"Good Evening, Mother and Father. My apologies for attending dinner late; I accidentally slept in the shower."
Lady Melissa greeted her parents, explaining the reason as to why she was late for dinner.
"It's fine, though. Would you like to excuse yourself after dinner? You look like you need some sleep."
Her mother replied to her greeting, concerned about Lady Melissa's mental health and well-being.
"No, don't worry, mother, I am fully healthy."
Lady Melissa replied.
"You might say that, but your eye bags don't lie."
Lady Melissa turned bright red in a matter of seconds; she must've had overworked herself that she didn't realize her eyebags were that dark.
"Thank you for your concern, mother; then, after dinner, I'll retreat into my bedroom if that is okay with you?"
Lady Melissa questioned her parents.
"It is fine with me, and I am sure your mother would love you to relax for once."
Her father replied.
"Yes, I don't mind at all, dearie!"
Her mother replied.
"Thank you."
And in a matter of minutes, Melissa had started gobbling down all the food that was in her sight.
"I have had enough food. May I excuse myself, mother and father?"
"Yes, make sure to sleep enough and don't overwork yourself!"
The Duchess replied to Lady Melissa.
Lady Melissa walked past the staircase and headed into her room, and she could finally have some good ol' sleep that she deserved.
Lady Melissa was a night owl, meaning she often worked at the nighttime as that was when she was the most productive.
She had more energy and wasn't usually sleepy at night, but she couldn't sleep in the daytime as she had lessons and people to meet.
Thus, Lady Melissa had often slept late, often sleeping in the early mornings, like 3 or 4 AM, before her maid waking her up at around 6 AM.
She loved to sleep, but she was a workaholic, so she often had little to no time to sleep.
She often stayed up late at night to help with her parents' work, often doing their business documents for them when they were out or when she was bored.
Lady Melissa plopped into her bed before laying down her body on it.
She wasn't that sleepy, so she decided to stay up another hour or two wouldn't hurt; besides, she needed time to think about all of today's events.
Next week, she would be meeting Duke Gaston, or maybe he would send her his reply through a letter.
However, Duke Gaston wasn't the only one she would be meeting, and she decided to attend a ball next week.
After her debut in society, many noblewomen had sent her invitations to their tea parties, hoping to get a glimpse of the infamous Lady Melissa Mendy Shayla.
After all, news about Melissa's appearance and personality had already spread across high society.
So who was she to disagree with the public's wishes?
After all, it was beneficial to her.
Lady Melissa decided that she would check all the invitations from the noblewoman tomorrow and randomly ask one of her maids to choose.
She would hold the invitation letters on the other side, thus not showing any of the noblewomen's names that had invited her to their tea party.
Besides, she was bored, and her parents probably wouldn't let her out either because of the killer 'Jack The Ripper.'
Though it was a pity she wouldn't be allowed to go out into the streets anymore, she was allowed to go to safer areas with more people or private areas such as a Duke or Duchess' estate.
Such as a Duke's or Duchess' estate or maybe even a famous shop, speaking of which Lady Melissa had wanted to try a renowned shop, called La Vie En Rose, it was one of the most famous shops, that sold desserts and sweets.
The prices weren't that high either; both peasants and nobles could afford them, which led to many people buying their stock out.
And within the first few days of the shop's launching, all their stock had been sold out!
Which lead to more and more people wanting to try out their food, leading the shop, La Vie En Rose to be one of the most popular shops in just a few days.
Lady Melissa had wanted to try out the shop in her past life too, but she was afraid her parents wouldn't allow her, so she had never asked them, but she wasn't going to let an opportunity like this pass again.
If she did meet Duke Gaston, she would want the meeting location to be in La Vie En Rose; who knows? Maybe even Duke Gaston was a sucker for treats, too, like Lady Melissa.
Or maybe he was the opposite; after all, as the saying goes, 'Opposites attract.'
And maybe he would be the Romeo to her Juliet.
'No, snap out of it!'
Lady Melissa thought that Duke Gaston was good-looking, but she wouldn't fall for someone again.
She didn't want to be betrayed yet once more.
Lady Melissa still had felt all the pain and anguish from her past life, and once every few days, she would get nightmares regarding her past life.
Nightmares about the Crown Prince, vivid memories from her past life of how he had treated her.
How he had acted towards her.
And besides, she had made a promise to herself.
To never love again, and although that might be hard for her, she would try her best to achieve it, to be able to take her revenge on the Crown Prince.
She didn't want to make the same mistakes, she had been given a second life after all, and it would be incredibly stupid of Lady Melissa to make the same mistakes once again.
No matter what, she would take her revenge against the Crown Prince, even if it would cost her life in exchange.