Adam was sitting on the chair in a languid posture as if the palace belonged to him, he tilted his head and replied to that funny question.
"I have never expected to receive an invitation letter just after returning from your party, James. Are you in such a hurry to get her married?" the man titled his head and looked at Jame with mockery. He did not wait for a reply and continued, if that is the case, why look for a groom? You can just prove that she forced you to marry her to your servant."
Penny gasped as she covered her mouth hurriedly. Her mind quickly imagined every single man that worked for her uncle and shuddered.
She felt the eyes of someone on her and hid behind the pillar at once without confirming who it was and what he saw!
Her eyes dimmed as the thought sunk in. They're going to prove her insane and then marry her off to an old jerk in order to control her powers!
Those filthy bastards! Money mongers!
"Goodness!" said her aunt in a dramatic tone as if she was worried or cared about her.
"Such a poor child!"
"You still have time to change your mind," his highness smiled as he cast a doubtful glance in her direction.
Her uncle scowled and said, "Would you stay silent for a minute here. Or you can leave the room too. Go and check what she is doing right now." His growl made her aunt shut her mouth immediately.
She nodded her head and walked out as a poised woman. Her uncle and the duke were still discussing, but Penny did not have the time to pay attention to them anymore.
She ran towards her room while hiding all the time, an interesting feat she had achieved after years of practice in this place.
Too bad, she still did not know why Adam was helping her uncle. If money is the thing, she could give it too.
She walked in and closed the door. Once closed, she looked into the mirror, her face was full of sweat on the cold winter day. This would give her away.
Taking a breath, she ran to the washroom and closed the door shut and opened the shower, only to hear the main door opening.
Like always, her aunt did not knock on the door but opened it stealthily, as if she wanted to catch her doing something shady and then punish her for it.
She waited for a good two minutes while washing her face and wetting her hair and then covered them with a towel and walked out in a bathrobe.
She was humming a tone before taking a step back and gasping, as if surprised by the presence of someone in the room.
"Oh my, aunt! You scared me." she said as she rubbed her chest when her aunt raised a brow with a mocking smirk on her face.
"You are the daughter of knights and scholars. How could you be this weak!" she walked in and touched her cheeks as if she were looking for something.
"Hmm, you should not take a bath at such an hour. It is already winter." she took her hands back when Penny nodded meekly but in her heart, she smirked.
She had already kept her face wet long enough to give her hands hollow skin and frozen her face skin to ensure that she was truly taking a bath.
She sat on the bed languidly with a confident and free posture as if she owned the room.
"Your uncle has been very concerned about you since you stopped studying. Do you want to talk about it with your old teacher? Why are you leaving your studies halfway?" she asked with her eyes darting over on her face like a predator looking at her prey.
'It's because your son burned all my books, no matter how many times I hid them, and you didn't give me a single penny to buy new books. Not to mention that you did not allow me to leave the house for years, blaming it on my security!' She wanted to yell and pull all of the woman's hair to teach her a lesson, but instead she smiled.
Another bad habit she'd picked up was biting her tongue and bleeding inside her head.
"It has been too long since I last studied. I enjoy doing embroidery and gardening instead." her aunt gave her a nod of understanding as she was done scanning the room.
"Duke Silverworth had come to meet your uncle. They are in the meeting room. Make sure not to leave your room because he does not have a good track record with women and we are unable to refuse him if he has feelings for you." She warned her with a dominating look when Penny bowed her head and nodded.
The woman waited for a few more seconds before staining when Penny could not handle the suspense. She did what she had not done since she was punished for the first time.
"Duke Silver Worth? He is a man of no character?" she asked, feigning a gasp and confusion when her aunt scowled.
She looked at her with eyes full of disapproval.
"Since when have you started to question our intentions? It feels like you do not trust us anymore!" the voice was getting more and more poisonous when Penny bowed her head instantly while her nails dug deeper into her skin,
"Penny, you hardly leave the house so you do not know. The man owns a brother. Which nobles would do so? Not only that, he was asked to leave the royal palace because of his debauchery."
"Then why do we have such a man at our house! Uncle should not.."
"That is enough!" her aunt stood up showing lack of patience. "You ignorant girl had no idea how this world works. So it is better that you behave like a lady and stay silent until you are asked to speak."
"Thud!"