Hello there dear readers, I am the author of this story "conquering the two-faced duke's heart" and I would like to seek your understanding regarding the grammar in the story and some problem that I sometimes fail to notice😣😖. English is my second language and this is my first story so I hope you guys can enjoy it and I am always open to any constructive criticism☺️. If there is any problems for me to change you guys can leave them in the comment😊. Thank you in advance for spending your precious time on reading my novel🥰. I hope you guys enjoy it. THE BEST OF LUCK🙏❤️.

NOTICE: In case some readers get confuse I use some symbols in the story. This symbol "..." for the characters'speech, (....) for their inner thought and *.....* for action that took place in the story.

        In the royal palace of Razh Kingdom there is a small isolated palace where the rumored abandoned princess resides in. In the morning of a sunny day as the sun rays goes through the glass window, the sun light has shone on a body that’s lying on the bed which seems lifeless of a seventeen Year-old girl. She lies there peacefully as her breath begins to decrease by the second until there is not a single trace of breath left, a drop of tear rolls down her cheek carry the sorrow and pain. But suddenly!!!

        *eyes open abruptly!!!* “haa… haa…” she pants hardly, “I’m still alive! What a relieve!” she let out a big sigh as she gets up.

“I thought I died back there. I suddenly feel so suffocated I nearly out of breath, phew!! Maybe it because I take sleeping pills too often, I should reduce the usage in the future or I really am going to die because of the overdose in sleeping pills” she said as she glances around. Her face suddenly went pale “wait!! Where is this?”

she let out the words shockingly, “this ancient western like interior design, a night gown? and the big landscape covers with flower gardens, don’t tell me that I have crossed to another world just like in a fantasy novel?” she speaks as she looks down to her dress, to the ceiling and through the window with a blank expression.

“Haha, that’s just sound ridiculous, how can something like that even possible?” she said carelessly. “Yeah, then there is only one possibility, this must be a dream, a dream yes” she nods her head rapidly as she convinces herself, “but it’s too vivid to be a dream, isn’t it? No no, this has to be a dream, now all I need to do is go back to sleep and when I open my eyes later everything is going to be normal” then she lies back to sleep as she finishes the line.

*Tick tok tick tok* a few seconds has pass the girl opened her eyes again widely as her jaw drop slightly, “this can’t be!!! It can’t be right?!!!” she screamed, sat up suddenly and frowned “oww!! Why does my head hurt suddenly?” in that exact moment a big wave of memories immediately flows into her brain like unstoppable flood, “what? Ouch! whose memories are these?” she mumbled as her tear fall down her cheek unknowingly, “and why am I crying again?”

At that point the memories that just flow in has flash through rapidly displaying the miserable life that this girl has gone through. “so that’s how it is” she shows a bitter smile, “her life and mine are so similar, maybe it’s fate, huh!”, “I am Montra an orphan that was abandoned right from birth in front of an orphanage and she is Mirabelle, a princess that was abandoned by her father the king, her mother was accused and executed by him as well” her face saddening.

“Hah! I have thought all this time that I am miserable, I was abandoned, I have to grow up alone without any relatives, need to work like crazy while studying in college and when I finally graduate and get a proper job I need to survive the harsh environment at work, I lead a lonely and stressful live with no affection or loved one in 23 years of living, the only comfort that I can seek is in books and finally I die because of the overdose in sleeping pills, even my death is so tragic” she said as her palm cover her forehead.

“But compare to her life I can’t complain at all, there is nothing more painful than your loved one was taken away forever. What worse is that because of the shock she receives when her mother died had made her lose her mind, she sometimes cries, sometimes smiles, sometimes laughs, sigh!!!”.

Montra gets off the bed and walks slowly toward a tall mirror that hang on the wall at the right side of her bed and said “she is such a beautiful girl, fair skin, golden hooded eyes, delicate nose, natural pink lips, and long wavy purple-red hair, she is more beautiful than most celebrities in my world”, “it’s such a shame that she was born in this hellish palace, if she had been born back in the 21st century, she would have become a top celebrity with a successful life” she said as she touch the mirror.

While she’s speaking to herself at the time, suddenly *knock knock* someone is knocking at the door, Montra got panic, rushed to the bed and pretended to be asleep, *creak* the door opened as a person walked into the room and from the shadow emerge the figure of a young woman in her early twenties with brown hair in a maid uniform. She walks quietly towards Montra’s bed and stopped near it as she reaches to (pretended)sleeping Montra, *Grabbed* “AHHH!!!!!!!”

TO BE CONTINUED.....!!!!! 🌺🌺🌺

        “AHHH!!!!” the maid screamed surprisingly as Montra grabbed her wrist in a hurry. “Princess!?” the maid said with curiosity.

“Who are you? And what are you doing?” Montra asked her with suspicion but as she looked at the maid’s face she got surprise because the maid looked so shock and speechless.

A few seconds has passed the maid moves from shock to tears as she grabbed on Montra tight then said “princess! What did you just say?”.

“What? I asked who are you? And what are you doing?” Montra replied with a confused expression.

Hearing that, the maid hugged her tightly and says “Princess! Finally! Finally you have recovered, I’m so happy.” excitedly as her tear flow continuously.

