"Good morning mother, good morning father." Angelica said walking into the dining room and taking her seat.
"Good morning my love." Ohara chirped happily a bright smile present on her face.
"Good morning." Dariel replied, the usual fussy manner in his tone evident.
"How was your night my love?" Ohara asked, ignoring her husband, she had not spoken to him today and she was still very upset with him, he never apologized, never.
"The same." Angelica replied as she ate her breakfast. Left for her, she would have skipped breakfast.
She saw no need to sit together every morning and evening as if they were a real loving, happy family. However, she knew that her father would have an excuse to get upset again if she did as she pleased.
Right now, she could not afford a change in his mood or else when the crown prince arrived, he would do things not according to what they had discussed yesterday.
"Did you rest well?" Angelica grew weary of her mother's questions. She was not a little child that needed to answer several needless questions. She was a grown woman, and she disliked it when her mother liked to pretend as if things were perfect when they were not.
For instance, she could plainly see the tension between them this morning. Most apparently they had an argument last night. She did not care for what happened between them at all.
"Mother, I rested fine." she replied. Ohara could see the irritation on her daughter's face, hence she decided to keep silent.
"I am out of milk." Dariel said. "Mai—" he was about to call for one of the maids when he stopped, he saw Ohara frowning at him.
"I will just go get more myself." he said standing up taking his leave.
Angelica had a feeling that the poor maids in the kitchen would all nearly have a heart attack when they saw him walk in. She was sure that whatever argument her parents were in the midst of was what prompted him to leave.
There was silence in the air. Breakfast was as gloomy as any other family occurrence they had.
"Mother..." Angelica suddenly called, surprising Ohara.
"Yes my love?" Ohara asked rather thrilled.
"I want to ask you something." Angelica said carefully, as if she was wary of something, rather someone.
"Of course my love, what is it?" Ohara smiled.
"I need you to tell me if... father's father ever stayed here with us in the manor?" Angelica watched her mother's reaction closely, she saw the way her mother's smile dropped and her eyes went wide.
"Why do you ask that all of a sudden my love?" Ohara asked laughing weakly. She did not know how she would get out of answering this question. Most importantly, what caused Angelica to ask such a question in the first place?
"I do not know... I woke up this morning and just had a feeling that he did." Angelica shrugged. Evidently her question had startled her mother and not in a good way. If there was one thing she was good at, it was reading people, and right now her mother was hiding something.
"Well my love I..." Ohara stumbled with her words.
"So, am I correct or not?" Ohara felt pressured in the moment. She knew the answer to that question, yet she could not say it, Dariel would be upset with her, enraged even.
"Correct about what?" Dariel asked walking into the dining room.
"Nothing." Ohara instantly replied, as if shielding Angelica. Dariel eyed them both suspiciously. It definitely was nothing if Ohara reacted like that.
"I see..."
"Actually father, I asked mother an irrelevant question. It is idle gossip, pay no attention to us." Angelica replied as her father sat down.
"Hmm... I see." said Dariel still suspicious.
"What exactly were you talking about?" he interrogated.
"You see Dariel—"
"My lord... his royal highness crown prince Ian has arrived, he asks for your presence." the maid said walking into the dining room her head bowed. Little did she know that she had just saved Ohara from herself.
Dariel turned to the maid, his eyes serious with determination. He was going to get what he deserved today. If he was going to allow his daughter give herself away, he definitely had to make sure he was given her full worth in return.
"Tell him I will be right there." he replied.
"Yes my lord." she nodded and exited the room.
Dariel was about to leave when he heard his daughter call him.
"Father, I need to tell you one more thing before you go." He turned around and frowned, wondering what she had to say now.
"When you ask for his dowry, you will mention your appointment to duke and nothing more." she stated clearly. She had not told him this yesterday because she wanted to take things slow.
At this point to her, her father was akin to a baby who needed to be weaned slowly, thus she had left her request for this specific moment.
"And why would I do that?" He asked, obviously trying to keep himself calm.
"Because I said so. You will ask for nothing more than that, after all I am the one that is going to marry him and that is my request." Dariel scoffed.
"And what will happen if I refuse?" he asked.
"The agreement is off dear father." she smiled tauntingly. Ohara could only watched their exchange, she felt too overwhelmed at the moment. Everything was just moving too fast.
Dariel scoffed, saying nothing he turned around departing.
Surely she did not trust her father to listen to her, which was why she expected Ian to hold his ground as per their agreement and not cave in to her father's greedy wishes.
Angelica cleaned her mouth with a napkin and stood up. "Where are you going?" Ohara asked.
"You do not want to know mother, trust me." she replied. "Just finish your breakfast." and with that she left.
Ohara supported her head with her hands, her elbows planted on the table looking down. She could not believe this, her family was about to be destroyed and there was nothing she could do about it. She hated that, she hated it with all her might, she hated that she was so helpless, she could not even change the minds of either her husband or daughter.
...
"I hate that we are here once again." Easton whispered standing behind Ian. If he had his way Ian would be miles away from here.
"I keep my promises, that is why we are here once again Easton." Ian replied his fingers entwined, a constant habit of his when he was bored.
"I wish that of all times for you to choose to keep your promises it is not now." Easton mumbled under his breath.
"I cannot believe that you are truly serious about going through with this silly decision of yours." he began scolding. Ian did not look like he was listening, he had his mind preoccupied with several other things.
"Good morning my prince." Dariel greeted, his head bowed as he walked into the room.
"Ahh Viscount Dariel, good morning." replied Ian, his hands unclasped laying them on the armrests of the armchair.
"I hope I did not keep you waiting for long." Dariel said, raising his head, a sheer smile lacking true friendliness present on his lips.
"Not at all, this is your home after all." he smiled.
"I see that you were not offered anything." Dariel sat down, reminding himself to keep up the friendly appearances.
"I am not here to indulge in what you can offer me." Ian smiled coolly.
"Can we end this back and forth viscount, I am here to hear your verdict concerning my offer." Ian hated paltering. He was a very busy man and he had very busy things to do.
"Will you give me your daughter's hand in marriage or not?" he asked impassively.
Ian heard Dariel clear his throat. He considered himself a straightforward man, but this prince really had no respect for his elders at all.
"I have spoken to her, and she insists that she will marry you. In that comprehension, I cannot go against her wishes now can I?" Dariel replied.
Ian let out a chuckle, a very derisive chuckle. Dariel was silent, waiting for the prince's fit to end. Even Easton looked at confused as Dariel was.
"What warrants your laugh your highness?" Ian heard Dariel ask his immensely stupid question.
"You know... your depiction of your daughter as the main instigator of your decision while you get to rid yourself of all ties to this agreement is rather amusing." Ian continued laughing.
"Cease with your pretence viscount." Dariel frowned. "You and I both know that you would not be agreeing if this would not benefit you in anyway." Ian sneered.
Dariel found himself unable to continue with his facade of respect any longer.
"How dare you insult me boy." Dariel shouted.