Chapter 318

Jacob's face remained expressionless as he issued an order to the guards. “Escort His Highness back to entertain the guests. He is not to leave the estate until tomorrow evening, when the wedding procession begins. If he leaves before then, all the guards will have their salaries docked for three months.”

With Jacob's command, the guards turned their hawk-like eyes to Rafael, forcing him to step back. Slowly, Rafael retreated, moving increasingly further from the entrance.

Rafael rolled his eyes. “What are you all trying to do? I just had a bit too much to drink while entertaining the guests. I wanted to go out and get some fresh air to sober up.”

Jacob gave another order. “Bring a bucket of hangover remedy for the prince.”

A whole bucket?!

Rafael glared at Jacob furiously, but Jacob remained unmoved, his heart as hard as a stone. Even if Rafael looked at him as if he wanted to gouge his eyes out, it didn’t faze Jacob.

Luke, who had been running around nonstop, came jogging over. Despite the cold weather, he was sweating from all the work and used a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

“Your Highness, can’t you just give everyone a break? Who goes running to the bride’s house the day before the wedding? People would laugh at you if they heard about it!”

“Fine, whatever. Stop nagging,” Rafael waved him off irritably. “I’ll go back and have a few more drinks with Davis. That old guy’s been here for two meals already, and while everyone else has left, he’s still drinking.”

“Hey, you can’t say that! Keep your voice down. Mr. Lloyd came as a sign of respect,” Luke whispered.

He wished he could somehow seal Rafael’s mouth shut. These past few days, the usually composed prince had been saying things bound to offend someone.

Rafael shot him a stern look from his lofty height before striding back inside to entertain the guests.

Meanwhile, Helen was busy hosting the women. With her son getting married, she was reveling in the attention, changing outfits five or six times a day and swapping out her jewelry sets just as frequently. In the palace, no matter how much she flaunted her finery, there were only the other noble concubines to witness it. Perhaps when visiting Victoria, Helen might show off a bit when the more junior concubines came to pay their respects to the queen dowager. But outside the palace, it was a different story altogether. There were so many noblewomen, so many matriarchs of prestigious families, and the wives of countless officials. Over the past two days of hosting banquets, Helen had barely managed to recognize a third of them. Seeing all these women bowing their heads humbly in her presence greatly satisfied Helen’s vanity. With the new daughter-in-law yet to enter the household, Helen was already planning to host more banquets after the wedding to establish her authority as the mother-in-law.

Chapter 318 +25 BONUS

Eleanor was always hosting banquets, wasn’t she? Helen thought she should learn from Eleanor. After the wedding, she planned to visit the makeup shop. She wanted to figure out why the business had been doing so poorly for so long and why it constantly needed more funds.

Eleanor and Jessica didn’t attend the banquet. They were probably waiting until the wedding day to make their appearance. Trevor and Jeremiah’s family hadn’t come either, likely saving their arrival for the main event tomorrow.

After showing off with several outfit changes, Helen decided she had done enough for the day and headed to the newlyweds’ suite for a quick inspection.

The suite was set up in Orchid Hall, where everything was themed around orchids—a flower Helen didn’t particularly like. She had even suggested changing the name, but her son was adamant about keeping it. He said that while other matters were negotiable, this name was not.

At least the orchids, which had been transplanted two or three times, hadn’t blossomed yet, which was a small comfort to her. However, the newlyweds’ residence still didn’t make her happy.

It was quite large, combining two courtyards, with a spacious yard and big buildings. Since there were two courtyards, there were naturally two main buildings. One was located on the east side, while the other was on the west side. The eastern side was the living quarters, while the western side housed the study and storage rooms. The expansive courtyard was connected throughout, and they had even built a few additional rooms to the north, supposedly for the servants who would attend to the couple.

What a joke! Who ever heard of servants living in the same courtyard as the lord and lady of the household? It was one thing for the maids, since they had to stay nearby to be on duty at night, but if the male attendants and servants were to live here too, it would be laughable.

Helen hadn’t seen her son treat the household servants this generously before. Could it be that he was preparing accommodations for Carissa’s maids and servants? It seemed he was really serious about Carissa. Had he forgotten the woman he was once infatuated with? So much for his previous declarations of undying love. He claimed he would never marry anyone else if he couldn’t have her. So what was this now?