The carriage finally got into town, which was busy due to a festival happening. There were people everywhere. The people were looking at the carriage in curiosity since Duke Castevés doesn't come to the winterfest. Winterfest was a festival that happens in the Northern empire once a year. There're lots of activities and games that some of the villagers held, where you can win some prizes. It's kind of like a carnival. The people were shocked to see a girl they haven't seen before with the Duke, pulled the curtain to look out the window.

Vincent watched as Dria curiously looked at the window, probably wanting to see what the commotion was about.

"You can pull the curtain to look outside if you want," Vincent said. Dria looked at him unsure, but he smiled and nodded to assure her. She pulled the curtain aside and looked out the window to see a lots of people moving about and most of the building and street vendors were decroative with snowflakes and snow. There were children playing games. There was this little girl who was looking at her curiously. Dria smiled at her, making the little girl smile and wave at her, which Dria returned.

"It's the Winterfest, it's a celebration of all the accomplishments of the North," Vincent explained as Dria kept looking outside, smiling and waving at the people that did the same, "I'll take you around to check it out after our shopping." Dria pulled the curtain back, sitting back into the seat.

"No, it's okay. It's not necessary," She denied even though she wanted to check it out.

"I insist, it looks like you really want to check it out. Besides, it's a perfect way to introduce you to the people," He said.

"Okay," She replied, agreeing as the carriage came to a stop. The door was opened. Vincent stepped out first, before holding his hand out for her to take. She took his hand, getting out of the carriage with his help. They walked inside the shop and were instantly greeted by the shop owner.

"Duke Castevés pleasure to have you in my shop again," the owner greeted, bowing, "What can I help you with? We got in a new line of dress shoes."

"Greeting Mr. Smith. I'm not here for me, but for her," Vincent replied, gesturing to Dria, whose hand he never let go of. Mr. Smith looked at her and smiled at her, which she slightly returned.

"And who might this beautiful lady be?" He said, making Dria blushed a little.

"She is Duchess Castevés, my wife," Vincent introduced, slightly proudly, which he hoped no one noticed. Mr. Smith's eyes widened in shock, before he smiled happily.

"It was about time you settled down," He said, which the Duke glared at him for, but he ignored him since he wouldn't do anything to him because he was his mother's friend and paid attention to Dria, "It's nice to meet you Duchess. I'm Mr. Smith, owner of this shop."

"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Smith, you have a lovely shop," Dria said back softly with a small smile as Mr. Smith came to her and grabbed her hand, taking her away from Vincent, making her let go of his hand, which she didn't notice she was holding.

"I have everything you can dream of, come I will show you," He informed, taking her towards all the shoe racks. Dria looked back at Vincent with a nervous expression. He nodded and smiled at her reassuring her that it will be fine. She turned back around, continued following Mr. Smith.

~Timeskip~

"Put those in the carriage," Duke Castevés ordered the knights, who nodded and walked to the carriage, "Let's go, I will show the Winterfest as promised." Dria and him made their way to where the festival was happening. As they walked through, they were stopped by some children.

"Duke, who's that?" They asked him in curiosity. The Duke looked at them, then, at Dria, who was smiling sweetly at them. Everyone else stopped doing what they were doing to listen.

"She is the Duchess," Vincent replied. The children's eyes widened in excitement. Everyone smiled and shouted in happiness, making Dria shocked. The children started surrendering Dria.

"You are our Duchess."

"You are his wife now."

"You have a pretty smile."

The children started all talking at once at her. Dria giggled a little after coming down form being shocked.

"They are so adorable." She thought as she squatted to their level.

"Yes I am. What are your names?" She asked with a smile.

"I'm Ella."

"I'm Khali."

"I'm Azul."

"I'm Khalid."

"I'm Theresa."

"I'm Lucas," a boy older than the rest of the children introduced. Dria saw a little girl hiding behind him. It was the same girl that was waving at her.

"And what's your name, angel?" She asked her with a gentle smile. The little girl peeked from behind her brother, seeing Dria smile. She stepped out from behind her brother, holding something behind her back.

"My name is Anastasia," She answered shyly.

