Chapter 11 - At the Palace

At 9 in the morning, the Kensington's carriage arrived at the Knights' mansion. Melissa was waiting at the main gate with her maid-in-waiting. She looked resplendent in a deep green gown, her hair was coiled into a braided bun, secured by a diamond encrusted pin. The only other jewellery she wore was a simple necklace with an emerald pendant. She looked fresh and radiant, and unlike her usually can't-wait-to-run-away-from-him attitude, she was actually smiling when the carriage drew nearer.

He was captivated with her smile and was almost smiling back at her when he suddenly heard her shouted while waving her arms excitedly, "William! William!"

"Mother! Mother! I'm here to fetch you! We're going to see Queen Grandma today!" Lord William's tiny head poked out of the carriage while shouting back at the beautiful girl standing not far away. 

"William, mind your words, Lady Melissa is not married to me yet. You shouldn't call her that." Annoyed at his misconception earlier, Duke Kensington reprimanded his son instead. 

"Why not? She will become my mother sooner or later. So I've decided to call her Mother sooner than later. I'm sure she won't mind." Lord William said, clearly unhappy at his father's unreasonable scolding. 

Duke Kensington gritted his teeth and didn't say anything further. Judging from how Lady Melissa treated his son, he's pretty sure she wouldn't mind even if William called her Little Bunny. When the carriage door was opened, Duke Kensington was prepared to step out and assisted the lovely lady waiting outside. However, before he could descend, William bounced down and ran to hug Lady Melissa. Lady Melissa crouched down and hugged William back. 

"Mother, you look so beautiful today. And look, we both wear matching colours! How great is that? We're definitely meant to be with each other." Lord William's honeyed words subconsciously made Duke Kensington flinched. He looked over at his son and realized that the young lad was indeed wearing a dark green jacket today. How astonishing! His eyes wondered to his own black jacket and regretted not making one in a dark green shade. For a second, Duke Kensington was surprised at himself. Is he competing with his own son over Lady Melissa? Why would he care about this useless things? Before he could analyse his thoughts further, a shout jolted him back to his sense. "Father! Hurry up! We don't want to be late!"

Hmmmph! Duke Kensington quickly got on the carriage and realized that the brat was now sitting on Lady Melissa's lap, chattering non-stop. Duke Kensington glanced at Lady Melissa and saw that she was sitting comfortably holding his son. Melissa sensed the Duke's gaze on her and looked up to meet his eyes. She smiled while greeting him, "Good morning, Your Grace."

"Good morning. My Lady, you shouldn't encourage his unruly behaviour. A gentleman must always acts courteously, especially with a lady." Duke Kensington couldn't help but reminded Lady Melissa. However, he also knew that Lord William's upbringing to this date had been impeccable. His son knew his boundaries and always behaved properly. But, when it came to Lady Melissa, his normally calm attitude towards everyone was cast aside. In fact, William acted the same with the Queen the other day, purely because of Lady Melissa. On normal occasion, that boy would never bounced about like that, especially not with the Queen. It's all because of this young lady in front of him.

"Your Grace, William is just excited to see me. But don't worry, I understand what you meant. I will keep that in mind." Melissa replied graciously. Although she had lots of things to say to refute this cold man, she'd decided to have that talk in private without William's presence.

Duke Kensington was pleasantly surprised at her agreement. However in the next second, he looked at her again and realized her agreement came too easy, it's just too incredible. Surely she had something else to say? This woman was definitely not easy to deal with!

When they reached the palace, a sudden uneasy feeling crept into Melissa's heart. She couldn't understand why. The feeling kept gnawing at her and she had a sudden urge to turn back and go home.

Duke Kensington noticed her uneasiness and gently consoled her, "Don't worry, the Queen is a very kind woman. You'd like her. I heard your mother was one of her close companions so she would love to meet you."

"Mother, hold my hand if you're scared. I'll protect you." Lord William heard what his father said and immediately jumped in to take care of his beloved mother.

"Yes, thank you William." With that, Melissa let William held her hand and the trio walked into the palace.