5 Misunderstanding

POV: Reuben Laratje

"Excuse me?"

I didn't immediately respond to the question, but looked intently at the tabletop in front of me for a moment.

Not even ten minutes ago had I been informed of this myself. To say I was surprised was an understatement.

"Can you explain it?"

My counter question caused an equally persistent silence.

Freya didn't know the answer to that either, but that was predictable. After all, this news shocked me the most myself.

"Are you sure Serena didn't just say it out of the blue?", asked Freya now doubtfully. I was already thinking about that, too.

In fact, my counterpart was probably right.

"We will talk to her right away at lunch.", I replied, since we could check this possibility with our own eyes right away.

In doing so, we could both take a look at her current state of mind and get to the bottom of it all.

Freya also seemed to be satisfied with this approach, as her furrowed brow slowly smoothed out again and she no longer appeared to be in such a disgruntled mood.

"I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding.", I said.

She shouldn't worry unnecessarily.

"I hope so.", she replied again in a milder tone before shifting her gaze behind me.

"We should get down."

At that comment, I also turned my attention to the wall behind me.

There, after all, was a relatively large clock that actually showed me on that lunch was about to begin.

Actually, it would be customary for us to be escorted to the dining room by a servant, but in this case, for once, it was not necessary.

For this reason, I got up from my seat and walked around the desk.

Shallowly, my hand rests on her back as she leaned against me a little bit.

"Let's go.", I murmured softly and immediately follow her out of the office as well.

In fact, talking to Freya about Serena's words clearly helped me relax my nerves.

Together we would get to the bottom of this misunderstanding and respond accordingly so it wouldn't happen again.

"Maybe we should buy Serena a gift.", Freya suggested as we slowly walked down the stairs.

In fact, that was a good idea. That's the reason why I gave her a nonverbal nod in agreement. Serena would certainly be happy about it.

It didn't take us another minute to get to the dining room, where Eric was already.

Just at that moment, Emira entered the room at the same time as we did. Her nanny had taken her by the hand and bowed immediately.

Eric and Emira also greeted us.

With a shallow smile to the children, I escorted Freya to her seat next to me before settling into my chair myself.

My gaze slid around the room, yet one person continued to be missing.

"Where is Serena?", I asked no one in particular.

For that reason, a few seconds of heavy silence filled the room.

"Excuse me."

My attention immediately turned to Edmund, one of the oldest servants in the estate, who had accompanied me in my work since my youth.

"Is she still out of the house?", I inquired immediately, remembering that she had announced it at breakfast.

"No. She already returned two hours ago.", the older man explained.

With a prompting look, therefore, I signaled him to be more specific.

I didn't understand what the problem was then.

"The princess prefers to eat in her chambers.", Edmund explained, which made me frown slightly.

"Is she ill?"

Because of my question, the elder seemed to falter briefly.

"As far as I know, that's not the case."

The answer was more than insufficient, which I immediately signaled to him by my gaze.

For what other reason would she not have lunch with us?

"Please excuse my blatant behavior, but the princess usually dines in her chambers."

I inevitably paused at his retort.

Took a moment to consider.

In fact, I could count on one hand when Serena had dined with us together in the last few months.

It had been just a handful of times.

Instead of insisting further, I signaled Edmund that we could start eating.

No one wanted to interrupt the ensuing silence.

Fleetingly, my gaze slid to the end of the table directly opposite me.

Usually Eric sat at this place, however, he had settled down on the chair directly beside it now.

In fact, this also corresponded to his actual place, as I realized only now.

Right.

The end of the table was the seat of the next head of the family, facing the current head of the family.

Serena's seat.

I tried to remember where she had dined in the past, when she was not taking it in her chambers, but together with us.

To me, the image of Eric sitting across from me was completely natural.

Hadn't Serena been sitting at the end of the table even though she had been present and participated in the meal?

I couldn't remember.