Chapter-8[Duke and Duchess-1]

Lilliana reluctantly looked back at Kyle who started walking towards the back gate of the mansion with Sebastian. She wanted to spend more time with her new friend, but she know that meeting with the Duke was not a small matter.

An excited and expectant look appeared on Lilliana's face as she thought, 'Finally, I have a friend too!!'

Meanwhile, the red-haired maid followed behind the Lilliana with a small smile on her face. It was rare for her to see the black-haired young miss of her be excited like this for someone else other than her parents, Evangeline herself, and Sebastian. The other time her young miss would be happy was when she was meeting the Demi-human servants and the adventures, and listening to their tales of traveling in the Dungeon.

Both Lilliana and Evangeline stepped inside the luxurious mansion and were greeted with the beautiful sight of sunlight reaching the whole mansion from the glass dome on the top.

Meanwhile, the maids who were waiting outside before entered inside and looked at Evangeline with respect like a fangirl but their eyes did a 180 degree turn when they looked at the black-haired girl.

Evangeline also noticed this but stayed silent.

Lilliana ignored those eyes. Even though it made her sad many times to be looked upon like that but at the same time, she was used to it, especially inside the mansion.

"Aunt Evangeline! Where is Father?" Lilliana asked with an impatient voice.

Evangeline's expression already turned stoic and replied calmly, "I think Lord Duke should be with the Lady Duchess as he should have finished his work by now."

Even when Evangeline called Duke, her voice was far from respectful and she doesn't even seem to care about that.

Lilliana without even replying ran towards the stairs while Evangeline followed behind with a helpless expression on her face.

Reaching the second floor, Lilliana directly ran toward the second last room and without any warning, she stormed inside the room.

"Father! Mother!" Lilliana excitedly called out.

Inside the room was a golden-haired man who was sitting beside the bed while another person was a blond-haired woman with a pale expression lying on the bed. The blond-haired man was holding the woman's hand while caressing it with a helpless and weak smile on his face. And the blond-haired woman was showing a sad smile too.

But when they both heard Lilliana's excited voice, their expression changed and returned normal.

"Lilli, how many times have I told you not to storm in the room like this?" The blond-haired woman chided Lilliana, but her voice was weak, but it was soft, different from what she spoke.

The blond-haired woman called Lilliana, Lilli, a nickname that her family used to call her.

"Mother! I made a friend today!" Lilliana enthusiastically replied.

The golden-haired woman, Duchess squinted her eyes as she observed dust marks on the sleeve of Lilliana's dress and there was some dust on her clothes too.

Lilliana without waiting for a reply went toward the golden-haired man who had a difficult expression on his face as he too saw those dust marks on her clothes.

Evangeline stood beside the door and spectated everything like she was watching a show. She enjoyed seeing the interaction of the family like this.

"What happened to your clothes, Dear Lilli?" The golden-haired man asked with a fatherly smile on his face as he looked at Lilliana who was standing in front of him.

"Father! I made a new friend today!" Lilliana ignored the golden-haired man's question and excitedly spoke

Duchess shook her head as she saw the act of her daughter and the golden-haired man, Duke saw it too but he still felt worried about the condition of his daughter, more than some unknown friend.

"Lilli, tell Father, What happened to your clothes?" Duke asked again while lifting Lilliana and made her sit on the bed beside him.

Lilliana averted her eyes and looked at Duchess and asked with worry, "Mother, are you alright now?"

The Duchess nodded and extended her hand; patting Lilliana.

"Thank you for worrying about me, Lille. I am fine now. So, tell me about your friend?" The Duchess asked with a sweet motherly smile.

Lilliana enjoyed the patting and nodded, while The Duke sulked while sitting there.

He was ignored by his daughter like it was nothing. And, this affected a dotting father like him too much.

"Mother, today when I was going out to visit the bakery....." Lilliana then told them the tale of how she met Kyle and how she asked him to come with her from the start to the finish.

Duke and Duchess both listened carefully. They were not worried about her safety as this was their territory and not only that, they have belive in both Evangeline and Sevastian to keep Lilliana safe.

After hearing everything that Lilliana had to say, Duke and Duchess looked at each other and nodded, and communicated with their eyes.

They both were overprotective of their daughter and cared for her too much, so no matter how bad their health or condition was, their daughter remained their top propriety.

So, they can't let some unknown kid roam around their daughter, especially from the slums. The condition of slums was known to the nobles, and knowing what type of kids was raised there, they can't trust Kyle just from hearing.

As for solving the problem of slums? Their own hands are tied with their problem and as this was a Dungeon city, the adventurers and dungeon explorers died on daily basis. And, not all the people who died were single. Many dungeon explorers had kids too, some willingly, some mistakes, but they did have kids and when those kids lose their parents, they were either sent to the Orphanage or lived in the Slums. That was the truth.

"There was no problem till now."

Evangeline spoke after seeing the concerned look on the faces of Duke and Duchess.

It was clear to the red-haired maid what the doting father and mother were worried for.

"I see, where is that boy right now?"

Duke, Willian D. Avarice asked. He was known to be the most fearful general that the Kingdom had given birth till now.

"He is gone to clean himself right now with Sebastian."

Evangeline simply answered. A helpless smile formed on Duke's face hearing the answer.

He was expecting more information as an answer but at the same time, he wasn't in a position to demand from Evangeline.

"I see..."

Duke dejectedly muttered.

Duchess smiled a little seeing her husband's state, she enjoyed seeing her always overworked husband behave like that and thought, 'He looked good when he spends his time with his family, not with work but I guess that is important too...'

While Lilliana observed that as her brain tried to understand everything. She was able to understand that her father was showing himself in a low position than Evangeline.

Lilliana then thought, 'It seemed like it was the truth...I had never seen it before but now that I saw it, I could tell that Aunt Evangeline had worked in the family for a very long time.'

She was a prodigy for a reason.

Duke then turned toward his daughter and patted her head and kindly spoke,

"I will meet him during Dinner. It is already evening right now."

Hearing that, Lilliana shook her head, making Duke stop patting and a confused expression appeared on his face.

"What happened? Do you want me to meet him right now? But you know that he is cleaning himself right now, right?"

Duke kindly reminded. Lilliana's gaze wandered to her Father and Mother.

"I want both Father and Mother to meet him."

Lilliana spoke her thoughts while looking at her parents cutely.

A troubled smile formed on Duke and Duchess's faces. They want to fulfill Lilliana's request as it was way too rare for her to ask something of them, but this demand made their situation difficult.

Lilliana looked at her parents and seeing them not replying, a sad expression appeared on her face. She wanted to have dinner with her parents as it was way too rare for her to eat with both of her parents, but seeing the look on their faces, she understood that it was not going to be fulfilled.

"They will meet the little kid at the dinner, so don't worry."

Evangeline's calm voice interrupted the silence that was formed as she started walking towards Lilliana and reaching there, she patted her.

"But there is a condition for that, Young Miss."

Evangeline spoke calmly as she continued to pat the soft black hairs.

A smile formed on Lilliana's face when she heard the first words but a confused expression appeared on her face hearing the latter part as she tilted her head and asked, "What is it, Aunt Evangeline?"

'Please it should not be not calling her Aunt!' Lilliana prayed internally.

A smile appeared on Evangeline's face, a bright smile which brighten even more when she heard herself being called Aunt.

"You have to hold a party in three months, during your 10th birthday."

Evangeline spoke out, making the three present in the room gasp in surprise.