Page 25 of Bound to the Heartless Duke
In truth, he admired her sense of duty. He couldn’t even compare his to it.
It must have been so much harder for her.
But he couldn’t bring himself to picture it all in his mind.
He wanted to shift the focus of their discussion, but he didn’t have much in mind.
At that moment, he couldn’t help but think about his sister, Cecilia.
Though younger, they had the same attitude. They had been close friends, the two of them, but their friendship had suffered a couple of bumps after Cecilia got married to the Duke of Emerton.
Despite her sense of duty, Cecilia had still managed to find her footing without pressure from any angle. She had fallen in love with the Duke of Emerton and married him, even when Magnus expressed his disapproval.
It was the first time he had to watch her make a big decision on her own, and it hadn’t been easy. But she had chosen on her own, and had never been more dedicated to her duties.
Magnus wasn’t sure if Lily could relate to that, but he didn’t think it would hurt to bring it up.
“You remind me of my sister,” he admitted.
Her expression barely shifted as she thought about her old friend.
“I do not think she’s ever had to suffer the same misfortune I have,” she muttered, more to herself than to him.
“Not that. It’s your sense of duty. Cecilia wanted to do everything she could to help me manage the duchy, just like you’re doing now with your brother.” That made her look at him, and he felt he was doing something right. “She never faltered once, despite everything.”
She wasn’t moved by what he was saying. “I do not get the point of this, Your Grace.”
“The point is that Cecilia still had a choice amidst all of that. Amidst duty, love, friendship, freedom… She made a decision on her own, even when I didn’t agree with it.” Magnus paused for a moment. “Lady Lily, you can choose to do what you desire without letting yourself be held back by the circumstances.”
Lily held his gaze for a long moment, making him think he was getting somewhere.
But then she scoffed. “Except, Your Grace, Cecilia never had a reckless brother who gambled away the family fortune and lost a house in a stupid bet.”
Magnus sighed and glanced around.
She wasn’t wrong; there was nothing more he could say. But he wanted to keep the conversation going, even if she would only grow angrier at him and his choice of words.
He cleared his throat. “So tell me, My Lady, what is the real challenge here? Is it only the pressure to marry the right person? Or are you trying to meet societal expectations? Or…” He took another step closer to her. “Is this just about you not losing the manor to me?”
Lily seemed to think about it, and he took the chance to study every inch of her face.
If he had a knack for painting, he would have been able to paint her face on canvas from memory. If he could write a book, he would have been able to make a detailed description of her face without a single mistake.
“Your Grace… it still boils down to one thing,” she said, snapping him out of his thoughts. “I need to marry a man of both suitable rank and fortune, as the sister of an earl. I am also expected to behave in a manner befitting a lady of my station. I would be able to pay off the debt if I were able to do all of that. So, everything is intertwined. And I’m trapped in the middle.” She murmured the last part.
“I see. And do you think you would be able to do all of that? Wouldn’t you like to… make your own path?”
“I am twenty-five years old, Your Grace. Most women are expected to be married by the age of twenty-two. But I have spent more than half of my life cleaning up my brother’s messes. So no, I do not think there is another path for me. I cannot avoid this, no matter how hard I try.”
“You can choose,” he whispered, defeated. “You do have a choice.”
She shook her head slowly. “Sometimes, Your Grace, I like to tell myself and believe that I have a choice, but we both know that I don’t. I need to do this, and I need to do it right, or I will spend the rest of my life regretting it. My brother could lose his estate, and I could lose my dignity. But what I am able to do around it is what matters. And I need to do it all on my own.”
Magnus still wasn’t satisfied. “But don’t you think?—”
“Your Grace.” Her voice was so soft, yet it froze the words in his mouth. “You seem to care a little too much about my personal affairs. Why is that? What is it to you?”
For the first time in his life, Magnus was at a loss for words. He thought of the right thing to say as fast as he could, so she didn’t know what she had just done to him. But then she was looking straight at him, expecting an answer.
