The Reluctant Duchess Ch. 02

The Reluctant Duchess 02

Part 2 of a Hallmark-style romance reimagined for Literotica. Reading Chapter 1 will certainly help you understand what is going on. The story is complete, and each of the seven chapters will be posted a few days apart. Thanks for reading.

As Johanna headed to Sophie's bedchamber the morning after the disastrous trip to the club, she had no idea what to expect. Upon entering, she found the Grand Duchess still in bed, staring into her phone with a serious expression. Sophie did not look up to acknowledge her visitor.

"Can I get you anything?" Johanna asked cautiously.

Sophie looked up from her phone and Johanna wasn't sure if her face showed anger, embarrassment or some other emotion. "No, thank you, Jo. I'm fine."

"OK, then I'll leave you."

"No, wait, please. Come sit here." She gestured at a chaise near her bedside. Johanna sat, waiting for dressing down at best, a dismissal at worst.

"I have to ask you a question, OK?"

Johanna nodded. "Of course."

"Why?"

"Why what, Sophie?"

"Why are you here? You're smart, educated, beautiful and I suspect have enough money in the bank to do whatever you want, go anywhere you want, and yet you stay here, in Klippenberg, serving me, your old friend. I couldn't wait to get out of here, and don't even want to be here now, but you've chosen to stay."

The dark-haired woman bowed her head as she attempted to formulate an answer. The antique grandfather clock that had been in the Grand Ducal chambers for generations ticked as the women sat in silence. Finally, Johanna spoke, slowly, and softly. "I stay because it's my duty. Your family has ruled Klippenberg well and fairly for generations. My family has served yours for as long, and we have been treated well. Better than well, in fact. I left Klippenberg to learn hospitality skills so that one day I might be in a position to run the palace, and I was working as an assistant to Herr Stockmann. Because that is what we do. So, yes, my ambitions are larger than this, and I still hope someday to be running this entire operation. But when your mother suggested that I be assigned as your attendant, after, you know, I said yes, not only out of duty, but because I thought you might need a friend. And that's what I tried to be." She looked at the floor, unable to look at Sophie.

The room was again silent, except for the sound of the ticking clock, until Sophie spoke, in a quiet voice.

"Jo, I never wanted any of this." The brunette looked up and saw Sophie, nearly in tears, gesturing around the room. "Sure, I'm proud of what my family has done, but all I wanted was to be able to live my life and do what I wanted and not have to worry about the responsibility. That was for my father and my brother. So, when you say that you're doing what your duty is, I have trouble understanding that, really. You are your own person, and you don't owe us, or me, anything. And I've always rebelled against what my mother and father told me my duty is." Her voice trailed off into sobs, because she realized what a bind she was in.

"I don't know what to tell you, Sophie. You're next in a long line of Klippenbergs, and I don't think there's anyone else."

"But how can I do this without going crazy? I need my freedom, my fun, my men, and all I hear about are rules, responsibilities and duty."

The clock ticked in the silence. "I don't know, Sophie. But I do know that I'm here for you, both because it's my job, but more importantly, because I'm your friend. If you want me to help you embarrass yourself, your position or this country, or to cover for you, I just can't do that. I'm not the same party girl I was when we were teenagers getting into trouble. If that's what you want, let me know, so that I can resign my position and leave with dignity, OK? But if you want someone who will be there for you, help you have some semblance of a real life without disgracing your position, and always have your back, then I'm happy to stay."

Sophie saw the distress on Johanna's face, not realizing that her own face was similarly pained. She pulled back the blankets and left the bed, approaching Johanna and pulling her into an embrace. Through her tears, Sophie said, "No, Jo, I was wrong to put you in that position and you did exactly the right thing. Until I figure this out, I'm going to need people like you to protect me from myself."

Sobbing herself, Johanna replied, "But better me than your mother, right?" That broke the tension, and the two women separated, laughing.

"I guess I need to see if there's a way out for me, and if not, if I can figure out a way to do this job without it destroying me."

*

Over the next days, Sophie spent her time doing the work that her ministers required of her, trying to figure out what was expected of her. For fun, she flirted outrageously with Frederic Stolz, because it seemed to make him uncomfortable, but he was as faithful as he was handsome, and possibly more intelligent. And she spent her spare time on the Internet, researching the history of Klippenberg, hoping to find the loophole that would get her out of the comfortable prison she had been sentenced to, but none appeared other than abdication.

