Theodore knew Calhoun was madly in love with the girl, but he didn’t know how to court the girl.
Theodore wondered if this was the phase between the transition of how Calhoun was and what he was going to turn into because of the girl’s influence on him.
Theodore walked to the place where Madeline and Samuel stood, catching sight of the relieved look in Madeline’s eyes. He looked at Samuel and said,
“You are late with your report.”
There was a crackle of sparks between the two men who tried to stay calm and not get into a physical fight as it would be unlike the characters they portrayed in front of the people.
Samuel didn’t like Theodore, and he knew Theodore didn’t like him either. He put up a false smile on his lips, “I was speaking to this lovely lady here about the birds.” He wanted to know who she was so that he could better acquaint himself with her once he finished his work with the King.
Theodore wondered if Samuel possessed a bit of shame in him for eyeing a woman when he was married to Lucy.
“She’s the King’s woman,” responded Theodore, a light warning in his tone to let Samuel know to not to get involved with Madeline as she was off-limits.
Samuel turned to look at Madeline, taking a better look at her and asked, “What kind?”
Theodore noticed how Madeline felt uncomfortable hearing this. He said, “The kind where he wouldn’t want you to ask any questions related to her. The King is waiting for you in the royal court room.”
Before the lady could leave, he informed her, “Lady Madeline, the King wishes to see you.”
The three people walked together and entered the court, and Samuel got down on one of his knees before bowing his head and greeting King Calhoun,
“Long live the King of Devon. My apologies for returning late as I had an issue with the carriage’s wheel that took time to repair. I have brought the signed doc.u.ments from the Flemings’ house.” Samuel pulled out a scroll from his coat and handed it to Theodore, who gave it to Calhoun.
“Three days is too long to fix a carriage unless you dismantled the carriage and decided to rebuild it,” Calhoun’s eyes glowed as they stared at Samuel.
Theodore sensed the subtle taunt in Calhoun’s words, and so did Samuel, knowing exactly what the King meant when he said those words.
Samuel smiled at the King, spewing a lie that he had already prepared, “We were stuck in the middle of the forest that had no civilization-”
“What a pity that even being a vampire one can end up helpless,” commented Calhoun, “Looks like they have complied sooner than the last time without any demands,” he hummed, letting the parchment roll back and handed it to Theodore, “The doc.u.ment needs to be sent to the North Kingdom. Though I must say I was waiting for you to return back nearly a week ago. I thought you would be able to make it to the ball. It is why I even picked those dates.”
“The carriage-” Samuel began only to be interrupted by Calhoun.
“Yes, the broken carriage. Three days to fix it,” stated Calhoun, “I wonder what you did the remaining days. Hopefully you have been a good man and not having fun there. But then I am sure you know how important the work you had been assigned with was,” his lips twisted in amus.e.m.e.nt.
Samuel didn’t know why he had ended up with this person being his wife’s brother. The previous King of Devon was an idiot who would have agreed to the lies he fed without any questions, but with Calhoun on the throne, it was hard to do anything without being watched.
Calhoun was smart, his intelligent eyes looking down at him from where he sat. Samuel wondered if the King had found out about his debauchery, but that was impossible. He had made sure to use his abilities on the women so that they would never speak against him.
Samuel replied to Calhoun, “I went on work, my King. I wouldn’t betray my wife.”
Theodore’s hands clenched at the man’s blatant lie before his hand released itself from the fists.
Calhoun stared at Samuel as if assessing his brother-in-law.
“That is good to hear. I wouldn’t want to hear any complaints from Lucy on how her dear husband is f.u.c.k.i.n.g another woman. Because I for sure would not be pleased if you broke her heart,” said Calhoun, as one side of his lips pulled up, “Well, good job on getting it signed. I will see you tomorrow.”
“I won’t disappoint you, my King,” said Samuel.
“Let’s hope for both of our sake you don’t,” Calhoun’s dark red eyes then leisurely shifted to look at the young woman who had been silently standing in the room. Calhoun’s eyes softened, “What are you doing by standing there, my sweet, come here.”
Samuel’s eyes fell on Madeline again, staring at her with intrigue in his eyes as he wondered if Theodore was serious when he had told that this one was the King’s woman?
Calhoun’s eyes snapped at Samuel and the King said, “If that is all you came here for, you can take your leave.”
Samuel offered Calhoun a false smile even though he didn’t like the King nor his pet servant. But there were benefits from being close to the King, which was the only reason he was polite to the people in here.
Bowing his head, Samuel left the room and the castle to head towards his mansion.
When the familiar carriage arrived through the gates of the Grivelle’s mansion, the maid who caught sight of it was quick to convey the news to Lady Lucy, who had been waiting for her husband to return home.
“Lady Lucy! Lady Lucy! Master Samuel has returned!” informed the maid.
Lucy was in the kitchen talking to the maids when the maid came running, and she quickly washed her hands before heading to the front entrance to greet her husband.
“Welcome back home, Samuel,” said Lucy with a smile and Samuel returned it with his own smile.
“I am back,” responded Samuel while his coat was removed by a servant and some other servants unloaded the luggage from the carriage.
Lucy was ready to hug him when he would open his arms as it had been more than three months since they had last seen each other, but instead of that, he took off his hat and started to walk towards their room, “How are things in the mansion? Have you been doing well while I was gone?”
Without showing the hurt appear on her face, Lucy put up a smile and she nodded, “It has been the same as you left it. I was worried about you when I didn’t receive any reply to my letters,” she confessed, her voice sweet as the servants left them alone.
Samuel and Lucy stepped inside their room. Samuel said, “I must have missed the letter as I had to go to Barlow. It is another town.”
“Oh, that must be the reason,” hummed Lucy.
“Of course, I would never lose the opportunity to not write back to you,” replied Samuel with a chuckle on his lips. “Did you think that I am lying?” he asked, turning to Lucy as she was quiet.
“I never said that,” Lucy smiled, “I heard from brother Calhoun through the letter that you were supposed to come earlier and that was why he had hoped we could attend the ball together.”
Samuel stared at Lucy, “Letter?”
