Lady of the Ravendale (Book 1, Ravendale series) ✔

Chapter 3

"I found a dress that will look good on you!" Marie said with an excited tone. The dress looked beautiful. It was humble but it was a light blue colored dress with a slightly darker shade of blue, overall the dress looked elegant.

The problem is that I never wore this kind of dress for the last 5 years. I used Etrian clothes, where I could wear pants, a shirt or maybe a hoodie.

"Marie, this dress is really beautiful, but I don't think I could go back to wearing dresses like these and act as the head of the household," I said in a sad tone. Being the head of the household it's a huge responsibility. I have to make sure that my family's business will run smoothly, plus I need to show others that I'm worthy of upholding my noble title.

"Don't worry, in a few days you will be used to wearing dresses, and after some etiquette lesson revision, you will become a perfect lady that no man wouldn't dare to resist," Marie assured while her eyes sparkled with excitement.

Oh typical Marie, she is always thinking that soon I will have to marry a man who has a higher noble standing than me, so the house of Blue Topaz will be known to everyone. She also wants me to enjoy the life that my mother has always dreamed of.

My mother always dreamed of going to the balls and taking part in court, but she was from a poor noble family and she was raised by my grandfather. My father has a mysterious origin, my mother found my father injured next to the river and he had amnesia.

The only thing he remembers is his name, that he has the talent of an architect, and he has the manners of a high standing noble. After my parents married, soon they started getting richer, my father had a secret talent creating designs of houses, mansions and palaces and he sold them for a good price and my mother's resort became more popular.

The only thing I know about my father, that he never remembered his past, or he gained his memories but he didn't tell me. When I was a child I was afraid that my father would have another family that he is married to, and he will have to come back. Yet, he stayed with us until his death.

Probably, I will never know if he regained his memories or not.

I sighed as I unpacked more clothes from my suitcase.

After I unpacked my suitcase I decided to lay down in my bed and listen to the sound of rain. Then I hear someone arguing downstairs. I decided to investigate.

I exited my room and walked towards the source of the sound.

"But this is important, Marie! She needs to know. Seven days left until the deadline." Alice said to Marie.

"She just came back, can't you wait?"Marie hissed at Alice.

"What deadline?"I asked. Alice and Marie looked at me with surprised expressions.

Right now I was tired from traveling, and I was dreading to hear that Alice and Marie were hiding something. I thought I would have to deal with household and business things tomorrow after I rest. Unfortunately, it seems that I have to deal with a more important issue that has a deadline.

Is it bankruptcy or is there an unpaid debt? I kinda doubt that because my mother was very capable of handling the resort. Maybe I misjudged her ability? Maybe I shouldn't have run away from home?

"It appears that your parents arranged marriage a long time ago and since you ran away, the contract was put on hold. I guess your husband's family has heard that you came back and decided to send you a notice." Alice explained the situation.

That time my mind froze.

Marriage? Arranged a long time ago? How did that happen?

I guess I remember when I was little my parents took me to introduce me to a potential future husband, but back then I was shy talking to the boys that came from noble families because they were different from the maid's sons that I used to play with.

It was easier to talk with kids of the commoners than with kids that came from noble blood. This causes me to have anxiety and for some reason, I thought they were judging me. Due to my anxiety, the play dates would always end unsuccessful, because after my parents and boy's parents leave us alone to play, I would always stay silent for a few minutes until I feel that I'm going to cry and find a corner to cry or room to cry. Depends if they leave us in a room that is monitored by the servants or not. Servants would usually comfort me until my parents came and the boys would usually get surprised and confused about my reaction.

The last time I was on a playdate, I decided to hide before my parents could meet the boy's parents. I hid in the bushes until I was greeted with two black kittens that wanted to play with me and then I was taken home after that and my parents never took on playdates.

Then when I started going to school in Etria my anxiety improved and after that, I never had those crying episodes.

"So I have to get married in a week?" I asked them slowly.

"Well they say you have a week to choose whether to either marry or pay compensation.

Looking at our finances we can't afford to pay them compensation. I would personally recommend you to marry since the marriage contract would last only six months." Alice explained to me.

"Okay, but whom I would marry? Which household I'm going to marry in? What kind of reputation does my future husband have?"I asked Mary and Alice.

"They have a bad reputation, you shouldn't marry them!" Marie said.

"It's only for six months, besides Amethyst household, considered the richest household in Ravendale. That would help Annabelle to gain connections and expand her business, plus Amethyst's family are part of the court. It's not like she has to stay married to uncontrollable husbands forever." Alice said frustratingly, but when Alice revealed my future husband's reputation I wanted to ask some more questions.

"Husbands? How do they have a bad reputation?" I asked Alice.

"They are twins and therefore you will have two husbands. They considered being uncontrollable and hard to tame because when the fiancé starts living in their house after some time their fiance will experience hell in the household and usually they get chased away. They had two brides but now they are both dead since they died under different circumstances."

"They killed them or assassinated them?" I asked Alice but she shook her head.

"No, they weren't connected to their fiance's death, but people think that they cursed them with bad luck," Alice explained.

Still, it didn't make sense, because it's illegal to put a curse on people. They could be executed no matter what, since cursing people is extremely taboo anyone can get executed, if they use a cursing spell. No matter if the person is noble or a woman. Since they are still alive then the death of the previous brides remains a mystery to me.

Then again in Ravendale, there is more chance that you will get domestically abused by the wife than by your husband, and men rarely abuse their wives. There is a chance that they might be provoked or abused.

I guess I need time to think about it.

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Here is the new chapter!

What do you think of the Ravendale so far?

Who was Annabelle's father, before loosing his memories?

What do you think of Annabelle's future husbands?