Warning: Un-beta'd. Absolutely not at all historically or factually correct. If you're hardcore on feminist ideals, this might not be your type of story.





Beauty, to Victoria, is a word used to describe the vigorous efforts of the helpless; those who are striving to persevere in a world meant for destruction. In this sense, Victoria rarely makes use of such a word. Seldom is a chance for beauty to surface in an environment such as hers, for she lives in a pension in the skirts of the bustling city, with men and women that bleed gold and diamonds in their sleep.

Time is money, she would occasionally overhear her father-in-law tell her husband, before he glances at her in subtle irritation. No women regresses in age over time, son.

To that, Victoria would simply shift her gaze to the outer windows, watching as slow winds breeze through the leaves while counting the seconds to her father in law’s departure from their ward. Her husband would not utter a sound in her defense but she hadn’t expected him to.

Victoria, elegant and proper, was a lady born into nobility and, ever since she was old enough to comprehend, knew she would die a noble as well.

“Madame,” a voice interrupts her trail of memories from just below her dock, a young and pretty face with eyes of a doe smiling into hers. “The roses have bloomed, just after the touch of the first dew of dawn.”

In response, Victoria folds her arms over the railing that separates them, motioning for the young boy to come closer with a finger. His smile is breath taking, his youth even more so. If she had not been married, his looks most definitely would have captivated her heart just as easily as it does her eyes. “Just how gorgeous are they, Luhan?” She asks the young gardener. “Are they at all able to match the essence of these striking looks of your own?”

The young gardener blushes, immediately lowering his eyes to the ground. Victoria grins then, pearly skin reflecting the sun from her smooth, round cheeks.

“Well, Luhan?” Victoria hums.

As Luhan once again meets her eyes, Victoria extends a hand to his chin and holds him still.

It is hard for Luhan to breathe as he stares into her large, fluorescent orbs. Her beauty was truly a beauty that could not be defeated; not even by the roses.

“N-never as b-beautiful as you, Madame,” Luhan stutters.

Her lips come closer to his and Luhan can feel his heart threatening to beat out of his chest when they are merely centimeters apart.

There are many stories about the young master’s blunt attitude towards the servants, but this is the first Luhan has ever been approached by nobility since he’s been hired. To be completely honest, Luhan was flattered, even knowing she was married to the son of their Count.

“What is the meaning of this?”

Upon recognition of the voice, Luhan springs a few steps away from Victoria, his head bowed so low that the only thing he can see are his knees and his chest. “I’m so, so sorry Milord,” he apologizes, “please don’t be rid of me!”

“You are excused, Luhan,” Victoria tells the young gardener.

At once, Luhan reaches for his shovel and scurries away off into the distance. Kris, standing erect and proper, raises an eyebrow in irritation. “Playing with the servants behind your husband’s back,” he accuses, “such behavior is not encouraged in the homes of noble’s such as we.”

“I was merely preparing him for you,” Victoria shrugs, lifting herself from the rail and elegantly dusting off the silk clothing cloaking her arms. “The child is much too loveable to pass over.”

Kris turns away, stripping himself of his heavy weighing garments as Victoria pulls the blinds shut for him and stands righteously in their shared room. “I don’t know what you’re trying to say, Victoria.”

“Don’t play fool with me, Kris,” Victoria rolls her eyes, taking a seat at the edge of their bed. “He wouldn’t be the first I’ve sent to your study late into your rather eventful evenings. The sounds you try to eradicate from these boys are quite lewd, if I do say so myself.”

“You’ve been setting me up,” Kris remarks, throwing his frock coat to the side. Victoria stares him dead in the eyes, not moving a single muscle even as he advances towards her. “Is it humorous?”

Victoria smirks, amused at how calm the man before her remains. “I’m simply keeping you busy at night. Though, if I were to be honest with you my dear, such behavior amongst those of the same gender are not encouraged in the homes of noble’s such as we.”

“Which is why it is most always kept a secret within the household walls,” Kris agrees, pushing her backwards until she’s lying flat on the bed, trapping her beneath him.

“You truly are the son of a bastard,” Victoria laughs, raising one hand to his right shoulder.

Kris isn’t offended by her words, “A bastard son for a bastard count; that sounds just about as fair to me as your duty to bear an heir for our family line as my wife, my dear.”

“You were never a man of duty,” his wife stresses.

At that, Kris slips a hand beneath her dress and runs his fingers sluggishly up her honey-like thighs. Victoria gasps and turns her head aside, only to feel Kris’s fingers grip her by the chin and guide her eyes back to his, his lips discovering new comfort with hers.

This is not their first kiss, but Victoria very much wished it to be their last.

“No,” he agrees, relishing in the ways he’s able to make Victoria tremble and shudder beneath him as she refuses to make any hint of a sound in response to his intricate to her body, “neither have I ever been a man to excuse a perfectly good chance to bed a perfectly beautiful woman such as yourself.”

Victoria bites down on her lips until they bleed, willing herself not to cry, whether it is for the pain made to her body or the strikes taken to her pride. Such is the life of a woman born in the years of the early eighteen hundreds. Such is the life of hers—a brazen autumn leaf, colors of all sorts magnifying her grace, yet, is still destined to meet the ground in which feet trample and tread, destined for a future that wasn’t always meant to be her own.
 

A/N: Finally, it's being posted! ^___^ Chapter one, coming soon! ♥Xue