Page 59 of A Virgin for the Forbidden Duke

Rose had not been sick at all. It was just a lie that Mary Pilton had made up to save their family.

Mary seethed with anger and took a step closer, her accusatory fingers pointing at Rose. “You are not allowed here. Why are you here?”

Rose looked around, her eyes finally landing on Agnes, and she smiled.

Agnes did not smile back.

Rose looked a bit guilty as she turned back to Mary. “I sent numerous letters, Mother. None of them were answered.”

Agnes turned to her mother, stunned by the revelation.

Letters? There were letters?

Her mother did not look shocked. In fact, she only tilted her chin upward defiantly.

How did I not know about the letters?

Her sister’s return, shrouded in secrecy, brought a mix of emotions for Agnes—joy at seeing Rose alive and resentment for the hardships endured in her absence. She wasn’t sure which one was greater.

Benedict crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes glaring down at Simon Hancock, who looked like he would rather enter inside the earth itself.

“You have been gone for two years now. Why are you back? Surely not because you miss your family.”

Rose took a step forward, looking and sounding very unapologetic. “I figured this was the safest time to return, Father. It’s been years. The public still wouldn’t be going on and on about the scandal of me running off with a man.”

Agnes could only scoff and fist her hands at her sister’s useless justification, grappling with the complexities of emotions stirred by Rose’s unexpected return.

Mary laughed, but there was nothing sweet or happy about it. Now that Agnes thought about it, Mary had become this way since Rose eloped.

“Scandal? Oh I’m sure you wished there was a scandal.”

Rose frowned. “What are you saying, Mother?”

“There was no scandal, child,” Mary snapped, and then her husband took over.

“How could we let a scandal happen? Do you know how it would have been for our family? The first daughter eloped with a wretched slave? Did you think of these consequences before you made your choice?”

“Father—-”

“There was no scandal. We devised a lie instead. You have an incurable disease and have been ailing for years, unable to come out for fear of infecting others and depression,” Benedict said with an impassive face that said so much of the turmoil he felt inside.

Agnes watched her sister’s reaction carefully. How would she feel, knowing her family had turned her into an ailing, dying, sick child in front of the public?

Rose, surprisingly unfazed, only laughed after a few seconds of silence. “I wondered how my family would have handled it, but I never thought of such a brilliant idea.”

Agnes froze. Her hands itched to slap something. Preferably Rose’s face.

Again, Rose turned to Agnes with a smile. “At least Agnes would be able to find a suitable husband and not suffer for what I’ve done.”

Unable to stop herself anymore, Agnes growled, “How dare you? How dare you say that?”

Do you know what I’ve suffered? What I’ve had to sacrifice? Because of your selfishness?

She wanted to say all of that, but her mother was already speaking, and so she could only glare balefully at her sister.

“Leave, Rose. You are no longer welcomed here. Leave and never return.” Mary pointed shaky fingers at the door.

And for the first time, Rose looked shocked and guilty. “Mother? Are you—”

---