Chapter 42: Chapter 38

Luke was gathered between the loud Jurius, and the reserved Grace. What they talked about wasn't very interesting since Luke wasn't very used to speaking to people of status.

'I wonder how my mother is doing.'

This mother he was thinking about was naturally Claudia. Being a woman who only knew how to repair clothes and make dresses, she never had much contact with nobles. But that didn't mean she never had any contact with them. She would visit the houses of her clients to make their clothes or to fix them.

Although there were cases where she had clients from noble birth, there was just never a chance that she would have the opportunity to interact with them.

'She must be nervous and scared.'

Contrary to Luke's thoughts, Claudia was having the time of her life conversing with ladies of noble birth. If anything, she was very glad to speak with them. She could even increase the amount of business deals using the name of the Berkley household.

'Wait, if I become the patriarch, doesn't that mean that I'll have lots of money?'

Then I can build a big store for miss Claudia!, thought Luke as a wide grin appeared on his face.

It was perfect.

"So have you done it with a woman before, Luke?" The conversation suddenly took a strange turn when Jurius took the lead.

"Dear husband, that is an inappropriate question to ask." Grace scolded Jurius bit he only shrugged.

"I'm just asking. He'll have to make a baby with my sister one day."

"T-That's true…" Luke's face blushed.

He already knew what sex was since he had caught Norn's sister doing it before with many men in the past. Luke was disgusted at first but gradually began getting curious.

Curiosity led to him wanting to experience it too. He was still young so there was no way that he was old enough to have relations with a woman.

Whenever he thought about this subject, he would subconsciously think of Norn. His body would grow hot and his crotch would roar in pain.

This naturally led to him doing it solo whenever there wasn't anyone looking.

"It seems you know nothing! Hahaha!" Noticing the red flush on Luke's face, Jurius laughed.

"You'll ruin his innocence so please keep quiet." Grace continued telling him to shut up.

"What? Can't I just take him to a shop where they specialize in those kinds of acts~?"

"What shop?" Luke innocently tilted his head.

"Ah, keep quiet!" Grace shouted. "Forget what he said, young master. I'm sure that Her Highness can teach you when the time comes. Every girl must learn to pleasure their future husband so she must've also gotten those lessons."

Women were only seen as caretakers and lovers in the past. Their only responsibilities involved taking care of the children, pleasuring her husband and working around the house. Since times have changed, women are able to do more things and are recognised by society as equal to men.

However, for noble women, this wasn't the case. The man is always the one who had higher authority in the family. The woman was only required to pleasure him and look after his house.

These were the things that noble girls learned as they grow up.

Sexual education naturally played a big part in that.

Grace finished her explanation. Luke nodded saying that he finally understood.

"It is rather worrisome that you don't even know the basics. Her Highness might get dissatisfied in the future."

"Well, she can't really divorce even if she is unhappy." Jurius threw his own snarky remark.

"W-Why is that?" Luke asked.

"Her engagement with Arnold was already cancelled which impacted her reputation as a princess. Imagine if she divorced again, with a guy from the same household as the one she left before? Man, I hope she knows the dark path she's going down. She'll never be able to show her face again." Jurius said with a shrug.

"So I'll tarnish her name if I'm not a good husband?" Luke looked like he wanted to cry over the situation he was placed in.

He wasn't fully on-board with becoming the duke at first. But after considering the merits he would gain and the talk with Adrianna that night, his opinion changed.

But still, in his heart he wavered over if it was the right thing to do.

"I've been meaning to ask something…" Grace spoke to Luke. "Why do you call young master Arnold, 'big brother'? The two of you are officially brothers but I don't see how your relationship are as close as brothers."

"I-I always wanted a brother!" Luke innocently answered. "Young master Arnold is so cool, mature and smart! He's strong too! That's why I see him as my big brother!"

Luke proudly declared. A warm smile almost appeared on Grace's face before she hid it. "I see. The two of you are close, huh? I must've mistaken your relationship for a second there. This is interesting…"

Her mutter went unheard of.

A knock came from the reception room's door. Since it would be too troublesome to bump into the servants who were busy preparing the venue, Grace suggested they come to the reception room to have a quiet chat.

"Come in."

**

A maid came inside a second later when Jurius spoke. She had long flowing brown hair and an hourglass figure that ignited the lust in men.

She bowed.

"I apologize if I interrupted you. All preparations have been completed. If you are ready, please go to the front yard. I await your presences by the front door."

Victoria spoke before curtly bowing again and leaving.

When Grace looked at Jurius, she noticed that his eyes had turned into that of a predator's.

'Good grief. Why are men such beasts? It's like he's never been with a woman before. I should find a way to make him docile otherwise he'll ruin my plans.'

"Well, you heard her. Let's go, Your Highness, young master." Grace stood up and pulled Jurius' arm.

"O-Okay."

Luke nodded and also stood up. He checked his attire for any wrinkles or dirty spots. The suit he wore was made from a rare material found only in some parts of the Empire's silk farms. It was a maroon suit jacket with a black pair of pants.

Anna had suggested he wore this for the feast so he could make a good impression when meeting Olivia. The two had met earlier today but there hadn't been much contact between them even though they were supposedly a 'couple' now.

