CHAPTER 82 (2) - Thank You for Asking

"If things go as we expect, the Duchess will probably adopt and bring in a child. The next successor to the family will be someone that she wants."

"The Duchess has every right to do so."

Petronilla nodded. The Duchess of Efreni was not following her husband's surname. She was originally Lady Efreni, and the current head of the Efreni family was a mere Baron's lad, at best. It was a natural course of action for the Duke of Efreni to have followed his wife's surname, and not continued with his own. Anyway, the only reason a son of a Baron managed to take on the position of Duke was purely because the Duchess of Efreni had been the only child, as the daughter of the Duke of Efreni at the time.