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Duke Cassius, on his nerves, did not know what to do.

Despite the fact that he had no doubt in the least about his daughter\'s ability to survive anywhere, not to receive a single word from her during all this time, it was still extremely exciting. Rachel and this girl could be in trouble that he didn\'t even know about.

All night the man was on edge, waiting for news from the search party. If there were no results in a couple of hours, he intended to go on this search on his own.

Towards morning, Raymond Cassius lost his patience. When one of the guards once again returned and reported that no trace of his daughter had been found, he almost swatted the man.

Clenching his teeth, the Duke said:

«Useless brat! Is it so difficult for you to find just one person?!»

Yes, that\'s right. For Duke Cassius, of course, the safety of his daughter came first. And the aristocrat she was dating was of secondary importance. In any case, if something really happened to Leriana on the territory of his lands, he was ready to pay her family a large compensation. But this is on condition that they still find them.

— Your Grace, I…

— Get lost! The duke barked, and the unwanted servant immediately disappeared from sight.

Exhaling heavily, the man realized that he would have to take matters into his own hands. There was simply no point in continuing to wait any longer. With this intention, he planned to personally lead a search party to scour the entire neighborhood from top to bottom. It can\'t be that two people just disappeared.

The duke was about to give the order to get his horse ready when the main entrance door swung open again. He expected to see the guards there with the next bad news, but it was not there.

On the threshold was his daughter, on whose back was a notorious aristocrat with emerald hair. Leriana Ashford was sleeping soundly, and the noise going on around her did not bother her at all.

At the sight of this, Duke Cassius was greatly relieved, but at the same time worried.

He had no idea what had happened, but most likely Rachel carried Leriana on her back all the way home. She wasn\'t even wearing a scarf, since she had given all her outer clothes to Leriana. The Duke could not believe that Rachel had traveled such a long way in just a thin shirt and skirt.

— Rachel! — the man rushed to her, — What happened? Where have you been?

Despite the fact that her father was genuinely worried about her, the girl only waved her off irritably. Right now, she had things much more important than that.

— A doctor,» she said only one word, «Immediately.»

Noticing that Rachel was not in the mood to answer his questions, the duke decided not to bother her with this. The most important thing is that they returned in one piece.

After throwing these few words to him, Rachel immediately moved to the upper floor, to their room, without any unnecessary delays. Duke Cassius, meanwhile, ordered their family doctor to be called.

Ten minutes later Leriana was lying in bed, dressed in a dry nightgown. Her old clothes were all wet because of the snow, so her personal maid was immediately concerned about this issue.

As soon as Rachel and Melinda met each other\'s eyes, the latter lowered her eyes to the floor in fright. But the girl, despite all the anger, did not have the strength to deal with her right now.

Therefore, she just let the maid do everything necessary to make Leriana feel comfortable in bed. After that, she immediately left, leaving them alone with the doctor.

The Cassius family\'s personal physician arrived almost as soon as the Duke gave the order to send for him. He was very surprised that he was called so suddenly, because despite the status of a family doctor, the duke rarely resorted to his services. The last time was already ten years ago, when his daughter got sick with angina.

— Greetings, Your Grace…

— To the point! The Duke interrupted him instantly, «Look what\'s wrong with her.»

The healer turned his gaze to the girl with emerald hair lying in bed. He wanted to ask who she was, but under the aggressive gaze of the duke and his daughter, he decided not to risk it.

After silently conducting an initial examination, where the doctor checked her pulse, heartbeat, breathing and other general indicators, he came to a conclusion pretty soon.

«The lady is fine,» he said, putting the medical instruments in his suitcase.

— That is?

— No abnormalities were found, — the doctor clarified, — The lady is just very tired, and her condition should return to normal in a couple of days.

The Duke couldn\'t believe his ears.

This girl has been out in the cold in the middle of winter all night, but is she okay? Is it possible…? An ordinary person at least had to get severe frostbite.

The doctor asked if he still had any questions, but after moving away from the initial shock, the man decided to let him go. If even such a professional said that everything was fine with the daughter of Archduke Ashford, then there was no point in detaining him further.

After bowing to both of them, the healer left the room.

For a while, there was silence between them. Duke Cassius and Rachel looked at Leriana sleeping peacefully, and they had completely different thoughts in their heads.

The man decided to approach himself to examine her. So far, he was in no hurry to draw any conclusions.

Rachel looked at him with extreme prejudice, clearly unhappy that he had not left them yet.

The duke was not going to conduct a full examination, as his doctor had done before, because he did not understand it at all. Instead, his gaze almost immediately caught on one noticeable detail.

The one that immediately put everything in its place.

Duke Cassius was stunned when he saw a red mark on the girl\'s neck. Before that, it was difficult to notice her because of her hair.

This mark looked like a bite, and any inexperienced person could tell at a glance that it was an ordinary wound from a wild animal. But in fact, it was far from that.

For a while, the man could not utter a word. Rachel was also silent, and the atmosphere in the room became increasingly tense.

— Rachel… What does it mean? — in the end, the duke could not stand it.

«You can see for yourself,» the girl replied gloomily.

— I\'m asking, why did you do it? — from excitement, he even cleared his throat.

Rachel didn\'t answer for a long time, and her gaze stopped on Leriana\'s face.

— In my opinion, everything is obvious.

Even without further words, the man understood her intentions. One look at Rachel\'s expression was enough to understand why she did it. It was all about this aristocrat.

The Duke looked at the mark, and still couldn\'t believe his eyes.

— Do you understand how dangerous it is?!

— Is there still time to fix something? Rachel chuckled, «Just accept that it happened.»

Raymond Cassius looked at her carefully.

— I know that you always made decisions without my participation, but… These are no longer children\'s toys.

— Who said I was playing? — She snorted, — Do you think I would do this for fun?

— That is…

— I\'m serious, — the girl replied calmly, — I\'m not a child anymore, and I can take responsibility for my life on my own.

Duke Cassius paused, amazed at how confident his daughter was in this aristocrat. So much so that I even risked leaving my mark on it. This is a huge risk that could well be unjustified.

But seeing the determination in Rachel\'s eyes… how could he have changed anything already? One could only hope that she was right, and Leriana Ashford really deserved it.

«You made your own choice,» he said softly, «and I want to believe that in the future you won\'t regret it.»

Rachel chuckled.

— of course. I know that Leriana will never betray me.