One of the Paintings on His Wall

I had heard about him and his duchesses, it was something that was not really talked about among the people around me, except by the people we had working for us. So I knew that I should fear him and watch out for myself, but I did not know how fast it would all happen. When my father and that appalling man had made a deal about me we were married and I was quickly moved into his manor, and then everything went wrong. I was under surveillance at all times, and every time I did something that he did not like, he would call for me and punish me in the most unspeakable ways. One time he had me stand outside in the rain for twelve hours in only my undergarments. And that was one of the least horrible things he could think of. The times when he locked himself into my chamber in the middle of the night, those were the worst.

Anything could upset him. I tried to avoid all contact with the male servants, as it seemed to make him most angry when I interacted with other men. Even just making eye contact with a man or smiling out of politeness would make the horrible man go mad. Also the times when I tried to escape made him furious. One of the times I made it as far as outside the manor before I was caught. I knew that it was dangerous and that the chances of succeeding with my escape were minimal, but I felt like I had to try. Even though I also knew that my life would be just as hard if I actually got away, because then he would search for me and have the whole town search for me too. After that last attempt of escaping, I was punished as usual, and then my portrait was painted. At first I thought it odd, but then I remembered the stories about the other ones. Rumour had it that he had paintings of all of his previous duchesses up in his art collection, only they were concealed behind curtains, so no one knew just how many duchesses there had been. When I sat there before the painter, I knew that it would all soon be over, and I felt a mixture of grief and relief. I was going to become one of the paintings on his wall soon.

He had his male servants kill me, and I think he thought that he was punishing me by having these particular men do it. He thought that I was unfaithful with those men, even though I had never really spoken with any of them. He could see it in my eyes and in the way that I smiled at them, he said. But now that it is all over, only relief is left in me. I only feel for the duchess to come, as I am sure that this horrible man will never be cured from his madness. He probably already had a plan for how he will kill the next one, before I was gone.