"That's a beautiful name," Dria replied. Anastasia pushed the thing behind her in front of her, showing it to Dria. Dria saw that it was a flower crown.

"For me?" Dria asked. Anastasia nodded.

"Thank you. Why don't you put it on me," Dria continued as she bent her head. Anastasia placed the flower crown on her head. Dria raised her head, smiling at Anastasia.

"How do I look?" She asked her.

"Beautiful!" Anastasia shouted, then she grabbed Dria's hand, making Dria stand up, "Come on, we will show you around the festival!" She dragged Dria away with the other kids following, leaving the Duke behind. The Duke nodded to the two knights that came with Dria and him to follow them closely as he followed as well. As he was walking, something caught his eye, making him stop to look. He saw that it was a pair of lotus flower earrings.

"Duke, do you like these earrings?" The man selling them asked as he saw the Duke looking at them.

"Yes, how much?" Vincent said. He wanted to get it for Dria since he realized she likes lotus flowers.

"It's for free. I'm assuming you are getting it for the Duchess. So, I will give it as a congrats on the marriage," the man replied as he closed the jewelry box with the earrings in it, before handing it to the Duke.

"Thank you, but I don't like taking things for free, so accept these gold coins," Vincent said, placing five gold coins on the table, before taking the jewelry box. The man nodded and smiled, taking the coins. Vincent turned around, but stopped when he saw the children from before running to him with a scared and crying face.

"Duke!" They shouted.

"What's wrong?" Vincent asked them worriedly.

"Duchess, someone took her and Anastasia," Lucas explained.

"Which direction?" He asked as he put the jewelry box in his pocket, before taking off in the direction Lucas pointed to.

With The Duchess and Children

The children took Dria around the festival, showing her everything. First, they showed her all the games. Right now, Anastasia and her were checking out this one game that they didn't check out, while the other children were doing this other game with the two guards that they forced to play with Dria's order. The one Dria and Anastasia were going to was far away from everything else, closer to an alleyway. Dria was having a bad feeling about it as they were getting closer to it.

"Ana, sweetie, maybe we shouldn't go to that one," Dria said to Anastasia who was walking slightly ahead of her.

"But, it looks-" Anastasia started to say before all of a sudden, two guys wearing black masks snatched her and took off running.

"Anastasia!" Dria shouted before kicking her heels off and took off after them. The children and guards saw that. The guards told the children to stay put and ran after them. The children didn't stay put, they went to find the Duke.

Dria kept running after the kidnappers, turning every corner they turned, not caring about her feet that were getting red from running without shoes. The kidnappers were getting frustrated with her. They had to stop since they came to a dead end.

"Take care of her," the one holding Anastasia said to the other one. The other one took out his sword, walking towards Dria, who stopped after they stopped. She saw that he was coming towards her with a sword and picked up a metal rod laying on the ground to use as a weapon. The man ran towards raising his sword at her, which she blocked. She learned a few sword tricks from an old friend of hers. They kept fighting. Dria was keeping up with him, but she wasn't as experienced and skilled as the man. The man knocked her down, making her drop the metal rod. As she was about to kill her, a dagger hit him in the chest, making him drop dead. Dria looked where it came from, only to see a silhouette on the roof, before it jumped down on a dumpster, and then on the ground. Only then did she see who it was, which was the Duke. The Duke faced the other man that was holding Anastasia. He pulled out his sword and raised it towards the man.

The man let go of Anastasia, making her run to the Duchess, who held her tight. The man pulled out his own sword. Then, he started charging at the Duke, which he dodged. The man turned around and tried to attack the Duke again, but the Duke dodged that attack as well. The Duke hit the man on the back with the back of his sword, which knocked the man down. The man was about to get back up, but the Duke held his sword up to his neck, making him freeze. Alexandria was watching all of this happen. 

"Where have I seen those sword skills before?" she taught.

Flashback

A four year old Dria with her maid Lilly was walking around the Castevés' mansion since her father was talking to Duke Castevés and she was bored. She decided to check out the mansion. As she was walking by what looked like a training hall, she saw a young boy, who looked older than her, practicing with a knight, and he was really good. He would dodge attacks left and right before hitting the person with the back of his sword, and holding the sword to their neck. She stopped to watch him train. When he stopped, she clapped for him, making him turn around to her. She smiled at her, before walking towards him.

