Chapter 285

"Duke Gaston?"

The Duchess asked, pretending to be confused as she acted as if she hadn't known that Duke Gaston hadn't been here the entire time, before she finally pretended to figure out that Duke Gaston was here, putting on a surprised expression on her face.

"Greetings Duke Gaston, I apologize for not greeting you early on, I am Lady Melissa's mother, Duchess of the Shayla estate."

The Duchess said, as she put a smile on her face, extending a hand for Duke Gaston to shake it- to which he did, of course, greeting Lady Melissa's parents since the Duke had greeted him as well soon after his wife had done so.

"I hope that Melissa hasn't brought you any trouble, and I would like to extend my deepest gratitude for helping Melissa. We certainly owe you for this, why don't you stay for a bit and we can discuss some details along with you?"

The Duchess said, as she tried to convince Duke Gaston to stay in the Shayla estate house- at least for the next few hours, wanting to know about what exactly had happened with her daughter.

Plus, the Duchess had a few doubts about her daughter, and with someone else along with them then she would be able to know whether her daughter had been telling the truth or not about the events that she had gone through.

The Duchess was very suspicious about her daughter- even though she tried to hide the suspicion she held for her daughter.

"I apologize but I must go back to the royal palace, I'm sure that there have been soldiers sent to find me."

Duke Gaston said, which was the truth, that or if he didn't come back fast enough he would end up getting killed by the King.

"Oh? Is that so? Why don't we invite you next time and you can discuss some things with us?"

The Duchess asked, as Duke Gaston quickly answered.

"We'll just have to see, goodbye Lady Melissa."

Duke Gaston said, not even saying goodbye to the other two nobles in front of him- perhaps he was being petty, they didn't greet him in the beginning so why should he?

Duke Gaston was also aware of what his actions and words contained- he was sure that by tomorrow both of them would be the main topic of multiple headlines, and he wanted it.

Duke Gaston couldn't choose anyone else he'd rather be rumoured with.

"Goodbye, Duke Gaston."

Lady Melissa said, before the Duke left, the maids and servants bowed down to him as one of them opened the door.

Lady Melissa was met with two angered faces behind her- it was evident that they were annoyed by the fact that Duke Gaston hadn't even greeted them goodbye.

The Duke and the Duchess told Lady Melissa to go upstairs- wanting to discuss the whole matter to her, as Lady Melissa of course had to follow their wishes, after all, they were still the heads of the Shayla estate- and she needed to listen to their words since she was of a lower position in here.

Soon, Lady Melissa had entered her parents' room the both of them already sitting on their shared desks, as she took a seat right in front of them, feeling their angered stares on her as she simply maintained a calm composure this entire time- waiting for one of her parents to do something- to react someway, yet alas, it had never come.

Lady Melissa in the end was the one who had broken the ice between the three of them, as she asked why she was even here in the first place.

"Why did you call me here, papa and mama?"

Lady Melissa asked, even though she already knew the answer was because her parents wanted to know more about why she had been missing for fifteen hours.

The Duchess and the Duke stayed quiet for a bit before the Duchess soon answered her daughter's question.

"We wanted to know more about how you got lost, and where was it that you got lost? Why was Duke Gaston there to help you?"

The Duchess asked, her tone sounding like she was accusing her daughter of doing something.

"First of all, I got lost in a cave, I was trying to get my fan that had flown into the cave, however, the cave soon shook and ended up trapping me inside."

Lady Melissa said, already knowing that the next question was going to be how she had gotten to the cave- because if she had gotten there with the help of her bodyguards, then they would've easily found her.

"I took a carriage from the capital to go to the forest since I heard that they had the best deers there, and I thought that maybe I could make a few rugs for you."

Lady Melissa said, lying through her teeth- since she needed to come up with an at least slightly believable reason even though it had so far not sounded reasonable.

"Next time bring one of your bodyguards with you."

The Duchess said, sighing to herself as she put her hand on her forehead.

"You're grounded for a month."

The Duke said, his booming voice echoing throughout the room.

At least this was the better punishment- who knew what would happen if she had told them the real reason? Besides, she wanted to take revenge personally on Lady Camilia, and she was sure that they wouldn't ever believe her that Lady Camilia was the one behind this whole mess she had been put through.

"A mon- but papa-"

Lady Melissa said, pretending that she was upset about the whole grounded thing, which she was of course, but she wouldn't ever be so dumb to just try and convince her dad to shorten the month, she needed to act like the part where she was the spoiled daughter- who needed to have everything in her command.

She couldn't have her parents thinking that she was anymore than that, or else they would be more than wary of her than they currently were and put more limitations on her.