It was now late evening, Suzette and her parents were awake, waiting in the master suite room, their youngest sleeping on their mother's lap. Suzette was biting her nails while she paced around the room, and her father's legs were jittery and couldn't be still. Her mother held onto their sleeping youngest for dear life, worried something might happen to him, too.

            Then they heard running in the hallway, without knocking the door went wide open and they saw an exasperated maid, informing them, "The Duke and his knights have returned!"

            As their youngest was still sleeping and they didn't want to wake him or leave him, they decided to wait a bit longer, even though the anxiety was eating them alive, Suzette however, dashed forward out of the room.

            She continued running, ignoring all the people and voices urging her to slow down, still running towards the stairs and eventually fell. Not caring for her own wellbeing, she threw her shoes off, got back up and started running again. A maid who had noticed grabbed her a new pair of shoes with much urgency and chased after her, but she was already out the door.

            "Your grace!" Suzette shouted, as he was walking out of his carriage, a sleeping Cynthia in his arms. She was draped in his coat to help keep her warm in the chilly night air. As soon as he heard Suzette's voice he turned, "Suzie...?"

            He blinked and saw that she was running towards him barefoot, to prevent her from coming closer, he ran towards her instead, "Where are your shoes?"

            As if she didn't hear his words, she continued to panic, "Is she okay? Please tell me that she's okay!"

            His face softened, "She's fine, she's just tired from this whole ordeal." She was able to get a closer look at Cynthia's face, her breathing was calm and present, she instantly felt relieved.

            "Thank goodness," She managed to breathe out as her body began to calm itself. At this point, the maid caught up to her, holding the shoes.

            "My lady, your feet are all scratched up..." The maid frowned, but Suzette was too focused on Theodore and Cynthia to take notice of her. Theodore then turned to his knights, "Leorand, take the little lady inside, I'll be in shortly."

            Leorand was the vice commander of Duke Theodore's knights, he was a tall man with a muscular build, he kept his hair cut short and his face was rather unemotional, his vice commander insignia dangling from his shoulder pad as he walked up to his master. Leorand nodded at Duke Theodore's orders and took Cynthia in his arms and walked towards the McGrowen castle's entrance. While Suzette watched as Leorand and Cynthia's figures were getting smaller and smaller, Theodore picked her up and set her down on the bench nearby. While she was busy processing this, he grabbed something from his coat pocket then took a hold of her foot. She realized that he was beginning to clean and bandage them.

            "Y-your grace??" She yelped in surprise.

            His face pouted, angry, "How could you come out here without your shoes? Your feet are all banged up."

            "I took them off after I tripped..." She quietly admitted.

            He took a deep breath, which nearly sounded like disappointment, "If you tripped, that means you most likely have more injuries, it's time to head inside now." Without warning, he picked her up again. In the McGrowen estate, the artificial light proved much more effective than the dim lamppost by the bench, he was--with much more clarity, able to ascertain the extent of her injuries. She had bruising on her legs that were beginning to form and some scraping on her knees.   

            After patching her up, he was done, he knew he'd be summoned to meet with her parents, "Wait here for me." She gave him a shy nod and continued to sit down as the maid looked over her, placing the comfortable shoes on Suzette's feet to prevent further injury. He had the butler of the estate escort him upstairs, it was the master suite where Suzette's parents awaited him. The door was already opened, as Leorand had only returned her a few short minutes ago. They ended up looking towards the door when they heard a light knock.

            Harold scrambled to his feet to thank him properly, "I apologize for not receiving you properly, I will do anything you wish to return the favor, thank you so much for finding and saving our daughter!" Harold was about to bow down to him if that's what he asked for.

            Lucinda crying too much to say anything, but Theodore knew that she was thankful, but it honestly felt a little bit awkward, "All of this isn't necessary. I'm also glad we found her...I'm not sure if you've heard, but there're rumors of little commoner girls going missing lately and various noble families have received suspicious letters about their young daughters. The suspect we arrest may be the source."

            Harold pressed his temples, "I did hear about the missing girls briefly, so you think all of this is by the same man?"

            Theodore changed positions slightly, he couldn't deny that he was feeling a bit tired now, "They are under our custody and we plan on interrogating them tomorrow, as the culprit is currently still unconscious."

            "Again, we thank you so much, your grace!" Lucinda got up, holding both her sleeping children in her arms to thank him properly as well.

            He felt awkward once again, "Really it's not...actually, it's getting late, do you mind if I stay the night?"

            "Of course your grace! Feel free to stay here as long as you desire!" Both of Suzette's parents joyfully shouted, Harold even grasping onto Theodore's hands with his own. Theodore couldn't help but smirk at this, he pardoned himself and left the room as they dropped to the floor, hugging one another with their children between them. He honestly felt a bit jealous, their family was warm and full of love, his house however, was vastly different. As the heir to the duke's household, he had to maintain perfection throughout his entire life. He was told he needed to marry the one best suited to the household, not for love. As love was a mere weakness in their opinion, he wondered if they laughed at him in the afterlife when he was vulnerable enough from heartbreak to be murdered, especially as he decide to marry for love anyway. He doubted they'd actually feel remorseful, then again, they died from the plague because they were helping pass out supplies to the outbreak areas so he felt they had no room to talk.  

            While he walked back to the entryway, where he had left Suzette, the maids had quickly left to get a room ready for him. A part of them was tempted to set him up in the same room as their lady--squealing while suggesting it, but they expected they'd be scolded for doing so and refrained. Once he had Suzette in his sights, he noticed she began nodding off, he chuckled at the sight of her.

            "Suzie," He called out to her, directly in her ear which caused her to stir slightly.

            "Theo...?" She yawned, still half-asleep, as she was in no condition to walk on her own, he grabbed a hold of her once more. While in his arms, unprovoked, she kissed his forehead, "Thank you, my duke."

            He felt his face flush from her unexpected kiss, then he grinned. He hadn't heard her call him 'Theo' in a long time. It resurfaced so many feelings and emotions in him, he gently escorted her back to her room. The maids staring in admiration along the way. He placed her on her bed and returned her forehead kiss. He grabbed his notepad and pen from his pocket and left a note on her nightstand. It read: Meet me tomorrow, I believe we still have more things to discuss. Also, it seems you have yet to fix that adorable habit of kissing people when you're half asleep.

            He let one of the maids outside the room know that she had to be changed into a nightgown and once a few maids went in there to do so, a different maid escorted him to his quarters for the night. His room wasn't far from hers, but it still felt unbearable, he wanted to hold her in his arms.

             Not yet, let's not be rash, He reminded himself. He couldn't fall asleep right away, as Suzette was still on his mind--he could still feel the faint warmth of her kiss on his forehead. He tucked himself in after putting on the nightwear that they had lain out for him. Her presence was still on his mind as he continuously tried to fall asleep. He could picture her sleeping soundly, all curled up and relaxed now under her covers, he had hoped that she was blessed with happy dreams and not cruel ones from the incident today.