12 Chapter 12

Why was Lady Melissa even thinking of this right now?

She'll think of it later when the ball had ended.

"I am Lady Melissa Mendy Shayla, and I am pleased to make your acquaintance Duke Loan."

Melissa sent Duke Loan a sheepish smile.

And that was how she got a guy to fall in love with her.

Lady Melissa looked THAT stunning.

Soon enough, more people started congratulating lady Melissa about her debut and introducing themselves to her.

She was tired. All that standing and talking had made her thirsty.

She decided to ditch them all for the food. She needed food right now as she was tired and thirsty.

Surely no one would ever approach a girl when she was eating?

Unless they were THAT shameless.

She just hoped nobody was THAT shameless.

If, however, someone did approach her, she would ignore them.

She didn't care anymore.

All she wanted was food.

She was that busy that she didn't even manage to approach those three men yet.

She decided to approach them after she was finished eating her food.

Speaking of her food, it looked AMAZING. It was a new dish made by the chef, specifically for Lady Melissa. They hadn't shown it to Lady Melissa when she was checking on the kitchen as they had wanted it to be a surprise for her.

It was a last-minute decision made by the chef. He wanted to express his gratitude for the raise Lady Melissa had granted him somehow.

Melissa was full, she had finally eaten till she couldn't anymore, and Melissa was grateful for the dish the chef had made specifically for her.

The dish was a lobster that the chef had happened to purchased a few days ago.

Which he didn't know how to cook, but in the end, it all worked out.

The chef had chosen this to give to Lady Melissa because her favorite food was lobster. The chef had added some spices into the lobster as well.

However, he didn't put too much as he wanted Lady Melissa to still be able to taste the natural flavor of the lobster.

Melissa now decided that it would be a good time for searching and talking to the three men.

Now she just had to locate where they were.

It wouldn't be that hard to locate them, right? As this was quite a small party filled with only 30 guests.

It wouldn't be hard...right?

That was what Melissa had initially thought.

10 minutes. She had spent 10 minutes trying to search for those three men! It felt as if she had spent hours searching for them when in reality, only a few minutes had passed. The ballroom was HUGE.

So it made sense that she had spent so much time searching for them.

Finally, after a few more minutes of searching, she had found one of the men she needed.

Gaston Berniece Mieth, the head of the Imperial Knights, he would be a very useful pawn to her.

That is, if he wanted to join hands with her regarding the Crown Prince's rebellion.

She needed him.

And soon enough, he would need her too.

Gaston Berniece Mieth was a legend to the citizens, a tyrant, some might even say.

But he had always acted polite to both men and women, and children too.

He would only kill when they stepped out of line.

Hopefully, he didn't think she was stepping out of line, or else she'd be killed almost immediately.

The Imperial family allowed their trusted Head Of Knights to murder anyone, as long as he didn't murder anyone from the imperial family or lie to them, for that matter.

However, Lady Melissa was prepared. She had leverage over him.

Leverage about a girl, his sister of his which was separated at birth because of his family.

10-20 years back, many nobles had thought giving birth to women was useless, as they wouldn't be able to support the family in any way. Male children were preferred over women, as they had thought the male children could bring pride and joy to the family, such as becoming a swordsmanship master or starting a business.

The Mieth family had sold their daughter off to an underground business famous for buying children and selling them at auctions.

Lady Melissa had found out about this information when reading a gossip article, a photo of Duke Gaston hugging a woman who looked in her teen years. She had a similar appearance to him.

She initially thought of it as a false rumor. A few days later, Duke Gaston introduced the same woman to everyone, as his sister.

Duke Gaston had found his sister from an anonymous report claiming an auction was selling children.

He thought that it would be false, but it wouldn't have hurt to check it out.

And thus, he found his sister.

He just knew, by looking at her, that she was his long-lost sister.

Males were also the only ones that became the heir of the family. It was common at the time.

And female children would be shunned from their families, and some nobles had even gone as far as disowning their children and putting them in an orphanage.

Some others took it more extreme. They killed their daughters. They thought that daughters would only waste the family's money, not being able to help out the family in any way.

Hence that was why males were more preferred over women. The Imperial Family still only allows males to be the heir of the family. However, they do not look down on women anymore like how they did in the past before.

All thanks to her great teacher, Grand Duchess Ella.

Ah, what was she thinking of right now!?

Duke Gaston was right in front of her!

She shouldn't let such an opportunity quickly pass.

Or else he would be surrounded by women, just like how he was a few minutes ago. Lady Melissa quickly calmed herself down and walked to Duke Gaston.

The Duke was looking at his empty wineglass.

Lady Melissa's footsteps echoed throughout the ballroom.

Nobody had seen her approach, anyone, before. As the guests were the first ones that approached her.

Duke Gaston was preoccupied with an Imperial matter. He hadn't realized that Lady Melissa was walking right through him.

"It is my pleasure to meet you, Duke Gaston Berniece Mieth. Thank you for attending my debut. I am Lady Melissa Mendy Shayla of the Shayla estate. I am pleased to see you here."

Duke Gaston panicked.

'What now? What do I say?'

He, however, regained his stoic nature in just a matter of seconds.

"I am pleased to meet your acquaintance as well, Lady Melissa Mendy Shayla. It is truly an honor to be invited to a party hosted by you."

"Ah, you don't need to bow your head down, Duke Gaston Berniece Mieth! You have a high status. I'm simply a Lady of the Shayla estate."

"What do you mean only? You're the LADY of the Shayla estate, while I am a knight of the Imperial Palace."

"Simply? You're the head of the knights, must I remind you."

It had only been a few minutes since they had met, but they had already been arguing as if they were friends.

Duke Gaston was speechless; he had never met a woman as attractive as her, and her personality was just so..intriguing to him.

There was just something so mysterious about her.

However, he knew better than letting his guard down. Many had envied his position, and he had also received many assassination attempts in the past.

So he learned how to keep his guard up, but he was too caught up in his thoughts that he had let his guard down.

Could he let his guard down? She didn't seem harmless to him.

Yet at least.

However, he was reminded that people could be double-faced. He had experienced that a lot in his younger years, thus going against the idea of letting his guard down to Lady Melissa.

"Ah, I have something to discuss with you, Duke Gaston. Would you like to discuss it with me at the terrace?"

"Sure, lead the way, Lady Melissa."

Now he was confused. For what reason would Lady Melissa want to talk to him privately? This was their first meeting. However, he decided to go with Lady Melissa. The curiosity was killing him.

"I've heard all about you, Duke Gaston.

'The most talented swordsman in history'

'The most good-looking Duke'

'The pride of the Imperial Army'

All these titles, I have heard, I have heard many great things from you. You are a talented swordsman.

I'll stop beating around the bush and get to straight to the point. I need your help."

"What do you mean you need my help, Lady Melissa? This is our first meeting, and I do not recall that we have met before. Unless we have in the past?"

"Your right. This is our first meeting. This is the first time we have met each other, but I believe in your power. I believe in you. The rumors about you were enough for me, and I believe I have something that you would want."