Leonard, upon entering the office, was greeted by his father. "What's going on? Do you need something?"
"Yes, I want you to help me prevent a wedding."
"Seems like you're late, you're already married."
"It's not my wedding, and I've married for some time."
"Then whose wedding is it?"
"It's the wedding of the Marquis of Norfolk's niece."
"Why do you want to prevent her wedding? Don't tell me you like her and want to make her your lover. You know if you do that, you probably won't sleep with your wife again. Women don't like sharing their husbands."
"It's not about that either. I don't even know the girl. I'm doing this because Olivia asked me to."
"Hmm... Well, good luck with that."
"Don't you plan to help me?"
"No, Leonard. No matter how much influence you have over other families, you can't meddle in the decisions they make regarding their families. The Marquis of Norfolk is her guardian, and he can freely choose who to marry her off to."
"I know that, but there must be a way to help her."
Leonard's father thought for a moment and said, "That girl is an orphan. You could tell the Marquis of Norfolk that you want to adopt her as your daughter. If you do that, he will most likely accept, as he won't miss the opportunity to enter our family."
"Wait, isn't that girl too old to be adopted?"
"No, I don't think she has reached the legal age yet."
"I'm going to be a father soon, so why don't you adopt her? Mother has always wanted a daughter."
Leonard's father looked at him and said, "You're crazy. If that girl becomes my daughter, she will never be able to get married."
"Why?"
"You know how your mother is. Most likely, if someone came to this house to court her, she would release the tiger she keeps as a pet to eat him. I'm old and I don't want to deal with that kind of thing. I've already given you can idea. If you don't want to do it, you could simply help her escape."
"I like the idea of helping her escape."
"Well, now that you've decided what to do, go away and leave me alone. I have work to do, not everyone is on vacation like you."
Leonard left his father's office as he was starting to get annoyed. He went to look for Olivia.
Upon entering the room, Leonard saw Olivia lying on the couch in front of the fireplace, covered with a blanket. He approached her and lifted Olivia's legs, placing them on his, and said, "I talked to my father about what we could do to help the Marquis of Norfolk's niece."
"And what did he say? Is there anything we can do?"
"My father gave me two options, and I want you to decide what we should do."
Leonard massaged Olivia's legs as the spoke, "He said we could help her escape and sent her somewhere far away where no one will find her."
Olivia thought for a moment and said, "I don't like that option. She would have to be completely alone."
"The other option my father gave me is that since she hasn't reached the legal age yet, we could adopt her as our daughter."
"Can we really adopt her?"
"Yes, I don't think the Marquis will refuse. It would be beneficial for him."
Olivia sat up on the couch and said, "I would really like us to be able to adopt her. She would be the older sister to our baby, and our family would be bigger, which would make me happy."
"If that makes you happy, I'll go talk to the Marquis and get all the paperwork sorted out."
"I would love to see Daphne. Could you make her come?"
"Alright, I'll try to convince her to come live here starting today."
"Really?"
"Yes."
Olivia got up and kissed Leonard, saying, "Thank you, I love you."
"Then I will get going right away."
"Yes."
Olivia was very excited because Daphne was going to live with her from that day on. She realized that if Daphne was going to arrive that day, they needed to prepare a room for her.
When Leonard left, Olivia searched for the butler and instructed him to prepare a room near hers and inform the chef to make cakes and sweets, as they would soon have a guest.
Afterwards, Olivia went to tell Leonard's mother what he had said, Leonard's mother was very surprised, as she never imagined that her son would adopt a girl just to please Olivia. She thought that her son had definitely changed a lot, and she felt happy to see that he had a wife whom he deeply loved.
...
Daphne was in her room, staring out of the window with no motivation to do anything, not even embroidery, which she loved. Ever since she found out that she would be marrying Count Doriel, she spent all day looking out of the window, wishing she could escape her reality. She longed for her parents and, despite pondering the matter, the only way she could find to escape that marriage was through death.
She had searched the garden for poisonous plants and boiled them to make a poisonous tonic. She planned to die on her wedding day, which was in a week's time.
Daphne didn't want to die, but she preferred death over marrying Count Doriel. Just the thought of that man touching her disgusted and repulsed her.
She only regretted that she wouldn't be able to fulfill the promise she had made to the duchess to visit her. The duchess had been sweet and kind to Daphne, something she hadn't experienced in a long time.
One of the maids told Daphne that her aunt was waiting for her to go and try on her wedding dress. Reluctantly, Daphne got up and went to the room where her aunt and a designer were waiting for her. As she entered the room, her aunt said.
"Why did you take so long?"
Daphne lowered her head and replied.
"I just..."