“Wait, what? Why are you hugging me and crying suddenly? Answer my question.” Montra said.

The maid let go and said “princess have you forgotten? I’m Mia a maid that her majesty the queen took in several years ago and I am the one that serves you since the queen’s gone, even though I can’t come in everyday, but I came twice or thrice a week”.

“Mia?” Montra confirmed as the maid nods. (Now that I look closely she really is the maid that took care of princess Mirabelle when the queen died, she was taken in by the queen when she is just 13 years old and because she felt grateful towards the queen hence she has taken care of the princess since the queen has parted) Montra thought deeply and turn to says “Mia. Yes, Mia I remembered now. I’m sorry if I had surprised you, it’s because I just recovered so my memories are a bit hazy right now and thank you for taken care of me until now”.

“No, princess how can you apologize to a mere maid like me? And about taking care of you is my duties and also to show my gratitude to the queen for saving me, if not for her I would have starved to death on the street by now. I’m so glad that you have finally recover to your former self and I am sorry for acting rudely just now, a maid like me shouldn’t hug a noble princess like that” she said as she bows to Montra.

“No, it’s ok. I don’t know about anybody else but if it’s you then it’s ok, I have no one left and you are just like a family to me Mia.” She smiled.

Mia smile back warmly to her and said “now it’s time, let me wash and dress you so that you can have your breakfast”.

“Hah? Wash me? Can’t you let me wash myself?” she asked.

“No, princess it’s my duty” Mia replied firmly.

“Yeah, it’s your duty but still I don’t used to have someone wash me like this, I felt like a kid” she mumbled to herself. “what are you saying princess?” Mia asked. “it’s nothing” Montra replied.

  After breakfast....

Montra was sitting on a chair in her bedroom near the glass window when she thought quietly to herself as she looking out through the window (After getting dress and having breakfast I finally felt like a living person, but what else can I do in this isolated palace? I can’t go outside so the garden is out of option. Hmm…, eh? In Mirabelle’s memories there is a library in this palace, I should go there, maybe I can find some interesting books to read and I need to know more about this kingdom as well, the information in her memories is not enough for me to plan the strategy of survival here) then she turned to Mia and said “Let’s go to the library, Mia”.

“The library princess?” Mia asked in confusion then she continued “But you’ve never go there again since the queen parted”.

(Right Mirabelle has never been there since her mother's death because it reminded her of her mother. The queen liked to read books and she usually take Mirabelle there to read together, they have many happy memories there, but they turned to be painful memories when the person is no longer there anymore.)

She thought sadly and replies to Mia that “Yes, I didn’t go there because it makes me sad when I miss the time when my mother was still there” bitterly. “But I don’t want to be like that anymore, I want to win over that miserable side of me, I want to keep those memories with my mother as precious memories that can motivate me to continue forward, I want to be strong so that my mother can rest in peace and to protect myself and my companions in the future, but to do that I need information and knowledge, so let’s go to the library” she said with a strong determination in her eyes.

Mia smile proudly then she replies “As you wish your highness.” Then the both of them leave the room and headed toward the third room with a big door that cover with dust.

 *Creak* Montra opened the door and walked in with Mia behind her, then she walked toward the long table that was placed in the middle of the library and stop.

(Wow such an organized and resourceful library, it's not too big and not too small, there are a lot of books here, I don’t have to worry about the information I need to find here.) she thought as she looked around the library excitedly.

“Mia, maybe we have a lot of cleaning to do today, everything was cover in dust because they were neglected for a long time now.” She said as she runs her index finger on the table and blew the dust off.

“Understood, your highness.” Mia nodded then she went out of the room. A few minutes later Mia returned with some cleaning tools.

“Now, shall we begin? It’s going to be a lot of work today.” Montra said while holding one of the cleaning tools.

“Princess, you can’t do that.” Mia protested.

“Why? There are too much work for you to do all of this alone, I can help so that we can save some time and energy, besides with how I’m living now there no much difference in the both of us anyway.” She insisted.

“Princess.” Mia shows a trace of sadness on her face.

“Now now, it’s okay. We can do this together. Let’s get started so we can finish early.” Montra comforted Mia as she pushes her slightly to the other side of the library.

"As you wish." Mia replied then the both of them spend the time cleaning the library.

  A long time has passed since they started, finally they finished all the cleaning, but it’s already evening and dinner time is near so Montra washed up, had dinner then went straight to bed. Mia has also retired herself to her room.

As she’s sitting in her bed alone Montra speaks to herself “haa…., this is such an exhausting day, a lot happen in just a day, being reincarnated to another world just to found out that I was being abandoned just like before, I got to know someone new and do some cleaning work as a princess.” She chuckled quietly and went silence for a moment.

“I just hope that my life here won’t be as miserable as my past life, work like crazy just for survival and die young like that, I don’t even get to date even once, all my romance experiences are all from romance novels” she shook her head lightly.

“I want to change in this life so I need to be prepared for what to come in the future and make a thorough plan. I hope I can find some useful information in the library tomorrow.” “But I need to sleep right now to save the energy for tomorrow, I’m too tired to think anymore.” “Haa….” She yawned then she laid on the bed fast asleep.

TO BE CONTINUED.....!!!!! 🌺🌺🌺