After Charlton talked to his parents and told them about what happened in the house of lords, his mother almost fainted. Chances were, tomorrow his father would be accused of treason and would soon be facing trial. It was a heavy charge punishable by death.

They discussed which document could be possibly used against his father, but his father could not think of any. They tried to talk how to resolve it but came up with nothing as they did not even know where to start. In the end, his father reassured them that everything would be fine. 

The talk, food, and shower has been good for Charlton. He was brought out of the muddle headedness he has been experiencing.

As he returned to his room and lied on his bed, his mind again drifted back to Serena and what happened. Unlike the last 3 days, he tried to think objectively. He thought of their conversation from the start and not just focusing on her cheating on him. Just in case he missed something. 

It does not matter when she started having feelings for Geoffrey, for it may have been a gradual development. Perhaps every time she was playing her role as his fiancée, she was already falling for him. But how about physical intimacy? 

Why was it that when she thought of herself being pregnant, she thought of him first? Did she only have sex with Geoffrey recently? Was it because she was afraid that he would not take responsibility? It was so twisted. For clearly, she has been honest with him and even told him that the time they did it was right after her period. Now that part was so strange.

He shook his head. In the overall summary of things, it does not matter. She still chose to do that. She still…

Then he remembered the look of terror on her face, the way she tried to convince him to run away, why? Those were very uncharacteristic of her, and he remembered that at that time, he felt like there was something disturbing about it. Was there some foul play? But she had been in the confines of her home the whole time.

Was this just his desperation talking again? Still, he needed to give himself, their relationship, another chance. 

He needs to talk to her. However, with how things ended last time, would she even talk to him? Perhaps, Leonard might even kill him before he can reach 2 meters from her. He hit his head with his hand. What he needed to find were evidence. He needs to investigate what might have happened to her. There's a possibility that everything he was thinking were only his own conjectures because of the wishful thinking that Serena did not purposely cheat on him on her right mind.

But how does he do that? The only person capable of finding out what fucking happened in that house was Leonard. Leonard. He needed to talk to Leonard but the only way that Leonard would even face him would be in the ministry or the house of lords. 

If he even attempts to go to their mansion, he was afraid he would only be chased out like a dog. Perhaps, he should try to capture him off guard so they would be able to talk like civilized citizens. 

--

On the eve of Saturday, Geoffrey read through the reports sent to him. 

He chose to go through Mildred's report. The report had 3 matters. 

First was that Serena's period has not arrived even up to the day of writing. She was experiencing some morning sickness too. That made him very happy. It meant that more likely than not, she was pregnant.

Second was about Charlton visiting and it pissed him off. He did not expect that Leonard knew and chose to keep silent about it. Wait, he even was a promoter and was involved enough to let the two see each other secretly. If he was not Serena's brother and useful, he would never let this go. Thankfully, what he did only helped him. 

Third, her personal maid arrived that morning which meant that Mildred can no longer take care of her. It made him worry but also gave him some relief. That way, there would be no more way for them to realize that Mildred worked for him. Later on, he would just ask her to resign peacefully and go to somewhere far away.

The other report was on Charlton not going out of their mansion for 3 days. He has no doubt that he's feeling betrayed. Wallowing in self-pity, wondering where he went wrong, he could understand fully what he was feeling for he has been there too. Not that he was sympathizing. In fact, it brought him some sort of satisfaction to know that his cousin was now going through what he went through. This does not mean he was done exacting his revenge. Come Monday, the trial would happen, and he could already predict how everything would play out.

Anyhow, he knew that his plan was good, but he did not expect that it would be this effective. Now, all he had to do was ensure Charlton doesn't get to talk to Serena again and that Serena would never find out what he did. After that, Serena would completely his.

Like always, he burned the paper so that there would be no proof. He could never be overconfident.

--

Come Sunday, Geoffrey visited the Maxwell Ducal mansion again. Serena seemed a little sick, but it was good that she was still taking care of herself. She did not talk to him much, but it was alright. He knew that she was not feeling well, and it was not good to agitate her.

Anyway, he gave her another massage until she fell asleep. As he caressed her hair, he looked at her face. His lips formed a sad smile. There were many thoughts playing in his mind. His and Serena's future, his tainted love for her, if she will grow to love him when she's sober, if she will love the child when she realizes that it's his, many questions, many uncertainties. 

He shook his head. He'll just cross the bridge when he gets there.

--

TBC

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