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Chapter 173: A Tray Too Heavy

Author: Emel Emerald
last update Last Updated: 2025-09-14 08:50:57

Music shifted to lighthearted, strings less melancholy, floor wax glittering under whirling skirts. Servants darted up and down the hall like slick ghosts, trays balanced on the tip of their fingers, and the voices sang, commanding.

Leya sat. She had been told to wait on no one, to be happy with being Harrison's wife—an ornament, not a servant. But to see the servants scurrying around, arms trembling under the silver trays, something was roused in her. They were sweating, their walk stiff.

She remembered the nights at home when her folks had nothing but pride and fingers. She was not the type to have someone wanting.

Her conscience got the better of her.

---

She glided unseen through the kitchens. Oh, certainly, there were footmen with their wide eyes, but no one would ever dream of thwarting her. There was one tray that still sat on the counter-plenty of plain glasses, gleaming crystal refracting candlelight from the chandelier, hors d'oeuvres plates filled with steaming morsels
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