Chapter 44: Chapter 44: Luncheon planning

Delphine Rosenroth was in her winter sitting room when the notification arrived.

The manor was quiet in the cultivated way she preferred, no raised voices, no hurried footsteps, only the low murmur of servants moving with purpose and the faint clink of porcelain somewhere beyond the door. She sat near the tall window, sunlight filtering through sheer curtains, a cup of tea cooling untouched beside her.

Her tablet chimed softly.

Delphine glanced at it without urgency. Very few things were allowed to interrupt her day without prior approval. Fewer still managed to do so twice.

The courting application’s crest glowed briefly before resolving into text.

Charitable Gala. Attendance Update

Lord Rafael Rosenroth

Partner: Duke Gregoris Frasner of Alamina

Delphine read it once.

Then again, more slowly.

A smile touched her lips wide, pleased in a way that would make others A smile that belonged to a woman who had just confirmed a suspicion she had been nurturing for weeks.

“So,” she murmured, lifting the cup at last and taking a delicate sip. “You have finally decided to move.”

Rafael attending a gala was not news. Rafael attending with a duke, that duke, was something else entirely. Gregoris Frasner was not a man people drifted toward accidentally, so Rafael had started to react…

Delphine’s smile sharpened. She rose from her chair and crossed the room slowly, tablet still in hand, heels clicking softly against polished floors. The date caught her eye next.

A month.

Plenty of time.

Delphine had always believed in timing. Proposals were not announcements; they were inevitabilities introduced politely. And Rafael, for all his intelligence, still underestimated how easily inevitability could be engineered when people mistook planning for coincidence.

“This may finally be the moment,” she said to the empty room.

Her thumb hovered briefly over the communicator before she activated it.

“Anna,” Delphine said when her sister answered, her voice warm and already pleasant. “Are you free?”

“For you?” Anna replied dryly. “Always. What’s happened?”

Delphine moved back toward the window, gaze drifting out over the manor grounds. “I’d like you to organize a luncheon.”

Anna paused. “That’s never just a luncheon.”

Delphine smiled again. “Something small, innocent, only for the family,” she said lightly.

“Define small.”

“Two of your sons,” Delphine replied. “Anatoli. Kendall. And Rafael.”

Silence, then a soft, thoughtful sound from Anna. “That’s… one of your plans.”

“Yes.”

Anna sighed. “When?”

“In two weeks.”

Anna hummed. “You’re sure?”

“I am,” Delphine said calmly. “The timing is ideal. I want for Rafael to find out that he has a marriage proposal from his gala partner; better have it delivered with flair.”

“And the location?”

Delphine’s gaze flicked to the clock. “At Moon Lotus,” she said. “Peak hour. I want their table to be as visible as possible.”

Anna laughed quietly. “Of course you do.”

“It must feel spontaneous,” Delphine continued. “As though the idea simply occurred to you sons. I want it to be a surprise… He still has to pay for delaying his coming-of-age presentation. Let him believe I’m just silent…”

“For now,” Anna said.

“For now,” Delphine agreed.

Delphine settled back into her chair, crossing one leg over the other with unhurried grace, the smile still lingering at the corner of her mouth like a private indulgence.

“Moon Lotus,” Anna repeated on the other end, already resigned. “At peak hour. You do realize that half the capital will pretend not to stare and fail spectacularly.”

“That’s the point,” Delphine replied serenely. “If Rafael is going to be surprised, it should be memorable. Subtlety is wasted on him when he’s being stubborn.”

“He calls it principled,” Anna said dryly.

Delphine snorted, an inelegant sound she didn’t bother to hide. “Of course he does. He always does when he thinks he’s being clever.”

There was a brief pause, then Anna’s tone shifted into a lighter one. “You’re really convinced this duke is the right lever?”

Delphine tilted her head, watching the light shift across the garden hedges. “Gregoris Frasner is many things,” she said thoughtfully. “Predictable is not one of them. Which makes him excellent motivation.”

“And you’re not concerned Rafael will react badly?” Anna pressed. “You know how he gets when he thinks he’s being cornered.”

