Chapter 5 Dietrich
Chapter five
Dietrich
Dietrich’s heart pounded in his throat as they made their way to the library, letting Ella lead while he followed.
If she was, in fact, the duchess, he would have to get used to following her because she would be his employer—or his employer’s daughter, which amounted to the same thing.
The urge to ask what she was thinking rose up, but she wore a look of determination on her face that said he’d better not bother her.
Clearly, she was thinking, and he should leave her alone to do so in peace.
He’d just changed her entire world.
He couldn’t imagine how he would feel if someone came up to him and implied that his parents might have kidnapped him.
He’d looked up to his father with every fiber of his being, and news like that would have shaken him to his very core.
While he knew from his mother that Ella’s relationship with her stepmother was not one to be envied, he didn’t know how she felt about her father or how this discovery would make her feel—if it was even true.
Perhaps he was wrong.
But he hoped that he wasn’t.
It was possible that she wasn’t the missing girl, but the more he’d looked at the portrait in the hallway, and the more he had thought about Ella, the more he had considered that it might be true.
His mother had agreed with him, which is why he’d dared to bring it up to Ella herself.
Without his mother’s vote of confidence, he would have continued to gather intelligence in the background, keeping a watchful eye on Ella to avoid her slipping through his fingers again.
But his mother had thought there was a good chance it was real, and she’d had much more interaction with the late duchess than he had.
Since Ella had no memories of her mother…it was feeling more and more like his gut had been right.
Eugenia might remember the late duchess, so they would head to her next. Mother had told him Ella spent time at the library and got along well with Eugenia, so perhaps Eugenia would have insight for the girl that he couldn’t provide.
He wished he could say it didn’t matter to him whether he found Lady Eliana or not, but he couldn’t, because it did matter.
It had mattered since the moment he gave the tiny girl his first carving, the first thing his father had taught him to make.
It had mattered since the day she went missing, when he had seen the girl by the gate alone and hadn’t stopped her.
It had mattered when he’d gone to Riyel to search for her, and it mattered now.
She mattered.
But the thought of his search ending should have brought only joy, and instead, he wondered if it meant that he had to forget Ella existed.
If she was the duchess, there was no place for him in her world, as a best friend or otherwise.
Ella entered the library with a flourish, immediately calling for Eugenia. Dietrich sighed as he entered the room. He had always teased Beatrice about her library, and if she knew that he was here willingly and not just to fetch someone, she would tease him horrifically.
But what Beatrice didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her, and he had no intention of telling her he’d been visiting the library.
Eugenia’s head popped around the corner of a shelf, her white hair instantly pulling his attention. She settled glasses on the edge of her nose as she hurried over and welcomed Ella with a hug.
“Dietrich?” she asked in surprise when she caught sight of him. “I didn’t expect to find you here.”
Dietrich grinned. “You are so kind, Eugenia.”
She let out a huff. “And what do you need?” she asked. “Because I know you’re not here just for fun.”
“Believe it or not, I came with Ella,” he said, gesturing to the girl. As he’d expected, Eugenia’s gaze softened as she looked at Ella.
“How can I help you, dear?” she asked. “I’m surprised you’re keeping company with him.”
Ella laughed. “I am too,” she admitted. “Frankly, he’s usually more trouble than he’s worth.”
Dietrich let out a gasp. “I’m offended,” he said. “And after all the trouble I’ve been through for you!”
He hadn’t meant to make the smile leave her face.
“Eugenia,” she said, turning to the librarian. “If I had questions about my past...” She faltered, turning to Dietrich, who stepped in for her.
“Do you remember the late Duchess Vaughn?” he asked Eugenia.
“Of course, I do,” Eugenia said. “How old do you think I am?”
Dietrich grinned. “You’re as young as a spring chick, Eugenia,” he said. “But I was asking for a reason.”
“I already said I remember her,” Eugenia said dryly. “I don’t know what else you want.”
“Do you think Ella looks like her?” Dietrich asked.
