Chapter 124: Chapter 124

124 Chapter 124 – The lamb runs into the ditch

Feng silently cut into the piece of juicy steak in front of her. She was still slightly startled by the arrival of Yubiri in her room. It was too sudden and she did not expect it at all.

‘why was he here? what did he mean by that?’

Yubiri, of course, said the cheesiest words and left the room.

Which left in total confusion.

‘Why did he act like that? is he in.... love?!”

her eyes widened slightly. ‘What if he really is in love with me... oh I don’t think I like that...’

‘it’s making me uncomfortable

In her past life, she had never had a love life thanks to her bullhead younger brother. But in this life, she had a very powerful mage chasing after her.

any girl would have been elated and swooned off her foot.

.....

But Feng did not feel anything.

To her, Yubiri was like a brother. He gave her that brotherly feeling only.

Feng shivered slightly. ‘to be honet he reminds me too much of that bull head brother of mine.. I don’t think I can ever think romantically of Yubiri...’

‘The next time I see him I have to make sure to reject his intentions thoroughly.’ she thought nodding to herself.

The whole dining room was silent except the sounds of spoons and cutleries.

Feng silently ate the food. It was not that great compared to the food lady Hiliana’s cook made. it had been a while she had tasty food.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Everything in the duchy was amazing Exocet food.

Every single food was seasoned with only salt, not even with pepper corn, just salt! As a person who had been used to spicy tastes, she had a hard time eating them.

The only thing constant was the deserts. They were sweet and genuinely tasty. That night the cook had made an excellent milk pudding with a few bits of fruit in them.

As she was eating, she felt a gaze fall on her. Looking up, her eyes met Claudius who was looking up at her.

“is something not to your liking?” Ethan coldly whispered pulling the young lad from his distracted state.

Claudius shook his head. “n-no... I was just deep in thought”

“What might those deep thoughts be? Do divulge to us. I would lie to hear them?” Aiden gave him a cold smile.

Claudius was unbothered. “The deserts in duke’s mansion taste divine. I was hoping that the duchess can share some recipes to our family cook. My mother would absolutely love them,” he said in a straight forward way.

Lady Perlin who had a negative opening of him was slightly changing. “Definitely, how is your mother’s heath? It’s been long since we have seen her.”

“She is doing well now. the healers have mentioned that she is completely healed of her predicament” he said with an excited smirk. “This party is to celebrate her return to health. I hope you all can join my family,”

Feng was left out of the loop in this discussion. she at the milk pudding with a curious look at him. ‘What is wrong with her? I’ve never heard of Claudius’s mother being mentioned in the game. Is it possible that she too was ‘taken out of the picture’ before Clarina enters the high society?’

“we’ll think about it,” duke coolly whispered passing a cup of the milk pudding to his wife. “our family healer has returned from his journey. I’ll have him check on you once you have had your meals.” he said to Feng.

“I’m totally fine, uncle.” Feng smiled up at him.

“your shoulder injury should be taken care of at once. Small injuries like that can affect your swordsmanship,”

She did not have a word to refute after that

Even her mother agreed to the duke’s words.

“I heard that you managed to take down two assassins. Good job Feng.” Lady Hiliana gently touched the top of her head. “My daughter has grown strong,”

“no....” she blushingly looked up at her. “it was because of the sword. If not, I would have lost,”

“Never undermine yourself, child. even with the greatest sword, an untalented person would lose. You have natural talents and bravery to go with it.” Lady Hiliana gently pinched her pink cheeks.

“Yes, yes, she was such a brave girl. You should have seen her. She jumped and went swish and cut off the assassin’s leg. It was quite astonishing to watch a small figure move so fast. You have trained her so well sister.” Lady Perlin leaned down and kissed her cheeks. “if not for her, I would not have been here,”

“no, aunt, you could have fought her off yourself. She was not trained at all...”

“but I don’t think I would have had the heart to hurt her,” lady Perlin said in a calm tone.

Even duke Parlov looked her way worriedly. But seeing his wife’s calm and composed face he finally let out a sigh of relief. “I’m glad that everyone is safe.”

