--Mr. Dorben.
A soft voice was heard from behind the door.
'Hm?'
The voice seemed familiar even though he couldn't tell the owner.
-Yes?
-Master Rivan is waiting in the study. I am here to escort you.
'It's the high class maid'
Larck walked out of the room to find the butterfly maid, Elora, who the lawyer found to be another mystery.
High class maids and servants aren't your usual workers. Not any nobility can afford one as they graduate with small numbers receiving the right to stand next to their master.
'In other words they have the right to use the title their monarch holds.'
They often work for royalty but It's not odd for a Duke to have a High class maid.
However, Larck thought that this one before him is quit...unique?
During the funeral, while everyone's eyes were on the black haired new comer, the lawyer observed the situation, including all the attendance.
One of the thing that got his attention about this maid is her unrealistic stealth.
The young Duke came in alone, yet he called for her to hand him the budge.
No matter how Larck thought of it, he found it weird how she could walk in as if she was there all the time.
Larck stopped at the last point. But he held himself from thinking any further about this ridiculous idea.
How could an odd high class maid with butterfly cloths not be noticed?
Larck looked at the walking maid before him.
'Her footsteps has no sound to them, as if she's a real butterfly'
She had a lot of contracts between her eye-catching looks and stealth. And between her elegance and maid position.
Elora stopped in front of a study.
The lawyer frowned his eyebrows.
'This is the Lady's study...'
For the new Duke to use this place as his own study, Larck thought he's an affectionate person.
Elora opened the door and announced their presence.
From behind the doorframe, he saw the young Duke, looking at him with a smile under his glowing yellowish green eyes.
Larck gulped down unconsciously. He has a lot to discuss with the new Duke.
-Mr. Dorben, please come in.
The Duke of Whishipper welcomed him politely. He pointed at a chair for the lawyer to sit on.
Larck could never overcome the slight nervousness he felt.
Could it be because of the dark aura he sensed from the Duke in the funeral? Or is it the daggers that stared into his souls when they first made eye contact? Could it be this talk they're going to have?
Maybe all of them.
-Yes, thank you.
The lawyer replyed seating himself in front of the young Duke while maintaining a calm composer.
He settled the nervousness by one thought. He's a lawyer. He came to do his job and that's it. Be it a Duke or not, the person before him was very young. He could even consider him a child.
However, he found it odd that he stopped thinking of the young Duke as one of those in the hall from earlier.
The kind the lawyer hates the most were those vultures so-called "nobles".
𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦 could be an extreme word but it was the only thing to describe Larck's despise towards them perfectly.
Even though the seating young man before him was of noble blood, there was something in his creepy aura that made Larck think that he's for sure not a greedy vulture.
Upon those thoughts, Larck decided to start the discussion.
-Your grace,
But he was cut by the young Duke's hand rising as he spoke with a gentle smile.
-I'm not officially the Duke yet. I'd rather a less formal addressing.
Larck nodded in understanding. He found it surprising that a few casual words the young Duke said, however respectful they were, easily released the tense atmosphere.
'Since he's the heir to a Duke title, the calling should be...'
-Alright, Lord Rivan.
He immediately got into the work mode and started speaking automatically.
-It seems there's a bit of conflict in this...unusual situation.
Rivan Whishipper joked around with a small laugh.
-Well of course. It's not your everyday thing that the previous heir comes back to life on a funeral.
Larck was speechless for a bit.
He already noticed it in the funeral but he was certain about it now.
'He has no plans to hide it'
This young "revived" Duke doesn't seem to have any plans of hiding or changing the fact of his odd death. Rarher, he doesn't seem to mind it at all.
'As I thought he's weird.'
Larck continued to speak without a remark on the black-haired's words.
-Yes. Originally the Whishipper household was declared to have ended 14 years ago after Master Rivan's...death.
And so the lawyer decided to not mind the odd occasion and do his job.
-Now the registers of the nobles sets the Lether family as the head of the dukedom.
-I see. The statue of the area under the dukedom can't be decrease nor diverted and so the leadership changed to the Lether family to manage it.
Larck nodded his head at Rivan's remark and proceeded.
-Yes, that's exactly how it is. Also, the Lether is a strong household. The console had no problem giving it the rank of a Duke.
Rivan's yellowish green eyes sank as he thought with his chin resting on his locked hands.
'The Lethers weren't originally from this kingdom, giving them a rank would've been impossible if it wasn't for such a situation. No, it would still be avoided but the console along with the king decided to hand them the title. Hmm, I wonder what's the reason...?'
But he snapped to reality at the lawyer's voice.
-However, with the legal heir of the dukedom returning, there shouldn't be any problem with restoring the title to the Whishippers...
The lawyer stopped for a bit as if he was contemplating something.
Rivan didn't comment on that and waited until the laywer spoke.
-...It is mostly a decision for the council, but I can presume that young master Eliot will restore the previous title of the Lethers.
The old title for the Lether family before taking over the dukedom. Being a foreign noble family, they would still be addressed as nobles.
However, that wasn't what Larck was referring to. Rivan understood as well. Despite both him and Eliot being related, they didn't belong to the same kingdom. Rivan guessed.
-It might affect me being Eliot's garden.
Larck nodded in owe for the young man's understanding. That was one of the problems to be predicted. As for the other one...
-It might as well affect the Will.
Living as a noble living in the kingdom is a thing, and inheriting lands and a mansion in that kingdom is a total other thing.
Recalling the unusual Will, the lawyer felt a lot of trouble coming his way. Not only he will have to defend for the genuineness of the Whishipper crest for Rivan to be officially a Duke. He will also have to fight the vaulters that were in the hall earlier for young master Eliot's right in the will.
Larck tried to keep a calm face feeling a headache creeping in.
'How did things end up like this in one single day?!'
Larck Dorben, the lawyer of the Whishippers, knew the weight of his job.
End of chapter 16.