The king was among the first people to leave after the celebration but before he could, he was stopped by Andrea who wanted to be more than just his aquintance.
"My king, I couldn't help but notice that lady Clara was not present while I personally gave her an invitation card." Andrea said with a concerned tone. Though the king could tell that it was a pretentious gesture, he did not reply to her sarcastically like he usually did to those women who acted like they cared but in true sense they didn't.
"She had not been feeling well for the past two days but the physician is having a close eye on her." Came his words to which Andrea took her own time to reply. "I hope that she gets well soon. She's a nice woman and though she's a sister to the king, she treats everyone equally." She said as she took the last sip from the glass that she was holding and when a maid passed by, she waved at her so that she could pick it.
This was not what Roselyne was looking forward to and when she was picking the empty glasses, she did not expect to be called by Andrea who was talking to the king. Andrea was an arrogant woman and Rose hoped that she could not be insulted by her. At least not today! She thought as she walked towards them with an empty tray in her hands.
With her head bowed, she walked towards them. Just when Andrea was about to place the glass on the tray, she dropped it whereby it broke into small pieces on the white floor with a noise that caught the ears of the people who were near by.
"When will you servants ever do your work properly huh!" She exclaimed loudly while looking at Roselyne with disgust but the servant girl did not even attempt to raise her head.
"Eric was right,. Once this woman gets married, we will also have our happily ever after." Rose thought but she was brought back to reality when a hot slap landed on her cheek while leaving glaring red marks on her skin. "I'm really sorry milady." She said with controlled emotions. When Lucas turned to look at the girl he smiled internally at how the girl held a passive expression even though she was not at fault.
Not interested with the little drama that had been cause by Edward's daughter, king Lucas walked out of the room which made Andrea more angrier. "Clean up this mess that you have caused." Saying those words, she angrily stomped out of the room while following the direction that the king had taken.
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Once the guests had left, Edward called her daughter to the drawing room. "Why do you like causing unnecessary dramas Andrea? Do you think that the king will fall in love with a drama queen." He said with a tone that was coated with annoyance. He had seen that Andrea had dropped the glass intentionally and placed the blame on the servant girl. But what was the need for all that?!
"Father, the serva....." "Andrea do you think that I am blind not to see that you did that on purpose, and I am not the only one who saw it. A lot of visitors did and so did the king. I don't know if you are stupid or crazy!" Her father said angrily. His grey eyes piercing at her daughter who had lowered her eyes.
"I'm sorry father. It won't happen again." She said apologetically and her father nodded at her words. "It better not. I'm giving you a chance for you to choose a husband my dear, use it wisely. You can now leave." Andrea did not utter any other word as she quickly walked out of the room.
Rose and the other servants were busy eating when a maid called Laura brought up the topic that she tried so hard to ignore.
"Rose why did lady Andrea slap you in front of all those people?" She asked loudly so that everyone including those who were having their own chit chats could hear.
Laura always disliked Roselyne because she was everyone's favourite as she was a jovial person who usually spoke to everyone and not only that. She was trusted the most by lady Louisa and everytime the lady had to run some errands, she would always pick Rose to go with her which made the girl jealous and when she saw her getting slapped by lady Andrea, it made her happy to know that she could not please everyone.
"Oh, that. It was an accident that pissed off the lady and since I was the only one she could vent out her anger on, she..."
"Oh my goodness Rose, are you okay? I'm really sorry that that happened to you." Her aunt who knew nothing about it interrupted her worriedly. She was a woman who always took care of her as her own daughter and she was not happy that her niece was treated badly because of a mistake that she did not even commit. Everyone at the table started to tell her sorry which made her want to cry but she controlled the tears that were threatening to come out. "It's okay, it's not like she tried to kill me or something." Rose said with a small laugh.
When they went to sleep, roselyne's aunt tried to tend to the marks that was on her face with cold water. "Rose, I wanted to take you and Eric to school so that you can at least be trained to be a governor and governess. With the basic education that the both of you already have, I'm pretty sure that you will require training for just a few months." Her aunt said as she continued to dab her cheek with a towel carefully. "Auntie, you have already done so much for me already. You don't really have to do this. I am okay working here."
Roselyne would always be greatful to her aunt who took her in and always loved her without being partial as she already had a son of her own when she lost her mother. Even though she was not rich, she agreed to look after her and she always fell indebted to her.
Even though she wanted to raise her status, she did not want her aunt to pay the price for it and though her suggestion was intriguing, she had to refuse it. "Rose, do you see me as your guardian or a mother." Her aunt asked sternly and the look on her face made her smile.
"I see you like a mother." There was longing when she said the word mother because it brought a lot of memories which she had always treasured and as if her aunt could see through her, she wrapped her arms around her. "That's my decision Rose, you will go back to school, and we are not going to have any discussion about this." The woman said decisively as the both of them withdrew from the hug.
"I believe that by next month, you will be prepared for it." Her aunt said and Rose nodded in agreement. When they heard the guard who always walked around the servants' quarters, the both of them went to bed and Rose blew out the burning candle.