Ruth didn't move for a while. His crimson gaze slid slowly toward Kael like a sword being drawn.
It was cold, judging, and utterly pleased.
"It seems," Ruth said with a voice like winter frost, "you lack heavily in manners... and in etiquette."
Kael's spine stiffened. A smile tugged nervously at his lips, but he didn't dare offer an excuse.
He instinctively raised both hands and bowed slightly, accepting the inevitable.
"…I admit that much."
'It's better not to piss him and get my ass kicked."
What followed was a long-winded, thunderous grumble from the Grand Duke. Ruth began listing out virtues, duties, and responsibilities like he was reading from the Veydrin Nobility Handbook, Vol. I to XIII. Kael stood there nodding at regular intervals like a penitent student being lectured by the headmaster from hell.
At some point, he even looked at the sky outside the window and sighed dramatically.
The long wait was finally over.
