The Duke's Masked Wife

Caleb left Edgar and Alessandra's side to nonchalantly follow after two women who had been staring at the couple. The Duchess had been enjoying her time in the palace so why now did something need to happen to potentially end the day on a bad note?

"I can't believe the Duke brought her to the palace. Better yet, how could he marry such a trifling woman?" The woman shook her head feeling sorry for Edgar.

"How are they here having fun when the news quickly spread throughout the town? She must not know she has been caught."

"Excuse me," Caleb spoke up due to the fact they were taking much longer than needed to get to the point. "What is it you've heard that concerns the Duke and Duchess?"

"Oh my!" One of the woman's eyes went wide as she recognized Caleb to be walking behind Edgar a moment ago. Had she known he was behind her, she wouldn't have uttered a word about what she heard. "I don't know-"

"It's either you tell me or I have Edgar approach you and trust me, it's easier to talk to me than him.  What will it be?" Caleb asked, then waited for a response.

Not wanting to speak with Edgar and deal with his reaction, one of the women decided to say what they heard. "You see, we just came from town and it was the hottest news. Apparently, the Duke's wife had an intimate relationship with a cook," she whispered to Caleb. She did not want to be caught as the one spreading this news in case it were to be false.

"I heard she was being intimate with the cook while she was meeting with the Duke. Either way, that's all the town has been talking about-Hey, wait!"

'Aw shit,' Caleb ignored their calls as he ran away back to where Edgar and Alessandra were waiting for him. 'Where the hell did this come from all of a sudden? The Duchess will take a hit,' he slowed down.

Caleb started to contemplate if he should lie about what was happening and then later inform Edgar when Alessandra was not around. She had been having so much fun, was it right to ruin it like this?

Caleb did not know Alessandra long but based on what he saw this rumor was not true. She looked as if she would lose her mind when she and Edgar were close by. He could not picture her having a relationship with a cook.

'Dammit!' He internally yelled. He felt truly conflicted about what to do. Why couldn't this news have waited until tomorrow or better yet, not come out at all?

"Caleb!" Edgar called out from where he sat in the carriage. "Come along."

"Yes sir," Caleb practically dragged his feet to the carriage.

"Judging by your behavior, I assume you found out what it is and it is not good. Spill it," Edgar ordered.

Caleb glanced at Alessandra eagerly waiting to hear what it was. He couldn't look her in the eye for long as he did not want to see her expression change. "It might be best if I discuss it with the Duke."

"Is it something bad? Is it about me?" Alessandra looked at Edgar curious to know what happened between this morning and now that they were leaving.

"Caleb, tell us what it is now." Edgar needed to know how bad it must be for Caleb to look devastated. He needed to know what it was so that he could move quickly to get rid of it. They had a long ride back home and waiting for Alessandra to be gone was wasting time he could use plotting.

Besides, Edgar would end up telling her about it if it concerned her.

"There is a rumor going around town about the Duchess. One that concerns her and some cook being in a relationship. Perhaps around the same time, she was entertaining you," Caleb revealed what he heard as requested.

Out of all the things Alessandra expected to hear coming from Caleb's mouth none of them were like this. "What? I'm sorry but can you just repeat what you said?" She asked as she was certain she heard him wrong. "Why would anyone think I had a relationship with Mario? He was just my friend."

Alessandra started to remember how much Edgar used to be annoyed when it came to Mario and thought there was some sort of feelings there. She looked to her side and found him surprisingly calm as he tapped his fingers against the window pane of the carriage. "Edgar, I never had-"

"I know," he cut her off as there was no need for her to state what he already knew.

He knew well enough that Mario's feelings were always one-sided. From the moment Edgar met the cook, he found him to be a pain in the ass and knew at some point, the man would annoy him. That time finally came. "I know for a fact there was nothing between the two of you, Alessandra."

Edgar knew the person who started this rumor was trying to mess up their relationship. They would hope this news would make him cast Alessandra to the side. Little did this person know, he already knew what kind of relationship Alessandra had with the cook and his relationship with Alessandra didn't start off with them secretly seeing each other.

Alessandra was glad Edgar did not feed into such lies but everyone else who did not know her and wanted something to talk about would believe this story. News like this would take a hit to her already bad reputation. "How am I supposed to fix this before it gets out of hand? Who am I kidding, it's already out of hand if it reached the palace already. Why now after we've been married for a while?"

"It's the Baroness or her daughter that started this," Edgar stated.

"They must have approached Mario but he wouldn't have gone along with this lie. He is my friend. They would need to blackmail or threaten him," Alessandra concluded.

She had faith that Mario would never willingly betray her. After all the times they spent talking, nothing had ever happened between the two of them. She trusted Mario and wouldn't think the worst of him in this situation.

Caleb believed otherwise due to how many people he saw switch up on the people they cared about when offered money. "People can change when they are offered-"

"Stop it," Edgar ordered Caleb. Mario seemed to be the only friend Alessandra had in a long time therefore she wouldn't want to believe that man had betrayed her. Edgar wasn't going to ruin the image she had of her friend just yet. He would find out for himself if the cook was blackmailed or accepted money.

Edgar held Alessandra's hand to help calm her nerves. "I will take care of it. By tomorrow night, this news will be gone and it will be proven to be a lie."

Alessandra didn't see how something like this could easily go away. People would talk about this forever no matter how much she denied the claims. However, Edgar looked sure that it would disappear so she could only trust him and await what would happen tomorrow.