One afternoon, over lunch, her mother looked at her across the table and said, "Sophie, why do you look so miserable?"

"Why do you think, Mother? Do you think that this is what I want?"

"So, what do you want?"

"What I really want is Father to be alive, and to be back in New York."

"Here we go again, Sophie. That is impossible, and you know that."

"I could abdicate, and be done with all of this," Sophie responded, petulantly.

"Do you know what happens then?" her mother asked.

"I assume there's someone else out there. Some distant relative who would be happy to emerge from obscurity and become a Grand Duke or Duchess."

Her mother looked horrified. "You don't know, do you?"

"Know what?"

"About the Succession Decree of 1946."

Sophie had never seen any reference to that in her research. "No, what's that?"

Charlotte Marie sighed. "When the Nazis invaded, your great grandfather Wilhelm Josef fled to Switzerland and was able to save most of the country's treasures."

"I know that. Everyone in Klippenberg knows that."

"But what you might not know is that Wilhelm Josef had a brother, Klaus, who collaborated with the Nazis. He thought that they would name him Grand Duke, but they never got around to doing so, because Klippenberg was not really their top priority."

"So?"

Charlotte Marie continued. "After the War, when Wilhelm Josef was safely returned to Klippenberg, he signed a Decree that forever barred Klaus and any of his descendants from sitting on Wilhelm the Brave's Throne. And to be even more certain, he declared that only his direct descendants could rule in Klippenberg. Your grandfather Josef was an only child—his mother Maria Christina died in childbirth, and Wilhelm Josef never remarried. And your father's sister, also Maria Christina, had leukemia and died as a child."

Sophie interrupted, "So that makes me the only person eligible to be Grand Duchess?"

Her mother nodded, and Sophie felt the walls closing in on her. "Why have I never heard of this Decree?"

"It is a private family document and not official law, but it is enforceable. It will only be made public if necessary."

"What happens if I decide to abdicate, anyway?"

"Under the Decree, in case there is no rightful heir, there is a referendum, and the people can choose to eliminate the monarchy and retain independence, or petition to either join Germany or Switzerland."

Sophie thought for a moment. "None of those options seems that bad," she mused.

Charlotte Marie lifted her hand, and seemed about to slap her daughter's pretty face, before she realized the impropriety of that act. Instead, she responded, seething, "How dare you, stupid girl, think that your happiness is more important than the legacy of your family. You should be ashamed of yourself, you selfish brat." She turned and fled the room before she said anything more.

*

Over the next weeks, Sophie fell into a joyless routine. Awaken, have breakfast, dress, work on state business, lunch, personal time, during which she continued to try to find a way out of her predicament, dinner, then, either a book, TV show or movie. Occasionally, she walked through the deserted palace, looking at the art hanging on the walls. She also worked on some independent projects that Columbia had offered to accept to allow her to graduate on time. The school had been incredibly sympathetic, and offered her the opportunity to defer finishing her degree, but she was so close to the end, and concerned about her life going forward, she thought that it was best to get it done. She knew that she wouldn't be able to attend graduation, but she was going to be subjected to too many ceremonies in her new life anyway. Her days ended with a return to her empty bed where, she regularly attended to her sexual frustration with a battery operated friend. It was her longest drought by far since she became sexually active.

Other than that, her only real pleasures came on the few times she ventured out of the palace for an event, which gave her the chance to interact, even a little, with regular, every day Klippenburghers, the time she had gossiping and talking with Johanna, and a couple of steamy Facetime sessions with Mark, who eventually warmed to long distance phone sex.

As she listlessly pushed her lunch around the china plate with her silver fork, her mother interrupted her reverie. "Sophie, have you given any thought to the coronation ball?"

Sophie's ears pricked up at the mention of a party, but she was doubtful that it would be her kind of party. She had vague memories of the preparations for her father's coronation ball, and remembered fancy tables, stiff old people in uniforms and a dull orchestra. "I assume that it is going to be a boring, dressy party filled with dignitaries, with boring music, right?"

