The Alpha Prince's Purchased Maid
Chapter 280: The Reveal

Chapter 280: The Reveal

“I wasn’t lying when I said that I’m a professional dancer. In fact, I sing, and I dance too. I was quite famous in the days even if I do say so myself. Famous enough to catch many people’s attention, including that of the king,” she said before she giggled as if recalling some entertaining memories.

“The king?” I whispered before I could stop myself.

I stared into her face as her words seemed to sink in and then my mouth hung open when the nagging feeling at the back of my mind started to make sense. There was something very familiar about her, although I was certain that I had never met her before.

“Oh, I guess I’m not as famous as you are because I know who you are when you don’t really know who I am, do you?” she said teasingly before she showed me another of her radiant smiles.

“I apologize...” I said quickly in case she found my attitude offensive.

“Not at all, I’m just teasing you. I’m sure that you’ve have various chances to get acquainted with my son,” she said as her eyes captured and held mine.

Her son?

So not only is she acquainted with the king, but I have met her son before as well?

The Duchess smiled sweetly at me as she silently observed my reaction. I was certain that she was giving me time to figure out who she was. That nagging feeling at the back of my mind told me that I was onto something, but I wasn’t sure if what I had in mind was correct.

Could she really be?

“I’m sorry but no one has told me about you before, so...” I said hesitantly after deciding that I didn’t want to take the risk of guessing and getting it all wrong.

“Hopefully my son hasn’t done anything embarrassing in your presence. I always tell him that he’s too forward with the ladies,” she said before she chuckled.

“I am not sure...umm...may I ask who your son is?” I asked in a small voice.

“You can’t guess?” she asked in return as she leaned closer to me to give me an even clearer look at her face.

Well, if I had to guess...then...

“Are you, perhaps, Prince Florian’s mother?” I asked softly.

“Bingo! You got it absolutely correct. Florian is my son,” she announced happily.

“Your Highness, I am so sorry for acting so rude...” I began apologizing immediately.

If she’s really Prince Florian’s mother, then she is one of the king’s favorites as well. I couldn’t believe that someone of such a high rank was sitting on the wooden floor in a dance studio with me. I must have looked so shocked because the duchess ended up laughing at my reaction.

“I’m sorry for surprising you so suddenly like this. It wasn’t like I was trying to keep it a secret from you. Many people say that Florian resembles me quite a lot so I was testing if you could figure it out as well,” she said casually.

All the pieces seemed to fall into place now. The way Madame Sand reacted in the duchess’s presence and the way she spoke about informing her husband of the madame’s hard work. The color of her hair, the beauty of her face and smile, and her name...

I should have figured her identity out much sooner that she must be Prince Florian’s mother. Honestly, I never quite expected her to be so young. At first, I just thought that she must be some relative to the royal family for her to hold the title of duchess and nothing more.

“Shall we start learning some basic dance steps?” she suggested invitingly.

I was still speechless so all that I could do was nod my head. To my surprise, the duchess stood up and offered me her hand to pull me up from the floor. At that moment, I was truly convinced that she was a very kind and empathetic woman.

...

“Where is Leonard?” Darius asked impatiently.

“Oh...umm...the prince...” Leonard’s butler stammered as his eyes darted nervously all around the place.

The way that the man was acting was enough to give it away that his master was somewhere that he wasn’t supposed to be. Darius let out a sigh before he glared at the poor butler with clear dissatisfaction in his cold gaze.

“Where is my brother?” he asked again.

“Umm...I...I’m not so sure...” the butler replied before trailing off and bowing apologetically.

It became annoyingly clear to Darius that he would not be getting anything useful out of the butler regarding Leonard’s current location. With a wave of his hand, he dismissed the man simply because he no longer wished to witness the man’s discomfort. After calling his brother’s phone without getting through for almost half an hour, Darius had started to worry. Coming to Leonard’s palace to inquire about his whereabouts also proved to be unfruitful; however, Darius had a pretty good guess of where his brother might be.

Without wasting any more time, he headed back to his car which was parked out front. Little did he know that he would bump into his other brother on his way out.

“Darius...” Florian murmured his brother’s name when they came face to face.

“Florian why are you here?” he asked without hiding his curiosity and suspicion.

“This is Leonard’s place so I’m obviously here to see him...” Florian replied in a lazy drawl.

“Well, he’s not here,” Darius replied bluntly.

“Oh...” Florian mumbled with clear disappointment.

“Do you need him for something?” Darius asked.

“Not really. I just wanted to have a chat with him...” Florian replied with a casual shrug of his shoulders.

“I’ll see you later,” Darius said as he began walking out.

“Where are you going? Are you going to find Leo?” Florian asked with a raised eyebrow.

“So, what if I am?” Darius asked in return.

“Cool. Let me tag along!” Florian said excitedly.

Before Darius could say anything, Florian had already walked ahead of him out of the building and toward his car.

--To be continued...

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