The Crown's Obsession (WN)
chapter-253

Music Recommendation: Vertiginious news by Isabelle Mathis

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Lucy Gerville was in her room, standing next to the window and staring outside at the castle when she found her husband walking past one of the halls in the West wing of the castle. She looked at the clock and noticed it was late. Where was he going? Lucy asked herself. The vampiress had never questioned her husband on what he did, where he went. She was a woman who didn't doubt her husband's motives, but since some time, Samuel had been growing distant.

It wasn't that he had not touched her as it was only two weeks ago since he had touched her in the bed, but his affections didn't come out as freely as she had expected. There were boundaries.

He barely stayed around her and always giving reasons of work as if he couldn't stand her, and somewhere it hurt Lucy. Her hand that was clutching the window sill, she let it go and then stepped out of her room. A room which belonged to her since she was born.

Lucy made her way through the corridors, heading in the direction where she had seen Samuel before. When she finally did catch up, her eyebrows furrowed. She heard whisperings at the other end. Without making her presence known, Lucy heard whisperings,

"Did anyone see you?" she heard Samuel ask someone. It seemed like Samuel was not alone, and he had company. She wondered who it could be. Whoever it was, it seemed like they didn't use verbal language as Samuel went ahead to say, "Good. Follow me."

Lucy didn't know which side Samuel was going to walk. She hurriedly tried to hide behind the wall without making any noise. The footsteps on the marble floor grew louder until Samuel walked past her along with another person before the footsteps started to die down. When Lucy finally craned her neck, she caught sight of a girl who was in her maid's attire. What work did he have with a maid at this hour of the night? Unable to keep her curiosity, she followed both of them while keeping distance.

The three of them continued to walk where people didn't often come to venture. It was the remote side of the castle. What Lucy didn't realize was that there was a fourth person who had started to follow the trail of curiosity on what was going on.

Theodore had been following Lucy to find her following her husband, Samuel Gerville, who was with a maid. When Samuel disappeared inside the room on the left, Theodore stopped walking, his eyes focused on Lucy's back who appeared to be contemplating on if she should or shouldn't see what her husband was up to.

There had been many times in the past where Theodore was aware about Samuel's special trips and extended work time in other towns and villages. He would have mentioned it to Lucy if she had not so fondly spoken about her new husband in the past. It was the time when it hadn't been even a year since she had got married.

'He's an amazing man,' Lucy had boasted in front of everyone, 'Tucks me in and takes care of me, making sure I sleep well.'

And it had made Theodore wonder if he should let her know that Samuel was tucking her and making sure she slept only so that he could continue doing things behind her back. Samuel Gerville. Theodore was not fond of the man for more than one reason but keeping his best interests, especially with Calhoun in the mind, he had not gone to meddle in things that didn't concern him.

'He's not like you. Someone to give me false hopes. At least he married me,' Theodore remembered Lucy's words that were sharp.

She despised him, and Theodore was well aware of it. Dear Lucy...thought Theodore to himself. He would have stopped her from following, but he was in no mood for it. Samuel had been trying to cause damage to the King's reputation, and Theodore wouldn't let it happen. Calhoun had been tolerating Samuel only for Lucy's sake. The girl was like a leaf that moved with the direction of the wind. It was how she grew up.

Lucy, who was standing a few distance away from the door of the room, her hands clutched on the sides of her skirt. She wondered if she was ready to confront what her husband was up to. Most of the time, Lucy had tried to look over the matters. She wasn't a child to not to know what her husband was doing with the maid.

She could still go back to her room, think as if it was nothing unfaithful, to believe that her husband was a good man who loved her. But even Lucy knew that it was far from the truth. Standing there for six whole minutes, she finally moved her feet forward. Her footsteps were soft, and she finally reached the door, to push it slowly open.

Lucy's red eyes grew wide when she caught her husband, who was sitting on the edge of the table. Half of his pants had come down while the maid sat down on the ground in front of him. The maid's head bobbed up and down while her husband, whom she had put faith on had his head thrown back whilst his eyes were closed.

