Chapter 199: Personally baked cookies

"Brother are you shifting here to stay with me?" asked Marianne, the words that  were dreading my heart.

"Oh, so now you do care about me, huh?" he asked him and she bowed her head with guilt, 

"I apologise brother, forgive me this time and i promise i would help you in dealing with your father when he would come to know that you again broke the rules." she negotiated but the man just glared at her.

"And you would personally bake cookies for me too." he added and she laughed.

"I never knew that you can cook!" I was surprised and I could never imagine this strong muscular man to be fond of something sweet like cookies. His build shows that all he ate was animals that were also half cooked and half raw.

"That's because I could not," said Marianne in a sharp tone, gaining a chuckle from the giant.

"She did not cook, but she had especially learnt to make my favourite cookies to flatter me." he said, as if he was trying to explain to me that his sister did not respond well. 

But we both knew that he was trying to show off, and if there was even a one percent doubt, his next words cleared.

"She had made them only for me too, even father is not lucky enough to taste her cookies." see, i knew he was trying to show off!

But who wanted to eat the cookies baked by her! If she only made it for him then it meant she had not entered into the kitchen in so many years, only heaven knew how charred her cookies were and did she even know how to differentiate between flours! If only she would request me then i would think about having one. After all, it was no less than suicide.

"So, Sir James, are you going to shift here?" i asked again, as they have long forgotten the matter of discussion and were talking about their childhood, how she used to bake cookies for him and all!

She never even once smiled at me even when I had supported her in front of Isabella and looked at her face now! It was shining like this brute had brought stars from the sky for her.

"Ah, no, your highness, I would not be able to stay here. As i said, my mother had organised a few meeting with noble ladies for me in the marquees palace. So I need to be present there. Though i would have loved to be here, i would let the invitation pass" 

His words were like honey to my ears and a big smile adorned my face but the man had done that intentionally as he added the last paragraph with such a long pause that made me feel that he was done.

"But as i have won the bet, i wanted to ask for Killian and Marianne's leave. Mother wants Marianne to be present when her sister in law is chosen. And since this young man wanted some guidance from me, I would be honoured to have him in my palace too. There I can train both of them early in the morning, and later we can spend some good time together too."

"I apologise, Sir James, but She can not go" 

"Why can i not go?!!"

"Why can she not go?!!" 

Both brother and sister asked together while Killian stifled laughter, gaining a glare from me.

"She is duchess of the empire, she had some duties. While the duchess duties sound easy and entertaining, it is a difficult job. She is the one who handles cash and payments of all the staff and internal working of the whole estate. So she is needed here.'' I said rightfully.

"Oh, I do understand the duties of a duchess are important and she sure had a lot of work to do. But she should have some trusted staff to support her and I am asking leave for her for two weeks only. She would be here one week before the time of payment of the staff and monthly expenditures." he said as if it was already final.

"Of course, brother, you do not need to worry about all this. I will handle everything and if needed I can always work from marquees palace too." she replied and Killian nodded.

"I can study from there too." added Killian once her discussion was done.

"Ah, I thought you do not want me to be the one who looks after your studies. So, it would be very difficult to manage your studies from there son. Why don't you stay here with your father. Brother will teach you a few tricks when he comes next time." She replied to Killian, shaking her head as if she was apologetic but her eyes were shining like stars.

As if we were torturing her here, she was looking so escalated listening to her chance to leave for marquees palace that she could stand any time and start dancing with joy.

But I felt good when Killian was kicked out too. That boy had changed parties so soon and was being too happy when his mother was leaving for marques palace!!

Now he was puffing his cheeks like an abandoned puppy, but his mother was not even looking at him, serves him right!!

He had shown that his loyalty and did not lie with me, so I would not support him this time too.

"But mother, how would I live here alone, while you would be away?" He tried to gain more sympathy while trying to pull her dress.

"But son, how would your head master and all the teachers be shifted there. I could have arranged the teaching staff there for you, but I do not have the rights to do so. If only I had been your guide and mentor then I would have planned everything for you." she said in a further apologetic tone while James just looked at both of them with interest.

[Don't stop voting and comments, i don't know why but these days there is heavy downfall in comments and voting. I hope you will leave a comment and i promise i will try to improve. PS unlock the chapter with coins if you can]