James Pov
"My lady, it really is being late, why not you visit marquess palace, I would show you the estate personally.'' I offered and she smiled shyly.
"Alright then, I would personally make a beautiful painting of the estate, my lord" she bd her head and I took a sigh of relief as we bid our final goodbyes.
"Where the hell were you all the time?" I just could not believe that Marianne left me with that lady all the time and she was ready to get married right away, only I knew how I had saved my innocence there!!
"I apologise, brother, father and my discussion turned a bit long and when I returned an old friend met me there, it was not like I had planned it" she apologised but there was no sincerity in it.
"Who was that lady who came to meet you?" I asked as I was sure she did not belong to this empire, at least not by birth.