Tangled By Fate

Chapter 453: THE PUNISHMENT

Duke De la Pole stood in front of the Magic Tower.

Looking at the proudly stood tower, his expression twisted. His expression said that he didn’t want to come here.

However, he didn’t have a choice. His beloved daughter had done something that made him take the blame for her behavior.

Cursing her daughter in his mind, he waited outside the gate.

He wasn’t a magician and so the gate didn’t open for him automatically.

Sebastian came to pick him up. “Duke De la Pole, I’m here to escort you to the Mistress.”

Looking at his bodyguard uniform, Duke De la Pole’s expression turned sour.

.....

“And how come the Mistress herself didn’t come to greet me? What kind of attitude is this?” he criticized Veronica’s behavior.

Sebastian coldly replied, “That’s because you are not here as an honored guest.”

Duke De la Pole frowned. “If I’m not a guest, then what am I?”

Sebastian replied, “Someone whose daughter dared to upset our Mistress. You are here to appease our Mistress. We are not here to honor you.”

Duke De la Pole became furious enough to make his face turn red but he said nothing.

When his servants wanted to follow the Duke, Sebastian stopped them

“The servants are not allowed,” he said.

“They are here to carry the gifts I bought for the Mistress of the Magic Tower,” Duke De la Pole replied.

Sebastian said firmly, “I can’t let you bring any suspicious item or some servants without our Mistress’s permission. Not after what your daughter did to our Mistress.”

His hostility was on point. Duke De la Pole couldn’t argue even though he felt insulted.

He signaled his servants to stay put and told Sebastian, “I’ll be taking only one of my servants. I hope it won’t anger Mistress Silverstar.”

“It won’t,’ Sebastian responded coldly. Afterward, he escorted him to Veronica’s office.

Veronica had an office that was recently decorated by Felix and Darius. Before today, she had never used this office.

Just to show Duke De la Pole her authority, she was using her office.

Sebastian knocked on the door before opening the door.

Veronica quickly checked her face one last time on the table mirror before straightening her back.

Duke De la Pole entered the room and saw Veronica wearing a purple gown. The gold necklace was sparkling in the magic lights.

Her red hair fell on her shoulder. The gold crown was perfectly placed on the top of her head, declaring her position in the Magic Tower.

She looked more dignified than any woman Duke De la Pole had ever seen.

“Duke De la Pole, welcome to the Magic Tower,” Veronica said.

No matter how high his rank was, compared to the Mistress of the Magic Tower, his power was nothing.

Thus, he had to bow to greet her. “Thank you for your invitation, Mistress of the Magic Tower. It’s an honor to finally meet you. I’ve received your letter.”

The corners of Veronica’s lips slightly curved. “So you shall. Please have a seat.” After the Duke sat down, she asked him, “Would you like some tea?”

“I’d love that.”

“Bring us rose tea,” Veronica ordered the servant beside her to bring tea.

That servant was none other than Catherine in disguise.

Her disguise was so perfect that Duke De la Pole would never find out when he would see the real Catherine in the future.

After Catherine bowed and left, Veronica looked at the Duke.

“Duke De la Pole, I’m sure you know exactly why you had to come here today despite you having a busy schedule.”

Duke De la Pole replied, “That’s right, Mistress Silverstar. I deeply apologize for the inconvenience my daughter has caused you. To appease your anger, I’ve brought some gifts.”

Although he apologized, he didn’t seem remorseful at all.

‘You don’t understand the seriousness of this issue, do you Duke? I’ll show you what I’m capable of,” Veronica thought inwardly.

“Gifts?” She raised an eyebrow. “Just what kind of gift can appease my anger? Your daughter knew who I was and deliberately tried to insult me in front of the nobles and her friends dared to make me look bad. Do they deserve my forgiveness?”

When Duke De la Pole first encountered Veronica, he didn’t take her that seriously.

She was expressionless but her face was a bit innocent. Because of her serious and sincere attitude, she looked a bit mature.

