My Dear Grand Duke on a Leash - Chapter 89

Chapter 45.1 — Chalonné’s Man (5)

Riette sat stiffly in the royal dining room, tense from head to toe, as if she were a wooden doll.

The royal dining room was a space used by the Chalonné royal family for intimate dinners. It was used for significant and private occasions, such as a meeting with Princess Beatrice. The crystal chandelier brightly illuminated the ivory-colored wallpaper. The gold-painted moldings, marble dining table, and golden chairs finished with white velvet created a rich and luxurious atmosphere.

To dress appropriately for the dinner, Riette neatly braided her hair up and wore a silk blouse that covered her neck thoroughly. She carefully concealed the bite marks on her neck with makeup, but she still felt uneasy.

She couldn’t believe the Grand Duke had already revealed everything! Her mother must be incredibly shocked…

“Princess, are you not hungry? I’ll instruct them to bring out an aperitif in advance.”

“N-No. We have to wait. Dinner starts when Mother arrives with my sister.”

In the Chalonné royal palace, mealtime meant the time when Bea arrived. The formal dinner was already thirty minutes late from the originally scheduled eight o’clock. Cain, who heard that, was quite displeased. His princess had to sit in an empty dining room for an hour. Such a thing would be unimaginable if this were in Katak.

Riette glanced at him.

“Grand Duke, are you sure Mother didn’t say anything? Did you even tell her what we did yesterday, right?”

“She only invited us to dinner but didn’t say anything else.”

“Then… could it be that she’s planning to scold us both at once when we’re together?”

Riette remembered all the turmoil her sister had gone through during her marriage process. What could be done when the eldest daughter, who was cherished as if she could do no wrong, became pregnant with a commoner before marriage? Ceres had even planned to behead the commoner who defiled her pure daughter and marry her to a loyal knight commander instead.

Fortunately, Bea still didn’t know this. If Bea hadn’t refused to eat and laid sobbing for three days, begging for permission to marry, it might have actually happened.

Because of this, Riette also had to starve throughout that period.

Even after reluctantly granting permission for the marriage, whenever Ceres encountered Saint-Cyr, she treated him as harshly as if catching a rat. If her sister didn’t always protect him like a bodyguard, he would have to endure all kinds of humiliation and hardships from their mother.

Riette leaned closer to Cain and whispered.

“If Mother scolds you, the Grand Duke just has to remain quiet because I’ll protect you! I remember how my sister protected Sir Saint-Cyr!”

“Lariette de Chalonné.”

At the sound of a low voice coming from the door, Cain and Riette both turned in the same direction. Riette’s eyes widened first in surprise.

“Greetings, Your Majesty.”

As Cain stood up first, she followed him a beat later and bowed to her mother.

Ceres, who had been glaring at them from the doorway, let out a deep sigh and glided into the royal dining room. As she made her usual irritated hand gesture, the two of them sat down.

“Mother, where is Sister?”

“Your sister has decided to spend a relaxing evening. With the wedding and bidding farewell to the guests… she deserves a night of complete rest without any more surprises.”

She thought it took quite a long time for something like that, but Riette was too nervous to say anything more, just in case her mother decided to attack the Grand Duke the way she had attacked Saint-Cyr…

“The breeze is quite refreshing, isn’t it, Grand Duke Acheron?”

Ceres took a light sip of her aperitif. Her tone was overflowing with the dignity befitting a monarch.

“In just a couple of weeks, summer will be coming to an end. Chalonné’s spring and winter are quite similar, but around the time when the Helios musicians sing of autumn’s abundance, I hear that the warhorses in Helios become well-fed. When I once saw the Helios guards’ parade, I was so impressed. It’s indeed a great honor to welcome a noble from such a powerful nation into our family.”

“That’s too much praise.”

….?

It seemed Riette was the only one bewildered. She followed the smooth flow of the conversation between the two with a sense of confusion.

As Ceres placed her Kir Royale glass down on the table, she looked steadily at Cain.

“I should have invited the Grand Duke a long time ago to learn the skills of running a large munitions enterprise. The world changes so quickly, and I wonder what I’ve been doing. Perhaps there are limitations to what a woman can achieve with her wits alone.”

“I’d like to express my sincere admiration to Your Majesty Queen Chalonné, who has led the country and household as a single woman. I ask that you allow the Grand Duchy of Acheron to have the opportunity to share that great burden as a member of your family, Your Majesty.”

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