The Return Home (II)

Duke Ulfric was sitting with a few officials around him when the young man approached them. The officials and nobles still tensed. They could never get used to him.

"This soldier greets your Grace," said Sorin with a bow and Altair bowed as well."

Lieutenant Colonel, arise," gruffly said the older man.

They stared at each other without saying a word and the men sitting around were not sure if they could breathe or not during the exchange. Not far off, another young man stood with a drink in his hand watching the uncomfortable meeting.

"Nephew!" suddenly said another voice, breaking the tense silence and a hand patted Sorin on the shoulder.

"You're finally back home. It's been a while, even last time you had to rushed off without us being able to meet," commented the shorter man as they walked away from the duke.

Although older than the duke, this man was not quite as harsh looking especially with his short stature. His roundish cheeks were already shiny and somewhat rosy. Evidently, he was thoroughly enjoying himself not only at the banquet but also in daily life.

"Lord Chancellor is in a good mood I see."

"Of course, we recently won a few big battles, have newly promoted officers, and have acknowledgement from the emperor. It's one blessing after the next."

Altair was already following while eating a plate of food. He wasn't about to treat himself badly especially on home turf.

"Come now, I'm sure you haven't greeted your mo-"

The chancellor paused when Sorin side eyed him. Honestly, he was a bit frightened of his youngest nephew sometimes.

"The Duchess, you haven't greeted the Duchess and your eldest aunt," he continued, almost exhaling a breath of relief after correcting himself.

As they headed to the entrance to the garden area, they approached a familiar figure."Little brother," casually said the man as they approached.

"Lord Kasimir," blankly replied Sorin.

"You're so serious. You should at least call me big brother just once you know," insisted Kasimir as he brought up his hand with the intention to pat Sorin on the cheek and the other casually moved aside to avoid it.

Kasimir paused and laughed just a little while facing to the side. Without saying anything else, he walked away since his wine cup was now empty.

Being at the event was entirely boring when he had women and good wine waiting for him at his residence, but it had to be done for the sake of his ears otherwise he would never hear the end of it from his mother.

Sorin's face didn't even twitch since he was used to this treatment, it just mildly annoyed him as all. His uncle seeing the impatience, pushed on to the garden.The steward had already reported the situation in the hall to the duchess on the side.

"Only back for a few minutes and already acting like a big demon," she muttered through her teeth.

How was she supposed to work with this situation for a match? She hadn't thought that he would dare to cause such a scene after just returning but she could only grit her teeth and return to the garden party with a smile.

It was not long before the chancellor and company reached the garden area where the duchess was surrounded by a group of women. Most of them were either family of the officials or the noble families attending. They hadn't noticed that someone was walking up to the until they heard the chancellor's jolly voice.

"I'm sure they'll be glad to see you," he insisted.

"This subject greets your Grace," said Sorin repeating the actions from before but for Duchess Saska.

Eike hadn't looked up, so her breath caught when she heard the voice. Luckily no one had seen the slight tremble of her cup. When she finally looked up, Sorin was already bowing so she couldn't fully see his face.

"This child, greeting so formally, you may rise," said the duchess with a smile.The older women observed him and approvingly nodded at each other.

Sorin was not someone they had a chance to see very often and although this young man appeared intimidating, he was agreeable to the eye indeed. It was just this serious nature they heard about that was a small problem.

"Big brother!" shouted another voice.

Before he could react, a smaller body had already collided into him, and he was being held tightly around his torso. He looked down and put his arm around the shorter figure.

"Pia's almost taller than me, no one could pick you up now, not even Altair," he joked with a smirk.

"Brother always says this," she complained.

He hadn't picked her up in a few years because she wasn't a small child anymore, but he always teased the same thing when they saw each other.

She didn't wait for anyone else to say anything before pulling him in another direction. They were all left stunned at what just happened while he was just glad to get away from them.

"Come and I'll show Brother what I've been working on," insisted Pia as she led Sorin by the hand.

"This sounds entirely suspicious," commented Altair and she looked back to stick out her tongue at him to which he pretended to be shocked.

The younger ladies only saw Pia pulling along an attractive young man with another right behind them. It had to be Sorin and perhaps his attendant. Pia wasn't that close to anyone else.

It was also impossible for the duke's young daughter to be seen dragging around an unrelated man.

This also seemed quite contrary to what they'd heard about Sorin, maybe he could be quite manageable if he could allow himself to be led around by a little girl.

The trio was heading to another part of the garden. As they came closer to the pavilion now full of flowers, he saw people busying themselves with different activities.

"I've started my own garden, see? So, it can be easier to do my flower arranging."

"Lady Pia didn't break all the vases already?" asked Altair and Sorin lifted the corner of his lips.

"I'm a lady who knows how to do proper things now," she insisted with her head high.Cecily was in the pavilion when she heard voices and looked up, only to see Sorin and company headed towards her. Her face lit up with a smile as she put down the vase.

"Lord Sorin, nice to see you once again."

"Miss Cecily," replied Sorin with a polite nod.Cecily could sense that there was something different about Sorin even though it had been almost a month since they had seen each other but she couldn't quite place it. Whatever it was, it made him even more fascinating.

Pia could see that they wanted to talk so she dragged Altair instead to educate him about the different flowers that went into an arrangement. Altair gave Giselle a polite nod and Pia's attendant a small wave before trying to focus on Pia's lesson.