Thread: For My Beloved Daughter {jupiter1001, me}

Baron Alexandre Lecarde had almost everything a man could want. First and foremost, he was rich. The Lecardes possessed, in their name, far more money and power than any man under the sky should have a right to own. The Lecarde Mansion could house almost every man within his barony, and the lands in their possessions, rich and fertile, stretched almost all the way from Rennes to Nantes. He married the beautiful Baroness Corinne Martissant, and her dowry alone could have bought the mansion twice. With Corinne, he had four healthy children Two sons and two daughters, comely and healthy. Last of all, he was handsome. Even in his early forties, Baron Lecarde was still a handsome man,renown for his cunning among his peers, and easily rivaling any youth in appearance and skill. He had a tall, slender build, with broad shoulders and elegant limbs. His face was fair to look upon, with a defined jaw and sharp features, his curly brown hair always combed neatly and his beard trimmed and cut finely against his jaw. Never in his life has he lacked anything. Yet one thing vexed him to no end. His youngest daughter. He had wept the day she was born. Even as a young, soft infant, her likeness to him was undeniable. All of his other children took after his wife The same auburn hair, blue eyes, and porcelain skin. But his youngest daughter, his little princess , was his own image, possessing peachy, flushed skin, golden brown eyes, and the same downy brown hair. With every passing day, she grew more and more like her father. She truly was Baron Lecarde's daughter, and he spoiled her rotten. Not a single man would suspect the contempt he held for her. She was so unlike his other children. Abandoning the silks, satins, and chiffons he bought her for riding clothes, she was not at all like a noblewoman. She did not seek handsome suitors---spurning a good number of them, even, and the only shiny object she cared for was her rapier. She had often begged to be involved in practice with her older brother and her father, but Baron Lecarde always refused. This is no place for a lady he had always responded. But somehow or another, she had gotten her own rapier, and began training with a teacher of her own. Baron Lecarde was furious... But after an extended fight-- the first fight he had ever had with his younger daughter-- he had agreed. And from then on, it seemed as if she began to slip farther and farther from his grasp. She would spend her days out and about the city, mingling with commoners and nobles alike, or riding, or training, and acting like--- God save him -- a commoner. And now, she was late for dinner. Not just any dinner, mind you, but the dinner celebrating her seventeenth birthday. He sat seething in his chair, trying to stay composed. Around him, the guests chattered as they waited for the feast to begin, and he noticed how they shifted uncomfortably. This is the last straw ... He raged inside. Sooner or later, someone would have to put her back in her place, for he would suffer no more of such blatant disobedience. Countless men feared and respected him, and by God---his daughter will learn to as well.