In contrast to the flurry of activities and excitement being experienced by the debutantes after the afternoon party hosted by duchess cross, the days that followed have been boring and excruciatingly slow for Serena.

She continued to attend parties and galas, seeing the same set of people, socializing with other ladies flattering her hoping that she would favor them. It was boring her and although there's the entertainment provided by Emily and Anna, that too has quickly gone old.

During those times, Christopher Cross tried to talk to her. He seems interested in her, but she could not fathom why. To the knowledge of everyone in their society, she was already engaged to Geoffrey. Perhaps he was just trying to build connections? Then again, he was always acting within propriety so perhaps she's just the one being overly conscious. Besides, maybe she was just not used to it as it has been forever since any male out of her circle acted friendly with her.

Anyway, she kept thinking that it would be nice if Charlton were there, but he has been busy and was not able to attend the functions. The last they met was at the tea party 2 weeks ago. He did call her though. It was easy because she was living in their ducal mansion in the capital with just Leonard. Her parents were in their ducal estate overseeing matters in their duchy.

It has been somewhat a ritual between them. Every evening at 8pm as long as she's not attending a function, he would call her house and she would be beside the telephone to answer. If not, then he would say that the call was from Columbia's.

Last night, he informed her that his mother should be arriving in 3 days. A bit later than they expected. At first, she did not think much of it, but as the days passed and the event drew nearer, it made her nervous and excited at the same time. She hopes that everything would work out for the best.

--

Geoffrey was pacing in his study. The night after the Charlotte's ball, his man reported that there was no way to get the call recorded nor listened to. They could only switch the lines, but the person talking would notice that there has been a change in the connection as they will lose the other person in line. Also, their boss was in the control room to ensure nothing like that will happen.

In the end, they can only look at the call log of Charlton's house and try to figure out what's going on from there.

Geoffrey ordered his man to continue observing and that morning, he was presented with a written document reporting in detail the call log from the Daniel's ducal mansion. There were several calls made but he focused on the detail that in the last 2 weeks, the ducal mansion of Daniels made outgoing calls to the ducal mansion of Maxwell 9 times. Surprisingly, there was a pattern to it. It was made every night at 8 in the evening.

Geoffrey did not know how to interpret it at first. Duke Simoun already left for their ducal estate in cornwell so he can cross out that Charlton has been corresponding with him. The next person he thought of was Leonard. Were they that close?

The calls all lasted for at least an hour and it's just weird. He did not want to think that it's Serena because of the implications it would make. Yet, all the clues were pointing towards her.

Of the 14 days, the only times when no call took place was when there were evening social functions.

The glaring thing though was that on one of the evenings that his faction had a meeting, in which Leonard also attended, a call still took place and it lasted for over an hour.

Geoffrey did not want to believe it and wanted to give Charlton and Serena the benefit of the doubt.

He could be wrong. There was a possibility that Charlton was talking to someone else, or perhaps it was not Charlton calling but an aide calling a lover that coincidentally works for the house of Maxwell.

Geoffrey took a deep breath as he clenched his trembling fist. He should remain calm that instant. He must not rush about things.

Calming himself, he decided to wait a few days. Although he wanted to just visit Serena's ducal mansion to seek confirmation that very moment, he would still wait for the right timing. Leonard would be heading to Torton in 2 days' time.

He wished more than anything that he was wrong. If not, he did not know what he would do.

--

On the 20th of July, grand duchess Georgina Daniel arrived in the capital. She went down the train, her servants, aides, and escorts behind her.

Charlton seeing his mother alight from the first compartment of the train reserved for VVIP passengers quickly excused himself from the people surrounding him to welcome her.

"Mother." He greeted as he gave her a hug.

Georgina smiled widely seeing her son. He made her so proud. From the moment the train stopped, she already saw him through the window. A lot of people were congregating around him, and he was treating them all nicely. Despite all his achievements, his feet were firmly glued on the ground.

Which mother would not be proud? He was her pride and joy. Well, given that she also married the most amazing man in the empire, it was only natural that the best man of his generation would also come out of her womb. How lucky was she?

Anyway, she kissed both his cheeks, then she said, "you have to tell me all about this ruse you're making. I read all about this girl you seem to adore from the news."

Charlton shook his head understanding that his mother was referring to Emily. He wanted to get it straight but knew that since they were in the middle of the crowd that it was not the time.

"Mother, I'll tell you all about it when we get back to the mansion."

His mother nodded her head in understanding.

--

TBC