"......"
Facing the objection from the towering and influential Lord Macht, the much younger and junior Lord Parker found himself unable to get even a proper footing in the conversation.
A large part of it was because the next in line duke knew the opposite party had the complete confidence of his father and the latter almost blindly trusted him.
Meaning whatever the man said would go in front of the duke, without the latter not even verifying it most of the time.
There were even occasions when Lord Macht's testimony had trumped Lord Parker's, such as when the latter skipped sword practice to go play hookey, with the father choosing to rather believe his bodyguard over his own flesh and blood.
Of course, such an exalted privilege was not simply given out to anybody by the Duke.