[No, he sent us a ssage while he was in deus saying he would have very important guests visit the duchy once he returned. And yesterday, suddenly, he said those guests would co today. I thought, perhaps it was soone from the Loranne royalty. But it was royalty from Valeria instead. Does this an they had the chance to talk while they were in deus?]
Sonia got even more nervous as she thought about the possibilities of what they could have talked about in deus.
[Ugh, that child is truly dead, right? Why is he still giving a headache even now? If he suddenly cos back, what am I to do? Brent must be the heir.]
Arabella stared at Sonia when she heard that thought. Sonia straightened up and fixed her expression.
[Did the Empress just frown at ?]
"Oh my, where are my manners? Serve our guest so refreshnts," Sonia called out to their maids instead of the Head Butler.
The Head Butler remained standing behind Sonia even though he should be the one serving guests of Arabella and Ferdinand’s status.
’If they are this obvious even in front of us, how co Duke Olivier did not notice their relationship?’
’Ah, but then again, why would you be suspicious of the people closest to you? He must have thought they were simply working together. I was once like that too. I never doubted Renee’s words and actions because she had been serving for years without any issues.’
It ant the Duke truly trusted Sonia and the Head Butler that much.
Arabella knew how much of a shock it was for the Duke to learn and absorb that his wife and butler whom he trusted so much, both betrayed him and tried to eliminate him and his son.
. . .
Duke Olivier and Sonia ushered them to their seats.
When the tea was served, the Duke and Duchess drank first to show it wasn’t poisoned.
Still, Ferdinand drank a bit from Arabella’s teacup and let a few seconds pass before letting her drink from it.
Ferdinand was wary because of what happened in deus. Especially since Sonia already tried to eliminate the Duke with poison repeatedly.
Arabella already knew though from Sonia’s thoughts; the beverages and als today were not poisoned because she thought the visitors were royalty from Loranne Palace.
[Was the Emperor implying he didn’t trust us in the least bit even though we already drank a cup each?]
Sonia felt insulted.
[It seems he truly was as the rumors say.]
The Head Butler was irked by it too but didn’t dare show it.
Duke Olivier, anwhile, understood since he knew about what happened in deus.
’Was Sonia so busy with searching for Dimo and plotting how to kill the Duke that she didn’t have the ti to get updated with the events in deus?’
It had been a while since Arabella was poisoned so she thought the news would have already reached even other kingdoms.
But it seems Sonia didn’t know about it or she was simply easy to insult.
Arabella was not in the mood to explain though, so she didn’t. That wasn’t what she was here for today, anyway.
. . .
After all the pleasantries, it was ti to get down to business.
"I heard your eldest son was missing," Arabella began.
[Is she trying to test us, or she had just heard about it recently?] Sonia didn’t dare to reply.
"Yes, Your Majesty. I heard it happened while I was in deus. We are still searching for him but, still don’t have a clue."
It was Duke Olivier who replied since Sonia didn’t.
"Oh my. What a pity. How old is he? What does he look like..."
Arabella kept asking for details until Sonia had no choice but to answer as well since it would be weird if only the Duke answered.
"You must be worried," Arabella eyed Sonia.
"Yes, Your Majesty. I barely have any sleep these days, worrying about him. He must be scared out there. I sent our knights to look for him every single day, but we didn’t find him. I wonder if he’s even eating properly," Sonia’s eyes watered as if she truly cared.
Duke Olivier’s hands, balled into fists and Arabella could see the disgust in his eyes. He could barely stand sitting beside Sonia.
[How shaless and utterly guiltless. She was the reason Dimo ran away. And she sent people to kill him. Yet, she keeps acting like this. If not for the children, I would kill her myself. I thought she only began to be cold to Dimo because of how Monica almost got hurt by his fire. But she must have never liked him from the start. Especially since he resembled his mother a lot.]
The Duke was close to reaching his limit so Arabella didn’t waste any more ti.
"I see. Then you must be elated if you would be able to see him again, right" Arabella asked.
"Y-Yes, of course, Your Majesty," Sonia agreed, but with a slight pause.
Arabella smiled at that.
"Bring him here," she ordered Riley.
[Bring who?!]
Sonia and the Head Butler both tensed.
They didn’t have ti to process things as Riley vanished and reappeared in a few seconds with Dimo.
Audible gasps resonated in the silent room.
"My son! You are alive!" Duke Olivier pretended to be shocked and imdiately rose to embrace Dimo.
[What’s going on?] The Knight Commander of Duke Olivier was confused since he knew the two already t earlier.
Sonia and the Head Butler were both speechless and pale. They glanced at each other, and it didn’t escape the eyes of the people in the room.
Even the Olivier knights noticed and finally had a clue about what was going on.
[Why did Her Grace look so shocked to see that Young Master? She didn’t look happy at all.]
[I knew Her Grace had been ignoring the Young Master ever since the fire incident when he had a fight with Young Lady Monica. But why did she glance at the Head Butler like that?]
The knights prayed for their observations and assumptions to be wrong.
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