Her hands and legs shook at the sight in front of her. Lucy didn't know when Samuel had last spoken lovingly with her, the way he had shown he would before their wedding took place. It hurt her, and though she wanted to look away from the scene, she couldn't. The betrayal felt nothing less to the time when her parents had died.

Lucy continued to look at Samuel, whose face was filled with pleasure as the maid continued to please him. Samuel caught hold of the maid's head, pushing her mouth towards him so that she would take all of him.

"Ah…!" he sighed, and Lucy felt a tear slip out of her right eye. Her lips trembled, and she could barely think. Before she could witness more of it, a hand came to cover her eyes. Lucy was in shock, and her hand let go of the door. The door was then quietly closed as she was pulled away by someone from the scene to leave the corridor and go to the next one.

Lucy was heartbroken, and when the hand that was on her eyes was pulled away, she saw it was Theodore. Taking her hand back to her side, she stared at Theodore. Even though it wasn't her who had crossed limits, she felt ashamed as Samuel was her husband. To make things worse, the act was not caught just by her but also this person. When she blinked, two more tears slid down on her cheek.

"Do you need water?" Theodore offered the vampiress who was still processing what she saw.

Lucy shook her head, "No, I am fine," she lied. A lie that was easy to catch.

"Let's go to the kitchen and get you some water," Theodore suggested as if he had not heard the word no from her mouth. Lucy stared at Theodore. His habit of doing what he wanted to do had not been fixed, noticed Lucy to herself. In the past, Theodore often asked her questions, and when she answered it, he continued to do what he felt was right despite her answers.

Lucy's head was too muddled up, and she didn't bother to refuse. She was tired and sad. Getting a glass of water from the dining room instead of the kitchen, Lucy continued to gulp it down. She wondered when Theodore would bring the topic of what they saw, but even after two minutes passed, he didn't question her.

Did he perhaps know about it? About her husband's infidelity? Because when her eyes went to meet Theodore's, there was no change in his expression. He looked like a wall. Just like in the past where his feelings and emotions were indifferent to things around him.

If Theodore had not come to pull her from standing at the door, she didn't know for how long she would have been standing there, watching her husband and the maid. With them still there, she knew what would happen next. It felt like a stake piercing through her chest. It seemed like people kept disappointing her, and she tried to forgive them, but it brought no good as they never changed. Her husband Samuel, Theodore, her parents...they had all disappointed her at some point of time, and she had tried to forgive their actions but she couldn't.

Feeling Theodore's eyes, Lucy asked,

"What were you doing there?" her voice cracked at the end as she wanted to cry, but at the same time, she tried to hold back her tears.

"I was making my rounds in the castle. The King wanted me to keep an eye," he answered her question, "More water?"

"Okay," she agreed, giving the glass back to him, and Theodore poured her another glass of water.

Theodore observed how she put up an invisible wall between them. Her voice sounded distant, and he didn't blame her. He could have stopped her before she pushed the door, but Theodore had stood there, watching her face fall and the emotion of shock consumed her face. Like she had seen a person get killed.

"Thank you," Lucy thanked him, finishing half glass, she placed it on the table, "I will be returning back to my room."

"Yes, milady," Theodore bowed his head. Lucy was in pain, and she was angry. Not just on Samuel but also on Theodore. Lucy, who was walking towards the door, turned around to face Theodore.

"You knew it, didn't you? You knew it, and you didn't care enough to tell me about it," came the angry words from Lucy that were directed to Theodore. More than Samuel, she was mad at Theodore, and she wondered why it was so.

Theodore looked back at her, "It wasn't my place to tell you. I doubt you would have believed me if I had told you about it."

Lucy's eyebrows furrowed, "What reasoning is that?" she questioned, "How long has this been going on? Answer me!" her eyes started to fill in with more tears.

"For some time."

"How much?" Lucy demanded, and Theodore wondered why she was trying to find more details about it as it would only hurt her. Before she was Samuel Gerville's wife, Lucy was the daughter of the late King of Devon. She was the princess.

"A few years," answered Theodore to see Lucy close her eyes and the tears that she had been trying to hold back spilt on her cheeks.