After dinner, Duke Kensington asked for Lady Melissa to accompany him for a walk in the garden, while Prince Xavier took the liberty to engage the little boy in a game of chess. Earlier, Duke Kensington had quietly informed the Prince that he intended to speak to Lady Melissa about the matter which the two men had discussed earlier. Realizing the importance of this affair, Prince Xavier acquiesced and took Lord William with him.Duke Kensington guided Melissa around the garden and they both sat down on a nearby bench together. "My Lady, how are you feeling now?" Duke Kensington asked lightly."I feel fine, Your Grace." Melissa answered, looking ahead. She wondered what did the Duke want to say to her. He even sent William away with the Prince.Being an astute person herself, she noticed the subtle actions between the Duke and the Prince earlier, indicating these two were somehow in cahoots with each other. As to what were they planning, Melissa couldn't figure it out."You can just c
"Oh Melissa!" Duke Kensington instinctively pulled her into his embrace, unable to resist this innocent young girl.She felt so good in his arms, he felt her warmth and he could smell her subtle floral fragrance. She didn't resist his embrace, which prompted Duke Kensington to take a deep breath and slowly released her. He looked into her bright eyes and slowly leaned forward to kiss her. Their lips met in a gentle caress, the warmth of their breath mingling. Electricity sparked as their lips brushed lightly, sending a shiver down their spine. Not sensing any reluctance from her, Duke Kensington became bolder and kissed her harder, forcing her to catch her breath. However, the moment her lips parted slightly, the Duke immediately seized the chance and inserted his tongue in her mouth. His tongue seemed to dance with hers, each moving melodiously together.Melissa started to kiss him back, with her hands grabbing his jacket and drew him nearer, eliciting a moan from the man. Her hands
The next morning, Duke Malcom and Lord Melvin reached the palace promptly at 10 to bring Melissa home. Before she departed, both the Queen and Duke Kensington had a private talk with Duke Malcom to discuss about the postponement of the wedding. Although Duke Malcom couldn't really comprehend what's the real reason behind it, he was equally glad that his precious daughter would be able to stay with the family longer. When they reached the main hall, Lord Melvin could be seen arguing with Little William. "Take your hands off my sister! She's coming home with me!" Lord Melvin could be heard saying to Lord William, while pulling Melissa's hand."No! My mother is coming with ME!" Lord William stubbornly held onto Melissa's legs, unwilling to let go. "Who is your mother? This is my sister!" Lord Melvin refused to back down.Prince Xavier, who was standing by the side, had a look on his face which one couldn't fathom. It could be annoyance, anger, bitterness, sadness, it's simply amusing
"Can I visit you at home? Don't worry, I will let you know in advance. If you're not available, you can inform me." Duke Kensington asked with anticipation. "Yes, of course. Please bring William too if he's free. It's not convenient for me to visit him at your place, so I would really appreciate it if you could bring him over instead." She smoothly extended the invitation to William as well, so that cheeky little guy need not beg his father for it.'Ah..William again. As expected, she wishes to see William more than me. Anyhow it doesn't matter as long as I can see her too.' Duke Kensington lamented in his heart, consoling himself. He nodded indicating his agreement and she finally left with her family."What did he say to you, Mel?" Lord Melvin couldn't suppress his curiosity."He wanted to visit me at home. He will bring William too." Melissa curtly replied. This brother of hers clearly had a knack for gossip!"What?? He's bringing that brat to our house? Hah! No wonder he said th
'Arrgh! Who's that now? I just got back for God's sake. So it can't be Zachary or William right?' Melissa turned, clearly displeased and asked coldly, "Who is it?""It's a messenger, and he said he's instructed to see you personally to hand over the parcel." Lily said quickly."A parcel?" Melissa asked curiously and got up to meet the messenger.A young boy was seen standing nervously outside the main gate, awaiting the intended recipient. Sir Andrew was standing in front of him, guarding the boy who was obviously scared by his domineering aura. How dare he asked to meet with his Mistress directly! The nerve of this boy! However, looking at the parcel in the boy's hands which looked so exquisite, he didn't dare to throw the boy out. What if the parcel was sent by Duke Kensington? Although he looked scared, the boy had stubbornly refused to divulge the identity of the sender, making Sir Andrew more frustrated with him."Sir Andrew! Let him in." Melissa called out to Sir Andrew.Upon re
"Brother, did you meet the Queen? What did she say? Did she agree to it? When can I marry the Prince?? This year??" A barrage of questions were thrown at Lord Benjamin as soon as Lady Anastasia came in.He frowned upon seeing her eager face. 'Why can't she just be like Lady Melissa? She doesn't even have an ounce of her gentleness and charm. How is she a Blackwell??'"Ana, seriously, is there even a time when you don't think about the Prince? Is that all you care about? Don't you want to do something more useful in your life?" Lord Benjamin questioned his sister. "Haha! I'm an Earl's daughter. Mother said I just need to marry someone wealthy and be the lady of the house. If I can be the Prince's wife, I will have everyone at my beck and call at all time. Isn't that great?" Lady Anastasia boasted to her brother. Lord Benjamin took a deep breath, trying to control his emotions, lest he might unleash his long burrowed anger towards his only sister. All she ever talked about was getting