"You are really good," She complimented him.

"Thanks. Who are you?" He asked

"I'm Alexandria Ruby La'more," She introduced herself, bowing a little, "What's your name?"  She was now standing in front of him. She really wanted to get to know him. She was thinking he may be the young heir of the house.

"I'm Vincent Castevés."

"I knew it," she thought.

"Vincent, can I call you Vince? You can call me Dria. Do you want to be friends since our fathers are friends?" She asked excitedly, getting in his space. She wanted to be friends with him since she doesn't have a lot of friends.

"Sure," He replied as he stepped back a little since she was probably all in his space.

"Yea! Now that we're friends, can I touch and hold your sword? She asked excitedly, hopping on her feet a little.

"And be blamed for your injuries. I don't think so, you can have a wooden sword," He replied as he gestured for his trainer to get a wooden sword, who handed it to him after he got it. He took it and handed it to her.

"You are no fun," Dria said, pouting and taking the wooden sword. Dria saw him smile.

"Wow, you finally smiled. You look so handsome when you do," She complimented. Vincent blushed a little from that, before composing himself.

"If I'm no fun the , I guess you don't want to learn some moves," he said back jokingly, ignoring what she said. He watched her eyes widened in panic.

"What I meant to say was that you are fun. You are the funniest person in the world," she praised, "Now, teach me some moves." Vincent shook his head at her with a light smile, before reaching her some moves.

End of Flashback

"He's Vince," she thought as she watched the guards coming to the alleyway. The Duke told him to take the man and the dead body away. Alexandria turned her attention back to Anastasia.

" Are you okay sweetie?" She asked Anastasia, who was still hugging her as Dria rubbed her back gently. Anastasia nodded her head as she tightened her arms around Dria.

"Anastasia!" A lady shouted. Anastasia looked up from Dria's neck to see her mother.

"Mommy!" She shouted, getting out of Dria's hold. Dria let go of her. Anastasia ran to her mother, who met her midway and held her tight in her arms. Dria started to stand up, but couldn't die to her injured feet. The Duke came to her and grabbed her feet gently, which started her. He ripped two pieces from his shirt. He picked up one of her and wrapped one of the cloth pieces around it. He did the same to the other foot. Then, he picked her bridal style, making her yelp. Dria quickly wrapped her arms around his neck. She blushed.

"Thank you, Duke and Duchess, for saving my daughter," Anastasia's mother said.

"It was no problem," Dria replied sweetly with a smile, while Vincent just gave her a nod.

"If you could excuse us, the Duchess needs medical attention," the Duke said. The mother nodded. The Duke began making his way towards their carriage. When the driver saw them, he opened the door for them. Vincent slowly placed Dria in the carriage, before stepping inside himself. The driver closed the door, before getting back on and started the carriage.

~Timeskip~

Dria was sitting on the bed, while the doctor was applying some cream on her feet and wrapping it with bandages. After finishing, the doctor closed his medicine box.

"Here's the cream and bandages. Reapply them everyday until the wounds healed. I also suggest limited walking on her feet," the doctor said as he handed the cream and bandages to The Duke, who took it.

"Thank you, Sebastian," The Duke replied as he walked Sebastian to the door. Sebastian nodded and walked out of the door.

"You're Vince, right?. The one I met 13 years ago," Dria asked. Vincent turned towards her.

"Yes, you finally remembered," Vincent said, walking towards her, sitting down on the bed on the side she was laying on.

"Sorry, I forgot about you," She apologized, feeling guilty that she forgot her friend. Vincent shook his head.

"It's no worries. You had a tough life," Vincent replied.

"Lily told you," Dria said, looking at him. Vincent nodded.

"You don't have to worry. Now that you are here, I will provide you with the best life," Vincent promised as he raised his hand and caressed her cheek, which she leaned into, making him smile. She smiled back at him, one that reached her eyes.

"I will always protect you. No one will ever hurt you again," He silently promised as he continued to caress her cheek.