Chapter 462 The duke’s visit (3)
Also for some reason, Moon and Elsa had also chosen to join us which the duke was very happy to see.
There were also Cecilia and Haley who joined since they were technically my concubines and it was required for them to come to dinner with the duke, my esteemed guest.
When we all sat down, the waiters didn't hesitate to bring the dishes out.
The smell immediately filled the room and we were all looking forward to it.
The duke's eyes especially lit up when he saw the portion size that he had been given.
This was the one thing that I had insisted on when we were planning this. I knew that the normal idea was to have smaller portion sizes to make it seem fancy, but I insisted on having large portion sizes.
I had seen the way that the duke had looked during the dinner I had with him, so I knew that he wasn't a fan of this.
The meal went by very harmoniously, we were able to talk to the duke about many different topics since there were so many of us here. So we were able to swap out with each other and talk about things that we were enthusiastic about.
There was only a twist that happened at the end when dessert was being served.
It was when Veronica who had managed to stay silent the whole time suddenly shot herself in the foot.
She had let her guard down seeing this harmonious mood, thinking that her lie had been exposed and she had successfully put the blame on Rose and me.
So when we were on the topic of the Dwarven Kingdom, she suddenly pitched in with, "The Dwarven Kingdom really was something else. The buildings were all completely different from our kingdom and there were all kinds of different…sights…"
Her voice slowly trailed off when she saw the way that her parents looked at her.
They had confused looks on their faces as if they couldn't understand what she was saying.
When she looked at us, she found that Rose and I also had the same confused look on our faces. However, it was different from the look of the duke and duchess, the confused looks on our faces didn't go all the way to our eyes.
It was at that moment that she realized that she had messed up.
The duke was about to say something, but before he could, the duchess raised a hand to put on his arm to stop him. She turned to look at Veronica and slowly said, "When did you go to the Dwarven Kingdom? How do you know so much about this?
Veronica revealed a look of panic for the first time.
It was one thing if her father scolded her, but when her mother scolded her…she knew that it was serious.
After all, her mother wouldn't say anything unless it was very serious.
The duchess didn't wait for an answer from Veronica as she turned to me and asked, "Count Zwein, do you know anything about this?"
I shook my head before saying, "We recently went on a trip to the Dwarven Kingdom, I'm sure that you already knew this."
The duke and duchess both nodded when they heard this.
They of course knew about this since they had specifically made this trip because of this.
But as far as they knew, it had only been Zwein and his group that went to the Dwarven Kingdom. There had been no mention of their daughter going along with him.
After seeing this, I continued by saying, "When we set off, your daughter told us that she was coming along as your representative, which was why we had allowed her to come with us." After a deliberate pause, I asked, "Did she not mention this to you in her letters? I've heard that she has been sending many letters back to you both."
After hearing this, both the duke and duchess immediately turned to look at Veronica with narrowed eyes as if they were demanding an explanation from her.
Veronica immediately looked down when she felt these gazes fall onto her.
She couldn't help cursing in her mind, wondering how her plan had fallen apart.
It had been the perfect plan to put all the blame on Zwein, so where did it go wrong?
Seeing that she wasn't saying anything, the duchess cleared her throat before saying in a serious voice, "Veronica Grace Beauchamp, explain yourself."
Veronica couldn't help trembling when she heard this.
As for the rest of us, we knew that she was in trouble.
After all, when a parent said a child's full name, it was never a good thing.
It was usually only done when that child was in serious trouble, like Veronica currently was.
She had run off to another country without even informing her parents first.
If I was a parent, I would definitely be angry about this.
So there was no doubt that she was in danger.
Seeing that Veronica didn't say anything, the duchess suddenly turned to me and said, "Count Zwein, is there a place for my daughter and I to talk in private? We have some things that we need to discuss."
Even I couldn't help being terrified when I heard this.
I quickly looked at Rose and she said with a smile, "Duchess Beauchamp, let me get someone to prepare a room for you."
The duchess gave a grateful nod before turning back to glare at Veronica.
During this, she had turned to look at me for help, but I quickly turned away.
Between her being angry at me or her mother being angry at me, I preferred having her angry at me. I could tell that the duchess definitely was not someone to be messed with, so I didn't dare get involved in this matter.
Not to mention, she had tried to throw me under the bus in the first place.
I wasn't that naive that I would forget about that so soon.
Plus, I knew from the way that the duke looked away from his own wife that it would be dangerous to get involved. So no matter what, I would ignore that look asking for help coming from Veronica.
It didn't take long for the servants to prepare a room and soon the duchess was leading Veronica off.
The duke didn't seem like he wanted to go as he remained seated at the table, but then the duchess said, "Honey."
It was said in a very calm tone, but the duke trembled when he heard this.
With a bitter smile on his face, he stood up and said, "If you'll excuse us."
We all nodded with understanding smiles on our faces and we let out sighs of relief once they were gone.
It was clear who held the power in their family…
As for me, my smile was more bitter than everyone else's.
It was quite clear that women were powerful in this world and I shouldn't get on their bad side.
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