Not My Sins

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

 "You don't have to like me back," Rain whispered after she disengaged from him, she wanted the kiss but she didn't understand why she felt used after. Doni was playing with her emotions like he usually does, whenever he was bored. "I won't tell the Duke anything."

"Are you sure?" He reached for her but she shrugged his hands away from her shoulder. "I will do anything, Rain."

"Please…" She begged, trying her best to control the tears from falling. "Please don't touch me, I already promised, haven't I? That I won't tell the Duke anything."

Doni nodded, he noticed the tremble in her voice and so he stood up from the bed.

"I will leave with him now, thank you for your consideration," Doni said as he strolled towards the body of Marcus, lying unconsciously across the room, not once did Rain glance back at him, she had her back to him while she cried silently.

Jerk… how could he…

Consideration? After he had threatened and used her.

Lily was right, servants will always be servants, it would be much better if she were humiliated by the crowned prince instead of a mere stables boy.

It hurt her pride and dignity as a woman.

Why should she be judged for sins that aren't even hers to begin with? It's almost as if everyone whom she came across or knew, hated her because of her father.

It started with her mother.

 She wiped her tears with the edge of her blanket, she trembled from the cold, her knees shook and her lips smarted in pain, she laid back on her bed, tired from everything hoping the pain would go away.

And for the first time, she felt a great dislike for Doni.

Supporting his friend shamelessly after what he did to her, speaking to her like she didn't have any right to her emotions, tears leak out of her eyes, he pretended to care for her and brought her back inside so she wouldn't go to the Duke first.

But if he hated her so much, why did his touch say otherwise?

He probably is just good at hiding what he truly feels

The rain had never been more conflicted than she was that night.

"My lady?" Marine opened the curtains to the room, and her eyes narrowed when she saw the dent in the window, the room was in bad shape and it would be in need of some renovations. "My lady…"

She turned back towards Rain's sleeping body in the bed, the girl was just centimeters from falling off the bed, and she read all through the night. It seemed more like she fainted in that position.

Her eyes widened as she got closer to the girl, she was injured, there was a bruise forming on her right cheek and her split lips were discolored almost blue.

"My Lady…" Marine reached for Rain and shook her slightly. What happened? The girl was feverish, but she was sweating profusely.

Why was she battered? This didn't look like something she would get from a fall, it seemed like a beating.

"My lady, please, say something." Marine tapped her cheeks, and the girl let out a small pained groan. "What happened to you, My Lady?"

"M-Marine?" Rain's eyes opened slightly, and a sense of relief flooded her, she was grateful for seeing someone other than Doni. "You said y-you will come back to me."

Marine shook her head, tears well up in her eyes.

"I was trying to gather some wood in the store, but I met Lady Iris, she wanted me to help her do some work, I tried to tell her I was already assigned to you, but she said her handmaiden was sick and it was urgent." Marine sniffed. "I just couldn't refuse her, forgive me my lady."

"It's okay…" Rain tried to force her body to get up, and sit in bed, there were tears in her eyes as well, but it was mostly from the sharp pain in her head. "I didn't hold it against you."

"Who did this to you, my lady?" Marine wiped the tears that had fallen onto her cheeks, as she sat on the edge of the bed, she removed the duvet from Rain's petite body and her eyes widened in shock. Her clothes were torn and there were marks on her body, it was probably caused by resisting. "Is it the boy, Doni?"

"No…" Rain whispered truthfully. "Doni had never tried to hurt me like this before?"

"Then who did this to you?" Marine shook her slightly, she figured the girl was a bit hesitant to speak. "Please tell me."

"I already promised not to tell anyone." She whispered with a small frown on her face. "I promised Doni I wouldn't tell anyone what happened in this room?"

Marine didn't want to force the girl, if she was going to tell her she would have done that.

"Did he hurt you… like that?" Rain shook her head.

"Doni saved me." Rain answered with a slight smile on her face, her left eye was closing a little bit.

"I need to get you a physician." She stood up and ran out before Rain could stop her.

 The physician after disinfecting her wounds and dressing them, had advised her to give her body some rest, that if it was possible, she shouldn't do anything until she fully recovered.

"Your illness will worsen if you keep stressing yourself," He had told her. "I can't say for sure what is wrong with you, but it has to do with the flow of your mana."

"What?" Marine asked in Rain's stead. "I have known she had a weak body compared to the rest but I never imagined it would be something this serious."

"It's not so serious for now, but it could get either better or worse." The words never left her, her earliest memories through childhood were her struggling with flu, cold, and tiredness which would end up in a week-long fever.

But she felt it was a normal thing, since children her age usually get sick, and they lived in the colder region, she believed she was just sensitive to the cold.

But now it had to do with her Mana, most sicknesses that had to do with spiritual energy are usually terminal, but she wanted to consider the fact that the apothecary wasn't so sure himself.

"What are you going to do?" Marine asked curiously as she paced around the room, she did Rain a favor and didn't inform the master of the house about her condition. She only told them that Rain had a slight flu and urged the doctor to not tell anyone. "I believe you should tell the Duke about this, it is a very serious issue."

"I don't think it is that serious," She answered with a slight frown. "I don't feel weird, my body only hurts because of all that it has been through."

"Even if it's a terminal illness, the Duke could heal you." Marine pressed, making Rain's eyes widen in shock. "If you tell him, I assure you he will do anything in your power to heal you."

"The Duke doesn't have the power to heal." She answered. "In all the books I have read, it is only the royal family that could heal sickness that has to deal with mana congestion and poisoning. Father doesn't have a blue blood."

"It has happened before," She answered. "Before you came to the Duchy."

Rain's eyes widened.

"Lady Iris suffered from mana poisoning, it was so serious, the physicians had concluded she had very little time to live." Marine explained. "But the Duke has a treasure in the Duchy."

"So he didn't go to the palace?" Rain asked curiously and Marine nodded.

"Only the servants who stayed in the main building knew about it, and the Duke silenced them all." She added with a hint of mystery, Rain stirred in her sit. The Duke silenced the maids who had witnessed it? "No one else knows this information."

"Silence, do you mean he killed them?" Rain asked with a raised eyebrows and Marine nodded again. "Then how did you know?"

"Because my older sister used to serve in the main building, she told me everything before she was killed." Marine explained making Rain's eyes widened in surprise.

"The Duke killed your sister too?" Rain asked in confusion again, Marine paused for a while before she nodded again, is there anyone that this family doesn't kill?

Rain became silent as well, and she wondered if Marine also held a grudge against her, she never mentioned this information until today.

"I am sorry." Rain whispered. "It must be so difficult to look at me."

"No, my lady." Marine muttered wiping the tears that had fallen to her cheeks, she was genuinely worried for Rain. "Even though my sister died, I know it isn't your fault."

"You're just saying this so I don't feel bad." Rain murmured, as she pulled her red hair away from her face. "I am not going to tell the Duke about it, I implore you to not disclose this to anyone as well."

"Why not? You're sick." Marine yelled.

"If the Duke is going to cure me using the same method, then you risk being silenced as well." Rain explained. "I don't want to lose the only friend I have."

"But My lady…"

"Please Marine, please let's just forget about it."

Rain turned away from her, her mind drifted back to the story Marine had told her, the Duke had cured his daughter's mana poisoning, without the blood of a true Aubreun…

The Duke is definitely hiding something precious in the lands of the Duchy, and she would find out what it is soon.