She was not far into her walking excursion when she was stopped. There was a silhouette leaning against a tree up ahead. She stopped and immediately recognized who it was: Duke Theodore. He came closer and sighed, slicking his hair back.

            "I had my suspicions you were going to try coming here." He seemed quite annoyed at being right, for once.

            "I've told you! I want to give him a piece of my mind!" She repeated herself for what seemed to be the umpteenth time the past few days.

            He sighed again, "He won't be able to understand you--he's been deprived of water, food and he's been kept awake."

            "Even so! I can still!" She insisted.

            "No!" He shouted at her, "How can someone who doesn't like animals being slaughtered be able to stand the gruesome sight of a public death? I'll call a carriage for you, so return home!"

            She was startled by his sudden tone and ended up jerking, he ended up stuttering at what he just said--he wasn't trying to be mean, per se, he was only trying to spare her from something so gruesome. Instead, she bit her lip, her hands balled in fists and shaking furiously, "Theo, you're a real brute, you know! If you fail to remember--we're not married, which means I'm not your property, so get the hell out of my damn way."

            He felt his veins popping out of his skin as his blood pressure began to rise, it's true--they weren't married again, yet, but he hated when she got like this, her stubbornness was a leading cause in quite a percentage of their arguments. At this point, he was almost too tired to care anymore, "If you want to be that way--fine, so be it. Just know this, I tried warning you, my offer to send for a carriage still stands if you decide to back out now."

            She snorted, "I'm not going to back out." She began walking forward again, passing him and he wanted to pull her back but stopped himself, there was no point--it would just cause another argument. He decided to walk alongside her instead. At the city square, there were a ton of people--mainly commoners with some nobility mixed in their ranks, as their attire so finely pointed out. There was shouting, "Bring that bastard out here!" and "Give me back my daughter, you fiend!"

            There were wooden buckets full of rotten tomatoes to throw and stones, and in the center of it all, was a wooden platform with a guillotine. In a matter of minutes, it suddenly became quiet--something was happening. Several knights pushed the convict forward, he had a brown linen bag covering his face. Once it was taken off, the man no longer looked alive--Duke Theodore was not joking when he was deprived of everything, the convict was faintly breathing, as if he was to die soon anyway, regardless of the guillotine.

            As he was standing there, the throwing of rotten tomatoes and stones began, his body began bleeding and bruising from his face and hands--the stones barely missing his eyes. Suzette's eyes widened at the sight, it was brutal but it was well-deserved. Before she could begin shouting at the convict, the knights pushed down on his neck and back, making him drop down to his knees. They set his bleeding face and nubbed wrists on the wooden lunette and locked it in place. Not long after, the crowd chanted as they looked at the blade, it was shining so brightly as if it was just sharpened by a blacksmith.

            Suzette closed her eyes just a matter of moments before the blade dropped to brace herself, Duke Theodore noticing, pulled her close to him and covered her face with his hands.

It was an instant, the released the blade and all you could hear was a slice, the crowd was dead silent. The convict's head could be heard immediately plopping onto the platform, and it began rolling. The knights moved away as the citizens began throwing the rest of their rotten tomatoes and stones.

            Suzette could hear the convict's bones crushing from the stones impact, and she buried her head in Duke Theodore's chest inadvertently, he began to stroke her hair as if trying to tell her everything would be alright. Once all the stones and tomatoes were gone, the commoners began to disperse. Duke Theodore was still holding onto her, stroking her hair.

            She tried to pull herself away and open her eyes, but he turned them around, keeping his hand in front of her eyes to block her view, "Don't look at it. It's not a good sight to see."

            She sounded so defeated, "Theo, I guess you're right about everything like always, why did I even bother coming here."

            He winced from her words, "Don't say it like that. How about we move away now, we shouldn't give that bastard more of our time today, don't you think so?"

            Before she was about to say yes, she felt bloodlust coming towards her, angry footsteps that sounded like one hundred men, it was her father, "Suzette Elizabeth McGrowen! Why on god's green earth are you here? I told you no!"

            She buried herself in Duke Theodore's chest trying to avoid the whole issue, he ended up patting her on the back because her father was glowering at him, too. The count continued his rampage, "Duke Chelvion, did you rope my daughter into this?"

            "No, I found her sneaking her way here. I tried my best to turn her away, but she didn't heed my words." His honesty quelled the count's anger against him, while Suzette started pinching his chest in annoyance.

            "Well, then, young lady, are you going to give your father a proper explanation?" The count tried his best to keep his tone normal, to prevent bystanders swarming in.

            She pulled herself away from Theodore's body, and in an instant there were tears in her eyes, Duke Theodore had to prevent himself from laughing at the sheer absurdity of it all, She should've been an actress.

            "I--I'm sorry father," She began, and seeing her crocodile tears made her father stiffen, he didn't intend to make his daughter cry. When he was about to tell her, 'it was alright, don't cry' she continued her charade, "I know that I--hic--went against your word, but I, I need to see for myself what that man looked like. I, I still can't believe he could do something like this." As if on cue, she took out her handkerchief and started dabbing at her eyes.

            "You know why I'm angry, right?" Her father crossed his arms, he tried his best to look intimidating but her tears were really getting to him.

            "Because I disobeyed you?" She looked at him, with big innocent eyes that were full of tears, it pained his heart. He had to clear his throat to get his bearings back.

            "Well, yes--but that isn't the only reason. You saw what the commoners were doing, what if you had been hit by a stone that trailed off-course? You could have been seriously hurt or died."

            "I'm sorry, daddy." She responded meekly, and her father's heart melted. She had said the word he had missed for years, not even his two younger children call him that anymore. He ran to hug his daughter, who in turn did the same. Duke Theodore was still on the sidelines, already exhausted from the theatrics and decided to call for a carriage for himself and them.

            By the time that the carriage arrived, the theatrics were still going and he humorlessly laughed, not only was it embarrassing to watch--he also felt a bit jealous, not only because he wanted to hug Suzette but because he wished he and his parents were close like hers.

            I need to stop wishing for what I can't have, He reminded himself, and looked over at them, it was as if they were in their pinnacle of youth again. He cleared his throat and said, "I'm sorry to disrupt your...touching moments but, the carriage has arrived."

            The father and daughter let go of each other, now realizing how many stares they have gotten and walked towards the carriage. Duke Theodore taking her hand and escorting her inside, she sat down first and then Howard sat by his daughter. He didn't show it outwardly, but Theodore was jealous, he knew that he couldn't get on her father's bad side though, if he did it would be a painstaking ordeal to get married again.

            He sat on the other seat, and his image reminded Suzette of a lost, lonely puppy. She could see dog ears sprouting from his head. She laughed and started talking to him, which instantly perked him up.

            "My lord, do you have any plans for the rest of the day?" She smiled.

            "Well, not anything important, it doesn't matter if they get pushed back a day." He looked at her with warm, hopeful eyes.

            "We still have yet to go on our outing, would you like to do that today?" She smiled and he could already feel his heart racing, however their potential plans were dashed by her father glaring at the both of them.