Chapter 228 - Su Luxi (18) (1/2)

When the coachman told the father-daughter duo through the small window that they were now at the entrance of the Wade Mansion, Rumina peeked out into the distance and saw that the place was already starting to turn dark. There were guards lighting up the lampposts outside. A carriage bearing a violet rose crest just passed by the tall and wide green arch.

The female lead's eyes narrowed. 'Someone from the House Lilac visited before us?'

Duke Bolden also watched as the other carriage passed by theirs. The symbol belonged to another ducal house so he was intrigued who was the person onboard. A while later, the man said to his daughter. ”I think the other ducal houses are also interested in being relatives with the prophet's House.”

The female lead kept her silence.

With her being the main candidate for Empress, the other heiresses and ladies from various prominent families must be feeling threatened. Everyone wanted to retain their social standing or help elevate their own Houses in ranks. There was no more hope for them to enter the palace as the crown prince's wife. It was natural for them to shift their focus toward the next most eligible bachelor in the Empire.

Rumina Bolden closed her eyes. The duke's sight kept following the other vehicle slowly drifting away from theirs. Not long after, he squinted his eyes when the curtain got slightly lifted up. ”Hmm. How surprising. So it's not a young lady from their house who visited. It's the heir, that boy Marcus. While I wonder what they talked about, it makes sense that he could stay this late there.”

The girl opened her eyes and then turned her head back. After staring at that direction for a long while, she subconsciously replied, ”Honored father, you're right... Although it's not truly good news, it's better than a young lady getting seen leaving the Wade Estate at this hour.”

The older man held his chin and nodded.

Had it been another girl exiting the place in a flashy manner at night, with an aristocratic symbol giving away her identity and House attached on her ride, she would have easily gotten into a scandal with Wade's heir.

She didn't voice this part out, knowing her father was also aware of it.

”Let's go.”

Duke Bolden signaled the coachman to continue advancing. Rumina removed her gaze from the other carriage. As the former talked about how fitting their decisions to not use a conspicuous ride was, the female lead recalled a particular piece of memories.

House Lilac rose into rebellion a month before the coronation. However, before those people could deal some great damages to the crown prince's faction, Rumina warned Rome about it, telling him her suspicions about the number of weapons smuggled into the Lilac family's territories and the strange number of soldiers seen outside their estate.

As a result, when the rebellion happened, the crown prince easily managed to respond. House Lilac failed. Rome never mentioned Rumina's contribution. But it was because of this that the Empire considered him a competent future ruler.

Rumina got nothing. The man did not even try to reward her privately. Instead, he repaid her good deeds with public shaming, giving the promised position to another girl of questionable origins.

It was not like she truly looked forward to assuming the Empress' position. However, it left a bad taste in her mouth as the throne meant for her got easily given away to somebody neither worthy nor prepared for it. How stupid. She knew, apart from showing off his love for the Saintess, the Emperor from her previous life did that to demean her.

'This time around, let's see how you would deal with them if I keep my mouth shut.' The female lead thought with a scoff.

Because they came incognito and uninvited, even though the guards easily let them in, the main housekeepers were the ones who panically received them. They were led into a spacious and luxurious room, followed by maids who laid out a table of snacks and drinks for them. From the corner of their eyes, they saw the oldest and most authoritative-looking maid giving orders to a younger female servant who then ran towards the second floor of the mansion.

The father and daughter pair exchanged glances discreetly. The female lead felt a bit embarrassed as she took in the Duke's meaningful look. She looked down while maintaining her lady-like sitting posture. Had it not been another lady without intensive etiquette training since young, she would have tried to look for a nice spot to bury herself in.

”Duke Bolden. How rare that you visited my house.” Allen Wade entered the room and flashed a warm smile at the two guests. The two sides engaged in an exchange of greetings and pleasantries.

Rumina silently watched the two dukes' interaction. Her eyes wandered around discreetly.

She and her father did not wait long before Duke Wade arrived. The girl had an inkling the other person simply transferred locations, so either the receiving room prepared for them was close to that one prepared for Lilac Dukedom's heir, or Duke Wade was simply nearby for another reason.

Was Luke with him, simply lagging behind due to being seated in a wheelchair?

A frown appeared on the female lead's beautiful face. She waited but Luke's figure did not appear. Then she realized, by rank, the prophet was no worse than any other duke in the empire so if he was with his duke father, they would have come into the room side by side.

Duke Bolden coincidentally saw her expression and guessed what she was thinking. After another exchanged of words, he asked about Luke Wade.

”My apologies. But my son is in his room upstairs.” Duke Wade put on an awkward expression and explained, ”His health condition has not been good lately. A doctor is by his side as of now. To be honest, only after being reassured by the doctor did I leave temporarily.”

The father and daughter duo pretended they did not understand what the house owner was implying. How shameless. If they didn't see somebody from House Lilac leaving the Wades' grand estate earlier, they would have believed Duke Wade's statement. But now... well, they did say their apologies for suddenly visiting without advance notice but deep inside, they wanted to roll their eyes at him.

Allen couldn't see through their thoughts. But in fact, he was not truly bothered. Instead, in his mind, he was wondering why his son warned him not to properly entertain anyone who would come to their estate tonight.