Become The Duke's Wife Or Die

"Don't torture Lord Jason!"  A man's voice echoed in Baron Jason's ears, taking him back several dozen years in the past.  "Don't torture him!  Just torture me to death."

Then dozens of unknown people ganged up on the defenseman, who was a slave in Baron Jason's residence.  His emaciated, scarred body had been crushed by the torture, until he died on the spot, while Baron Jason fled in fright and wept.

"Just come back, Lord!"  shouted one of the bandits, holding a machete in his bloody hand.  "You have to come back so we can get the money!  Don't you feel bad for your loyal slave?  He was willing to die for you!  You killed him!  You killed him by abandoning him!"

Baron Jason gasped as the memories blurred, splattering non-stop, hitting the principles as well as the perceptions he had planted in the past.

"I have killed my loyal slave!" he screamed like a child, regretful and deprived of his zest for life.  The good times full of fun that he spent with his loyal slave were like a bullet through him.

Then some people from the medical side seemed to instill assumptions for him, which eventually grew dirty thoughts in his brain.  "Slaves are evil!"  Once those voices were instilled in him.  "They protect and play with you for money!  They do all that for a reward.  They are cunning, selfish.  The slave asked the kidnappers to kill you, but unfortunately, he was the one who was killed."

Now and then in the night, Baron Jason would wake up in a shaky state, just from remembering something that was tightly shut at the bottom of his subconscious.  What is the missing memory?  He doesn't even know.

Now when he wasn't in the mood to remember anything, everything hit him violently, like waves that wanted to drown him.

His body staggered, then crashed into the outside of the prison.  Because it was too hard the iron and stones, which were cracked and prone to collapse, fell and almost hit his body.

He didn't even realize the danger that lurked him, until then his body was kicked very hard, causing him to fall and drag the ground.  Another scream appeared, which came from Tania.

Stones fell on her body, burying her.

"Hey!"  he whined, suddenly instinctively getting up, darting to free Tania from the falling stones.  His hands pulled her body, then laid her on the damp ground.

The moonlight infiltrated the vents, creating the effect of a show light, falling right on her face, down her brown hair.  The beauty of rosy skin, as shy as her personality, was now swept away by weakness.

"Are you okay?"  asked Baron Jason in confusion, straightening Tania's legs and body.  "Are you dying?"  An unimportant question.

Tania was silent, struggling with all the wounds that cut her body, blood seeping from her legs and mouth, as well as the rest of her skin.

"I'm fine," she whispered, struggling to open her eyes, then forced a smile.  "Seriously."

Baron Jason breathed a sigh of relief as his body slumped on the floor and lay on the prison wall.  His breath hitched, his face looking up at the ceiling.  'Surprisingly I'd be worried about a commoner,' he thought, turning around without him noticing, stunned after seeing Tania's newfound beauty.

Her side figure is perfect, like a very beautiful sculpture.  The inviting lips and the wide, innocent waving eyes seemed to tease him.

Shaking his head, Baron Jason cursed his madness after seeing Tania move in her position.  'I must have gone mad.  Did I just look at her beauty?' he thought.

"Are you okay?"  she asked as she turned her head after silence had accompanied them.  "Do you need medicine?"  Her gaze scanned his legs and body which were fine.  "Looks like you can still stand.  So I don't think you need my help."

"You're too confident with your petty mind," Baron Jason accused after sobering himself up, having realized where his status was.  "I don't need the help of a commoner like you.  Will never."  His body rose to his feet in a huff, fighting with his arrogance and overconfidence.

His figure drifted away, sinking into the darkness, followed by several guards who arrived at the prison where Tania was locked up.

They did not say anything, nor did they explain whether the prison would soon be repaired or not.  Maybe because they thought she wouldn't be able to move much, the prison was left in chaos and abandoned.

Tania's sobs did not stop that night, even though she forced herself to sleep, she would always fail.

Meanwhile, Baron Jason lost his appetite, even though the menu provided was very diverse and delicious.  His mind drifted to remember Tania, about her kindness, and also about her beauty.  Everything seemed to take root in his brain, which dragged him to places he shouldn't.

Finally, his dinner was abandoned after he ate a few pieces of meat.  His body rolled to various sides, trying to sleep, but always failed because it was crowded with various thoughts.

"Just torture me!"

"Are you okay?"

"Why did you kidnap me?"

"This is all for nothing."  Tania's voice buzzed in Baron Jason's mind, even though he didn't want it.

"What's her name?"  he wondered to himself, staring at the ceiling without stopping to think, imagining, and would continue to do so.  "And what has she been doing all this time for a living?  I occasionally run into her when I pick up Lyra.  But how come I never even realized she was so beautiful?"

It was because Lyra was so beautiful.  That's obvious.

"I need to sleep," he said to himself, but he was in vain.  Finally, after several hours had passed his body rose as if being pulled by someone.

Without saying anything his body darted out of the room, down the hall of his residence, and arrived at the dungeon, seeing in the distance Tania who was whimpering in pain.

His heart was sad for a moment, though eventually buried by another plan.

Seeing her shudder, as her steps stopped right in front of her.  Without a hood covering his face and head, the empathy that spreads across his face is barely visible.

"Does your wound still hurt?"  Once again the unimportant question that Baron Jason asked, was a form of discomfort in his heart.  Then he called a servant to get some medicine for him.

"Awh," she grimaced, clutching her bleeding leg, while Baron Jason began wiping and cleaning the wounds on her body.  Her lips were silent, perhaps in amazement and astonishment.  'Why would he want to do this when he could just let me be in pain?  Why would he treat my wound with his own hands when he could call a servant or a healer to do it?'

Her thoughts became more complicated after feeling his fingers gently brushing her face while wiping the dirt that stuck to it.

***