The Duke's Daughter's Third Life

Chapter 37

The summer heat was slowly dying down and the air grew chillier. Trees in different shades of green gradually shifted into red-orange-yellow tones signalling autumn was arriving.

Aeliana was dressed in a mint-coloured jumper dress paired with matching coloured shoes. In her hair were two ribbons at the side of her head, just above the ears. Her family was having a small celebratory dinner for Leon as he had received an acceptance letter from the academy not too long ago.

"Let's go now, my lady." Flora spoke to her.

She nodded and followed Flora to the dining hall where everyone else was at. When she arrived, she took a seat beside her father.

"Now that everyone is here, let's have dinner." Cassian said with a wide smile on his face.

The servants began placing plates of food onto the table and Aeliana could see it was slightly different than the usual meals as this meal was fancier.

"I had the chefs make your favourite food, Leon." Cassian said.

Leon nodded and shot his father a small smile, "Thank you father though today's meals weren't necessary."

Cassian shook his head, "You worked hard on studying and getting into the academy, of course, it calls for a celebration."

"I see..thank you for this then, father."

The conversation ended just like that and everyone began eating. Aeliana felt like the way Leon spoke to their father was stiff and very formal however when she glanced at her father, it seems like that's the way they converse as her father didn't seem fazed by it.

"Brother Leon, does that mean you will be leaving?" Darius questioned.

Leon nodded, "Yes, I'll be leaving in two weeks so I have to prepare everything before that."

"Oh..you're leaving?" Marius muttered, his eyes cast downwards.

"I will be back during the breaks and holidays."

"Really? So can you still spar with me when you come back?" Marius asked, his eyes shining brightly.

"Of course."

Hearing Leon's answer, Marius no longer looked sad and continued eating his meal. Aeliana's eyes shifted over to Leon who had a straight posture and a blank expression on his face. She could hear Madam's voice in her head telling her how excellent Leon's posture and dinner etiquette skills are.

Suddenly he made eye contact with her. A bit caught off guard, she hurriedly looked away and shoved some food into her mouth.

She didn't notice that Leon's eyes were still on her until the very end. As the celebratory dinner came to an end, Aeliana decided to head to the library to grab a book to read for the night.

She looked through different bookshelves before deciding to settle on an animal book. Satisfied, she headed back to her room. As she reached out to open the door to leave the library, it swung open, startling her.

She took a step back, not expecting the door to open abruptly. Gazing upwards, she and Leon made eye contact, both frozen on the spot as neither of them expected to bump into one other.

"Why are you still awake?" Leon first spoke, raising an eyebrow at her.

Aeliana held out the book and replied, "I was looking for a book to read."

He read the title of the book and glanced back at her.

"An animal book?"

"That's right, what's wrong with that?" she held a defensive pose as she spoke.