Anyone who would see her think that she didn’t know the way of the world.

That’s why when Duke De la Pole heard her question, he said, “I know Mistress Silverstar is upset and you have every right to do so.

“All I want you to see is the gifts I’ve brought for you. Then, you can decide what you want to do.”

After that, he signaled his servant. He bowed and left the room. After a long while, ten of his servants came with five large wooden boxes.

The servants put the boxes down on the floor and opened them.

Duke De la Pole said, “I present you silk clothes, gold pieces of jewelry and excellent pieces of stones that can make fine pieces of jewelry. I’ve brought them from the east. They are the best quality.”

Veronica silently stared at Duke De la Pole. Then, she stood up and strode toward the wooden boxes.

First, she checked the boxes. They were best quality boxes from the Duke’s mansion but they were used a lot.

None of the boxes were new. They had scratches and marks here and there.

After that, she scanned the pieces of jewelry and stones. She never had any interest in those things. So, she moved away and touched the silk clothes.

The moment she rubbed her fingers on the silk, she knew they were somewhat good quality. The clothes weren’t refined enough.

Veronica knitted her eyebrows. She coldly stared at Duke De la Pole and asked, “Is this supposed to be a joke?”

The Duke was standing there proudly. When he heard her question, he asked, “What do you mean?”

Veronica said, “You wanted to appease my anger after your daughter committed a crime. But where is your sincerity?”

“I still don’t understand, Mistress Silverstar. I was sincere when I gave you these presents,” Duke De la Pole said.

Veronica furrowed her eyebrows.

“Is that so? Then, do you think I’m from the street? I’ve grown up wearing the finest quality of silk. Do you think I don’t recognize the bad-quality silk you gave me as a gift?”

She wasn’t lying. Back when she grew up in the temple, the Royal Family often donated large amounts of silk clothes to the temple.

The Priests and Nuns make handmade clothes for the apprentices like Veronica and Catherine and equally distribute them.

From the youngest child to the oldest Priest or Nun, everyone had high-quality silk clothes. They would wear the clothes during festivals in the temple.

That’s why, before she married Arthur, she knew about silk’s quality.

After marriage, Arthur gave her high-quality clothes. She was so used to wearing them by now that she would tell just by looking what a good quality cloth was and what’s a bad quality.

When Duke De la Pole gifted her those silk clothes, he was clearly insincere. Moreover, he underestimated her knowledge.

“Do you think I came from the street; so, I couldn’t tell what high-quality silk is? The gold jewelry and the stones are cheap.

“I can tell just by looking at them. If that’s how you show your sincerity, you are making me angrier than I was before.”

Her cold tone expressed how angry she was.

But she was just acting. She wasn’t even angry. She didn’t care about gold, stones or silk.

She just needed to teach Duke De la Pole’s family a lesson.

Moreover, she made up that gold and stones were of bad quality.

She thought, ‘If silk is that quality, jewelry and stones cannot be that high quality either. Why don’t I give it a shot?’

That’s why she criticized gold and stones.

Duke De la Pole changed his expression. “I apologize for my actions that upset you. I didn’t think they weren’t high-quality items. I have poor judgment. The merchant must be a fraud. He gave me bad quality products.”

“In any case, you can take them away. I never touched low-quality products.” Veronica went back to her seat.

She added, “You have failed me, Duke De la Pole. You aren’t sincere. No wonder your daughter became as lousy as you. An apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Now prepare yourself for punishment.”

Duke De la Pole paled. “Please, Mistress Silverstar, calm down. I can still offer you something better than this.”

Veronica raised her chin. “What else do you think you can offer?”

Duke De la Pole hurriedly thought of something and said, “I’ll offer you the summer house from the west last. Please take it and forgive my daughter.”

.....

“A summer house?” Veronica wanted to laugh.

“Do you think the Mistress of the Magic Tower needs a summer house? We have all kinds of summer, autumn, winter and spring rooms in the tower. Who do you take me for? A homeless beggar?”