The Duke's Masked Wife



"Ida? Who is Ida, Duke Collins? Is there something the court is not aware of?" Mark asked. Edgar looked to be amused while Katrina seemed worried. There was a new battle between the two which Mark was not aware of what caused it.

Edgar had found something to get under Katrina's skin, but he was keeping it to himself for now. The court would not punish Katrina and Kate the way he wanted them to be punished. He was going to have a mind game with the two of them and looking at Kate, he didn't have to do much to break her.

"The Duke is just spouting nonsense that has nothing to do with this meeting. We must move on before more time is wasted," Katrina answered.

"Ida is-"

"Enough!" Katrina exclaimed to interrupt Edgar from revealing whatever he knew. He had to know so much about her since he knew that name. "Duke Collins, I will speak with you later to settle our differences. We must not bring up things that have nothing to do with Simon."

"I don't know if I can agree to that. I feel the need to talk right now," Edgar smiled. 

Katrina gritted her teeth, angered by Edgar toying with her once again. Wasn't it enough that he picked Alessandra over Kate, killed her husband, and cut her face? She had been hurt enough for him to stop trying to ruin her life. Wasn't Alessandra happy by now? Was Alessandra still holding onto the past like a fool when everyone else had moved on? 

Katrina didn't know how Edgar had suddenly become aware of her old name. Randall could not have been so foolish to tell Edgar as what he did with her in the past would get him thrown into a cell right beside her. Then again, Randall sometimes was a fool who could be easily won over by money. 

Like everyone else in the room, Kate was confused about the battle between her mother and Edgar. Kate was clueless about the name Ida, but for some reason, it felt familiar. 

"Let's move on," Edgar decided in the end. He had enough of seeing Katrina panicking for now. He had enough time to drive her crazy before making her live out punishment for what she did to Alessandra and the people she hurt before marrying Desmond. 

Kate was already starting to live out her punishment with her wounded face and Edgar sensed something off about her. She was not her usual cocky self and he couldn't place if it was because of what happened with Simon that she was acting differently or if something else had happened. 

Call him evil, but he hoped she would never recover from what Simon put her through. Kate wasted the chance for Edgar to ever feel sorry for her. She was a person who could never admit to her wrongdoings and kept pushing at Alessandra who rarely spoke of her old family,

Mark knew they should move on back to the topic of Simon wanting Alessandra, but now he was curious about this Ida person. Why did Edgar have to stay silent now when he didn't hold his tongue other times? 

"Uhm, I think this is a good time for me to interject," Bella spoke up to help bring the meeting back to being about Simon. She was now curious about the relationship between Kate, the Duchess and Duke. She was picking up from Edgar's hostility that Kate wasn't as good as she was portrayed to be. "Simon told me about wanting to bring the Duchess in the room with me. He kept saying it was a gift for Marchioness Kate."

Bella did not want to believe that Kate would have helped Simon bring her sister into that horrid room. How could someone hate their sibling so much to help Simon take them? Bella could not see Kate being such a person. She could never stomach helping to save someone who would hurt their sister. Bella had her own issues she was looking to slowly fix, but if Kate had truly started to help Simon, there might not be any possible way for Kate to change.

Kate was already turning down the offer for the two of them to come together and heal from this experience, and most of the time, Kate didn't want to speak about herself and Simon.

Bella snuck a glance at Kate and their eyes met for a moment before Kate had a mortified expression and looked away from Bella. Kate's actions made Bella believe that there was more about what happened between Simon and Kate. It infuriated Bella since they should tell the full story about Simon. 

Still, Bella couldn't bring herself to hate Kate. Bella knew what it was like to be a bad person and did not realize it at first. At least right now, it seemed like something was weighing Kate's mind and Kate might finally tell the court everything about Simon. Even if it would place her in a bad light. 

"After he got married, Simon also wanted me to get married which meant he might've been looking for a man to take," Bella revealed.

Kate turned her attention to Bella once more. What if Simon wrote about her picking Kyle in one of those books he left behind? What would happen to her then? Why couldn't Bella have just remained silent? 

Kate touched an area of her chest which started to feel tight. It was becoming hard to breathe and her body felt cold despite the fact the room had been warm when she first entered. "I want to leave" Kate requested. She was nowhere near ready to speak about Simon when she was so conflicted about her actions. 

She didn't think anything she did was wrong. Simon was the bad guy who would have taken Alessandra not her. Kate was troubled by her heart and mind not agreeing with each other.  She could not say she had done nothing wrong without a strange feeling building up in her chest and then there was the faint sound of Simon's voice laughing at her. Calling her the evil he left behind to ruin the town.

"I want to go back to my room," Kate spoke louder since no one heard her the first time. "No, I want to go home with my mother. I don't want to speak about Simon or anything else concerning him for the time being. Please," she pleaded with Mark. 

There were too many voices in her head for her to be able to focus and lie about Simon wanting to take Alessandra having nothing to do with her. Edgar was also taking advantage of her state and made her slip that something did happen between her and Alessandra.

"It is time she goes home and gets over this experience. Hasn't she suffered enough by being married to Simon? And then you have Edgar painting her to be Simon's partner in this madness and none of you in this room stopped him," Katrina angrily spoke as the men in this room were useless. "We are going home," Katrina stood up.

"Isn't she supposed to be hiding her face? There are a lot of people outside the court. I am afraid I have no mask to offer her right now. I wonder if the town would think that foolish curse Alessandra was said to have moved on to you, Kate. What do you think?" Edgar asked. 

Surprisingly, the court was more fun than he thought it would be today. Perhaps it wasn't a bad thing to have left home for this.

Katrina leaned forward to reach out to hit Edgar who was taunting her daughter.

"Katrina!" Mark exclaimed, standing up to stop her. 

Edgar remained still in his seat, not fearing Katrina attacking him. "Ida, would not want you to attack me," he said, causing Katrina to stop with her hand in midair. "Not when I know all of her secrets."