A Tender Kiss Could End A War 🕰️(MxM ›1840s)

||Thirty Six||-›Supplication

Julius was not going to fly into panic, he was not going to lament whether he should keep his distance from Reuben or not. He knew he wasn't going to keep his distance, just as he knew he would be careful as he had promised Rebekah. Once he decided to stay in Wellington as Reuben's chaperone, he knew he had gladly sold his soul to him as well.

A tear slipped from his eyes. He did not make a sound; did not sniff or sob. What he did was embrace Rebekah tightly which caused her to sob instead. "Thank you for everything, Rebekah."

♟

Dining Hallꨄ︎

"I must say you look quite handsome," Lady Elizabeth uttered with a radiant smile as Reuben took a vacant seat three chairs from her.

Reuben did look handsome in his bretelles and slicked hair.

The Griffith family breakfasted at the dining hall, but it was only the children present at the moment. Lady Adelaide was seated at the end of the table, and on her opposite was lady Alice.

"I'm pleased you believe so."

"And I'm rebuked for not being able to say thank you while dear Reuben here dances around it," Lady Adelaide chimed in with a smug look to her, tapping her spoon on top of her soft boiled egg.

"What am I having for breakfast?" Reuben inquired as the fastidious handmaid placed a silver-plated platter before him.

"Warm custard pudding and hot rolls as your chaperone informed me you requested, young lord," replied the handmaid as she uncovered the platter, and then poured the pineapple filled decanter into his empty glass.

"Where's mother and father?" asked Reuben before scooping a spoon full of warm custard to his lips.

Elizabeth sighed. "Father wasn't in his study and mother I could not find in the drawing-room, parlour nor the music room. I have no clue as to where they disappeared off to."

"It is your fault, Reuben, do not act all innocent," Alice huffed. Her dainty finger flipped through the novel beside her sponge cake on the table. If she was in her parents' presence, she would not have been able to read at the dining table without reprimanding.

"Alice! Please do not speak such nonsense," Elizabeth scolded.

"Why not? I simply spoke the truth," she grumbled to herself, pouting. "Since Reuben asked mother to make fine Mr Cadwell his chaperone, things have been stifled between mother and father."

Reuben munched on his hot roll, not feeling the slightest of guilt. He had always thought that his father did not deserve his mother as his wife.

Adelaide stroked her lips in thought. "Ah yes! I meant to ask, why did you ask mother to make that poor fellow your chaperone, Reuben? He seems unqualified and much too young for the position. A hall boy would be better fitted. I was even surprised he was offered the position of footman, let alone this. I must commend you on your hold on mother. I would be lying if I did not say I wished the same for myself. It is most unfair!"

"I believe mother and father will be fine," began Elizabeth. "They have had far worst quarrels over the years. There is no one father cares for more than mother. Now let us not have this conversation at breakfast and before the handmaids, it is most uncouth."

"I know it is uncouth to have this conversation but I am quite fearful Reuben seems to have placed a strain on their marriage, and does so quite often. It is only destined to worsen," Alice prattled on. The has been a wildfire of jealousy set aflame in her heart of late and it only grew when she came to know Julius was now Reuben's chaperone. It made her behave not as her usual lively self.