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The Duke Disguised Himself as a Footman to Meet His Bride — What He Overheard Left Him Speechless

The Duke Disguised Himself as a Footman to Meet His Bride — What He Overheard Left Him Speechless

Chapter 5

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"Miss, you'll get nothing yourself.""I'm not hungry."It was a lie; Lucien could see it in the hollows under her cheekbones.She glanced at him on her way out. "Did you get warm, Luke?""Yes, miss.""Good."That was all. She was gone.The cook stared after her and wiped her eyes on her apron. "She does that every night," she said. "Every single night since the master cut our wages. And they want to sell her off to some cold-blooded duke who won't even look at her."Lucien said nothing. Under the table, his hand was clenched around the little vial so tightly the glass creaked.At dawn, carrying a letter for His Grace's banker, Lucien took the fastest horse in the stable and rode to the village.The young doctor, Elias Thorne, was twenty-eight and had only been in the parish a year. He was poor, honest, and quietly furious at the way the gentry treated his patients. He tested the vial while Lucien waited.When he looked up, his face was grim. "Where did you get this?""From a sick child's bedside.""That child isn't sick—or she wasn't. This is enough laudanum to keep her half-asleep for months. Her lungs will be weak from lying still. Her appetite will vanish. She'll waste away." Thorne put the vial down carefully. "Increase the dose by a quarter, and one night she simply won't wake up, and everyone will say the poor, sickly girl finally slipped away."Lucien stood very still. "Write that down for me, Doctor. Every word. Sign it."
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The Duke Disguised Himself as a Footman to Meet His Bride — What He Overheard Left Him Speechless

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