Chapter 131 - Just another loveless marriage

Melinda looked at the street while she steered the car into the next alley. With a stoic expression she observed the girl next to her out of the corner of her eye. She was very young. She might have been pretty. But everything else about her was average. No real competition for her.

"Madame de Valois, I am a little curious."

The girl flinched as if Melinda had just awoken her from a deep sleep.

"Curious?"

Melinda smiled sweetly. "Well, I'm employed by your family now, but I don't really know much about you. Don't get me wrong, but it would really help me to learn a little bit more about you." Alexandre protected her like a raw egg, as if she could break at any moment if he let her out of his firm grip. Melinda simply didn't understand how such a prudish wallflower could bewitch Alexandre de Valois in such a way that he practically lay at her feet. Melinda didn't want to trust the rumors, she knew he couldn't have fallen in love with her, another reason must have been behind his behavior. Nevertheless, she was disgusted that her proud Alexandre had to bow and scrape in front of such a brat.

Because of his strange behavior, she had to change her plans. It wasn't such an easy mission as she had thought. Melinda forced herself to smile, but that smile never reached her eyes.

"What do they need to know?"

"May I be frank?"

Lily nodded. "To be honest, I think it would be more comfortable if we were on a first-name basis. I'm not really into the tense employer-employee relationship."

"How lovely, may I call you Lillian then."

"Lily is okay."

"Well, Lily, then, let's hope for a great partnership... Ah, you can just call me Mel." For now, Melinda pursued her plan to get closer to the girl. Eventually, an opportunity would present itself. She just needed to be near her all the time, which is why she had to earn the brat's trust. It was the easiest way to achieve her goal.

She knew that Alexandre was acting against the will of the brat and inconspicuously had two more cars with well-trained bodyguards protecting her from a safe distance. Among the men were former mercenaries and a man from the Mouret Clan. She could not have taken them on alone, let alone escape afterwards. But she didn't understand why Alexandre went to all that trouble for that brat. The girl was a great beauty? She was perhaps a little prettier than average. Alexandre fell in love? Nonsense!

Melinda couldn't believe the rumors. She knew Alexandre, he wasn't a romantic. Melinda knew Alexandre wouldn't marry for such a banal reason as love. She suspected another source that had led to this marriage.

It almost seemed as if the brat had someone more powerful wrapped around her little finger.

Melinda could still remember the time when Alexandre introduced her to the family as his fiancée. The look of Lady de Valois, she'll never forget it! But this girl was welcomed with open arms by her mother-in-law.

She would have surpassed Melinda in anything!

Was it because of the child of Alexandre that she gave birth to? But all the things the girl could give him, she could do too. She could have given him so much more. After all, he loved her and she loved him. A marriage of love, Alexander would be happier with her.

But this arranged marriage between families... Alexander needed to marry the girl because his family must have forced him to. After all, it was not rare in the upper classes for families to form alliances through marriage. It was just another loveless marriage, and if she returned to his side, he would end this marriage for her, Melinda made her judgement calmly.

She had already reached a state where she only saw and heard what she wanted to see and hear.