"Oh well, it doesn't matter. Come and try on the dress to see how it fits. We don't want you to embarrass our family on that day."
"Yes, aunt."
Daphne put on the dress and, as she looked at herself in the mirror, she thought that since her mother's death, this was the first time she had worn such a beautiful dress.
"The dress fits you well, it's a shame that your pale face takes away its beauty. But, what can we do? If you're not pretty, maybe we can fix you up with some makeup."
Daphne took off her dress and put on her usual clothes and said to her aunt.
"Are we done yet? Can I go now?"
"Yes, you can go now."
Daphne returned to her room and sat by the window looking into the distance. When she saw a carriage approaching with the Forest family crest, she was delighted at the thought that the duchess had come to visit her. Daphne hurried down the stairs to see if it was indeed the duchess who had just arrived.
Upon reaching the entrance, the carriage had just stopped. The coachman opened the door and out stepped the duke. Daphne waited to see if the duchess would alight, but when she realized that she had not arrived, she felt sad again. The duke approached her and asked, "Are you the niece of the Marquess of Norfolk?"
"Yes, Your Grace, my name is Daphne."
As Leonard looked closely at Daphne, he understood why Olivia wanted to prevent their marriage. Olivia had told him that she was only fourteen years old and was to marry a widower of over fifty. Such arrangements were common in high society, where parents of guardians decided whom their daughters should marry. However, Daphne looked even younger, being thin and slightly sallow. Her clothes were so simple sallow. Her clothes were so simple that anyone could have mistaken her for a commoner.
Before visiting the Marquis of Norfolk's mansion, Leonard had sent someone to investigate Daphne's situation there. The report he received stated that before her parents died, the Marquis had financial troubles and was on the verge of bankruptcy.
After Daphne's parents passed away, leaving her a substantial fortune, the Marquess of Norfolk had taken her under his wing and become her guardian, seizing all that she owned in the process.
The Marquis was marrying off his niece, as if she reached legal age and remained unmarried, she could claim back everything that belonged to her, potentially leaving him ruined once again.
Leonard considered using this against the Marquess, persuading him to allow him to adopt her, as by doing so, all her possessions would legally become his.
Daphne began to tremble nervously as the duke looked at her as if assessing her for a moment before saying, "I see. Where is your uncle?"
"My uncle must be in his study. Would you like me to fetch him for you?'
"No, just show me the way."
"Please, follow me."
Leonard followed Daphne, who walked with her head down all the way. When they reached the door, she knocked, and her uncle told her to come in.
Upon seeing Daphne, the Marquess said, "I am very busy. Do not bother me unless you want to be punished."
Daphne trembled with fear as her uncle seemed annoyed, and the words caught in her throat, unable to tell him that the duke was standing behind the door.
Seeing that Daphne was paralyzed and silent, the Marquess grabbed an ashtray from his table and threw it at her head. Upon hearing the sound of impact, Leonard opened the door and saw the young girl holding her bleeding forehead, looking at her uncle with terror.
Upon seeing Leonard, the Marquess went pale and asked, "Duke, what are you doing here? Why didn't anyone inform me of your arrival?"
Leonard handed Daphne a handkerchief to apply pressure to her wound and stop the bleeding, telling her, "Go get your wound treated."
Daphne was afraid her uncle would get angry if she left without his permission, so she stood still until her uncle said, "You haven't heard the duke. Go get your wound treated."
After her uncle's instructions, Daphne left the room almost running and found one of the maids to attend to her injuries.
As her uncle left the room, he said to Leonard, "Duke, I apologize to showing you something so unpleasant. That girl still doesn't know how to behave and makes me angry all the time. Now, tell me, what brings you here?"
Leonard looked at the marquis with disdain for hitting his niece even though she had done nothing and said to him.
"I have come here because I want to adopt your niece Daphne."
The marquis, upon learning the reason why the duke had come to visit him, began to tremble like a leaf as he had just struck the person the duke wanted to adopt and said.
"Duke, my niece is getting married soon, so that will be impossible."
"Cancel her marriage, I want to adopt her as my daughter and if you do not agree, I will make sure that the man you are going to marry her off to takes all that belongs to your niece, so you decide."
"Why do you want to adopt my niece?"
"I will be clear, my wife likes your niece a lot and asked that we take her back to our territory with us, so that is why I decided to adopt her. I am not interested in any of your belongings, if she becomes a Forest all that belonged to her parents will pass to her closest relatives, so what do you plan to do?"
The marquis felt trapped between a rock and a hard place as he had gained great benefits from Daphne's marriage. However, if he did not do what the duke wanted, it was likely that Count Doriel would take everything she had.
Soo he had no choice but to accept what the duke was proposing.