Charlotte Marie had observed her daughter's listlessness, and thought that she had an idea of what would help to snap her out of it, while possibly advancing her objectives. "Well, yes, that is how these things usually are---"

"Great," interrupted Sophie, her tone filled with sarcasm.

"But I was thinking," her mother continued, "we could arrange an after party, for the younger people. You could pick the food, the music, even invite some of your American friends to fly in for it."

For the first time in some time, Charlotte Marie saw her daughter smile. "OK, that could be fun. We could do it outdoors, in a tent, have a DJ. Yes. Let's do that. You plan the boring party and I'll plan the fun one."

Charlotte Marie nodded. "Let's get started."

*

It had taken more than a month to schedule and plan the event, and for the first time since she returned home, Sophie was enjoying herself. She had invited a bunch of friends from New York to come, made sure that Jo invited a group of her friends, even Paul, and had worked with the palace staff on menu, decorations and had found a top DJ from Ibiza to provide the music. And to top it off, she convinced Mark to come a week early. He had finished class and was just waiting around for graduation. Sophie knew that he would be able to help her with her drought, and she found herself missing his company.

He arrived in the early afternoon, and Sophie could see that he was overwhelmed by the palace and all of the trappings of her position that Sophie took for granted. Mark was also stunned by the passionate kiss and embrace that he got from Sophie. He had started to enjoy their sexy Facetime sessions, but didn't realize that he had made such an impression on her on their only date, which ended so tragically. But he was certainly happy to be flown on a private jet to spend time with Sophie, who was beautiful, great in bed, and a Grand Duchess to boot. He was getting access to a world that he never even dreamed of knowing.

"Leave your luggage here," she directed, "someone will take them to your room. Let me give you a quick tour." Sophie took Mark's hand, and pointed, "That's the drawing room, that's the parlor, that's the library, that's the ballroom." She began to move toward the stairs, "these are the stairs, come on, let's go up." Almost at a run, she pulled Mark up behind her. Turning right at the top, she pointed at a closed, wood door, "that's your room, and this is mine." Sophie opened the door and closed and locked it behind them.

"This is quite a place, Sophie," Mark finally being able to get out his first words since arriving. He noticed Sophie was already removing her shirt, and he could see her sheer bra covering her stiff nipples

"Yeah, thanks, Mark." She approached him and began to unbutton her shirt. Mark, no idiot, could sense her desire and began to undress quickly, while Sophie continued to strip her clothes off, jumping up on the huge four poster bed, getting on her hands and knees and wiggling her firm, round ass at him. Within seconds, he was behind her, plunging his hard cock deep inside of Sophie, who was soaking wet with desire.

"Oh, Mark, I need this, harder, harder," Sophie demanded, and Mark was more than willing to comply, until he felt Sophie shudder and collapse on the bed. Mark continued to pump into her, grunting with the effort, until he came, gasping and collapsing onto Sophie's back.

They lay there, panting and catching their breath.

"Thanks, Mark. I've been going crazy here. I'm always being watched. That's the first time I've had sex since New York."

"Actually, it's mine, too," he admitted. The end of school had been a bit of a blur, between studying and celebrating the end of his four years of college. And to be fair, he was more than a little smitten with Sophie von Klippenberg—and that had happened before he knew who she was. And after, thinking about their one night, and searching the Internet for news of her, his infatuation deepened, abetted by Sophie's uninhibited video sex calls.

Sophie wasn't done. She rolled out from under Mark, pushed him on his back, and began sucking his flaccid cock back to life. And when it revived, she climbed on top and impaled herself on it, riding him until both climaxed again.

"OK, that'll do for now," Sophie said, smiling.

"You should see me without jet lag," Mark joked.

"You did fine, Mark. Better than fine."

Looking at Sophie, her blonde hair tangled and mussed, and a slight sweat on her smooth pale skin, Mark was enthralled.

"Stop looking at me like that," Sophie snapped, and Mark returned to reality.

"Like what?" Mark asked.

"Like you're in love with me. Don't be ridiculous." Mark continued to stare at her. "Grab your clothes and come with me," she said, gathering her own from where they had landed. Walking over to what appeared to be the wood paneling on the wall, Sophie pressed the wall and a door opened. "This place was built when secret passageways were important. You know, arranged marriages, concubines, and such." Sophie led Mark into the bedroom next door to hers.

