Internally, he thought, with complete honesty, that Kraven was not wrong to develop such feeling.
The hall went completely silent.
It happened the mont Julian stepped through the doorway properly. The maids stopped where they stood. The one holding towels didn’t lower them. The one with the tray didn’t set it down. They simply stopped, their eyes moving between Julian and Olivia.
Moth went still at Julian’s shoulder.
Olivia didn’t move either, but her stillness was different from everyone else’s. It was composed rather than frozen. Her eyes remained on Julian’s face, and her expression held a careful balance, as though she were deliberately keeping it steady, doing her best not to let any trace of surprise show.
Julian walked toward her.
He kept his steps unhurried and natural and crossed the hall without any hint of hesitation that Kraven might have have shown in the sa situation. He stopped at a distance that was respectful and didn’t feel invading.
For a brief mont, he simply stood there, eting her gaze directly. There was no attempt to look away or soften the mont.
"Mother," he said.
The word was flat. It carried no warmth, no tension, and no hidden aning beneath it
Olivia’s eyes shifted slightly.
It was a small thing—a brief flicker that crossed her face and vanished before it could fully take shape. For that single instant, sothing beneath her composure slipped through, a hint of the conflict she kept tightly controlled. It was subtle, easy to miss if one wasn’t paying attention, but it was there all the sa.
Then, just as quickly, it was gone. She gathered herself again, and her expression settled back into that sa calm, unreadable composure, as if nothing had ever disturbed it.
"Kraven," she said.
A beat passed.
"You’ve returned," she said.
"The King is coming," Julian replied. "Father wanted the family present."
Olivia nodded once. Her eyes moved over him slowly, studying his face, his eyes, the way he held himself—taking in every detail with careful attention.
Julian understood what she was looking for.
She was looking for Kraven—the version of him she knew. The one who carried that scandalous edge whenever they crossed paths in the castle, whose words always seed to hold sothing unspoken beneath them. The subtle tension in his gaze, the quiet implications behind even the simplest exchanges—she was searching for all of it, trying to find even the smallest trace of it in the man standing before her.
She wasn’t finding it.
Julian was careful to give her nothing that pointed in that direction. Every instinct, every behavior pattern that Kraven’s body carried toward her — he suppressed it.
The confusion it was creating in her was subtle but visible to him.
"You look well," she said finally.
"The ti away did what it was supposed to do," Julian replied simply.
Another beat of silence. Then, with the natural talent of soone redirecting a conversation onto safer ground: "How was the journey."
"Long," Julian said. "Eight hours on the road." He paused. "The gate gave us so difficulty."
Sothing moved through Olivia’s expression at that. It seed she was aware about the difficulty that Liam was causing the family
"Yes," she said quietly. "Things have shifted since you left."
She didn’t elaborate and Julian didn’t push.
The atmosphere between them was complex. On the surface, everything seed calm and controlled, with neither of them giving anything away. But beneath, the tension was unmistakable.
Olivia looked at him for a mont longer, and the unresolved curiosity was there in her eyes, clear enough that she didn’t bother to hide it entirely. She had simply decided not to pursue it.
"I have work to finish," she said.
"Of course," Julian replied.
She held his gaze for one more beat.
Then she turned, gestured once to the maids, and moved toward the far corridor. They fell in behind her imdiately and both of them seed visibly relieved to be in motion again. The sound of their footsteps faded down the corridor and the hall returned to its regular silence.
Julian watched her go.
The dress she wore was technically modest, but it was completely powerless against the way she moved.
There was a slow, natural sway to her hips with every step. Her ass shifted with a lazy, hypnotic rhythm and the fabric stretched just enough to hint at the full, rounded shape beneath. The subtle bounce and sway drew the eye helplessly, making the innocent dress feel almost obscene on her body.
Julian observed this for approximately three seconds and then directed his attention elsewhere.
Beside him, Moth was standing silently.
Julian looked at him.
"Take to the duke’s office."
"Yes, young lord," Moth said imdiately. "This way."
**
The office was on the second floor.
Moth led him up the main staircase and stopped before a heavy door at the far end. He pushed it open and stepped aside.
Julian followed.
It was a large room. A wide desk dominated the center, its surface empty except for a single closed ledger. A single mana lamp burned on the desk. Maps were pinned to one section of the wall, while bookshelves lined the other. Behind the desk, a window looked out over the rear grounds of the castle.
No unnecessary furniture. No ornantation beyond the Astran crest above the door.
Julian sat in one of the chairs and dismissed Moth.
The door closed and the room was quiet.
He thought about Olivia.
Her reaction was controlled but it was real. She expected sothing from him and did not receive it, and the absence unsettled her in a way she wasn’t prepared for.
He thought about Liam.
Passive for now. Those words had been sitting at the back of his attention since the knight had said them in the courtyard. Passive was not the sa as still.
He was waiting.
The King’s visit changed the political mathematics. Whatever move Liam was building toward, he couldn’t execute it cleanly while the King was present on Astran grounds. The crown’s proximity constrained everyone equally. So he would hold, and he would watch, and the mont the King’s carriage left the duchy he would have an unobstructed field again.
Julian had a narrow window.
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