Saved By The Mad Duke
Chapter 170: Having Lovers Is In Fashion

Chapter 170: Having Lovers Is In Fashion

Melania rose from her chair, prepared to walk out of the room but then stopped and looked down at the opened letter on the small wooden desk. After a few moments of silent contemplation, she added,

"Loraline... I want you to hide this letter in one of your books for me, under the adjustable cover. The news about my brother ascending the throne is still a secret so I do not want any prying eyes to learn about it before it is made official. If you know what I mean."

Her attendant threw a quick glance at the letter, then looked back at the princess, and nodded.

"Yes, I will do so, Your Highness."

"Thank you."

Walking inside the palace’s main reception room, the young woman took a seat behind the beautifully arranged round table, stretched her lips into a perfect smile, and apologized,

"I hope you have already forgiven me, dear ladies, it was absolutely rude of me to rush out like this but I hope you can understand that some royal correspondence requires rather urgent attention."

Melania’s guests today were three noble ladies. As Felicity Tarran had already proclaimed herself the princess’s best friend, she was now in charge of helping her select the "right" guests to socialize with. This time, her guests of honor were the twin daughters of Duchess Averian––Celene and Daya Averian.

The twins were identical copies of one another––they were short, rather chubby but angelic-looking creatures who, despite their harmless appearances and warm smiles, had quite acid tongues and never shied away from letting everybody know their range of damage.

The princess quickly scanned her guests’ faces for a hit of understanding but as the reception room remained silent, she decided to continue talking unless someone finally stopped her,

"It was a letter from my parents. I miss my homeland quite a lot so any news from Lafad is always a top priority to me."

At last, Celene and Daya exchanged quick canny glances, then released short and quiet giggles, covering their lips with their chubby gloved hands, and finally replied, taking their turns to speak as if it were a well-practiced routine they had been doing ever since they learned to talk,

"Oh? How disappointing! And we were secretly hoping it was the letter from your handsome admirer!"

"I beg your pardon?" Melania arched her eyebrows in confusion. Lady Felicity rushed to explain,

"The man you were dancing with at the wedding banquet, Your Highness, the handsome young King of Davoor. You looked really good together, every lady noticed that. Have you ever met him before? Even from a distance, you looked as if you were already quite close."

The princess felt her cheeks growing hot and other ladies noticed a strong tint of peachy blush covering her skin. Amused by the young hostess’s flustered appearance, Celene laughed again, and nodded,

"Oh, do not concern yourself with this, Your Highness! It is quite normal for young ladies of our status to have affairs these days, even if they are married."

Her twin sister Daya chimed in as well,

"Goodness, one might even say that having a lover is in season right now! It is as fashionable as tiny purses and pearls. However, unlike fashion, there is only one golden rule to follow––do not get caught!"

The reception room echoed with loud and joyful laughter as the twins got excited about their own words once again, yet, Melania was the only person who did not find these remarks amusing. On the contrary, she felt nervous and somewhat scared as if she was caught red-handed doing something undeniably immoral and wrong.

In an attempt to conceal her distress, the princess cleared her throat, shifted in her seat rather awkwardly, and shook her head, forcing her voice to sound as naturally as possible,

"I am sorry, ladies, but this is really not what you think; I am a married woman, I am the wife of the Crown Prince. I... cannot have affairs."

All three ladies exchanged glances, then shrugged their shoulders almost in unison, and moved on with an entirely different topic which did not interest Melania at all. With a nervous tremor in her delicate hands, she picked up a cup of already cold tea and brought it to her lips, desperately hoping that this day would magically fast forward.

***

Yuraon tapped the tip of the quill rather impatiently, leaving ugly ink blots on the sheet of paper before him. It was already the twelfth rejection letter he had to write today and if before, he was trying to sound polite and leave a personal touch by making each letter different from the previous one, this time, he was seriously considering making a shameless copy of the letter he had written to the Earl and call it a day.

"I told you to leave it to me, Your Majesty. You don’t have to write these letters yourself." Yuraon’s personal aide, Lord Bathar, brushed his thick curly black hair away from his forehead and sighed, curling his lips into a somewhat canny smile, "Now that your curse is lifted, you can postpone selecting a future bride and focus on the matters more important."

His tone was as obvious as it could get and the young king instantly picked up on his hints.

Bathar was talking about Melania’s letter which his king left unanswered. Truthfully, he had no idea what to write while he was dealing with the matter of his own marriage but now that it was postponed, his only struggle was the search for perfect words of compassion.

Having noticed Yuraon’s internal struggle, his aide made a quick decision to divert his attention to something else.

"Oh, Your Majesty, I almost forgot! This letter was delivered a couple of hours ago. It is from The North."

The man placed a small envelope on the desk before the king and returned to his own seat, allowing Yuraon some privacy.

"The North? It must be from Duke Valentine then." The young man tore the envelope open and began to read the letter right away. As his bright blue eyes glided over the inked letters, his thick dark eyebrows arched in a blend of confusion and shock, his voice getting colder as he muttered,

"Duchess Aideen... had her powers sealed by the Holy Church?"