บท 11: Chapter 11: Persuading Charlton V

Telling himself not to stoop to Hugo's level, Christopher tried not to take offense and continued, "Be that as it may, though I accept that Hugo has a point, my family still have valid reasons not to find the match enticing. As you may both know, my family has always maintained a politically neutral stance and…" before he could explain further, Hugo again interrupted.

"Well, it's high time that your family take a new stance. His royal highness, crown prince Geoffrey's position is set in stone. Not only is he the legitimate heir, but he also has all the positive qualities to become the new king of Windsor. I, for one, am looking forward to the day he becomes our ruler. Unless of course you guys are blind and thus can only think otherwise. But even so, he's formidable. I believe that a match with Lord Leonard could only prove to be advantageous on your end." Hugo said with all seriousness, the words 'Unless, of course, you have higher aspirations. Then, I kindly advise you not to take that route.' At the tip of his tongue. As said, he may not be the brightest, but he was from a family most loyal to the crown, well, to be more precise, most loyal to crown prince Geoffrey.

Christopher swallowed. For a moment he thought that Hugo, the most unlikely character, figured his family's real stance, but then, he recalled that Hugo was one of Geoffrey's loyalists and what he was pertaining to should be the battle, if one could even call it that given how skewed the competition between crown prince Geoffrey and second prince Frederick was, for the crown.

Charlton did not think much about the implications of Hugo's words because he thought along the same lines as Christopher. However, hearing such words said about Geoffrey still stroked a chord. Although he already loathed Serena, it didn't take away the feeling of insecurity when she chose Geoffrey over him. Thousands of times while he was in exile, he would ask himself, did Serena choose Geoffrey because he was the better man?

Although Geoffrey did not seem to have enough motivations to cause his father's death, his involvement in his imprisonment made him one of the most probable suspects. So, when Charlton still could not take it upon himself to simply take his vengeance, he could not help but second guess himself. Was the real reason why he still needed to investigate was due to the possibility that he was unconsciously avoiding a conflict with Geoffrey because he has no confidence to win against him?

It was a question which kept him awake at night.

Fortunately, in the end, he was able to come to terms with himself. No, he was not afraid of Geoffrey, never was, never will. The main reason why he still needed to investigate was because he still trusted Geoffrey's character. That Geoffrey's motivation for presenting that document was only to weaken his family's power because he has begun doubting their political stance when he (Charlton) rejected his offer.

Charlton felt wronged because Geoffrey took it on his father rather than himself, but he understood why it had to happen that way.

If the cause was political, then at that time, his father was his strongest political backing. Perhaps, Geoffrey took it as if it was his father who was the one instigating that stance. Having that document as evidence, Geoffrey's suspicion could have only been cemented which led him to do what he did.

On the other hand, he (Charlton) had to accept the consequences of his action. For the undeniable truth was, from the very beginning, it was he who faulted Geoffrey first.

Now, regarding his affair with Serena, the woman he did everything for that it had to reach that point, he knew that the real victim was not himself but Geoffrey. Well, to be more precise, they were both victims only that he now knew that he was, while Geoffrey was still living in a pseudo-paradise not knowing the truth.

Hopefully, he's able to ruin Serena to the point that when Geoffrey comes back from his mission all he would feel for her is disgust. That is, of course, assuming that he was also innocent regarding his father's demise.

He would be a hypocrite not to admit that there was no truth on him trying to avoid conflict with Geoffrey. Truth was, he knew that going against Geoffrey blindly specially given where he was at now, would be like running to a wall with his head in hopes for it breaking only to find that it was his own skull that has cracked. That's why whether it be on his investigations or his quest to ruin Serena, he had to get him out of the picture.

After a few seconds, Hugo got tired of waiting for a response. Wanting to revel more in his assumptive victory with words while breaking the silence, he said, "What now, Christopher? Cat got your tongue?"

Christopher shook his his head. "I'm just speechless with how utterly naive you can be. If I were to tell my father what you just said a while back with the same conviction, I have no doubts that I would be disowned before I could even make a sound of protest."

Hugo frowned. What was Christopher getting on about this time? In confusion, he turned to look at Charlton.

Charlton who was brought back from his reflection when the two started talking again met Hugo's eyes. Seeing his look of confusion, he shook his head and answered, "Hugo, that was indeed inconsiderate of you."

"Ok, fine. My apologies Christopher, but please do explain in plain English why that's the case before continuing with your sister's story."

Christopher sighed as if in exasperation when in truth it was of relief. Thankfully, that comment was brought up by Hugo and not any other person with more wisdom. At least if it were to happen again, he would not be caught off-guard like today.

TBC