Lady Melissa wasn't surprised anymore whenever Duke Mason would do these little signs of affection, besides, it wasn't as if she loved him or such, he was a flirt, it was in his blood, besides she had already heard rumours that he was still bringing home women, and Lady Melissa didn't want to be one of them.
Though it'd be a lie if she said that whenever he would give little signs of affection to her that she was unaffected by them.
Lady Melissa was more than affected by them, she just didn't want to show it and raise his ego.
Lady Melissa thought whether Duke Alphonso and Duke Gaston had thought her relationship with Duke Mason was something more than business partners since there was a pretty good chance that they had seen him kiss her arm once more like he had done earlier, though they paid no heed to it.
Little to Lady Melissa's knowledge did they care much more than they let on.
Lady Melissa entered her carriage as she was told goodbye by the numerous employees that were working in Hunter's Lake. She had a house there as well since her family would often go there every week.
Lady Melissa entered the carriage with Nathan, who had been quiet the entire time of the tea party she had with Duke Alphonso, Duke Mason and Duke Gaston.
"I'm sure you have questions of your own, but don't worry."
Lady Melissa said, noticing Nathan's concerned gaze on her the entire time of the tea party, after all, he was more than surprised when the people that she was meeting would be them-.
Nathan had expected it to be some of her friends, and that they were going to be discussing some gossip, and not this.
Though he didn't mind it if he was honest, he was more than intrigued whilst listening to the conversation the four of them shared.
"They won't harm me."
Lady Melissa said, a confident smile on her face, she could immediately turn the tables back on them if they did.
"How do you know?"
Nathan asked, blurting out his question, thinking that Lady Melissa was going to get mad at him, though surprisingly she didn't.
"I won't let them hurt me, besides I hired bodyguards for a reason right? If you let one of them harm me, say goodbye to your life."
Lady Melissa said, a menacing smile on her face as Nathan gulped, although she had given him multiple glares the past few days, he couldn't help but still be afraid of her every single time she gave him one- though to be fair he was afraid of her even if she didn't give him a glare.
As much as he didn't like living, she could ruin his life and many others any second she wanted to, he could be dead and nobody could know, she could even make his death seem like a suicide.
Though at the same time, Nathan was proud that he was able to work for someone like Lady Melissa.
Someone who was so powerful and so looked up to.
Nathan let out a chuckle for some reason, perhaps it was because he just felt like it, but for some reason he let out a chuckle, whilst Lady Melissa merely glanced at him weirdly.
Lady Melissa and Nathan had soon arrived back into the Shayla estate, as she took one step outside from the carriage, noticing how the skies were dark.
Lady Melissa hadn't realized she had spent that much time with the three Dukes, though she didn't mind, but she was sure that her parents would raise a few questions for themselves- or if they would just ignore it, Lady Melissa didn't mind any of the options they'd choose.
She was long past thinking of having a happy relationship with her parents, she loved them, or at least she believed she did, but she wasn't exactly 'fond' of them ever since what had happened.
Even though she had tried her best to bury the resentment she had for them deep inside her heart, it wasn't so easy to forget everything that had happened, besides she was far too busy to be playing pretend with her parents and act as if she wanted to have a happy family between them.
The door was opened by the maids as they greeted Lady Melissa, who casually made her way inside, not even sparing any of the maids a glance, going upstairs.
She went into her room as she sat on her bed for a few seconds, she was just so- so tired, as she just stayed there for the next few minutes staring at the ceiling above her as she laid on her bed, motionless, she didn't know why she'd do that, but sometimes when she was just really tired and had a lot of thoughts- she'd do that for some strange reason.
Lady Melissa soon got herself into the bathroom though, giving herself a cold shower to wake herself up, the day wasn't even done yet and she was already getting tired, she couldn't let herself be like that, she had much much more things to do- the numerous piles of paperwork in her desk being evident as she let out a sigh, she was in for a long night today- not like she wasn't every other day.
Lady Melissa felt as if whatever work she had done wasn't enough, and that it'd never be enough, at least for her, no matter how tired she was, she was determined to get everything done, even if it meant sacrificing a lot of things, such as her time with her family if she could even call them that.
Thinking about it, it was certainly a wonder how Lady Melissa's relatives hadn't attended her ball- though that was a given since she had never sent any of the invitations, not like her parents cared that much though- or they never paid enough attention to do so.