“Stella!!!”,a stern voice and almost angry tone can be heard in the hallway;it was Marquis Wallskin a man that is fully expert when it comes to negotiation,”think of it!”,he said in a very authoritative voice as he sighs “you see this is not just about marriage,Stella,this is negotiation!”

“Negotiation?”,a woman sitting in a guests couch scoff,”father you say negotiation,so means you see marriage as nothing but business,if I am not mistaken?”,she ask as she finally stand and walk toward Marquis Wallskin her high black heels making a clink sound as she walk

“Stella you don’t get-“

“Yes I do!”,i cut him mad yet calm,”yes,father,I do!!”,i breath heavily,”you never see marriage as it is,rather you see the sacred vows as if it meant nothing!,did you marry mother just for business?!”I ask him as I take a deep breath

“Stella!! Don’t involve your mothers name in here!we’re talking about you,not her,not even anyone!”,his father yelled at her as he stamp his study table with both of his hands

Across the hallway a man that has an almost big and high figure walk towards all his way to the office,he possessed an aura a cold aura that no one could ever break down he scoff as he finally speaks

“Quite the ruckus this morning”,he scoff as he turns his head to his right hand man and smirk

“Er…my lord the Marquis and my lady is just having a little conversation “,the butler says as he fix his glass

“Normal conversation?”,he ask cold

“Pardon?”,the butler ask nervous as his breath hitch

“From what I’m hearing right now,it’s not a normal conversation rather an argumentation”,he answered as he opened the door to the Marquis office.

As soon as he opened the door ,you could see the Marquis stern face and his heavy breathing because of surpass anger at the girl standing in-front of him, still not noticing his arrival and a petite young woman wearing a fitted dress with a design of roses and her high black heels ,she’s standing in-front of the Marquis as she bite her lip-perhaps the cause is frustration.

“E-hem”,a man who just entered cleared his throat for the two person in the room who’s having nothing but thick silence between them to notice him

“Er…my lord it’s a good thing to see you first thing in the morning”,Marquis Wallskin smile then whispered urgently,”Stella!greet him!”,he ordered

The woman cleared her throat as she bow gracefully “it’s my greatest honor to see you my lord..”,she speak gracefully

“Name?”,he ask cold,”speak or rather…say my name”,not a request but an ordered

Stella raise her head to see the man’s face and clench her fists *who is this man?*,she wondered “uhhhhm…May i ask something?”,she ask nervous

“Sure,your only allowed to ask 3 questions ,if you ask far more questions than that I’ll charge you 10 million”,he answered cold

“W..what’s your name?”,she ask nervous as she gulp

The moment she blurted out the questions you could hear nothing but silence in the room…

“Uhhhm my lord forgive my daughter for her-“

“Usherette Lawrence Schindler,and add the word Duke before my full name”,he answered coldly

Stella stand there shock as she back away “father…”,she looked at the Marquis shock that he’s not joking about the duke

“Your acting as if you just seen a ghost and need some help from your father”,he scoff and sighs as he take a sit “name?you”,he ordered

“Oh..I..my name is “,Stella gulp as she speaks “my name is Stella Sharmayne Irish Wallskin”,she answered calm and a little bit nervous but she successfully masked it with a stern face yet mix with a gentle tone

“Stella…”,Duke Usherette stared at her for a moment ,taking in her beauty,the calmness in her face ,her white as snow skin ,her red rose like lips that shaped like a heart ,her petite yet glasshour body her very black hair that is put in a bun,her courageous and braveness personality it’s fascinating to look at ;he takes in every detail carefully then finally he speaks “I never knew such woman exist”,he scoff and murmured silently but it’s enough for Stella to hear it and run a spark around her spine

Stella stayed silent in her place as he look at the man too ,the rumor is right ,this man now standing before her is really cold and a scary person,he possessed an aura that no one could ever touch or break down,he had this face a handsome face that is enough for every woman to come running and chasing him just to beg for his love but at the same time he possessed an aura where he can kill a person any second just for the reason he cross a line he never would have cross just from the start

“My name ,say it”,he ordered to her as he tap his finger in the liquor glass his holding

“It’s an honor to see you Duke Usherette”,Stella bows gracefully

“Marquis leave us for a while”,he ordered the Marquis as the Marquis immediately obeyed and leave

As soon as the Marquis leave ,Duke Usherette cross his leg and look at Stella

“Take a sit”,he speak coldly “I don’t want my future wife to have a very weak leg”,he added as he make a little smirk

“Yes my lord”,Stella answered softly as she sit facing him

“I know you don’t want this marriage”,he answered ,”I know your worried I could kill you any second and I know you heard about the rumors of me killing a man just because he crossed a line he’s not allowed to cross”,he added “but I’m telling you ,I won’t do that to you as long as..you stay in your place”

Stella shut her eyes as she clench her fists “w..why me?”,i ask him as I finally opened my eyes and look at him

“Didn’t the Marquis told you it’s for negotiation “,he smirk as he rest his chin in his hand

I stared at his cold blue eyes as I take a deep breath “he did”

“And?”,he ask cold as he look at me

“What kind of negotiation did you happen to have?”,i ask him as I gulp

“The negotiation is…your father had debt with me and your the one he offers for exchange ,he says I really need a wife right now because the attention of the society is in me and I would say he’s quite right so I agreed to this”,he answered serious with a compose tone

Stella sighs deeply as she begins to speak softly and calm "why did you come here? My lord?" , I ask him

"To see how beautiful my soon to be bride is?", he smirk -almost "and I would say in this part your father is really right, I'm sure there's no man who could deny and not accept the marriage proposal if the woman is you", he smiled yet the coldness is still there

"What if I don't want this marriage?" , I ask him as I look him in the eye

"What If you don't want this marriage?" , he repeat cold and calculated "if you don't want this marriage, I'll let you run away but if you really did run away from this marriage I'm telling you this cycle of you being the pawn of your father will be repeat again and again, I'm willing to marry you so this cycle can be stop and to protect you from your father's manipulation" , he explained with a stern voice

Stella got speechless by the Dukes word cause she knows herself he's right if shell choose to run away and stay here this cycle will never be stop she thinks it through for the mean time then she finally speaks "if I agreed to this will you grant me my freedom?" , I ask him calm

"Of course I do", he answered "I shall grant you freedom just promise me you won't cross any line"

"And if I may I ask, what's that line my Lord?" , I ask himas I take a deep sigh

"The rules of my household, there's only one rule don't worry, and that rule is, you mind your own thing and don't involve yourself in our business", he continue with his voice cold an compose-but not threatening

Stella sighs nod in approval "yes, I shall do"