Revenge of the Duchess

Chapter 6

Annabeth and Percy sat together on the second floor terrace of the most famous and exclusive tea house in the royal city. Anyone looking up could see the pair talking and laughing together which was exactly what the pair planned. For sure, rumors would soon spread around the city that Duke Jackson and Lady Annabeth of the Chase family were on the path to be married. 

Even more attention was thrown onto the couple as there were rumors that Count Castellan had wanted to be engaged to Lady Annabeth. The popular story went that the Duke and the lady saw each other for the first time at the Autumn Harvest festival, they supposedly fell in love at first sight. Annabeth was sure that Percy, who had quite a few friends in the influential society circles, had helped to spread the rumor. She had been prepared for the fact that society would look poorly on her for switching marriage candidates so quickly, and to one that made her seem like a woman chasing for wealth.

In truth, Annabeth was teasing Percy's limited architectural knowledge while holding a smile on her face. "I thought a Duke's education was supposed to be quite expansive. How could it be far limited than a lowly Baron's daughter's education?"

"I'm afraid I was too busy defending the nation and growing my trading company to be completely versed in every subject." Percy returned with a gentle smile on his face. "You'll have to excuse my deficiencies in such arcane and useless knowledge such as architecture."

His butler's mustache twitched as Annabeth's grip on her fork tightened. On the outside, the pair seemed to be enjoying their lunch but their conversation mostly consisted of launching small insults at each other. But there was a light in his master's eyes that suggested that he did enjoy the talk despite the barbs.

Fortunately, no other person was there to hear the truth of the couple's conversation since Percy had rented out the entire second floor of the tea house. Patrons usually had to schedule a reservation weeks in advance, but his master had secured the entire floor in one week. His master was very capable indeed.

Annabeth carefully reviewed both copies of the final contracts Percy had brought. It wasn't that she distrusted him, but she wanted to make sure that no other corrections needed to be made. The once a week term was still there. At least she had managed to change it from his original condition of 'at least once a week', which meant she could have shared her bed with him practically every day if he chose to. Was her memory from Lady Rachel incorrect and the Duke was actually a sex fiend? 

Still ultimately satisfied, Annabeth and Percy marked their family seals on the copies of the contract.

"Is the count still bothering you?" Percy asked.

"Not directly." Annabeth's brows furrowed. 

Kelli visited the Chase mansion often and Annabeth was running out of reasons to avoid her cousin. After her uncle and aunt had passed away, Kelli had declined to move into the Chase mansion. Now Annabeth was glad Kelli had made that decision or else Annabeth would be pestered day and night in her own home.

"Lady Kelli?" Percy ventured a guess.

"How did you know that?" Annabeth asked.

Percy smiled mysteriously.

"You had them followed." Annabeth surmised.

The Black Knights Order were officially part of the royal army that guarded the royal city, but according to her father, they were actually a secret intelligence network used by the royal family. The Black Knights Order tended to comprise of commoners more than the White Knights Order.

"Did you find anything interesting?" She asked.

"Count Castellan and your cousin seem to be very...enamored with each other. But you already knew that."