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— Good evening, Your Grace!

I nodded back. Dive into stories on NovelFire,mpyr.

— You too.

It was awkward to hear them say that at first. After all, up to now it had been my father who had been addressed that way. Now I\'m the mistress of the house. I bet people were as unaccustomed to hearing it as I was.

But now, six months later, everyone took it for granted.

When I got to the table, I glanced over the dishes and felt anticipation. At last my hard work would be rewarded!

— Your Grace, the main courses for today are stuffed duck and caesar salad,» the maid introduced me.

— Thank you, Chloe,» I smiled.

The maid stood beside me, ready at any moment to pour me a glass of water or do something else. When the moment was right, I decided that Chloe was the most suitable candidate for my temporary personal maid. She was a nice girl I had known since I was a child.

Why «temporary»? Because I hoped that one day Melinda would come back to me.

Six months ago I was packing to leave the imperial palace, and of course I was going to take her with me. I didn\'t want to leave the girl alone in such a dangerous place. But suddenly Melinda insisted on staying.

According to the maid: she could not leave the palace in Camilla\'s power entirely unattended. While the other servants were silent and afraid to interfere — Melinda decided to find out the whole truth herself.

— Don\'t worry, Madam!» she assured me then, «I\'m sure there\'s something wrong here. I\'m sure I\'ll get through to Her Majesty!

— How will you do that? You\'re just a servant girl…» I tried to talk sense into her.

But the girl was persistent.

— That\'s why I\'m going to be stealthy! Please, rely on me.

I sighed heavily, but there was nothing I could do about it. After all, it was Melinda\'s decision. I couldn\'t take her away by force, could I? Anyway, she had the right to do as she wanted.

Though from then on I kept hoping the maid would change her mind. But no. I had not heard from her until now.

Even thinking about it now made me worry. I wondered how she was doing.

With a sigh, I got down to dinner-before the food got cold. There was silence during this process, as usual, and I thought about my own things. Until, at the very end, Andrew appeared.

— Your Grace,» the old man bowed on the threshold of the dining room, «you have just received a letter.

— Hmm?

— It is an invitation to a banquet.

The secretary approached and handed it to me. I could tell from the envelope alone who it was from. The scarlet paper and golden raven seal were the emblem of the Imperial family. I grinned faintly.

— I was going to get rid of it at first,» the man sighed. «But then I thought you might like to see it.

— Ha… I wish I\'d burned it right away.

My good mood at the dinner table was a little low. Contrary to what was forbidden by all the rules — I told Andrew that he could dispose of such letters of his own volition. Just because I didn\'t want to see them or respond in any way.

I lost count of how many times I received these invitations. However, the contents were about the same.

From the moment Camilla became crown princess — she rolled out different events at the imperial palace almost every week. Most of these were parties to which all the cream of high society were invited.

Camilla really enjoyed all the advantages of her position. And no one minded. After all, Rachel turned a blind eye to it, no matter — how much money from the state treasury she had already managed to spend.

As people tried in every way to please her as a future queen-no one turned down these invitations. Except me.

Frankly, I was a little surprised. I assumed that the girl would be strongly against it: that I would have any part in their new life with Rachel. But no. As if mocking, she invited me to every banquet she threw.

Probably to humiliate me in public. But I never gave her a reason.

I didn\'t answer a single letter from her in six months. I didn\'t want to play to Camilla\'s tune, much less show that I was reconciled to my current situation. Though there was nothing I could do now…

However, how much longer would I run away from reality?

For the sake of interest, I decided to open the envelope this time.

Inside was an invitation to a banquet-an invitation to the official announcement of the wedding. In the end, I had no doubt that it would be more lavish than all the previous ones. After all, Camille had been looking forward to this day.

And while I stared intensely at the letter, Andrew awkwardly asked if he should throw it away. The old man had long been accustomed to my ordering me to burn these letters as soon as I received them.

But I shook my head in surprise.

— Why not? It sounds like fun.

— What?» The secretary was very surprised.

— It\'s been a long time since I\'ve been out in public… I think it\'s time to fix that.

And while the man was batting his eyes, I smiled.

— And if you think about it… I became an Archduchess quite a long time ago, but I still haven\'t greeted Her Majesty. Perhaps this is just the perfect occasion.