The Lycan King and his Dark Temptation novel Chapter 312

KATHERINE

My heart pounded, adrenaline coursing through my veins.

The Duke had taken us under his protection, even if it was just an act.

How good it felt to have the power to make decisions, to no longer be just someone else's puppet, a lifeless doll.

The absolute power this man represented as he stood before me… I stared at him intensely, reaffirming my goals in my mind despite the barriers.

He ordered the nanny and that Theodore, who was obviously paving the way to abuse my daughter's innocence and then rise from a groom to a noblewoman's husband, to be taken away.

Such macabre ideas did not occur to a 14-year-old boy, that was his mother's doing.

At last, the Duke turned and looked at me again, just for a few moments.

His blue eyes gleamed with beautiful golden flecks, perhaps reflecting the sunlight.

He walked past me without another word.

"Thank you, Your Lordship," I whispered softly, not expecting a response.

I took a deep breath, smoothing down my skirt.

Today, I had completely stepped out of my role.

For heaven’s sake, I haven’t even been here a week, and this whole act is already falling apart.

When I entered the castle, the servants’ gazes on me were no longer the same as before.

The contempt remained, but now it was more concealed, masked, covered by the fear of ending up like the model nanny.

At least all of this had served to teach them a lesson and show them that the old Rossella, who only pretended to be tough, had now truly become a raving harpy.

*****

My worried eyes rested on the little girl sleeping in bed.

Her tiny eyes were swollen from crying so much.

The nanny had caused a scene in front of her, and thanks to Freya, who had practically dragged her to her room, she didn’t see her mother pulling the hair of the woman she had so innocently given her affection to.

"Sweetheart, I’ll get you back. I’ll protect this good life for you, no matter what," I murmured, leaning in to kiss her forehead lovingly before tucking her under the blanket.

Now that Freya would be her nanny, I felt much calmer about everything.

"I’ll find us a safe refuge, leave it to your mother. No one is taking away your comforts," I whispered, rising from the bed and heading toward the study, closing the door softly behind me.

"Don’t worry, child. Step by step, have patience, you still have time," Freya was waiting for me, sitting in the chair by the window, embroidering as she always did.

Nana nodded thoughtfully.

"Either way, if he asks you, you have to make him believe that you know what it’s about. He mustn’t realize you actually have no idea," she suggested.

"That’s only a short-term solution, though. It won’t work forever. All he has to do is push me a little, and he’ll figure out that I don’t know anything. The Duke is very sharp."

We both fell silent.

"What do I do? How can I have a child with a man who won’t even look at me?" I bit my thumb nail, a habit when my nerves were all over the place.

In truth, I knew it was the most despicable thing in the world—thinking about sleeping with a man just to get pregnant. But if I had been forced to do it with that disgusting bastard just to survive, why wouldn’t I do it with the Duke?

I wasn’t a saint; my morals and pride had been the first things thrown to the ground in that filthy cell.

"There’s a way. I have a way for you to get close to the Duke," she suddenly said, and I lifted my eyes to meet hers—serious, full of unspoken secrets.

"But you’ll have to use something you don’t want to..."

"Nana, no. You know I’m afraid. What if they catch me?"

"They won’t, not with what I’ll show you. But, child, once you walk through that door, there’s no turning back. Do you understand? You’ll have to see it through to the end."

I stayed silent, biting my lower lip, which trembled slightly. I was about to answer when there was a knock at the door.