The Duke's Masked Wife 2: The Prince's Outcast Bride-Chapter 27: Honesty (3)

Melanie maintained her stance. "I have never placed you in the middle of anything. I have never once asked that you pick a side, nor have I criticised your mother before you. She is my daughter when the day ends. I find this to be very disrespectful. Lily," she said, turning to Lily for aid.

Lily smiled. Seeking for her to be against Penelope would be no different than expecting pigs to fly.

Unless someone were to run around throwing pigs in the air, the day of Lily disagreeing with Penelope wasn’t going to come.

"I agree with Penelope, grandmother. Perhaps you don’t notice it when you do it, but we do. Do not think for a second that we hate you. It is simply awkward to stand here while you go on and on about what our mother has done wrong," said Lily.

Reed returned inside right in time to see the girls still where he left them, and Melanie standing like she was ready to grab the nearest glass of water to throw at someone.

Melanie locked eyes with Reed. "I said no guards are to be in my home. You must get out. I will not hurt my grandchildren."

"It is simply to be cautious. There are great dangers these days, and we never know when they will happen. You’ve known Reed for as long as we have been alive. He was once our mother’s guard," said Lily.

"I do not care whose guard he once was. I don’t need any of this in my home. Especially from you," Melanie said, pointing to Penelope.

Penelope smiled. "I cannot have an opinion in your home? I have tried to be respectful by keeping my feelings bottled up for quite some time now. I want to be here, but I am not the person for you to vent to about my mother or father."

"I am allowed to speak in my own home," Melanie replied.

Until someone else took care of the work in the home, Melanie could do whatever she wanted.

"I have raised my girls to be respectful of their elders. Your mother missed that teaching for you," said Melanie.

"Well, it is unfortunate that you did not raise her so perhaps it was something she needed you around for. Still, my mother has taught me to be kind and my she has taught me to be truthful. The truth hurts sometimes, doesn’t it?" Penelope questioned, looking at Lily.

Lily nodded her head. "Father says it’s better to be honest than to be lying all the time, but not everyone will enjoy honesty. Mother says to be kind when speaking the truth. That is what we are doing now."

"No," Melanie said, shaking her head. "You are being disrespectful. You are not acting like proper ladies, and I see now why you found yourself in that trouble."

Penelope smiled despite how she felt. "You have always praised me for being a wonderful young lady. I am curious what it is you see now that disappoints you. Should I continue to bite my tongue, though I dislike it when you speak of my mother?"

Penelope continued, "You may think what you want of my mother and express it to others, but I am her daughter. Sometimes it feels like you wish to get in my ear and turn me against my mother."

Melanie could not believe the words coming out of Penelope’s mouth. "Do you hear yourself? You are making me sound awful."

"I am not a puppetmaster, therefore, I cannot make you do anything. It is you who behaves that way, and it is very disappointing since I adored you. I have felt this way for a little over a year now. I have realised what you did during our time here," said Penelope.

Penelope had been too innocent in the past not to notice Melanie sometimes trying to turn her against Alessandra.

"I have wondered if you sought to paint my mother as a bad mother so you would feel better about yourself. My mother raised us well. She puts us before herself. She is not the monster you want to create in our mind," Penelope said.

Isabelle rejoined the group with a few cookies in her hands. She was puzzled by the tense atmosphere.

"I have tried over and over again to make amends with your mother. She refuses to move on from the past and tries to make me out to be a cruel woman. I ran away from her father to find happiness. What was so bad about that? I have apologised for leaving her," Melanie said.

How was she to know Alessandra’s father would not take proper care of her? That he would marry a woman who would be cruel to her daughter?

Melanie left Alessandra in the hands of a baron. It was better than taking her daughter along with her when she was uncertain of where she was going.

As for not writing any letters, Melanie wanted to forget her past then just as she wanted to forget the past now.

Melanie did not want to hear the stories of what Alessandra endured under her father’s care. She was old and had no time for it.

"Why does your mother want to live over those moments by bringing them up? We must move forward. Now you speak to me like I am some terrible mother or grandmother. I am not perfect, and neither is your mother. I have heard of many flaws," Melanie said, regretting the words as they left her mouth.

"My mother never claimed to be perfect, but as many flaws as she might have, she has never abandoned us. I will take her flaws over that any day. I don’t want to be here," Penelope said, a weight lifting off her shoulders.

Penelope no longer wanted to bite her tongue. She no longer wanted to be in places where she didn’t feel comfortable or where she didn’t belong.

This wasn’t making her happy, and on top of what was happening to their family, Penelope had no time for this.

"I don’t want to argue, and seeing that my feelings will not be understood today, I will leave. My sisters may stay, and I will have the guards escort me home. Thank you for having me, grandmother," Penelope said, curtsying.

Melanie couldn’t pinpoint how they could have gotten to this point. Penelope used to be such a sweet little child, and now it was like someone had poisoned her mind. Taking a guess, Melanie believed it was Edgar who turned the children like this. freēwēbnovel.com

"I shall join you," Lily said. "You can stay, Isabelle. We can leave four guards with you."

"No," Isabelle replied, walking toward her sisters. "I will join you."

Isabelle still didn’t understand what had happened, but if sides were to be taken, she would be on her sisters’ side.