10
The next day, The Duchess of Montpensier departed for the Guise lands to the east and I exhaled a sigh of relief for her absence. Catherine and I had assumed that our silencing of Montpensier would be the end of the scandal, but instead, it pushed it further underground. When I entered rooms, I noticed the gossip stopped, and as I waited on the Queen, I noticed prying eyes upon me. I was no longer an object of pity; I was a topic of scandal.
The unfairness of it all infuriated me, I had made no moves to start an affair, and the verses were at his urging, yet the court viewed me as a harlot. For his part, Anjou seemed unmoved by the court's behavior, and he continued to visit me on an almost daily basis. For my protection, I insisted on having either of my sisters beside me at all time