Eugenia’s eyes snapped to Ella, and he could practically see her mind working over the possibilities, her mouth twisting and her nose scrunching up.
“You don’t think...” she began.
Dietrich nodded. “I was wondering if you thought it too,” he said.
“I suppose a three-year-old would know her name,” Eugenia said.
“And she would have blonde hair and blue eyes,” Dietrich added.
Ella’s hand disappeared into her pocket, and she took a deep breath, fidgeting under their gaze.
“It’s very possible,” Eugenia said softly. “Does she know?”
“Yes, and I would appreciate it if you all would stop talking about me like I’m not here,” Ella said sharply, glaring at Dietrich. “Didn’t we already discuss this?”
“I apologize,” Dietrich said. “But if it makes you feel better, I am just as confused about this as you are.”
“It’s not your whole world that’s been turned upside down,” Ella said sharply before she sighed. “I apologize, Eugenia.”
“You’re allowed to have emotions,” Eugenia said kindly, “but I think that perhaps you’d better go see Duke Vaughn.”
“I can’t,” Ella said instantly, turning to Dietrich with a horrified gaze. “I don’t know anything about being nobility.”
“They will teach you,” Dietrich said. “If it’s true...they’ll teach you everything you need to know.”
Ella shook her head. “No.”
“They will,” he began, but she shook her head again before he could say anything else.
“I’ve been looked down upon every day for as long as I can remember. If I’m going to become a duchess, I need to know more about it before I start. I don’t want to be laughed at or hear them say that I’m only a simple peasant girl pretending to be a duchess.”
She stood straighter, tilting her head a little as she looked at Dietrich. “You can teach me how to be a duchess.”
“No,” he said instantly.
“Yes,” she said, her tone growing more commanding, as if she was practicing how to be nobility. “You work for Duke Vaughn, don’t you?”
He didn’t like where this was going. “I do.”
“So, if it’s true and he is my father, then you should want his daughter to put her best foot forward,” she said.
“I need you to teach me how to be a duchess. You know more than anyone else I know here, since you’re the only one who works for him, and I know that you care about the missing girl, because otherwise you wouldn’t be trying to find her still. So I need you to help me.”
The tone in her voice changed from something haughty and commanding to vulnerable and scared as she added a quiet, “Please.”
Dietrich sighed. “I can’t promise anything,” he said. “You may be a peasant girl right now, but I am just a peasant boy, and I know little more than you do.”
“Then teach me the little that you do,” she said. “Please, Dietrich.”
Dietrich took a deep breath. “I don’t know what you expect me to do,” he said. “I don’t know anything of tea parties or table etiquette or how to dress like a duchess. All I know is how to ride horses.”
“Then teach me that,” she said primly. “Surely a duchess knows how to ride a horse.”
Dietrich groaned. He shouldn’t have brought it up, but all the new horses in the estate stables could use some exercise, so it wouldn’t be too out of the ordinary for him to take a couple of horses for a ride in an afternoon.
“I’ll see what I can do,” he said. “And as for the rest of it, I might have an idea.”
He turned to Eugenia. “Can you send a note to Beatrice?” he asked. “I have to get back to work. I’ve already been gone too long.”
“Ah, yes,” Eugenia said with a grin. “Now that your Lord is home, you can’t go gallivanting off to Eldenwilde whenever you want to.”
“Unfortunately,” Dietrich grumbled. “I miss Beatrice.”
Ella and Eugenia grinned at him, and Dietrich glared back at them.
“It’s not funny,” he said.
“It kind of is,” Ella said.
“Just wait until she finds out you’ve been in the library,” Eugenia added.
“You wouldn’t tell her,” he said.
“I am supposed to report most of my visitors,” Eugenia said, tapping her chin with a finger as she pretended to ponder the thought.
Dietrich grumbled. “I’m getting out of here. Are you coming?”
Ella took a deep breath. “Of course I am,” she said. “You can start our lessons on our way.”