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"You look fine, young master. Please do not worry. Her Highness is not a person who values a person based on their clothing."

"I know, right? Just look at that idiot Arnold. He wears even more extravagant clothes yet that does nothing to make Liv bat an eye. Really, what kind of man does she want? Hmm…"

'You are letting your real feelings come out, you idiot.'

Grace lost count of how many times she mocked Jurius in her head. It was funny at first but now she was just tired of this numbskull. He was more annoying than the ever-stuttering Luke.

The three left the reception room and followed Victoria who was waiting outside. Victoria ordered the servants to guide them to their seats since she had to go get the family members. Sebastian wasn't there so she had to guide all the servants and tell them what to do.

"Wow…." Luke stared at the scenery before him, in a daze. There was a huge table in the middle of the front yard. It was covered by a white cloth and a variety of fruits to nibble on were on it.

They could see many servants exit the castle doors, carrying silver dishes. Each was ranging in size from big to small.

"S-Such a feast just for welcoming us officially…"

'This kid is really…' Grace sighed. Luke got amazed at everything he saw. From the food to the quality of the wine and even the women serving for this occasion.

"Should we go sit down?" Luke asked Grace.

"No. We must wait for the first madam. We will only near the table once she sits down."

"Is that a sort of tradition?"

"Yes. Nobles have used—"

Grace noticed that Jurius wasn't standing next to them and paused.

She looked around in a hurry.

'That bastard. If I let him out of my sight then he'll cause trouble—'

When she looked at the table that was still in the process of getting ready, Grace went silent.

Jurius was sitting at that table and was busy talking with one of the servants. The girl was uncomfortable as he kept his hand on her lower back.

Grace bit her lip until it bled.

"…As I was saying, nobles have followed this custom ever since the first emperor was crowned. The one with the highest authority sits first. This is to show our respect for that person."

"Then is his highness' status higher than that of a duchess or duke?" Luke pointed at the table and tilted his head.

Grace wanted to click her tongue but held it in. "No." She wondered on how to explain it to him. "A duke is the highest peerage of any nation and along with that comes power. There are many factors in placing someone above someone else. Take their territory for example. This city is one of the wealthiest cities on the continent. The duke is the ruler of such a city and his highness has no land or medals as a prince so the one with the most power is obviously the duke. Since he is currently outside the city, his first wife has that power now."

"So that's how it is. Do those of royalty not follow the custom even if nobles do?"

"No, no. Every member of high society must follow it." Grace said with a twitching smile.

"But his highness Jurius is…"

"Leave that brainless monkey alone. His pride as a royal is as minuscule as the amount of power he has as a prince." Grace realised she spoke too bluntly and changed the subject. "Please erase whatever I said from your memory. It will backfire later on if you do not."

"O-Okay."

Luke seemed startled by her words.

'Damn. My plan was to get close with him and secure my position in the future. If he's suspicious of me now then it all goes to waste.'

Grace wasn't interested in staying in her family's estate any longer. She wanted to secure another position in the future. Perhaps a merchant would work out or even a writer.

Even if she was an average noble girl, she was smarter than most people her age. Grace had no battle prowess as she was so she had to take a normal job besides jobs like knight, mage and so on…

'Maybe I can work as an advisor for this kid? He shouldn't be knowledgeable in a lot of areas. I studied economics in the past so it should be a breeze for me.'

It was obvious that he was clueless about a lot of things since he kept asking Grace questions about this and that. Although she wasn't overly annoyed, he could at least tone the questioning down a notch. He was much too eager to learn about his surroundings.

'Well, I can't say it's a bad thing. I should keep him away from that pig Jurius since he'll just influence the kid badly.'

"Here the first madam comes. Stand up straight keep your face empty." Grace whispered to Luke when the servants hurried to the red mat to line up.

She could hear heels tap the floor of the hallway that was visible from the backyard.

The duchess, Adrianna von Berkley, along with Olivia, Claudia and Anna came out of the castle. Melina was trying to keep up while Pluffy was in her arms.

Adrianna disregarded the praise of the servants who were calling her "beautiful".

"Wow…I've never seen miss Claudia so pretty before..." Luke was in a daze as he looked at the one who raised him.

Her blonde hair was hanging over her left shoulder and revealed her pure white neck. She was wearing a pair of ruby earrings and red lipstick to match.

She was completely different from that ordinary impression Grace had of her before.

"Let us follow them from behind." Grace grabbed Luke's hand and walked between Victoria who was trailing them from behind.

All members of the family stood waiting at their seats, awaiting the first wife to sit down.

Victoria pulled out the seat for Adrianna. Since Sebastian wasn't here, she was the head servant and held the highest position. A servant of such status must always attend to the head.

Adrianna sat down and spoke without a moment's delay.

"The main course is not ready to be served yet so to pass the time we will engage in conversation with each other. Communication is just as important as making connections." Adrianna looked at Jurius coldly for a second since he was the only one who was seated. It was both arrogance and disrespect for another's household.

Olivia gazed at him the same way.

Everyone sat down at the same time after Adrianna nodded lightly.

"Now let us enjoy this wonderful feast."

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