Chapter 33: the Duke and the Duchess visits

On the 1st Saturday of October, Serena's parents came to visit. Duchess Celine was so excited to see her daughter that the first thing she did when she arrived was to call on her in the school's dormitory.

"My dear, I have not seen you for only less than a month, but it seems like you have grown more beautiful than ever. I missed you my child." The duchess said dramatically as she moved to hug her daughter.

"Mother, I missed you too." Serena replied as she hugged the duchess back.

"How have you been these days? Are you adjusting well? Is the schoolwork heavy?" her mother asked continuously, worry etched on her face.

"Yes, everyone is treating me nicely. With regards to schoolwork, I find it bearable. so please do not worry."

"That is good to hear. I was indeed a little worried that you may have encountered some difficulties. I did hear from my friends that their daughters found it challenging to cope with the schoolwork. But as expected, my daughter is the best!" she finished proudly.

Serena laughed as she said "mother, you give me too much credit, I did say I find it bearable but that doesn't mean that I excel."

"Au contraire, I spoke with the principal earlier and was told that your teachers can't praise you enough." Duke Simoun said as he entered the room. Seeing the surprise from Serena and her mother, he continued "The door was not closed properly so I invited myself in."

"Father, you're also here." Serena said as she smiled and walked to hug him. Although she just met the duke and duchess once, she already felt an inextricable sense of belonging with them. Perhaps some feelings of novel Serena still linger within her, or that she just felt close to them as she missed her own parents from when she was younger.

The duke hugged her back awkwardly, still not used to the hugs of his grown daughter, as his eyes roamed her room. "Is everything here to your liking?" he asked.

"Yes, thank you for choosing this room for me." She already saw the rooms of her friends, and well, let us just say that hers look like it was meant for a princess. She even heard that hers was the best room in this dorm.

Duke Simoun gave another once over of the room and nodded his head as if satisfied after deeming it suitable enough for his princess.

"Anyway, do ask Beatrice to prepare your belongings. I already got approval for special permission to have you and Leonard stay at our mansion here in the capital over the weekend."

--

"Supposedly, we will have our first visit of the orphanage next Sunday. However, we decided to move it given the tight schedule because of the coming preliminary exam the week after. After deliberation, it was agreed that we will have our first official visit on the 1st week of November. At least by that time, the results of the preliminary exam are out, and we will be able to include the freshmen representatives in this project." Geoffrey explained to the student council members. "So, do you have any questions, comments, or suggestions?"

Leonard cleared his throat as no one was voicing his/her opinion "Well, I still have some questions left unanswered. For one, the real objective of this project still eludes me. What do we really want to do for this project? Do we try to help the children get adopted? Do we need to provide for them? Why do we need to give out lessons when it will not really be helpful as we are only meeting them twice a month? I still believe that spreading our effort will be more effective if our true aim is to raise awareness which it initially was."

"I do see your point Leonard. However, the school and the orphanage already agreed to the arrangement and I see no issue with it. Now, regarding the objective, we do not need to help children get adopted because as I was informed, children under the age of 10 will have no problem with that. The problem lays with those who are at the age of 10 above. Children who do not get adopted at that age already have their awareness and it is inevitable for them to have the insecurity of not being wanted. Based on this fact, if we were to simply engage with simple short-term missions in every orphanage, the results may prove to be counter intuitive. Although it may turn out to be a rewarding experience for our team, have greater publicity and raise more awareness, we may for said reason cause harm to the children unintentionally. These older children need secure attachments, and albeit only temporarily, it is with hope that through our continuous visits, we may be able to foster a bond with them and in some way diminish their insecurities. I hope this answers your question."

Leonard nodded, finally convinced by Geoffrey's explanation. It was no secret that he was an adopted child himself and he knows just how lucky he truly was.

"Do you have an approximate number of the children in their custody? Also, what about their ages? I think that is something we need to be prepared for." Diether, a senior representative asked.

"From what I learned, there are about 34 children in the orphanage. About a third of which are children above the age of 10. Just so that we are clear, what I said earlier doesn't mean that we will only be focusing our efforts on those above the age of 10. The attention given to all children will still be equal as to not make to younger ones feel unwanted. So are there other matters you wish to raise?"

When everyone shook their heads, Geoffrey continued "Since that is now settled, does anyone wish to raise a new agenda for the coming weeks?"

"Well, I do believe that no one here wishes to raise anything aside from the orphanage as of now. In this light, I want to suggest not meeting for the next two weeks, or perhaps we should resume our meeting after the announcement of freshmen representatives." Artemis, their vice president, suggested.

"That sounds reasonable. We can have our next meeting after the announcement."

Everyone nodded their head in concurrence.

"Alright. Since there are no more concerns, we can now adjourn our meeting. Thank you very much."

--

As Serena and Beatrice were in the her bedroom packing her things, her parents were at the living room having a conversation.

"Have you sent the page to inform Leonard?" Duchess Celine asked.

"Yes, however, I was told that he is still in the student council meeting. He should be joining us soon. Right now, as it is nearing noon, I suggest we go have our lunch." Duke Simoun replied.

Celine shook her head as she said "No, let us wait for Leonard first, perhaps they are done by now. By the way, I heard that the crown prince is their president. Should we invite him to join us?" she asked, hinting that she wanted to meet her daughter's fiancé.

"I don't think that that is proper. Although they are set to be married in the future, it is still not time to meet the parents yet."

"Then how about we invite him along with their friends? I have also been wanting to meet Leonard's friends. I heard that he has been close with the crown prince, the 2nd prince of Alighieri, and the son of the Duke of Suffox."

Simoun raised his brow. "Charles' son? Why should you want to meet him?"

Celine could only laugh at her husband, "Still bitter? That was decades ago! Charles was just…"

"Your first love?" Simoun supplemented.

"Stop that, just a crush so long ago! Besides, he's already been married for two decades now and even has a son older than our very own daughter!" Celine denied while blushing. Indisputably, although her husband is the man she loves, she has also once fancied herself in love with the Duke of Suffox, who was then a Marquess. How can she not? He was a young and handsome war hero. All the ladies wanted to be his wife in their hearts. But it was too bad that despite the exemplary figure he was, the political situation for his family at that time was not so good.

All the nobility were just waiting for the inevitable downfall of the Ducal house of Suffox. For as they say, the hound is boiled after the rabbit is caught. After the war with Jinjoo, another continent in the eastern hemisphere, the monarchy finally saw that there was no need for families having their own military power. Suffox being at the forefront, was already becoming an eyesore for the royal family. Thus, even when all the ladies wanted to marry him, their family would not allow it. Doing so was equivalent to suicide.

Luckily, or unluckily depending on how one looks it, the royal princess, the king's only daughter, fell in love with him at first sight. The king loved his daughter very much and seeing this as a diplomatic way of gaining the military power back, he ordained the engagement between his 12-year-old daughter and the 25-year-old Marquess. This led to the decade long delay for the Marquess turned Duke to marry his princess.

"Hmpft! You're not even denying that you liked him."

"What can I do? It's the truth!" Celine answered Simoun laughing. "Besides, that was just a young maiden's admiration. You're the one I married and the man I love."

"Fine. But I doubt that they can join us at such short notice. It's almost noon now."

"All the better." Celine said while thinking 'At least this way, I can see the crown prince's sincerity to my daughter. Besides inviting the other two are just for pretense. I don't really expect them to attend.'

"Alright." Simoun agreed as he called Thomas, his secretary, to inform the page to tell Leonard that his mother is inviting his friends along for lunch.

--

TBC