Lady Melissa just couldn't believe the fact that she had once again fallen for Duke Alphonso's tricks, how many times was it now? Had he even perhaps fake the snipers sent to her house?
Did Duke Alphonso actually love her? Or was this just another one of his tricks for him, and once Lady Melissa would fall for it he would turn the tables against her?
Lady Melissa eventually found the other nobles, after asking multiple soldiers as she had to confirm her identity numerous times in the process since the soldiers were suspicious about who she was.
After all, not everybody was lucky enough to have met Lady Melissa before, most of the soldiers, if not all had never seen Lady Melissa's face before, the best they got about Lady Melissa was some gossip about her and other people's descriptions about her.
"Everybody calm down, the soldiers will help you go back home, so in the meantime please stay quiet and just sit and wait here."
Lady Melissa said, worried about how Duke Gaston was doing though she wouldn't admit it, not allowing her emotions to be in control.
Just then, Duke Mason barged into the room, with the Trafford estate's personal knights, which took them some time, though Lady Melissa assumed it was because they helped taking out the enemy.
"The Trafford estate knights will escort you to your personal carriages and lead you back home, I apologize for this inconvenience, I never meant for any of this to happen."
Duke Mason said, apologizing before he turned his back away, already disappearing from the nobles' sights before they could even say anything to protect against his words.
Lady Melissa, however, ran to Duke Mason, wondering just where the heck the man had been this entire time, and why, Duke Mason out of all people should've been there, not her.
"Where the hell were you this entire time?"
Lady Melissa asked as she was in a fit of anger and disbelief, not believing that one of the heads of the founding families had just practically left his guests alone when they were panicking.
"Melissa, wait listen to m-"
Duke Mason said, as he was rudely cut off with Lady Melissa's fist meeting his face, as the man winced in surprise, he had seen the punch coming but he didn't expect it to hurt this badly.
"Wait just hear me o-"
Duke Gaston said before Lady Melissa ignored him once more, this time she used her first to hit his stomach, a bruise forming in the process (unknown to Lady Melissa).
Lady Melissa continued beating Duke Gaston up before she landed the final blow to him, a harsh slap to the face as she let out an angered sigh, at least she felt much better now, though she'd certainly need to take some anger management issues later on.
"Okay I deserved that, and that and that, but can you hear me out, Lady Melissa?"
Duke Mason asked, desperately asking for Lady Melissa to listen to him now, and just not hit him for the next few minutes or so.
"Fine, what do you want to say to defend yourself, Duke Mason? What sort of excuse or reason are you gonna bring up this time to defend yourself? You always have reasons and excuses every time you mess up."
Lady Melissa harshly said, venom laced within her tone.
"Okay, I didn't think I'd make it this far, give me a second."
Duke Mason said, blurting out a nervous expression on his face as he had genuinely never thought that he'd make it this far- he didn't think that Lady Melissa would listen to him.
"Hurry up and spit out whatever you say now, or I'm leaving, god I can't believe that I genuinely believed and trusted in you all this time, and what do you do? You're just like everyone else, you always betray me."
Lady Melissa said, wishing that she had thought this through (god I wish I had thought this through before I went and fell in love with you), why was today just so difficult? Everything she had to go through.
She didn't even know if she was going to tell the others about Duke Alphonso and the major role that he played in all of this, heck, she didn't even know how she was going to keep acting around Duke Alphonso if she ever saw him again.
"Before I explain myself, I want to essay that I'm sorry that you felt like I betrayed you, I was just trying to save myself from being murdered by that Crown Prince of yours that you seem oh so fond of."
Duke Mason said, venom laced in his tone, emphasizing on the last part as Lady Melissa knew that the man had figured something out, and the Crown Prince was probably planning to kill him because of it, just like how he would always cut things loose whenever something went wrong.
"Second of all, me and Lady Charlotte aren't dating nor are we in any sort of romantic relationship, I see her as a friend at most, the reason that we appeared together was because she was a famous assassin."
Duke Mason said as Lady Melissa's eyes widened at this newfound information, did that mean that in this world, Lady Charlotte had never become a slave? That meant that even the biggest events and details could go wrong or be different compared to how it used to be.
"Lastly, third of all, I never betrayed you, I'm not sure why you felt like I betrayed you but I never did so, I never will and I'll continue to stay by your side."
Duke Mason said as Lady Melissa felt guilty, yet at the same time she felt that the man was hiding something, that he was purposely hiding something from her- he wasn't mentioning something.
"I don't believe you, what makes you different from the rest? Why does my heart skip a beat every time I see you? Why did my heart tighten when I saw you with Lady Charlotte?"
Lady Melissa said, demanding an answer, as Duke Mason put on a bitter smile.