Page 13 of The Replacement Duchess

The remainder of the evening passed by in a blur, which she saw as a blessing. There were no more mysterious encounters, no more tempting scandal, and unlike what felt like everyone else in attendance, she was quite happy for that to be the case.

“Are you even listening to me?” Samantha asked, and it pulled her back to the present.

They were in the carriage, returning home, and their father was sitting across from them with his eyes looking everywhere but at his daughters. It was not unusual for him to be like that, of course, and it was in fact preferable for the two of them, as it meant that they did not need to look at him either.

“My apologies, Sister,” Diana sighed. “The evening has been rather intense, that is all.”

“Ah. That is alright, then. We can discuss it tomorrow. I simply must tell you about it, though. It has left me furious.”

Usually, the idea that her sister was in such spirits would be enough for her to abandon her own feelings in order to listen to her, but it didn’t. Diana was far too preoccupied with telling herself how careless she had been.

She had never acted in such a brazen manner. Even then and there, with the clarity returning to her mind, she couldn’t understand why she had done it. It was certainly not that she loved the Duke—far from it! It was also not that she was trying to trap him in marriage. In fact, there was nothing at all to do with the Duke that she thought mattered.

She had wanted to prove a point, even if nobody had seen it but herself and the poor gentleman that she had used to prove it. Frankly, she kissed him because she wanted to, and she wanted to because she knew that high society didnotwant her to. It wasterrible and forbidden and exactly what she had needed to feel something other than the emptiness that had been eating at her.

But that beautiful clarity was hanging over her. She was not bold and brave for what she did—she was reckless. She risked her sister’s future simply because she wished to have a small moment of rebellion, and she could not even say that it was worth it. She had done all of that for nothing, and she hated herself for it.

And she could not even tell Samantha about it. After a sleepless night, she went to breakfast and was confronted by her younger sister, who was eating toast and staring at her.

“You look terrible, Di,” Samantha gasped. “Have you been taken ill?”

“I do not believe so,” Diana said gently, seating herself beside her. “Though with all of the excitement of last night, I cannot say that I slept very well.”

“Nor did I. Oh, Diana, please tell me that you can listen to me now!”

“Of course. I apologize that I could not last night.”

“I shall start from the beginning. As you know, I wanted to speak to the professor last night. Well, when I did, I introduced myself, and he smirked at me. He told me that he was married, as if that was what I was speaking to him for.”

“I saw the gentleman, and frankly he needs to take a good look at himself too. I highly doubt any young lady is looking at him in such a way, much less one such as yourself.”

“In any case, I tried to ignore it. I thought that he had been accosted already that evening, or that he simply wished to shut down any lady speaking to him out of respect for his wife, which I of course understand. No, the part that infuriated me was that when I tried to discuss the part I was curious about, and I asked him a question, he laughed at me. Laughed, I tell you, as did his friends.”

“Was your question one that warranted such a reaction?”

“Not at all, I do not think. And, you know, I reread the part this morning, and I now know exactly what the problem was. He had not written it correctly. He had misspelled two words, and the way it was written made it utterly incomprehensible. It was not my fault at all.”

“Which is likely why he laughed, Sister. He did not wish for it to be his own fault, and so it had to be yours.”

Diana winced as she said it. Her behavior that evening had not been too dissimilar.

“In any case, I hope to never have the misfortune of seeing him again. Horrible man.”

“You can at least have pride that you were more intelligent than him. He knows it, too. That is why he had no choice but to act in the way he did.”

“I suppose. Thank you, Diana. You always know what to say to me.”

“Well, I should expect so after speaking to you for twenty years.”

“Did you manage to speak with anyone last night?”

“No,” Diana replied a little too quickly, hoping that her cheeks were not flaming and giving her away.

“I expected as much, but not to worry. I can tell you all about the scandal that unfolded.”

The hairs on the back of her neck bristled. She could hear it so clearly.“A lady was caught with a duke alone! They are trying to find her as we speak.”That was all that she needed to hear for her to collapse completely.

“Oh, Di, I know that societal matters do not matter to you, but this one is serious! It is a mystery, and I know how much you love those. It just so happens that this mystery pertains to a duke, which you find less interesting, but nevertheless do you not think it would be incredible if?—”

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