Dinner with the duke (2)

The guards at the entrance opened the door for us and the main hall of the duke's manor was revealed.

To our surprise, we found that the duke was standing there.

With the way that he stood there, it was almost as if he had been waiting for us to arrive.

But in what world would this be normal where a duke would be waiting for a baron like this?

When I saw this, I couldn't help feeling more and more certain of my suspicions that the duke was being controlled by something and this was all a trap.

But for now, there was nowhere for us to run…

So I went forward to greet the duke.

As per customs, I was about to bow to the duke to greet him, but before I could go down, the duke suddenly grabbed my arm and stopped me.

He quickly said, "Sir Zwein, there's no need for you to do something like this. You can just act casual around me since we can be considered friends."

Could we be considered friends?