For the next few days, Melissa had been extremely busy. Going back and forth from the main house to the garden. Each time, she would be carrying things in her hands, with Lily following closely behind. She had allowed no one to assist her but Lily alone. All the servants could only witness in envy as Lily helped their Mistress with her tasks. They all liked Lady Melissa very much and hoped they could be of help to her.Ever since she got engaged to Duke Kensington, her temperament had greatly improved and she's much kinder to all of them, both in words and action, inviting various compliments from all the servants. Even the cooks were impressed with her excellent cooking skills when she graced the kitchen with her presence and cooked or baked delicious food for everyone to taste. Those who had served the Knights for a long time claimed that their Lady must be a genius to be able to come up with various new recipes all on her own! If only they knew the truth of who she really was.Fina
"Mother! This place is so beautiful. Your little house is prettier than ours!" William curiously walked around the place while checking it out. "Melissa, how are you?" Duke Kensington took her hand and kissed it. "I'm fine Your Grace. Thank you for visiting me today with William." Melissa said, smiling brightly at him.In fact, if he's allowed to, he would have come sooner, however Melissa had sent a reply saying she's not available these few days. The moment she said yes, he had rushed over with William. Since the day they parted at the palace, Duke Kensington was constantly thinking about her, wondering how she's been, what she's been doing, whether she's also been thinking about him. However, facing her now, he could not directly tell her all that, so he could only nod, acknowledging her gratitude. "Please call me Zachary." He reminded her."Is this your new arts space? It looks decent." Duke Kensington scanned the place and finally his gaze landed on the painting she's working
Duke Kensington woke up in a daze, feeling restless and unsure what the dream was about. He was covered in cold sweat and tried to recall the details of the dream. In the dream, he saw his son and beside him, there was another person. It was a woman but Duke Kensington couldn't see her face clearly. She was laughing and playing with William, while he watched them from afar. When she saw him, she beckoned him near and following her gesture, he walked towards them, hoping to see her face. There's something about her that made his heart swelled with love and happiness. He didn't want to let go of that moment.He never had any contact with any women ever since his wife passed away a few years ago, leaving him with a son to care for. However, due to the Queen's pressure lately, he had agreed to remarry and the candidate was chosen by the Queen herself. The dream he had last night was unexpected and something he couldn't decipher.Duke Kensington shook his head and cleared his mind. He ne
"Ms Hall! Ms Hall! What are your inspirations behind these wonderful paintings? Can you share it with us?" "Ms Hall, now that you've inherited the Graden Arts Hall, do you plan to expand it?""Ms Hall, when will your next exhibition be?" "Can you comment on the rumours that you've secretly gotten married?"A throng of reporters swarmed around Melissa, asking her a barrage of questions which she couldn't keep up. She smiled politely and held up her hand to the reporters before answering them calmly."Do you believe me if I say that I painted these art pieces based on the dreams I have had over the years?" Before the reporters could clarify, she continued,"I plan to keep the Graden Hall as it is, to honour the memory of my late Master. I will continue to hold exhibitions here and when the time comes, you all will be invited."She looked at the reporters who were busy writing down their contents and some were filming her."As for my so-called secret marriage, it's not true. I do not
Beep, beep, beep, beep...The sound of the machine echoed in the spacious room. Melissa felt something sharp poking into her hand and she winched. She slowly opened her eyes and was confused. The white room seemed foreign to her and she didn't remember any white room in the Kensington Estates. Her eyes scanned the room and she saw mechanical instruments by the bed, and an IV drip attached to her hand. Wait a minute, is this the hospital?Before she could process her thoughts, the door to the room opened and a young lady dressed like a nurse walked in. The nurse went straight to the IV drip and checked it before proceeding to adjust something on the machine next to the bed. She seemed oblivious to the fact that Melissa was staring at her intently. The nurse turned to check the patient next and the moment she saw Melissa's bright eyes looking at her, she screamed in shock."You're awake!!! Oh my God!! Wait, I need to call the doctor!!" She said excitedly. Melissa had a guess on w
