Morrow Amberston was calmly sipping tea while his butler Grimwald shook in fear.
*sigh
He set down the cup on his desk and turned to the trembling man.
"Yes, Grimwald. You seem to have some doubts?"
"N-no sir"
The man stuttered.
"I-it's just..."
He dropped his voice to a whisper.
"What if the patriarch finds out?"
"What of it? Of course, he'll find out Grimwald."
The man gestured flamboyantly with his arms.
"We're, bloody, showing the match through every crystal!"
He shouted in a carefree voice.
Grimwald was distracted from his mortal terror for a moment.
"Bloody, sir?"
He asked in a baffled tone.
"Yes, bloody. It's all the rage among some of the nobles in the west."
He stopped for a moment to sip his tea.
"Marvelous, isn't it Grimwald?"
"Y-yes, sir. It's quite dashing."
He waits for a moment, his nervous tapping filled the room.
Morrow sighed in resignation.
"Yes, Grimwald?"
The man instantly leaned forward in his seat and asked.
"But what if he knows it's us?"
The man chuckled as he leaned back in his chair.
"Grimwald, dear sweet Grimwald. He has all sorts of enemies about, like that Jerimiah fellow that always finds him. Even if he thinks that it's us, he has no evidence."
Grimwald started to calm down and relax in his chair. Morrow continued in his soothing voice.
"We'll be fine as long as we avoid one thing."
The man said, gesturing with his pointing his finger upward.
"We'll be fine as long as we don't-"
The door burst open with a slam and broke off its hinges. Richmond strode into the room and yelled, his voice filled with fury.
"Got you! You son of a B***h!"
Grimwald screeched like a little girl. He swung in all directions with his scythe and battered the room with death bolts. In the process, he: broke some china, hit a passing maid, and somehow managed to entangle himself in the nearby curtains. Which promptly collapsed.
Richmond took in a panned view of the room in shock. He turned to look at the sad, pathetic, mass, that was writhing on the floor.
He slowly turned to look at Morrow, and gave a gesture of 'Are you kidding me?'.
"-Panic. Hello Richmond."
Richmond hesitated as he tried to decide between berating him and asking him about the idiot.
Shaking his head he continued.
"Morrow, what is the meaning of this?"
He said dropping a viewing crystal onto the damaged table.
"A viewing crystal."
Richmond slammed the table and gave a warning whisper.
"You know what this is."
"I do, and what of it."
Morrow said with an undisturbed expression.
"You've got some balls on you-"
"Thank you."
Morrow said, cutting Richmond off.
"It'd be a shame to cut them off, so I'll give you one chance. Why?"
"Why Richmond."
Morrow placed his hand over his chest as if he was affronted.
"I only wanted to show the family their Champion!"
He shook his fist when saying this.
"He's been out of the public eye for so long, all I want to do is show the people their future patriarch. The man who'll restore his honor and the honor of the Amberston name! Is that too much to ask?"
The two men stared at each other for five seconds.
"Is this about Morrowson?"
The Richmond spoke in a rapid deadpan.
"Of course it's about Morrowson."
Morrow replied at a similar speed.
"You know that I'm the one that chooses the next patriarch, not you!"
Morrow merely shrugged.
"Come on Richmond. You know that battles for succession will happen, at least I have the courtesy of being honest with you."
Richmond struggled with his words before sighing and flopping onto a nearby chair.
Morrow wordlessly offered him a glass of champagne as he had so many times before.
Richmon gave a mumbled word of thanks before gulping it down.
"What is this, a mixture of miterberries and budwood?"
He said tilting his glass to discern the contents better.
"Striknine actually, I remembered that you seemed to prefer it."
Richmond scoffed and shook his head.
"I swear that if the tolerance for poison you gave me wasn't so useful, I would have you hanged."
"As it should be."
"Thanks... for remembering."
"Don't mention it."
The man filled his own glass with a similarly poisoned wine he got from Richmond.
"So, shall we wait and see if my latest scheme has borne fruit?"
Richmond replied with aggressive swearing.
"Come now Richmond. Don't be so negative. If he is to be the next patriarch, then he should have no trouble with whatever happens next."
Richmond massaged his forehead replied in an exasperated tone.
"I suppose... Shall we watch too?"
"I'd be honored."