"Firstly, I want to apologize for what you’ve been through Michael," Lord Winterborne said, his tone sincere. "It was never my intention for you to be subjected to such... torture by the noble families."
"I had known that they would be upset, but I did not think that they would be so brazen as to attack you directly. At most, I had figured it would result in so posturing—sothing that isn’t uncommon for the younger generation."
He continued, "If anything, I expected to receive many complaints directed at . I was even prepared for the whole noble circle to shun our family..."
Michael nodded slowly, not interrupting. He wasn’t yet convinced, but it appeared that everything would be revealed if he was patient. He could see in the corner of his eye that lody was also in the sa boat.
Brian looked at his daughter briefly, the care and affection in his eyes unmistakable in that mont, yet there was a slight sadness in his gaze. He turned back to Michael and sighed softly.
"Because of our... unique position." He prefaced, looking a little uncomfortable, "lody has been subjected to a lot of attention from a young age. We received tens of engagent proposals from many noble families—so as early as her fifth birthday."
Brian gritted his teeth, his hands balling into fists upon the table. "Those vultures couldn’t even wait until she was of age to try and secure her—it was sickening. I wanted nothing more than to destroy those bastards..."
"But I was powerless," he admitted, sitting back in his chair weakly. "The royal family has forbidden any infighting, dishing out heavy punishnt to those who would break this rule. But if it wasn’t for Mary, I might have done sothing stupid back then."
As if on queue, Mary placed a hand upon his arm, showing her support. She flashed him a caring smile, creating a touching sight.
Michael could feel their love for one another, sothing that was not present with his own parents. Suddenly, he felt a sense of lancholy, his thoughts moving to his own mother.
Brian cleared his throat, moving on. "Well, I knew that from that day forth—I needed a plan to keep my daughter in my family. If lody were to marry into any other noble family, she would beco a prisoner—a re figurehead. She would be miserable..."
"So when you arrived in Whitevalley town that day, Michael... I thought the heavens had answered my prayers." He added, his gaze locked onto him. "Not only did you have decent potential, you were also quite tall and handso for your age."
Michael resisted the urge to cough, feeling his cheeks redden slightly. His eyes imperceptibly moved to lody beside him whose face was also beginning to turn red. Their gazes t for a mont before she turned away—hiding her face.
Not comnting on the sight he just witnessed, Brian continued. "If you rember, I offered to sponsor you on your very first day here. I thought that if I was able to groom you alongside my daughter, you might develop feelings for each other—then I would have an excuse to keep lody here, with us..."
"However, I underestimated your integrity Michael." He admitted, wearing a wry smile. "Not only did you refuse to accept a free handout, you even insisted that you work for your keep. There was no way I could refuse, not when you showed such qualities."
"But I couldn’t let you off that easy. Vaughn and I ca up with the idea of assigning you to beco lody’s butler, in the hopes of kindling so affection between you two. At worst, you would protect her at the academy out of duty... But we held out hope that it would blossom into sothing more."
Michael’s gaze moved to Vaughn who was standing upright like a spear by the side, his eyes narrowing. Seeing the impassive expression on the older butler even after such a reveal made him want to throw sothing at the guy.
"Of course things didn’t exactly pan out the way we expected," Brian said, his gaze lowering. "On the day of your departure to Arcadia, I panicked. For the first ti my daughter would no longer be in my care—vulnerable to those wolves from the other families. I knew I had to do sothing..."
"So you told him to pretend to be my fiancé." lody stated, her sapphire eyes locked onto her fathers.
"Yes... It’s sothing that I’m not proud of, but I convinced myself that it was sothing that needed to be done. I could deal with the fallout, as long as it ant you were safe in the academy." He admitted.
"So we are ant to believe that you never intended for Michael to get hurt?" Rudy piped up from the side. He was no longer eyeing the snacks on the table, instead glaring at the blue-haired man across the table.
Michael could see where this was going, so before the man could answer, Michael placed a hand upon his friends shoulder. "I believe him Rudy..."
"What!? How could you believe him after just this? You almost died because of him!"
"Because I know that look, Rudy... So do you." He said, wearing a pained smile. "The way he looks at lody is how my mother looked at ."
Rudy paused, opening his mouth as if to retort—but the words never ca out.
Michael didn’t elaborate, he didn’t need to. He knew that Rudy also knew what he ant, especially with how he had described his own parents. It seed that regardless of social status, there were loving parents everywhere.
Of course not everyone would have such a luxury, nor would it last forever. His own mother had sacrificed herself for him at the end in order to let him escape.
He turned, seeing Mary and Brian looking at him with relief, and a hint of expectation.
"I forgive you, my lord. Though your actions resulted in so suffering for , I am not afraid of suffering for my friends." He announced with a smile.
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