Lady Sophia was shocked beyond words. The maids dragged her to the dungeons and mercilessly threw her on the hard cold floor before locking her in. They looked at her in disgust before walking away, leaving her alone to process what the hell just happened. One minute she was in the room with him, ready to carry out her plan but suddenly the Duke had woken up and ordered for her to be imprisoned!Realization dawned upon Lady Sophia that the tide had turned. Her plan had backfired and she had been tricked by him! He knew all along that the tea was laced with sleeping pill and he had come prepared for her. He even had the cook, Mrs Queen hiding in the room, waiting to ambush her! Lady Sophia suddenly laughed. She laughed and laughed until her laughter turned to sobs and eventually into an uncontrollable cries of anguish.She hated the man, she hated him for humiliating her like this. She looked down at her body and realized she was still in her inner wear. Ashamed, she covered herself
"Your Grace, the Duke has returned to the Estates." Carrie notified Melissa, who was in William's room at the moment. Young William was still recuperating and had gone to sleep after the doctor's visit. Melissa turned to Carrie and promptly asked,"Where is he now?""His Grace is in his study. Lady Sophia was summoned to see him earlier." Carrie explained.Melissa who had walked to the door to meet her husband stopped when she heard the name."Lady Sophia?" "Yes, Your Grace."Somehow this news didn't sit well with Melissa.Why did he meet her? He didn't even find me or William when he came back. Melissa bit her lip and thought for a moment before she finally decided to stay put. She had yet to come up with an idea on how to send Lady Sophia packing. Now is really not the time to dwell on useless presumptions about her husband. The last thing she wanted was to have any misunderstandings with the Duke. William's wellbeing is her focus now.After making sure William was comfortable,
Duke Kensington sat by William and held his son's hand. He didn't say anything about the cookies, which made Melissa nervous for some reason. The silence was utterly uncomfortable for her. "I didn't send them to William." She finally said, breaking the silence in the room.Duke Kensington finally looked up and smiled at his wife. "I know you didn't." He replied calmly.Melissa nodded and the room fell into silence again. Both Melissa and the Duke stayed with the little boy throughout the night, observing his condition. Young William woke up a few times in the middle of the night due to discomfort in his stomach but Melissa managed to coax him back to sleep after giving him his medication. When dawn approached, she finally collapsed on the bed next to William due to exhaustion.Looking at his wife sleeping soundly after tending to his son the whole night, Duke Kensington's gaze darkened and he clenched his fist in anger. Something's needed to be done about this, he would not let hi
Melissa smiled at the staffs before she addressed them all."Good day, everyone. Thank you for meeting with me today. I will get to know each and everyone of you in due time so there's no rush today. You can go back to your work. But before you leave, I want to remind you that I do not like to use a third person to convey any message, instruction, order or request to anyone at all. As such, every instruction given to you would be communicated to you personally by me, with no medium in between. If you do not receive the order directly from me, please be reminded that you will suffer the consequences should you act on it. With that said, should you receive any instruction from another party on my name, you must come to me directly. It would only mean that someone is trying to undermine my authority as the Duchess of Kensington and I will not tolerate that. Understood?"All the staffs were stunned and could only nod their heads in understanding. However, some of the older staffs looked d
The next morning, the sun had risen in the sky when Melissa woke up. A warm hand was placed on her back, making her movements restricted. The warm hand suddenly moved and pulled her into a hug. Melissa looked at the handsome guy in front of her and sighed.She traced her finger on his forehead, his nose and finally his lips. Duke Kensington kissed her finger, his eyes still closed. Melissa giggled and pulled her hand back. In a swift movement, Duke Kensington got up and pinned her under his body, making her giggled more. "Running away? Not a chance!" The Duke kissed her, while she stroke his back. Melissa could feel her husband's cock hardened and pressed against her legs. She instinctively spread her legs apart, inviting him in.He groaned and placed his hard cock against her vagina, before he slowly moved it up and down her wet slit. She moaned in his mouth, prompting him to move faster and eventually, he slide his manhood into her tight cave.Melissa's insides squeezed him hard
"Don't worry, I'll be gentle with you." The Duke whispered in Melissa's ear, comforting her.Melissa nodded slightly and she ran her fingers through the Duke's hair, while enjoying his touch and kisses. The Duke seemed to be under the impression that she's young and naive in this area, and had taken the lead in their first night together. Melissa had allowed the man to do whatever he wanted, especially when she was inexperienced herself. However, she had read and watched enough movies in her previous life to know what to expect and therefore she braced herself for her first time. The Duke's kisses travelled down from her breasts to her stomach, and eventually his lips ended up kissing her most intimate area. He parted her legs slightly, giving him more access to her body and started sucking her cunt. His movements were slow at first but they gradually became faster and her moans became louder with each action he took. "Aaahhh! Zachary!" Hearing his name coming out of her sweet l