Give and Take

“Actually, I’m feeling a little tired today. You see, I didn’t sleep well last night…” I said before showing her a regretful smile.

“Are you feeling unwell? You should have let me know sooner,” the duchess replied with apparent worry.

I wouldn’t go as far as to say that I was feeling sick but there was no denying that my lack of sleep from the night before was getting to me. However, that wasn’t the reason why I wanted to end our dance lesson earlier than planned. Despite being very chatty in our previous dance lessons, the duchess didn’t talk to me much during our dance practice.

“What about we sit and talk for a bit?” I suggested.

“Sure, if that’s what you want to do,” the duchess agreed without any hesitation.

I walked toward the bench where we usually sat to rest, drink water, and chat. There were so many things that I wanted to talk to her about and ask her that I didn’t even know where to start. I had thought that it would be harder to invite the duchess for a proper convers