Amelia harbors malice toward Melissa. Realizing this fact, Melissa was at a loss as to how to deal with it.

Amelia was always smiling and cheerful, expressing gratitude even to lower-ranked servants like gardeners and maids. She was kind to everyone, considerate, and diligently learning the manners of a ducal family. Never once had anyone seen her speaking ill of others or voicing complaints. In just three months, not only her father, brother, and grandmother but also the servants had come to like her.

Would anyone believe her if she said that this very same Amelia had deliberately set her up with ill intent?

Melissa had never been willful or high-handed. She diligently attended her lessons in queenly education and the studies befitting a duke’s daughter, striving to live in a way that would not bring shame to her as a noblewoman or as a person. She should have earned ten years’ worth of trust while growing up in Duke Johnston’s household.

Would her father and brother believe her?

She truly wanted to consult her mother. If her mother were here, she would believe Melissa’s words and frankly ask Amelia why she couldn’t get along with her.

Realizing once again that her mother was gone, Melissa decided to consult her grandmother instead.

“What are you talking about?”

It was the first time her grandmother had spoken to her so harshly. Melissa found herself struggling to breathe. She had to consciously inhale and exhale, focusing on steadying her breath.

“I heard about the tea party from Mel. She said she was nervous and made mistakes, causing trouble for you, and she sincerely apologized for it. And now, you claim that Mel deliberately schemed to put you at a disadvantage? I’m disappointed in you.”

“But… she had always handled her cutlery well before, yet at that tea party alone—”

“That’s enough! She said she was nervous, and she apologized properly. You yourself were unstable after losing your mother, weren’t you? Mel is feeling unstable too. Try to understand her.”

Amelia had never apologized to her.

Melissa thought this to herself, but the unexpected sharpness in her grandmother’s voice left her speechless.

“Never bring up such nonsense again.”

With those final words, her grandmother dismissed her from the room.

A week later, Melissa saw her grandmother returning from an outing with Amelia.

“Grandmother, thank you so much for today. My first opera was absolutely wonderful—I was so moved.”

“I used to go to the opera often with Dalia. Today felt as if I had gone back in time and was watching with her again. Let’s go again sometime.”

Dalia was Melissa’s maternal grandmother. She was also the grandmother of Amelia, whose mother was Melissa’s mother’s younger sister. Dalia had passed away before Melissa was born, but she had heard that, like her mother and Amelia, Dalia had blonde hair and red eyes.

Melissa had once been told that her father and mother’s engagement was arranged because their mothers had been close friends.

When her mother was alive, her grandmother would often go to the opera with her.

Melissa had thought she was simply too young to be taken along. She had looked forward to the day she would grow up and go to the opera with her grandmother.

Yet, her grandmother had chosen to go with Amelia, who was the same age as Melissa, without inviting her.

Holding back tears, Melissa felt something lodged in her throat. Without making a sound, she quietly returned to her room, ensuring that neither of them noticed her.