One month

"The most know ladies were, for instance: Miss Fitzgerald, Miss Ashburn, and Miss Stuart. I also got visited by other ones of minor houses that I don't think you have to worry about, and then the Darington house and House of Curnow."

Abigail showed a thoughtful facial expression, as if she was thinking of some sort of strategy. "Basically, the highest Houses invited are the Farrington and Curnows," she stated while she narrowed her eyes.

"Roselyn, there's a gentleman for you!" Kathy's voice resounded from afar. Roselyn turned around to gaze at the figure in front of the door. She couldn't see much beside the long trousers and wealthy boots that man was wearing, but it was enough to recognize he was one of the Darington.

"Be nice, you promised." Sharon whispered, before Roselyn went to reach the door.

The man bowed down showing a confident smile then went back to stand in his typical tall, erect posture, Roselyn returned the bow and smiled lightly.

"I have to confess that I thought about you, beautiful Lady Roselyn. Your brave and humourous personality caught my attention last night and I'm very impressed on your way of thinking." He stated as he looked at her. Rather than interested in her personality, he seemed more interested in how well the dress suited her.

"Thank you, I appreciated your words." Roselyn forced to reply nicely, since she could feel her sisters' gazes peeking from the other room.

"I've never met someone who would fight for her values like that, therefore..." He cleared his voice to continue his speech, "I wanted to give you a gift."

His hand went to dig inside the basket he was carrying. Roselyn leaned closer to him, to try to peek what it might contain. Before extracting the content inside it, he gazed at her once again. "I want to get to know you better, to have the honour of being one of your contenders to win your hand."

He went to scratch his long beard, making some hair fall on Roselyn skirt; she took a step back to prevent any more dangerous to her beautiful dress trying not to simper.

"I.." Roselyn murmured before glancing at their sisters who were still peeking from the hall to hear. They all nod to suggest that she had to accept his flatteries.

Roselyn gazed back at him and smiled. "I'm honoured to see someone appreciating my personality but ..."

Ginevra, her mother, cleared her voice to reveal her disapproval to the approach Roselyn's sentence was taking.

"...But I'd like to get to know you better before jumping in any hasty conclusion."

David, hearing her answer, sighed, as if he expected that to happen. "But I'm sure of what I want." He said, all in a breath.

Roselyn showed a forced smile quelling her face to look more composed on the surface when inwardly she shivered at his haughtiness.

"I'm sure you are. But Lord David, you can't expect me to fall in love as much as you wish."

He inhaled a sharp breath before speaking: "Alright Miss Roselyn. May I still ask you to, at least, accept my gift?"

Roselyn nodded her head. Her family approached them and she handed to Kathy his gift which brought it to the kitchen.

"Thanks for visiting me, then. Your presence was very pleasuring." Roselyn lied when she bowed down gazing the floor.

He checked her body while she bowed down, causing his gaze to fall on her breast admiring the view of her smooth pale skin, he smirked. But as soon as Roselyn gazed up, he looked away, making his intentions still more obvious.

Although he was not the worse suitor Roselyn had, he seemed pretty quiet, which was a good personality trait. Assuming he won't annoy her with boring endless speeches, but his appearance was not very appealing. Lord David had this quite long bushy beard, his eyes were small and narrowed and his lips were extremely thin.

He was wealthy and surely would give her a worthy future. If she were to be like the other ladies in the town, she would have already accepted his flattery, but Roselyn would not adapt to someone she disliked.

He walked away, waving to her goodbye after returning Roselyn's bow. Once he walked through the door, she wheezed.

Her sisters went to reach her and were both folding their arms and glowering at her. That posture, they both assumed, was making them look even more lookalike. They had the same color of eyes and hair, just the shape of their face was slightly different.

"I replied nicely!" Roselyn blurted, complaining.

"You know you will have to settle down and marry at some point. Lord David is kind, and he has a good title." Sharon stated.

"I don't care about marriage. That's not my purpose in life right now."

Her mother, Ginevra, at Roselyn's statement narrowed her eyebrows, exhausted. "Roselyn enough! I've had enough with this ungrateful behaviour of yours! If you don't find another gentleman who will ask for your hand in one month, then you will marry Lord David, whether you like it or not!" she said spitefully. Roselyn's eyes widened, then she frowned. "I hope you're not being serious, mother." She raised her voice. But her mother arched her eyebrows and went to glower at her, "One month," she whispered, pointing her finger.

Sharon and Abigail were looking at each other perplex yet didn't complain or tried to defend their sister at all. Roselyn tried to look at them needing for help, but they would never protest against their mother's decisions, especially if those didn't involve them.

Roselyn scoffed nervously and stormed away. When she reached her room on the second floor, she flung herself into the bed and stared at an empty place in the ceiling. A flow of thousands of thoughts mixed with concerns drilled in her mind and let her totally unable to focus on just one emotion. Too many questions she could not give an answer to and the more she tried to come out with a solution for her mother's obligation, the more she felt completely lost and hopeless.

There was nothing she could think of, rather than satisfying her mother's desires and hope for the best.

When all in a sudden she had an idea, if she couldn't reject him maybe she could make him reject her instead so that he would cancel his proposal.

"What a genial idea!" she said to herself, smiling hugely.