The words struck hard.
"That is the only use you have," she said without hesitation. "Behind bedroom doors. In the dark. In silence."
Valerie felt her chest tighten. Heat rose to her throat, a mix of anger, humiliation, and sothing deeper sothing dangerously close to grief.
"When morning cos," Ivanka continued, "and he puts on his noble mantle again, you will be left behind."
She looked Valerie up and down, as though assessing sothing that had never truly been worthy.
"You will not stand beside him before the nobility," she said. "You will not sit upon his throne. You will not bear his na."
Valerie swallowed.
"Whatever you are feeling right now," Ivanka said quietly, "rember this it is only one-sided."
Silence filled the room once more.
Valerie lowered her head for a brief mont, then lifted her face again. Her eyes did not glisten. There were no tears. Only a calmness that was almost unnervingly still.
"Are you finished?" she finally asked.
Her voice was flat, yet there was an undeniable strength beneath it.
Ivanka frowned slightly, clearly not expecting Valerie to remain so composed.
"I know my position," Valerie continued softly. "I know how people see ."
She drew a breath, then looked at Ivanka without flinching.
"But do not think that because I stand in a lower place, you can erase my feelings as if I were not human."
Ivanka smiled coldly. "Feelings do not change reality."
"True," Valerie nodded faintly. "And the reality is... you cannot force to feel ashad of my existence."
For a brief mont, Ivanka’s expression cracked so slightly it was almost imperceptible.
Valerie took a single step back.
"I did not ask for your place," she said. "And I did not ask him to love ."
She turned away.
"But as long as I am still standing here," she said before leaving, "I will not allow anyone to treat my existence as though I have no dignity."
Valerie’s footsteps carried her away, leaving Ivanka alone in a room filled with priceless jewels while her own words still hung in the air,cold, sharp, and for the first ti...not entirely victorious.
Valerie straightened her posture.
For the first ti since the conversation began, her voice ca out clearer—not loud, not defiant, but steady, as if she had finally stopped holding sothing back in her chest.
"So what if I am a kept woman?" she said quietly.
Ivanka fell silent.
She frowned slightly, her gaze sharpening as she realized sothing she had not anticipated from the start Valerie’s eyes did not collapse. There was no sha there. No fear. No plea.
It was that calmness that made Ivanka unconsciously take a step back.
Valerie noticed.
And for a brief mont, the corner of her lips lifted just slightly not a smile of victory, but a cold acceptance.
"If, in your eyes, I am nothing more than a kept woman," Valerie continued in a low voice, "then you should not need to spend so much ti speaking to ."
She looked Ivanka straight in the eye, unflinching.
"No need to belittle . No need to remind . No need to provoke ."
Her tone was gentle, yet every word landed with piercing clarity.
"Because soone who truly ans nothing," she said,"is not even worth addressing."
Ivanka drew in a breath, then let out a small laugh a laugh that sounded far too forced.
"I am not provoking you," she said quickly. "I am rely reminding you to know your place."
"Reminding ?" Valerie echoed softly.
She tilted her head slightly.
"If it were only a reminder," she continued, "then you would not need to speak of beds, of usefulness, of what is proper and what is not."
She released a short breath.
"I am not deaf. I am not foolish. And I am not blind to reality."
Valerie stepped half a pace closer, close enough to make Ivanka restrain herself once more.
"But reality also does not grant you the right," Valerie said quietly,"to asure the worth of my life."
Ivanka stared at her sharply."You are far too calm for soone who knows she has no future beside the Duke."
Valerie smiled faintly.
"Perhaps because I do not live for the future you imagine," she replied. "I live by what I accept today."
She gave a light shrug.
"If I am only passing through, then I will stand in my own way," she said. "If I am ant to be left behind, that is not sothing you need to worry about."
Her voice held no bitterness. No plea. Only honesty.
"So if your intention was rely to remind ," Valerie concluded calmly, "you need not trouble yourself."
She turned toward the door.
"I do not need your pity," she said softly. "Especially not from soone so busy ensuring she remains above everyone else."
Ivanka curved her lips into a crooked smile, then stepped forward—just close enough to make the space between them feel suffocating again.
"Don’t think too highly of yourself," she said softly, her words sharp."Every word you speak will determine what you receive."
Her tone was no longer re mockery, but a warning cold, asured, and filled with the certainty that she still held control.
Valerie stopped walking.
She did not turn around at once. Her chest rose and fell slowly, as if she were weighing sothing within herself not fear, but a boundary.
Then she turned.
Her gaze was calm too calm for soone who had just been subtly threatened.
"In that case," Valerie said quietly,"I have spent far too long choosing words ant to please others."
She lifted her chin slightly, eting Ivanka’s eyes at the sa level.
"And the result?" she continued. "I was still trampled on. Still belittled. Still deed unworthy."
A faint smile touched her lips a bitter one that made no attempt to hide itself.
"So now," she said, "I choose honest words instead."
Ivanka frowned."You think honesty will protect you?"
"I am not seeking protection," Valerie replied calmly. "I am simply done hiding."
She stepped half a pace closer close enough for Ivanka to feel her resolve, or perhaps the exhaustion that had been buried for far too long.
"If every word I speak determines what I will receive," Valerie went on,"then so be it."
Her voice was not defiant, but resigned and steady all the sa.
"At least whatever cos," she said, "will co without betraying myself."
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