Volume 8 Chapter 14: How Dare You!

While Keith and Krystal had to work overtime, Cedric did his thing. Right now, he was sitting in a waiting room. Did they have to put me in here? That glare from him was something as it caused all the maids to flinch. That was when a butler entered the room. "Sorry for the delay, Sir Cedric. The Grand Duke shall come to meet with you."

"Finally, does he think he could make me wait this long?" Cedric scoffed. The butler didn't know what to say. He's still the same. This was not the first time this man had come here.

"Unlike you, I don't have the luxury to play around all the time." A cold voice retorted. It was none other than Lionel, his words dripping with disdain.

"You finally showed yourself, you statue."

"What does the previous head of the Rustchil family want with me?" Lionel was curt.

The smell of gunpowder filled the hallway. A battle between a lion and a wolf. Neither side was backing down from the other.

"I need to have a word with you." Cedric went straight to the point.

"?" Lionel paused before saying, "Let's talk in the living room." Like that, the two had entered. The butler prepared two cups of tea for the two.

"Oh, this is delicious." Sipping on the tea, it was rich and smooth as it went down his throat.

"Of course it is," Lionel retorted as he took small sips. That only caused the vein on Cedric's forehead to bulge. A smile soon appeared, "Your annoying personality hasn't changed in these last couple of years."

"And your carefree attitude hasn't changed either." Lionel wasn't done either. Each one threw small jabs at the other.

"..." The two went silent before Lionel asked, "How is your family doing?"

Lionel heard about how Edmund was branded as a traitor, but the news turned out to be false, and everything had been cleared up. But there had to be damage.

"Everything is better now. Right now, the dukedom is recovering from the merchants." It would return in a week or two.

"You understand it's because you gave up the title too soon, right?" Lionel shook his head. Cedric was one of the few people who handed down their title sooner than he should have. The only reason why the merchants went wild was because this man stepped down.

Cedric would have them on a tight leash.

"True. But if I didn't step down, Edmund's life would be more difficult." It was a double-edged sword. For him to step down, it allowed his son to become the grand duke sooner. However, that meant more mistakes. But it also allowed him to learn from them as well.

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"...But it's truly not over, is it? It was said that the one who caused it was none other than the Grand duke's brother." That was what the news was saying.

"Is it actually so?"

"Fifty-fifty."

"What about the other fifty?"

"That's why I came here today," Cedric asked, "Has anything happened with your family?"

"Like what?"

"Did anyone try to make a deal with you or force you into doing something?"

"…Did that happen with Rodrick?" Hearing how he explained it, this was likely the case.

"Mmhmm." Cedric nodded, "My youngest seemed to have struck a deal with someone. And this someone had to be high power as well."

"…Do you think I would do something like that?" Cedric coming here to question him could imply that! He was a grand duke that rivaled him!

"At first, I thought maybe." That may have caused Lionel's expression to drop. However, Cedric shook his head, "You're not the type of person who would do something like that."

Lionel and Cedric did not mesh well with one another. But they know the other's personality all too well. Doing something sneaky like that wasn't something Lionel would do, especially against him.

"Our kingdom has three powers." The royal family and the two grand Dukes. These three forces made up the entire power of the Solis Kingdom.

"Then you're suggesting that the royal family did this." That was the only other option.

"If it's not you, then they're the logical choice. And it seems something is going on with them as well." The incident that occurred with his family and the princess getting married to the prince of the Philosopher Kingdom. It can't be a coincidence.

"Then we'll have to call that person here as well." "Indeed." There was one person who could answer their questions.

"Also, let me stay here for a few days."

"… Don't you have a mansion."

"But they don't serve good food." One problem with staying in the mansion was the meals were horrible.

"H-" "Did you really think I wouldn't know? Of course, your grandson taught your chef some recipes." There was no way that was not the case. There were rumors that the marquis's estate and the grand duke's estate had delicious meals daily.

"How do you-"

"I go to his cart every day and have his meals. And he also helped me a ton with this whole situation."

"Keith did?!" Lionel's eyes widened.

"Mmhmm. I owe him plenty. And that's why I came here to see if you were fine." Lionel was Keith's grandfather. Despite their weird relationship, it would be a disservice not to warn Lionel about what was occurring.

"Thanks for the warning." Lionel took a deep sigh.

"....By the way, have you ever thought about getting him engaged?"

"…What?" A few more degrees dropped. The butler and maids quickly stepped back when they felt that pressure. Cedric continued, "This kid makes good food, and that dragator steak was delicious. He would make a good husband for my-" That was the last straw as a giant sword was thrown at the table.

"What is wrong with you?! How could you throw your sword like that?!"

"How dare you! HOW DARE YOU! You made my grandson cook for you when he helped you!"

"Oh, do you know he forced my granddaughter to work as a waitress! That's something I won't stand for!" If they were speaking of diservices, Cedric was having grips with that! There was no way he was going to let this go!

"Die!" "Go to hell!" The two charged at one another with their fist raised!

"Duchess! We need your help!" The butler quickly ran over to Camelia's office.

"What's with all that loud noise?

"It's Sir Cedric and the duke are fighting one another!"

"No weapons?"

"...They're using their fists."

"Oh. You can just leave them alone." Camelia returned to reading a book. That caused the butler to sweat.

"The two of them had always been like that. One thing would lead to another. So best to let them get it out of their system." Camelia saw it all too many times; she was used to it.

"..." But the mansion! Those two were enough to cause the entire mansion to rumble!