Claudius who was left out of the loop looked at all of them with a confused look on his face. Even so, he did not ask anything. he simply ate his food silently.

Suddenly the butler entered the dining room and went to his uncle. He whispered something into his ears.

Duke Parlov’s face went cold for a second. He whispered something back and let the butler leave the room.

“What is it dear?” lady Perlin whispered inquisitively.

“a girl claiming to be your savior is at the door.” He said with a cold snort.

Feng almost spat out her milk pudding. ‘Clarina, you sneaky girl,’

She cleared her throat. “That blond girl? She claimed to have seen the commotion and ran into the inn, but if you ask me, she is quite suspicious. I never saw one dead body close to the doorway. The corpses did not smell even. How could anyone have noticed the anomaly,”

Claudius suddenly started to wretch. “Why are you talking about corpses at the dinner table?”

“nothing’s wrong with that. uncle, I think you should thoroughly investigate that girl. This attack might have something to do with her as well,”

Duke Parlov signaled for the butler to come back again and asked him to summon her in.

Feng finished off her milk pudding and sat up straight waiting for Clarina to come to the dining room.

But no one entered. They had already finished dinner.

‘did she leave?’

Understanding her confusion, lady Perlin explained it to her. “she is a stranger and an unwanted guest. The butler must have taken her too the outer most tea room,”

“oh, is it okay if I join uncle when he talks to her?”

She cast a smile at her cold-faced uncle.

Duke Parlov’s lips rose up slightly. “You may. Have you finished your dinner? If can come along. I’ll carry you,”

“w-why must you carry me? I can walk very well uncle,”

“you are wounded.”

“its my shoulders not my legs,” she stubbornly stood her ground.

The cold-faced duke had a look of disappointment for a second. “Well then. As you wish,” he gestured for her to follow him.

They both walked over to the tea room which was closer to the entryway.

Even though it was to address strangers it was decorated extravagantly. Even the doors were made out of mahogany wood with a lot of beautiful carvings etched into it.

Duke Parlov pushed it open and walked in regally.

Feng tried to imitate his regal walk but failed miserably. So she adapted her own cold CEO walk and sat on the sofa.

Clarina looked quite stunned to see her here.

‘what? didn’t expect to see me here?’ Feng smirked at her. “is this the young guest who claimed to have saved my aunt?”

“no.. I never said those words.. I just.. I wanted to return this,” Clarina held out her hand. and in it was the small pendant sword.

Feng frowned. She clearly remembered her uncle giving it back to her aunt. ‘how did she get it?’

The butler took it from her and handed it back to the duke. “Where did you pick this up?”

“in that inn, your highness.... Sir duke, I only came here to return this.” She shot up. “Thank you so much for having me,” she literally ran to the door.

But the butler closed it and stood in front of the door. “Miss, please sit down. the duel is not done with you,”

Clarina gritted her teeth silently. She glanced back with a small smile. “its getting late, your highness. I just want to head home. You see, I have no one waiting for me.” she cast a pitiful look at the ground.

Feng almost wretched. ‘ew.. why is she acting like that? is it so that she can stay here? I can’t allow that,’

“miss Clarina. We still haven’t dismissed you yet. If the course you are to stay in our place. But not as a guest but as a suspect.”

“what!” Clarina looked up at her.

“I think you understand what I just said.”

Clarina started to cry again. “Miss Rofles, I was only doing that to save myself. I didn’t mean to leave you. I was so sacred that day that I left the ship... its not my intent to hurt you. I’m so sorry... I’m so sorry.”

Feng tsked. “I was not talking about the pirates’ incident. What I’m talking about is the assassination attempt on lady Perlin. Butler takes her to the dungeons to be investigated.”

“w-what?”

Two warriors broke into the room and grabbed both her arms.

“What are you doing? This is not fair. I never did anything. I only wanted to save her! I only wanted to save her!!” she shouted as he was dragged away.

Duke looked down at her. “You dealt with it well.”

.....

“Thanks, uncle, but don’t you think I’m abusing your powers to bully a young pitiful orphan?”

“She is not that pitiful dressed in silk from head to toe. Nor is she innocent. What you did is not bullying. Its enacting justice,”