Chapter 7

Now that Melissa had sorted out all the necessary items regarding the ball, she decided to leave the rest to Derick Noel Stanbury, her butler. After all, she had a busy schedule. It was now a day before the ball. Unfortunately for her, she wouldn't have her usual lessons, such as swordsmanship, as it would be a busy day for everyone in the Shayla estate.

She needed to make sure that everything would be ready for the ball with her butler Derick. They would be in the venue a few hours before the ball had started, just in case. Her parents would attend the ball too, along with the 35 other guests she had invited.

It was just in time for her swordsmanship lesson now, just in time, for her to relieve all the pent-up stress that was building in her. Swordsmanship was Melissa's coping mechanism. She relieves herself by having a duel with her teacher, Duchess Ella Rosera.

Her teacher was Duchess Ella Rosera of the Rosera estate, a woman in her mid-30s who was very talented in swordsmanship, she still was talented, but she had retired from being in the Imperial Army due to the fact because she was tired from all the fighting, and wars that had happened throughout all the years she had been in the Imperial Army.

Swordsmanship was still one of her favorite hobbies. However, she disliked war.

One of the reasons as though why she had disliked war was because of the amount of bloodshed that was used in them. War can happen just because of resources or because a country wants more land. She had participated in multiple wars in the past, but she couldn't understand why the war was so important. In the end, both of the sides lose. They lose their people, just for some land. She honestly didn't think it was worth it. But well, she participated in the war and the bloodshed, so she decided not to speak her mind about war. Due to the backlash, she would get if she ever did. That was why Duchess Ella had resigned from being a member of the Imperial Army, and she found that it wasn't worth it.

She didn't want to be a part of the bloodshed anymore. She didn't want to hear the screams and cries of children, women, and men. Their screams would haunt her nightmares, and she had felt guilty that she had played a part in the war. That she had played a role in the murder of many children, women, and men.

So she decided to resign.

Now she became a teacher for young women who wanted to learn swordsmanship as many nobles didn't want the chance of an affair or a scandal happening to their daughters. Since a noble's reputation would plummet down, some noblewomen were also just simply more comfortable learning from a woman than a man.

Duchess Ella was that talented that she had become one of the generals for the Imperial army, because of her women noblewomen were allowed to learn swordsmanship, unlike in the past as society had often thought that it was only things that a "man" should do and that women should stay at home.

However, because of Duchess Ella's actions, society changed its minds about the whole situation. And now, there were fewer and fewer people who had thought that women shouldn't be able to learn swordsmanship.

Of course, some nobles had still thought women deserved to stay at home. Still, they couldn't do anything anymore about the whole situation, as the majority had started thinking there was nothing wrong with females learning swordsmanship.

Duchess Ella Rosera was the first female general in the Imperial Army. She had a position so high that many men were jealous of her. Initially, there were rumors that Duchess Ella had pulled some strings to be a general of the Imperial Army. These rumors had come because it was a female leading the Imperial Army. The men just couldn't let their egos and pride handle it, so the rumors were spread.

However, these rumors were gone when everybody had seen Duchess Ella's loyalty to the Imperial Army when someone had tried to murder the King. On his son's 13th birthday, Duchess Ella Rosera had quickly run. She stopped the bullet from hitting the Emperor, and she shielded his body with hers.

Which she had somehow survived.

If it weren't for her quick thinking and skills, the Emperor would be as good as dead right now.

However, that wasn't the only time she had saved the Emperor, she had saved his life multiple times, and this was just one of them.

She had also saved his life when an assassin had sneaked into the King's chambers, to which coincidentally Ella had been assigned that night. She immediately opened the doors of the King's chambers when she even heard the slightest bit of noise and caught the assailant with a knife. Luckily the King was safe and sound, sleeping like a baby. She immediately kicked the assassin and took out the knife in his hands in just a few seconds.

Due to Duchess Ella's heroic acts, the nobles had no choice to accept her. She had risked her life for the King multiple times, and if that wasn't enough to gain respect for her, then what was?

The King had even brought the topic up during a meeting with the other nobles, as so many nobles had looked down on Duchess Ella for so long.

He was tired of Duchess Ella being looked down on just because of her gender when she had accomplished what most men couldn't in just a few years of being a part of the Imperial Army.

It can genuinely be astonishing how one can act just because of their greed, and it was one of humanity's greatest flaws.

Whether you like Duchess Ella or not, it was a fact that she played a huge part in women's rights.