Chapter 104: Chapter 12. An unexpected offer

Butler Phillips took a deep breath before entering the office of the Northern Duchess. When he finally did, he had to summon up no less courage before opening his mouth and saying the following:

— Your Grace... I did everything as you asked.

— OK.

Selina de Loon nodded without looking at him, with a detached expression on her face. However, even if the woman looked like her usual self right now, it couldn’t escape the old butler’s keen attention that this wasn’t really the case.

— Your Grace, actually, I really don’t understand why you told me to do this.

This thought had been gnawing at the butler from the very beginning, however, it was only now that he decided to ask this question. Phillips really could not understand his mistress’s true intentions, and for what reason she decided to take such actions.

— You don’t have to understand anything.

«.....»

However, instead of responding properly, Selina just waved her servant away.

— But... — The old man hesitated.

«Just drop the subject,» Selina said coldly, «anyway... This man will never come here again.

After her words, the woman, who had previously been in a kind of prostration, turned her gaze back to the ring on her finger, which she had been looking at for a long time before. Despite the fact that after a considerable time, the gemstone had noticeably faded, but right now it sparkled unusually brightly.

«...»

After hesitating for a moment, the mistress of the ice castle finally took off the ring and put it on her desk.

«Your Grace?»

— It’s a ring... You know who you need to give it to.

The butler’s gray pupils widened in obvious surprise. He wanted to try to object, but the lady did not give him such an opportunity, abruptly cutting him off in mid-sentence:

— Do it immediately.

In the end, the old man had no choice but to bow his head obediently.

— ...well, Your Grace.

Butler Phillips pursed his lips gloomily after hearing the lady’s words and looking at her behavior from the side.

«This kid is from the south... If only he knew what Her Ladyship had to go through because of him!» an angry thought involuntarily flashed through his mind.

However, the old man still decided to follow the Duchess’ wishes and not bring up the subject anymore. He could only hope that Jeremy Seibel, who had returned to his native lands, would really never show up here again.

***

After we continued to wander for a whole day, I didn’t even have time to notice how it had already come to an end. The evening sun slowly sank below the horizon, turning the sky into warm shades of orange and purple. Tired after a long journey, we finally decided to spend the night right in the forest.

Fortunately, there was a secluded place nearby, where tall trees formed a natural canopy from rain, wind and other things. We built a bonfire under it, and its crackling filled the cold night air with a cozy warmth.

It is possible that this is due to the «stress» experienced today, but Yufil managed to fall asleep first of all the others.

This afternoon, he made quite a fuss about an absurd occasion, which was even a shame to look at from the outside... All this went on until my friend intervened and, with a straight face, removed the bee from the guy’s hair, which was entangled in it. However, after that, instead of thanking the duke’s heir, he only got angrier at us. As if trying to escape from this awkward situation as soon as possible, Yufil increased the distance between us by another ten meters during our journey.

«I can’t believe that this guy is older than me and he’s the heir to a dukedom... Why is he acting like he’s thirteen years old?»

«You won’t believe what it’s been like for me to put up with him all this time.»

«Indeed... I can’t even imagine that you had to live with him all these years.» — after this incident, we continued to whisper indignantly for some time, and Jeremy sincerely felt sorry for me for the fact that the universe had given me just such a brother in this life.

In any case...

While my older brother had already gone to bed, Jeremy and I still stayed by the campfire, finishing the remains of our meager dinner — a handful of wild berries and mushrooms, which, despite all my fears, Jeremy nevertheless decided to roast and eat. Well, now all I could do was hope that we’d be alive after that.

«Where are we going now?» I asked, throwing another pile of wood on the fire. This topic worried me, because, after all, we couldn’t continue our journey without an end goal.

Jeremy thought about it, looking at the flames that flared up after I threw wood at him.

— First of all, do you have any ideas?

— Well... — I scratched my cheek doubtfully, — For example, we could hide somewhere in a remote settlement until all this hype settles down.

Although it was the most obvious option that I could think of, nevertheless, in our current situation, it also seemed to me the most reasonable. Isn’t it logical to try to hide your existence in front of those who are looking for you? However, after my words, Jeremy shook his head.

«That’s not the best option,» he suddenly objected.

— what? But why?

The baron’s youngest son sighed.

«If you’ve already come up with such an idea, do you really think that the people who are looking for us are idiots?»

— ...

— Don’t forget that we’ve been targeted by the most powerful people in this empire. And the people who serve them will do their best to find us. Of course, first of all they will check such remote places, because these are the most obvious options where we could hide.

When a friend told me about this, I couldn’t help but gasp at how far-sighted he was, unlike me.

— But then... What are we supposed to do? — I wanted to cover my face with my hands out of desperation.

We couldn’t leave the empire, and we also couldn’t find some wilderness to hide here. In that case, were we really dead people who could only wait for our deaths...?

However, at that moment, Jeremy suddenly looked at me strangely.

«You do remember that I wanted to talk to you about something today, don’t you?» He suddenly reminded her.

— Oh, right...

I remembered that Jeremy was actually going to say something to me this afternoon. But because of all the fuss that arose because of Yufil, it all completely slipped my mind in the future.

— So what did you want to say? — now that this topic has been resumed, I eagerly turned to him.

— Actually, I think I know how we can avoid death...

«Really?» My pupils widened, «But how?!

«....»

Jeremy was silent for a moment, looking at me searchingly.

— Camille.

I was involuntarily startled by the serious tone in which the guy said my name. It seemed like this was the first time my friend had talked to me like this, and therefore I couldn’t even imagine what exactly it was. Nevertheless, even though I’ve been running through a lot of options in my head all this time, his next words still stunned me:

— Let’s get married.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read