The Duke’s Study

  The Duke didn’t even blink as he watched Kepler completely dissociate out of shock and walk out of his study, he did feel an inch of pity because Kepler had been the Head Librarian since the Duke was a boy and he had been fond of him himself.

  How could he forget the man that enthusiastically showed him around the library every time he was curious about a subject not covered in his studies?

  But this was not an excuse for what Kepler did, and he couldn’t have a member of his staff that not only disobeyed this direct orders, but also disrespected his legacy at whole by claiming ownership of things that weren’t his, despite his fury he would have been lenient enough to leave Kepler in his employment merely because he was fully aware that Kepler had never set food outside the Aurelia Estate and it would have been cruel to leave a man of his age to feed for himself.

  Had he apologized for his outburst at the news of his demotion the Duke was ready to forgive, but Kepler was too prideful of his work and decided to walk away without even trying.

  Which now left the Duke to deal with his other problem at hand.

  Doctor Franklin was already sweating and trembling under his gaze, not doubt rattled by what he had just witnessed

  “It wasn’t my fault! Miss Hawkings had ran in too fast!” he had started talking and was already making excuses “That’s why Lady Veronique passed out! You know Miss Hawkings always had trouble with her skill and can’t control herself too well”

  “Miss Hawkings already came clean in he shortcomings and I have forgiven her for this accident” the Duke informed him “This isn’t why you are there”

  “Then why?” he asked, but it was clear that he knew full well what the Duke was talking about

  “Do you happen to know anything about an head injury?” the Duke reminded him, his patience running thin

  “I was only trying to help his lordship! I thought…”

  “What did you think Doctor Franklin? How is not reporting my daughter’s injury helping me?” he demanded an explanation “How serious was this head injury and does it have any correlation to Veronique missing out on her first skills assessment?” no answers were coming “Answer me!”

  “She was just unconscious for a couple of days! Then she was just fine” the Doctor cracked at last

  “Fine?! Miss Hawkings has reported to me that there are holes in her memory and you dare to tell me she was just fine?!” the Duke was outraged “Why wasn’t I informed!?”

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  “She was supposed to be die! I would have written it off as an accident!” Doctor Franklin couldn’t stop his tongue anymore “can’t you see it was all for the sake of the Aurelia name? That bastard is tarnishing it just by existing!” words just came out of his mouth and dug a bigger hole for himself before he could stop them.

  “Enough, the day the Aurelia kills a child ever something so petty is the day the Aurelia name will mean less then nothing” the Duke declared not even entertaining with such idiotic reasoning “I have heard enough from you, Julius”

  “What?” all of sudden Doctor Franklin disappeared in the ground, such thing had happened so fast the old man didn’t even notice, a mere moments later a slender young man emerged from a wall and at the same time the room got brighter as if a layer of darkness had been peeled off of it.

  He had dirty blonde long hair with purple streaks tied into a high ponytail, his face was framed by two long bangs, one of which was full purple, he was dressed in simple black clothing alternated with some dark purple.

  A short sword was lazily hanging in the dark leather sheath tied to his waist, to which he rested his hand on the pommel.

  Yet the shadow he was projecting on the ground reflected none of this, if anything it looked as if it was struggling to break free.

  “So, what do I do with him? Prison or a nice public execution? He did technically conspire to kill one of yours” his tone was jovial as if he were speaking to friend

  “She’s not one of my own, I am just taking responsibility for her” the Duke clarified

  “Are you sure? you were going all how dare you do this to my daughter and such” Julius questioned him, while doing a poor impression of the man’s previous statements

  “If calling Veronique my daughter is what it takes to put my staff in line then I will do so, but the both of us know that’s not true” the Duke justified himself

  “Not if old Grand Pops was right” Julius had said so seriously

  “The both of us know he was lying” this seemed to hit a nerve and so he changed the subject by answering the previous question “Prison will do as a reward for his long service” the Duke decided as he rubbed his temples to nurse a growing head ache “choose one not too uncomfortable, he’s even older then Kepler” the Duke was utterly exhausted, he already knew how troublesome it was going to be to find replacements to fill their positions with such a short notice

  “You know it’s probable other senior members share the same sentiment as those two” Julius informed him

  “I don’t care if they do as long as they are professional and do as I ordered” the Duke knew full well he couldn’t change a mindset lasting generations with an order, nor he had the right to demand all of his staff members to think in a certain way, all he wanted was for them to do their job and do their job well “They will fall in line as soon as the news about Doctor Franklin and Kepler start circulating”

  “I hope you are right, but we both know this mess could as well backfire on Lady Veronique” Julius pointed out then added almost nonchalantly “Good thing Mr Jerkings had that knight assigned to her”

  “A knight?” the Duke didn’t know about this and he hated not knowing what was happening under his roof.

  “You know that Undead? Caine or something?” Julius tried to remember but he was bad with names so he probably got it wrong

  “The Undead? Why did Mr Jerkings get the weakest of our knights?” the Duke frowned at this

  “I think that was more Commander Regulus’s idea” Julius supposed as he stretched his back “and even if Klein is the weakest, that doesn’t mean he can’t handle the job and nobody in their right mind would try to attack Veronique while Miss Hawkings is present”

  “You are right” the Duke concluded, but he still wanted to ask Mr Jerkings about it, why he hadn’t been informed and what brought to this decision “Now go before you run out of time”

  “I am going Al, don’t sweat it” Julius had waved him off and headed away “Try to not get in trouble while I am not there to watch your back” he recommended him

  “Stop calling me Al, I am the Duke you stupid hothead” the Duke murmured after Julius had already left.