To Be a Beauty

Chapter 21 : Siegfried de Chauvegné

Diana de Chauvegné.

A woman blinded by greed.

A woman who left her husband for another man.

The kind of woman who's so easy to hate and judge.

People said that she left her husband because she was dissatisfied with her blind husband. Living in an abandoned mansion with no maids nor butlers, even as a noble, made her detest the life that she had with her blind husband.

But was that really the case?

--

Diana lived a Cinderella story. Even if she was a noble, she wasn't treated like one. 

She belonged in a Count house with her father, her step-mother, and her step-sister. She wasn't treated as a daughter of the Count, instead, she was treated like a maid. They reasoned that it was because she was an illegitimate child, a child of one of the maids defiled by the Count. 

Her mother died from childbirth, leaving her behind, alone in this world. She was left to fend for her own.

Her father did not treat her like a daughter, but Diana was still thankful because he made sure that she was fed well, and she was given her own room. 

Even if the household had a number of maids, she was still assigned twice the number of tasks of a normal maid. She knew that it was because of her step-mother, who hated her existence to the very core. Her step-mother wanted her to suffer, or better yet, to leave the household.

One day, she accidentally broke the musical box of her step-sister. Her step-sister screamed at her and slapped her in the face. That was the first time they hurt her.

Then her step-mother came and whipped her until she couldn't stand. That was the second time they hurt her.

When it came to her father, the count, she heaved a sigh of relief when he said that he would not punish her anymore.

Instead, she would be wed to the newly appointed Duke, Meltif de Chauvegné.

She had heard of him before. The general who always wore a bloodied cape. The one who killed thousands of enemy battalions, using his army of 50 thousand men. The general who brought meritorious deeds and countless glories to the kingdom. The one they called the 'bloody hound', Meltif de Chauvegné.

She heard the latest news from a maid.  The king decided to give him land and grant the title of Duke to recognize his meritorious deeds. 

But one year later, an accident happened. The general's best friend and right-hand man was captured by the enemy during the battle. It was said to be one of the hardest and toughest battles that the whole kingdom had fought. Meltif de Chauvegné was tasked to lead the kingdom to victory. But even with his might, because of the ferocity of the battle, many died.

From his 50 thousand men, it was reduced to only a thousand left. The same could be said to the enemy kingdom, which was reduced from 200 thousand to only 15 thousand men. The general had to brave the enemy battalion with only a thousand men, to defeat the enemy and to save their lieutenant general.

The general won the war along with his men, but they felt as if they had lost. The general lost his sight and the lieutenant general died. The general's army seemed to have disintegrated after the war. The captains of the general's army retired the moment their general retired.

It was very tragic.

It made Diana sad at the thought of the man who lost his men and best friend. Diana thought that it might be hard on him, especially when he became blind.