Family Dinner

︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿︿

By the time Cole completed his bath, Mariam had an extra set of clothes ready for him. She dressed him in a loose white day shirt and black shorts that hit just above Cole's knee. He wore no jewelry and no frills or lace.

'Seems that fathers concubine intends to keep my status low…'

He gave a small sigh. Why did nobles have to go through so much shit? This is like a child playing with their food, useless and disrespectful. Clearly something was wrong with this place, stupid mind games and lies seemed to be common place in this world.

He shook his head to clear these useless thoughts. Thinking stupid thoughts and moping around won't fix anything. It seems he will have to get his hands dirty.

"Young master, the lady is waiting for you outside."

"Ah, thanks Mariam."

Mariam was perhaps the only other maid, besides the crazy newbie, who would call him by his title. For this, Cole gave Mariam some brownie points in his book. Respectful and obedient, good qualities for a maid.

With a final look around the room, Cole left.

As he opened the door to the hallway, he saw the angle. Compared to before, Adelaide now wore a fancier dress. It was a beautiful black and grey evening dress that flared with frills at the bottom, it had a modest neckline and thin but elegant sleeves that hung nicely on her shoulders. She was also wearing a pair of amethyst earrings and a thin purple necklace. All in all, she was stunning.

He couldn't help but smile as he gazed at his mom. She was a beauty, filled with grace and elegance that couldn't be imitated. Soon, a feeling of pride filled his belly. This was his mom, his new and living mom. She loved him and he could feel the motherly spirit enshrouding her every time she looked at him.

"Good evening mom! What's for dinner tonight?"

"Evening Cole. I am not too sure what's on the menu tonight. As you know I have no control over most of the household affairs."

This was perhaps the greatest weakness his mom had. A wife's power came from two things, her husband's love and how much she controlled the house. Everyone knew that Cylde held no love for Adelaide, instead he preferred his concubine.

Recently, however, Adelaide had lost significant power in the house. Her husband had stripped her of half of her power and relocated it to the concubine. Essentially lowering her position as the official wife.

When he first realized this Cole had wanted to storm up to his father and demand he hand it back. Maybe even slap the man a few times, see if he could fix his fathers lack of common sense.

However, after thinking over it and really digesting the information, he realized that that would not have been a very smart way to go about it. Instead, he chose to stay silent and bide his time. Like a lion stalking its prey, waiting for the most optimal time to strike.

Cole chose to not continue this sad conversation and instead took his mothers hand and led her to the dinning hall. Her unusually cold hands didn't bother Cole anymore, he didn't flinch at her touch nor did he shrink away from her hands. It was sudden, but he realized how cold his hands were too. He and his mother were one and the same.

It didn't take long, maybe 10 minutes, to reach the dining hall. The room was large and decorated expensively. Silk curtains hung from the walls and beautiful paintings littered the room. Every time Cole stepped in here, he felt sickened.

He loathed the red walls, how the silk danced on the windows, and especially the art. Everything screamed Aristocrat and gave off a sense of superiority. It made him want to burn the whole room.

A dangerous glint flared in his eyes. No one saw the slight change in the normally stoic boys face, but if they did, they would have gotten chills.

'I swear, when I take over the household I will fucking burn this room. The stench of greed lingers every time I breathe…'

He tried to hold back his disgust as the servants led him and his mom into the room.

Cole saw Clyde sitting alone at the head of the table, his eyes cold and emotionless as his wife and son entered the room. Not even uttering a simple greeting to them.

Adelaide sat down to the right of Clyde, and Cole followed. He sat next to his mom, still on the right side of the table from Clyde.

However, after he sat down, the door opened again. Bursting through was a woman with a boy at her heels. As soon as Cole saw the woman enter, he knew something was wrong.

The woman was also beautiful, however in Coles eyes she wasn't as beautiful as his mom. She had golden hair that danced in curls around her neck and shoulders. Her face was soft and round with freckles on the bridge of her nose. The woman's eyes were also big and dropped at the corners, similar to a doe. This combination gave her an innocent and gentle look. Not at all like his mom's sharp and intelligent features.

The woman also had little to no grace as she hurriedly jumped to the Counts side. She hugged his neck and gave a shrill screech, followed by annoying giggles.

'Well, this woman must be the concubine that has been giving mom so much trouble. I can tell she doesn't have noble blood. Nobles would never allow their child to display such scenes of emotion and

"Hehe! Clyde! Arabella has missed you so much, why haven't you visited recently? Oscar has been begging to see his father again! Oh, look at this room! It's so beautiful and elegant, I love the red walls and beautiful paintings!!"

"Welcome Arabella! How have you been my darling? I'm sorry I haven't visited recently, I was just caught up in some inspections on the fief. Oscar! My son, come here my little boy."

The Count gave a wide grin to Arabella and patted her head as she left his embrace. A little boy, no older than Cole, gave a little toddler run towards his father. Arms wide, he jumped into his fathers embrace.

"Papa! Papa I missed you!"

"Me too, my little sunshine."

The two hugged and Cole finally got a good look at the boy, and he was basically a carbon copy of his mother. He had golden hair, soft facial features, light freckles on his nose, and doe shaped eyes. The only difference was that his eyes weren't the same ruby color his mothers was, instead he had inherited his fathers deep ocean blue eyes. Not like Coles light blue-silver eyes.

While this family was hugging it out and talking about minor topics, Cole and Adelaide sat idle in their seats.

Cole narrowed his eyes at the concubine and her son, the little bastard. Cole made a decision that he would never call the boy his step-brother, in his eyes this child was doomed since birth. Becoming a roadblock to Cole was perhaps the biggest mistake of his short life.

Snapping back to reality, Cole turned and looked at his mom.

She wore her usual stoic face, almost no emotion leaked. Almost. Her eyes betrayed her. There was a burning fear flickering in them, a kind of primal instinct. Seeing her sorry state, Cole reached over and placed his ice cold hand on top of her hand.

She was shaking. Just barely, but she was still shaking. Whether it was in fear, denial, or anger he couldn't guess.

Adelaide turned and looked at her son, the fear and leaking emotions disappeared and was covered by a lovely face filled with motherly love. She squeezed his hand and stood up from her chair, slamming her hands on the table. With this, the happy cheers and conversation the others were having was cut off. Replaced by a cold silence.

"Count, please explain why this concubine is in the dining hall? Much less in my presence?"

"Watch your tone Adelaide. I won't forgive such insolence from your mouth."

"I want an answer, please. This room is for the family dinners."

"Am… Am I not part of the family? Clyde, am I in the way? I will leave if I am… I know I am but a mere concubine but please spare Oscar the humiliation."

"Of course you are a part of the family Arabella! Don't listen to these witches' vile words, she is jealous of your beauty and kindness."

Clyde took Arabella's hand and intertwined his and her fingers. Giving her a heart warming smile.

"Never refer to yourself as a mere concubine, you are my lover. My world."

Clyde then turned back to Adelaide, a vicious sneer on his face.

"Oscar is also a member of this family, I won't have him discriminated against in this household. Adelaide, refrain yourself from such words and eat dinner silently. From now on Arabella will join us all during dinners."

This decree visibly shocked everyone in the room. Cole also gave away a slight flicker of shock on his face, the cold expression he always wore was broken when his left eye twitched.

However, it was Adelaide who was the most shocked and perplexed by this news. This was the final straw for her. With Arabella gaining more and more power in this house it was subsequently lowering Coles status as the rightful heir to the County.

Her face turned red and her eyes dropped. With a sad and final smile she turned to Clyde and spoke.

"I'll be excused. Mariam, please bring my dinner to my room."

﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