Only when there was the gentle click of the door, after the servants had left with their trays, did Ferdinand begin his speaking, in seeing that the Patrick group seemed intent on keeping their silence.
"To what do you owe my pleasure today, I expect you are wondering?" Ferdinand said, doing his best to give a smile that seemed playful, but the like of shine in his eyes only made his tiredness seem that much more extreme, when his curled lips failed to match them.
"Indeed, that is the foremost question on my mind," Oliver said. "I thought you might be busy with other matters."
"…Does that wording come with an intended jab?" Ferdinand said.
"Perhaps an unintended one," Oliver replied.
"You've given me tasks upon tasks, Patrick," Ferdinand said. "If I were a baser man, I would reach for my sword to challenge you with, such is my fury. But the Gods blessed me with the sense enough to know that I would see no success there."