"Wow, this is bigger than my whole apartment. By a mile." He noticed that his luggage was in the room, already emptied.

"Enjoy it," Sophie said, smiling. "You need to shower and get dressed. It's time to meet my mother." Mark noticed that Sophie's face clouded a little. "I'll meet you in the hallway in half an hour, OK?"

"OK. Will do."

Sophie turned and closed the door to the passage behind her. Mark noticed that you wouldn't know that there was a door there unless you knew to look. He found the en suite bathroom, which was surprisingly modern, and showered and shaved. Not knowing in the slightest how one dressed in a palace to meet the mother of a Grand Duchess, Mark settled on a pair of khakis and a blue button down shirt. He went into the hallway and waited for Sophie to emerge from her room. When she did, the first thing he noticed was that she was wearing jeans and a Led Zeppelin t-shirt, her hair in a ponytail and minimal makeup, if any.

"I think I may be overdressed."

"No, Mark, you're fine. I just dress like this to piss off my mother, but you probably shouldn't."

Great, Mark thought, family drama. Royal family drama.

"A couple of things, Mark. First, as far as my mother knows, we are just friends. No need to mention any of the benefits."

Mark nodded, and Sophie continued, "Second, refer to my mother only as 'Duchess' or 'Your Highness,' and me as "Grand Duchess." She's a stickler for that kind of thing."

"Got it."

*

Mark was surprised at the amount and variety of food that was being placed on the table for the three of them by a team of servants. Meats, poultry, fish, vegetables, cheeses, breads and sauces filled the table.

"Mark, we don't eat like this every day. I think Mother is showing off for you," Sophie stated.

Charlotte Marie responded, a bit huffily, "Well, I don't know what foods he likes to eat, so I thought it would be polite to offer a choice. It won't go to waste, so don't worry."

Sophie thought that the staff would be eating well for the next few days, and smiled at the thought.

"Thank you, Duchess, there's so much here that looks delicious."

Charlotte Marie smiled. "Our chef is brilliant. His family has been cooking for Sophie's family for generations, and Kurt has trained at some of the finest restaurants in Germany, France and Spain."

Mark waited for the women to serve themselves, and Sophie appeared to sense his hesitancy. She pointed to the platter of sliced meat and one of the staff came over, picked up the dish, and served her. It went on like that until she stopped pointing. Then Charlotte Marie did the same, and finally Mark was served. That was followed with a wine service, in which they were offered a red or white, and since the women both chose red, Mark did the same.

Once Sophie began to eat, Mark dug in. Charlotte Marie was right, the food was delicious.

"Mark," Charlotte Marie began, "your last name, Hausman, is that German?"

He made sure that he had no food in his mouth before responding. "I think so, but I'm not really sure. My family is supposedly a mix of all countries. I know that some of my ancestors came to America early, and others are more recent immigrants."

Charlotte Marie nodded. "That is very common in your country, I believe. My family, and Sophie's of course, is of German heritage, going back as long as we have records."

"Yes," Mark responded. "America is traditionally known as a country of immigrants. And when the Grand Duchess told me about her family, I have to admit that I went online and did a little research."

Sophie whipped her head around and looked at Mark. "Really, and what did you find?"

"Just a bunch of stuff about Klippenberg's interesting history, and how your family seems to have done an amazing job running it."

Charlotte Marie jumped in. "That's right, Mark. Sophie comes from a long line of very progressive, very dedicated rulers. And there's no reason why she can't be another in that line."

Mark noticed the color rising on Sophie's otherwise pale face. He wondered if she was about to explode at her mother, but somehow, she kept her emotions in check. Instead, she grabbed her wine, downed it in a gulp and stood. "I'm no longer hungry, Mother, but Mark, feel free to finish your lunch." She turned and almost ran out of the room.

Mark stood, saying, "No, Grand Duchess, I'll come with you. I've eaten enough, and it was delicious. Thank you, Duchess for arranging this for us." He followed Sophie out into the grand hallway, lined on both sides by antiques and also covered with paintings, mostly landscapes. Sophie stormed her way down the hall and out the huge front doors, startling the doormen, who scrambled to attention. Mark hustled after her, as she headed for what appeared to be a secluded garden area.