Chapter 284

Luckily though, Lady Melissa had often lived through these types of insane diets, unconsciously, of course, unintentionally starving herself as she was too carried away with her work to notice that she had been skipping a meal or two during the whole process of it.

Though even she had a limit, as she was sure that by the rate she was going to be permitted inside the Shayla estate's manor, she was already going to be on her death bed by then, dying because of the dehydration she was receiving right now.

As if on cue, Derreck came back, as he signaled to the bodyguards to allow Lady Melissa inside, bowing their heads down at her whilst Lady Melissa smiled, she was finally back.

Duke Gaston merely stayed silent the entire time, as he watched what was happening, observing each one of their actions, though he was observing Lady Melissa's the most- whether he realized it or not.

Lady Melissa entered the Shayla estate, letting out a sigh of relief, she was finally back home, and she knew that she was going to enjoy laying on the sheets of her bed, that were clean as well as soft.

Lady Melissa got down the horse- with the help of Duke Gaston who had kindly offered his hand out to her since she was a little bit too short for her legs to fully reach the ground.

However, with the Duke's help, she was able to land on her feet perfectly, as Lady Melissa let out a yawn, stretching out her hands as well as her back, a few cracks in her body.

Lady Melissa entered the Shayla estate, as the maids, as well as the servants all, looked at her in surprise, almost as if she wasn't even supposed to be there in the first place when it was her territory, but most importantly- it was her home.

It brought something deep inside her- perhaps something that boiled her up with anger, seeing how these people treated her differently than usual, but whatever it was, it struck a nerve inside her.

Perhaps it was the feeling of people forgetting about her? And once it appeared that they would suddenly remember about her, though then again, she was sure that everyone at the manor had at least talked about her once during the time of her disappearance.

After all, everyone that worked there was employees of the Shayla estate, and the only ones that were living in Shayla estate though they didn't work under her parents, were her own parents- who she was sure had remembered her and talked about her a lot during her disappearance.

After all, it wasn't just her who had gone missing, Duke Gaston had gone missing as well, and she was sure that by now there had already been rumours whether the both of them were secret lovers, and how they had escaped because they were in love with each other and wanted to run away from their everyday lives.

Lady Melissa found it stupid in a way, running away from a person's own everyday life, though she could understandably see why someone would react or even do that since she'd love to take a break from everyone that she knew to, or everyone that she talked to in a daily basis.

Speaking of Duke Gaston, the man had been quiet almost the entire time that he had been with Lady Melissa, especially during the horse ride until now, perhaps it was because he felt more uncomfortable with the number of people that were there with Lady Melissa.

Maybe that was why he hadn't spoken at all during the whole trip back to Lady Melissa's estate and maybe it was because people didn't mind him that much, as if they weren't shocked by his presence when they should've been.

"Melisssa? Darling, is that you?"

The Duchess asked, rushing down the stairs, as she had just been informed by Derreck that her so-called daughter had finally arrived back home, and she needed to see it to believe it, after all, she was more than angry at her daughter for ditching home to go and have fun, though that could wait since there were still maids and servants there.

She would scold her when no one was watching, after all, she still needed to maintain that good mother image, as well as to make it look like that her daughter and her were on good terms together.

"Yes mother it's me!"

Lady Melissa replied, putting on a fake smile as she could see how overdramatic her mom was- she was literally crying out a literal river right now, though somehow she was still able to form coherent words.

"Where were you, Melissa? Your father and I thought that you were dead."

The Duchess replied, before her father suddenly came down the stairs, following her mother as he soon stood beside her, at this rate this was going to be reported to the news if this had kept going on.

"Melissa, are you alright?"

The Duke asked, his tone filled with fake concern for his daughter as he was wary of the number of stares on the family right now, plus he had noticed Duke Gaston from the corner of his eye.

Meanwhile, Duke Gaston could've sworn that the Duke and Duchess had noticed his presence- yet the both of them were purposely not greeting him, even though it was supposed to be him greeting them.

"I'm fine mother and father, I had just gotten lost and then Duke Gaston found me, I'll give you more details later on."

Lady Melissa said, pushing away the problem for the meantime at least, since she wouldn't want to say it aloud to all the maids and servants- since there was bound to be one of them who would report it to gossip magazines or articles.

Although Lady Melissa's guards were caught a little off guard by the fact that Lady Melissa hadn't told her parents the real reason- though she wasn't necessarily lying since she did get lost in the forest, it didn't exactly happen that way.

Lady Melissa's bodyguards had kept silent though, and so did Duke Gaston kept silent- not responding at all to the whole situation, as he only kept staring at Lady Melissa's back, observing the situation entirely.