The fruit plate held top-quality fresh grapes, apples, and wax apples, next to which was a small bowl of diced mango.
Virginia Daniel's face beamed with a radiant smile, warmly offering Blake Fuller fruit as the elder by her side pulled him into conversation.
The atmosphere was convivial.
"..."
Gordon Edwin, as the head of the house, had a smile at the corner of his mouth that was slightly stiff and forced, his gaze lingering on the busy Virginia with a touch of silent grievance.
He had never enjoyed such treatment.
The sourness in his stomach kept bubbling up, and when he looked at Blake Fuller, his face was set in a stern and rigid expression, looking as though someone owed him money.
Blake Fuller's conversation with Seamus Edwin ranged from the history of Percelia to ancient books and poetry, to the development of modern economics—the span was unexpectedly broad.