The Lycan King and his Dark Temptation novel Chapter 306

KATHERINE

Night had already fallen. I was drenched in water, covered in the dust from the road, and utterly exhausted—more mentally than physically.

I stepped into a small sitting room, adorned with lavish furniture and a tea service table.

The décor was exquisite: paintings, heavy drapes, finely crafted hardwood furniture—even the ceiling had intricate detailing.

Everything was beautiful, but if you looked closely, certain details stood out—the cobwebs half-hidden in the corners, the dust poorly wiped away.

When I opened the bedroom door, the stale, damp smell hit my nose, despite the clean sheets.

Whoever was in charge of cleaning this room did everything but clean properly.

At least they had left the fireplace burning in the cold room.

When I opened the enormous wooden wardrobe, I almost expected bats to come flying out like from a cave.

That thing hadn’t taken a single breath of air in all this time.

“Well, what a pathetic excuse for a Duchess you were, dear sister,” I murmured with a sigh.

I grabbed the simplest dress with the least musty smell, though to me—who had spent ten years in a cell smaller than that closet, dressed in nothing but a filthy shift—it felt exquisite.

When I stepped into the bathroom, it was the same as the bedroom—barely cleaned after months of neglect.

“And to think you betrayed me for this life of hypocrisy… You were truly pathetic, Rossella,” I scoffed while sinking into the so-called rose bath, which was more cold water than anything else, inside the yellowed tub.

As the lady of the house, I should have had a maid or more trailing after me, attending to my every need, even washing my… feet if necessary, but there was no one.

Why did the servants dare to treat me this way? It was obvious—the Duke allowed it.

Still, for me, it was an advantage now.

Once I was dressed and drying my hair, a maid knocked on the door.

“Come in,” I called out, and I heard her walk from the antechamber to the open doorway.

“Your Ladyship, dinner is ready,” she informed me, and I nodded. “Lady Lavinia requested to dine in her room.”

“Very well,” I replied with a sigh. “The lady who arrived with me—see that she is well attended as part of my personal staff,” I instructed, firm but not harsh.

“Yes, ma’am. I will inform the housekeeper,” she answered before leaving without much ceremony.

I recalled what Rossella had told me about her duties, one of which was dining with the Duke whenever he was at the castle.

With little time to freshen up and my stomach growling from hunger, I headed toward the dining hall.

"Alright, following this hallway, I should find the suits of armor… ah, there they are. Then the tapestry of the man on horseback and the staircase to the first floor."

The layout played out in my mind.

I had memorized it every day, so I arrived at the massive dining hall, large enough to accommodate about fifty people.

It was imposing, and that never-ending table, set just for the two of us, looked desolate.

“Madam, this way,” a footman guided me to a chair placed almost in the middle of the table.

“Here?” I asked, instantly regretting it when he gave me a look that screamed obviously.

“This is where you always dine, Your Ladyship. Is there a problem?” he asked, and I glanced at the head of the table.

At the very least, I had assumed I’d be seated beside the Duke, but I was placed more than five chairs away from him.

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