The Duke's Masked Wife 2: The Prince's Outcast Bride-Chapter 50: Gifts (1)

"You got a letter? It has a royal seal. It’s from the prince, isn’t it?" Lily asked, trying to sneak a peek at the letter Penelope held. "For someone who has no interest in the prince, you sure love getting letters from him."

"He’s been our friend for all our lives. Why can’t I read a letter from him? Are you saying that I should stop being his friend?" Penelope asked, folding the letter.

"Certainly not," Lily replied. "I do not want the prince after me."

"It is only a letter about the events of yesterday. He apologised for how the man from the court acted," Penelope said, hoping to end Lily’s curiosity.

"I would simply move on from the letter, but those are gifts sent by the palace, aren’t they?" Lily asked, looking at the pile created by the maids.

Penelope didn’t have an answer which would have made Lily lose interest. She did not understand the reason Tyrion had sent her so many gifts.

"You must give up, Penelope. He knows how to get your attention, and it is working. You must have the maids move them up to your room, or will you have them sent back to the palace?" Lily asked, knowing the latter wouldn’t happen.

"It is rude to send back what I received from a prince," Penelope said, playfully hitting Lily’s face with the letter.

"It was also rude to send back all the gifts sent to you by the count and all the other bachelors. You keep making the excuse that it is rude to ignore the prince. Admit it, he holds a special place for you," said Lily.

"When am I going to be able to tease you about the man courting you? You’ve been looking forward to someone’s arrival, so you have also turned down gifts or invitations to dance. Your time will come, and I shall enjoy teasing you," Penelope said, looking forward to that time.

"It might not come. I am considering father’s offer to inherit many of his riches and live by myself. It is what almost all of the men courting us are after, so why must I share it with them? I want to enjoy it by myself," said Lily.

Penelope found this to be surprising since Lily was always the one most excited for marriage.

"The man you are waiting for is taking far longer than you want to come, isn’t he?" Penelope asked, seeing through Lily’s disinterest.

"Men know nothing," Lily muttered. "With all the tutoring and special privileges they have, they are quite foolish."

"They are. Gerald," Penelope said, greeting the butler as he let more gifts be carried inside. "These flowers," she said, touching the petals.

"They are for Miss Lily," Gerald replied, handing one of the vases over to Lily. "Should I place them in your room or elsewhere?"

"It is better to let them decorate outside. We cannot take any chances," Lily said, handing Gerald back the vase.

They had received many gifts which carried the intention to harm them. There were once plants to make their hands itch sent to the estate, but Gerald was quick to point them out.

"The others are for Miss Lily as well. Among them appear to be shoes and dresses. Should I get rid of them as well?" Gerald asked.

"Do as we have done with the others. Send them to those who would be happy to have new dresses. Why am I suddenly getting so many gifts?" Lily wondered.

It was always balanced for her and Penelope to get gifts at the same time, with Penelope getting a little more since it was evident she had the prince’s attention.

"It is time that you have to deal with it alone," Penelope said, happy to see that there weren’t more for her.

Sometimes the men who sent them made her feel like she owed them something in return.

"Milady," Gerald said, stopping Penelope before she left. "There is an issue that the maids who went to the market brought to my attention. Rumours are spiralling around the town that you bring misfortune."

"Misfortune? It must be that they are still speaking of what happened to Sarah. I expected that they would not stop speaking of it for some time," said Penelope.

There was a good chance for them to sully her name, so they would make the most of it.

Penelope noticed Gerald’s hesitation to speak.

"Is there more?" Penelope asked.

Gerald nodded.

While this was something he would normally inform the duke or duchess of first, the duke was away, and the duchess was busy at the moment. He also wanted Penelope prepared for what might come.

"Say it. I can handle whatever it is," said Penelope.

"It is not only the incident with Miss Sarah. They are tying other incidents to your name. Falls of families or young women who once tried to speak to you no longer appear at balls. It seems they believe you have your father do it," Gerald shared.

"Those fools," Lily said, finding the accusations to be absurd.

"How could I possibly be the reason their houses fell, or why someone doesn’t show up? I am only in Lockwood during the season, and even then, I very rarely attend many balls to have conflict with anyone," said Penelope.

"From what I heard, they are looking for someone to place their failures on. Sometimes, others find satisfaction in naming someone the cause of their troubles. It is quite normal in this town. I shall inform the duchess of it," Gerald said.

"Our mother is busy at the moment, so I don’t see now as the best time to trouble her with this. Thank you for informing me, Gerald. I appreciate it," Penelope said, watching as Gerald left her. "Day after day, I see why mother and father left the estate to raise us out of town."

"I think this is all starting over someone’s jealousy of you having the prince’s attention. Think about it. This would help to make the court think very little of you and try to keep you from the prince. Who?" Lily wondered, thinking of who would benefit most from this.

"I have made it quite clear that I don’t want to marry the prince, yet they go to these lengths to get me out of the way. Must I marry so they can believe me?" Penelope wondered.

"I hope accusations that you have caused houses to fall don’t bring the town guards to our doors. They should be more focused on finding out what happened to Sarah. They are all wasting their time. Will you be fine?" Lily asked, touching Penelope’s shoulder.

"I will be," Penelope replied, but the more she heard, she didn’t know how long she would be fine.