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Lady Melissa had known the fact because, in her previous life, the Duchess had done it to her, she had tested Lady Melissa.
Lady Melissa, however, didn't stand up for herself, and that simple action made her give the Duchess a bad impression.
Lady Melissa knew not to make the same mistake, and ironically, this was the very same ball in Lady Melissa's past life in which Duchess Victoria had tested her, and to see how she would react.
Lady Melissa was going to stand up for herself this time, and maybe she would play against Duchess Victoria.
She would stand up for herself, not only because Duchess Victoria liked people who could stand up for themselves, but because she couldn't let herself be stepped on by others.
Lady Melissa knew her own worth, she wasn't the one who should be people's stepping stones, and she wouldn't allow herself to be a stepping stone for others.
Lady Melissa was the one who should be stepping on others instead, she was a woman who could do anything, even achieve the impossible.
She was named Melissa Mendy Shayla for a reason after all.
Least to say, Lady Melissa took out a piece of paper and some ink, and immediately wrote a reply back to Duchess Victoria.
Duchess Victoria wouldn't be the only one with a hidden card that day.
Lady Melissa closed her eyes for a few seconds, tired at the number of invitations that she had personally read.
Lady Melissa would've asked Sophia to do it for her, or they divided the work, but unfortunately, Sophia was currently on vacation, to visit her parents.
So here Lady Melissa was, with Justin, though granted she did spend most of the day with Justin.
Lady Melissa told Justin that it was alright for him to retire for the day, as she had everything covered.
Justin, though reluctant since he had never been dismissed this early, which was currently 6 PM.
Justin nodded his head though, as he went to his room, as Lady Melissa had told him it was alright for him to retire early today.
Lady Melissa took a quick shower, as she suddenly remembered that Duchess Victoria's ball would be held on Tuesday, so Melissa had two days to prepare for it, excluding today.
Today was her relaxing day, well kind of.
Melissa was excited, yet at the same time a bit nervous for Duchess Victoria, though she wasn't nervous she'd mess up or anything.
Melissa was nervous about how Duchess Victoria would react if Melissa stood up for herself, she knew it would be in a positive way but she wanted to know exactly how.
Lady Melissa wanted to know from the most important details to the least important ones on how Duchess Victoria would react.
Melissa soon exited the shower, going down the stairs to go eat dinner.
Lady Melissa walked down the stairs as she headed to the dining room, and lo and behold, there was someone waiting for her.
It was none other than her parents.
"What are you doing here?"
Lady Melissa asked, she wasn't in the mood to be dealing with either of them today.
"We're here to eat dinner with you."
The Duke calmly replied to Lady Melissa.
"What about work? Don't you have loads of work to do?"
Lady Melissa asked, because she knew her parents were very busy people, so given the fact that they had time to eat with their daughter when they had practically stopped doing any work yesterday was confusing Melissa.
And how did they have enough time to wait for her and greet her when she came home? It was confusing Lady Melissa on how much free time they exactly had, and whether they had been lying to her the entire time.
Perhaps they didn't want to spend time with their own daughter, though it was their own loss.
Many would want to spend time with Lady Melissa, and Melissa wasn't wrong about that, indeed many would want to spend time with her, to see what all the buzz about her was about, and what had made her seem so special compared to others.
"We cleared our schedule for you."
The Duchess said to Lady Melissa.
Lady Melissa had no more questions anymore as she ate her food in peace.
"So how was your day?"
The Duchess finally spoke up, feeling the tension in the room, and the silence in it.
It made her uncomfortable, because she hated awkward silence and because whenever the Duchess and her husband had eaten with Lady Melissa it had never been quiet before, at least not this quiet.
Every moment they spent together in the dining room would be filled with happiness and excitement, unfortunately this wasn't filled with happiness or excitement.
But, hey there's a first time for everything right?
"It was good."
Lady Melissa replied to her mother, not wanting to give a longer answer as she knew her mother would ask her, and Lady Melissa didn't want to answer any questions from her mother, or either of her parents for that matter.
Soon enough, Melissa had finished her dinner, heading upstairs, as the Duchess had subconsciously stood up the same time Lady Melissa had done so, wanting to stop her daughter.
"Wait!"
The Duchess unconsciously shouted to Lady Melissa, not wanting her daughter to be like this.
"What?"
Lady Melissa grumpily replied.
"Sit down here, now, young woman, I am not letting you speak to me in that tone."
The Duchess said, as she immediately turned angry.
She wouldn't allow her daughter to speak to her own mother with such a tone.
"Fine."
Lady Melissa said, not at all intimidated by her mother's anger, it would take her a lot more to be intimidated by her mother with everything that had happened to her so far.
"Apologize."
The Duchess bluntly said to Lady Melissa.
"For what?"
Lady Melissa said, confused about what she even had to apologize for, her parents were supposed to be doing the apologizing, not her.
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