Delphine’s smile softened, just a fraction, into something almost fond. “Rafael reacts badly when he’s ambushed,” she corrected. “This isn’t an ambush. This is… context.”

Anna laughed outright this time. “You are terrifying.”

“I prefer prepared.”

“And my sons?” Anna asked. “You want Anatoli and Kendall to… what, exactly? Charm him? Intimidate him?”

Delphine waved a dismissive hand, though Anna couldn’t see it. “Heavens, no. I want them to be themselves.”

“That’s not reassuring.”

“It doesn’t need to be,” Delphine said lightly. “Anatoli is earnest to the point of discomfort, and Kendall can’t help advertising his ambitions. Rafael will draw his own conclusions without any prompting at all.”

“You’re using my children as atmosphere,” Anna said.

“Yes,” Delphine replied without hesitation. “But an affectionate atmosphere.”

Anna sighed again, though there was amusement threaded through it now. “You really believe he’s ready for this?”

Delphine lifted her teacup again, swirling the liquid thoughtfully before taking a measured sip. “I don’t care if he is. This is his punishment for hiding from me. I have no intention of accepting the Emperor’s bloodhound as my son-in-law; I’m just using his proposal to frighten Rafael.”

Anna went very still on the other end of the line.

“Oh,” she said at last. “So this is spite.”

Delphine smiled, unrepentant. “Discipline,” she corrected. “Spite would involve tears.”

“You’re dangling a marriage contract in front of him like a blade and calling it parenting.”

“I raised him to understand leverage,” Delphine replied mildly. “It would be rude not to use it.”

Anna let out a soft laugh, the kind that meant she was already picturing Rafael’s expression. “He’s going to hate you.”

“He already does,” Delphine said pleasantly. “In phases.”

“And Gregoris Frasner?” Anna asked. “You’re quite sure he’s… expendable?”

Delphine’s smile sharpened again, thin and knowing. “Oh, no. He’s not expendable at all. That’s precisely why he’s useful.”

She set her cup down carefully, porcelain clicking once against the saucer. “Gregoris frightens Rafael. Not in the crude way men like him often frighten people, but in the way that unsettles his sense of control. He can’t catalogue him. He can’t dismiss him. And now…”

“Rafael asked Gregoris to be his partner voluntarily.” Delphine leaned back, satisfied. “Which means Rafael believes he’s steering this. I’m simply… reminding him that other hands exist on the wheel.”

Anna hummed. “You do realize that if this backfires, you might actually get what you claim not to want.”

Delphine laughed softly. “If Rafael truly wanted Gregoris Frasner as a husband, I’d already know. He doesn’t. He wants distance and invisibility while being a noble.”

“And you’re going to show him he can’t.”

“I’m going to show him,” Delphine said calmly, “that every choice he makes echoes. Even the ones he tells himself are temporary.”

Anna sighed, long-suffering but fond. “I’ll warn Anatoli not to propose to random girls again and Kendall not to brag too loudly.”

“Oh, don’t,” Delphine said. “Let them be insufferable. Rafael always thinks more clearly when he’s annoyed.”

There was a pause, then Anna’s voice softened. “You do love him, you know.”

Delphine’s gaze drifted back to the window, to the immaculate gardens she had shaped hedge by hedge over decades. “Of course I do,” she said quietly. “That’s why I refuse to let him disappear into cleverness and think it’s independence.”

She picked up her cup again, the tea now at the perfect temperature.

“Two weeks,” she added lightly. “Moon Lotus. Peak hour. Make sure the table is impossible to ignore.”

Anna laughed. “I’ll see what I can do.”

The call ended.

Delphine remained where she was, satisfied, already imagining the luncheon with the polite smiles, the too-loud clink of cutlery, and the moment Rafael would answer his comm and hear about the contract.

“A gala date,” she murmured to herself. “A duke with a proposal. And a son who thinks silence protects him.”

Her smile returned.

“Let’s see how long you last,” Delphine Rosenroth said softly, and lifted her teacup in a quiet, anticipatory toast.

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