Reborn: The Duke’s Obsession

"Love?" Lady Isla asked, a teasing glint in her eye.

"Well, perhaps not love," Delia smiled. "But I can feel how much you care about me, and how you try to protect me in your own quiet way." She then gave lady Isla a playful, skeptical look. "Unless, of course, you are just trying to keep me here to increase the membership numbers of your fine establishment. Is that it?"

Lady Isla laughed, a bright, clear sound that filled the small room with warmth. "What? What are you saying?"

Delia laughed with her. "I am just joking, of course."

They went back to eating their meal in a comfortable, happy silence. After a while, Delia's expression turned a little more serious. "Lady Isla," she began, setting down her fork. "I will not be coming to the classes here anymore."

Lady Isla paused, her own spoon hovering in the air over her soup bowl. She slowly put it back down on her plate. "Delia," she said, her voice full of a gentle concern. "If this is about what happened earlier today and before , with Duchess Adeline and the other women, you must not let them chase you away. You…"

Delia shook her head. "No, it is not that. You already know why I signed up for a membership in the first place. It was so that I could get close to Duchess Lyra and try to win her over. And, thankfully, you let me in and gave me that chance. I got what I wanted. My mother in law loves me." She sighed. "But now… now I have so many other things that I must do. I did not know, however, that I would feel so sad to leave. A great deal of drama has happened here because of me, but in the middle of it all, I also met a great teacher, and a wonderful friend."

Lady Isla's expression softened completely. "Well, we can still exchange letters, can we not?" she said. "And you can still visit me here for tea or I come to your residence to see you once in a while. We can catch up with each other's lives and laugh about things. What do you think of that?"

Delia smiled. "Why are you so nice to me, Lady Isla?"

"Because you are a good and hardworking woman, Delia," Lady Isla replied simply. "And I celebrate you for that. And also," she paused, a distant, sad look in her eyes, "when I see you… I remember someone I once knew."

Delia, feeling bad for bringing up a sad memory, asked, "That person must have been very important to you."

"Yes,"Lady Isla replied, her voice a soft whisper. "She was."

Delia smiled, trying to lighten the somber mood. "Then, as friends," she began, "can I ask you for a favor? I want to learn how to make a special dish, something soft and nutritious, for an elderly person."

Lady Isla's enthusiasm returned in an instant. "Of course! Should I teach you right now, after we are done eating?"

Delia was shocked by her immediate, eager response.

Lady Isla, sensing Delia's reaction, replied, "If a friend is asking for my help, Delia, I will always help them with anything I can and quickly too." She gave Delia a playful wink.

Delia smiled, her heart full of a gratitude she had rarely ever felt before.

After they had finished their meal, they went to the large, pristine kitchen of The Gilded Cage. After tying her cooking apron on, Lady Isla removed her long, elbow-length silk gloves to wash her hands at the large stone sink. While tying her own apron, Delia saw it.

On Lady Isla's lower arm, just below her wrist, was a long, nasty-looking scar. It was not a simple, faded line. It looked like a deep tissue cut that had healed badly, leaving a puckered, angry mark on her otherwise flawless skin.

Lady Isla caught Delia staring at it.

Delia quickly averted her gaze, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment at being caught. "I'm sorry," she mumbled. " I didn't mean to…"

Lady Isla chuckled, a soft, understanding sound. "It is quite alright," she said, looking down at her own arm. "You must be wondering why a lady such as myself would have such a nasty scar, are you not?"

"No, no," Delia replied quickly. "I was not thinking of it like that at all. I am so sorry."

Lady Isla smiled and gently touched the scar with the fingers of her other hand. "Something terrible happened to me, many, many years ago," she explained, her voice calm and even. "And for a long time, whenever I would look at this scar, the whole terrible event would keep playing out in my head, over and over again." She looked at Delia. "That is why I always wear long gloves. To keep people from asking me questions, or from insinuating things that they know nothing about."

Delia hesitated for a moment, then asked, her own voice a soft whisper, "Was it… was it an accident?"

"A carriage accident," Lady Isla replied " I was trying to save someone but it was all In vain. She and her child died. I felt bad, blamed myself every single day. Anything I see this scar I would just wished I could join them."

She looked up and looked at Delia , a small line forming on her lips trying to lighten the somber mood she brought. "I was so afraid of carriages for a very long time after that. But now," she said, a small, proud smile on her face, "you might say that I can even drive a carriage myself, if I had to." She laughed, a sound of a woman who had faced her demons and had won.

Delia could just stare and looked sad on her behalf at what she had gone through.

"Alright then," Lady Isla said, her tone now bright and serious. "Let us begin your cooking lesson, shall we?"

Delia nodded.