense, I have a noble passion, one that you are honored for every day, footsteps I wanted to follow but no, instead you are just like Mother and we’re no different are we? There is nothing unique about us, nothing that should be admired,” Sophia said with a sinking feeling in her chest as she realized all these powerful words would be in vain as the look on her father’s face didn’t show change.
    “Sophia…please…,” her father began saying.
    “No, that is alright. I know you cannot do anything; this is definitely where my happiness will lie. These tears streaming down my face are mere tears of joy. If you’ll excuse me, I’d like to go for a walk, thank you,” she said, without allowing her father to speak.
    He gently nodded his head as her mother stood idly behind him not having to do anything herself as her father was doing an excellent job.
    She walked out of her room, knowing that this was going to be the way it was; her world crashing down on her. Everything she had dreamt or hoped, she would now have to burn before her very eyes. Could being a woman really be such a curse?
     

Chapter Four
    Life was unfair and Sophia knew no one would have known it better than she right now. She grabbed a shawl and left the house from the front door without any direction as to where it was she was going, she just needed to breathe.
    Her eyes were blurry and hazy and she could barely see the ground she was walking on but she continued with her head facing towards the ground.  Not too far from where her house was she came across a desolate ground that she had seen many times taking a nearby route from her house to the local marketplace. Wanting to be entirely alone, she went into the ground. A few scattered trees stood tall here and there on parched ground that had not been tended to in a very long time; it had not rained heavily this year.
    Sophia found a small quiet spot near a thin running creek and wrapped her arms around herself, the cold hitting her harsher than before. The tears had stopped now, only sadness had come.
    So, this is it. This is my grand future, the one I dreamt of building as a child, it comes down to nothing. I thought it would make him proud, having a daughter like me, but instead all he sees is shame and an impossible daughter.
    As she thought of these things, almost back to tears, a man nearby had noticed her standing there. He could not see her clearly from where he was standing as the distance between them was great. He could see a silhouette of someone he knew and without a second thought he rushed towards her.
    “What are you doing here?!” the man said with a hint of anger in his voice.
    Sophia turned around shocked and confused to see a man questioning her presence.
    “Excuse me?” she managed to ask, still baffled by who he was.
    As she turned around, the man saw her face clearly and immediately the anger was gone and he stared at her wide-eyed, quickly snapping himself out of the trance he felt he was in and apologized.
    “I am sorry. I… I thought you were someone else… someone I knew,” he said, still admiring her beautiful face.
    “You startled me! I thought you were going to kidnap me or something!” Sophia said, still having not noticed his handsome face.
    “Kidnap you? Before I announce it out loud? I am sure that is the first thing not to do when kidnapping somebody!” he said laughing, amused by her.
    “I guess so,” Sophia said as she realized