Chapter 526: Lady Dunne

When Viscount Norah Dunne’s head steward burst into her office and announced that His Royal Highness Prince Landon was at their front gates and requesting an audience, the mature woman nearly had her heart leap out of her rather voluminous chest.

A Tenth Step Sea Establishment Practitioner at the age of 69, Norah had been head of the Dunne Family for nearly 30 years now after inheriting the title from her late father, but in all that time, her home had never once been patronized by anyone above the Count-rank.

Now, suddenly, an honest-to-goodness prince was knocking at her door, and not just any prince, but one who was directly in line for the throne!

This is a Heavens-sent opportunity! The ambitious woman thought to herself as she hastily set aside the documents she was reviewing and began fixing her hair and smoothing out her dress.

Normally, as a powerful Viscount, Norah would have had a maid, or several maids for that matter, primp and prepare her for a meeting with a member of the royal family, but there was simply not enough time for that right now; she couldn’t keep Prince Landon waiting, after all.

As she was racing down the hall of her Manor, Norah got all the details she could from the steward running right behind her.

Apparently, the favoured son of the Crown Princess was here together with the leaders of the military unit he was currently serving with, along with, shockingly, officers from the Rockwell Kingdom.

Norah was naturally stunned to hear that soldiers from the enemy nation were together with the prince, but she didn’t fixate on that point for long, figuring it must be some complicated diplomatic situation that was far above her purview.

"Did His Highness mention the purpose of their visit?" Viscount Dunne asked, though she had a fairly good guess already.

"His Highness requested we host him and his guests tonight as the local ruling house," the middle-aged steward reported promptly.

Excellent! Norah had to work really hard not to cheer.

If she did a good job handling Prince Landon’s sudden request and was able to earn his appreciation, it would do wonders for her and the Dunne Family. What’s more, her youngest and most talented son just happened to be visiting home tonight.

Jasper Dunne wasn’t much compared to those genius children of high noble houses, only reaching the Fifth Step Core Formation Realm despite turning 24 not long ago, but he had worked hard for the past 5 years to earn himself a Captain’s rank in the Gateway City Army.

Norah was quite proud of her youngest child and though she doubted he could become ’friends’ with someone as illustrious as Prince Landon, as long as Jasper could make a good impression, that would be enough to open a few doors which had previously been closed to him.

As she was thinking so, however, Norah recalled her son’s biggest flaw and couldn’t help frowning, asking quietly, "Were there any young, beautiful women around the prince?"

*Gulp...*

"Answer me," Norah demanded, already getting a bad feeling from her head steward’s awkward silence.

Knowing it would only be moments before his Lady saw for herself, the steward choked down his discomfort and nodded, "There was indeed such a woman from the Rockwell Kingdom’s delegation."

Her brow twitching slightly, Norah inquired further, "How pretty was she?"

"The most beautiful young woman I have ever seen in my life," the steward replied while wiping the sweat from his brow.

Damn it! Viscount Dunne cursed to herself as she picked up her pace significantly.

Even setting aside her motherly bias, Norah believed her son Jasper was pretty a exceptional young man, but he was also quite licentious and tended to lose himself when it came to beautiful women. She didn’t think he was foolish enough to try hitting on the guest of, or worse yet, the partner of their kingdom’s most talented prince, but she also couldn’t rule out the possibility.

I have to get there first! Norah steadied herself as she now practically sprinted towards the front hall, all while calling out to the steward desperately trying to keep up with her, "Fetch my husband and have the kitchen staff start preparing the finest meal possible!"

Slowing down just as she was rounding the corner, Viscount Norah Dunne was extremely thankful she didn’t arrive to the dramatic scene of her son being slapped by the young, silver-haired woman who immediately caught her eye.

Myles wasn’t exaggerating, she really is a stunning beauty in the making, stepping forward at a measured pace, Norah thought to herself as she briefly examined the girl her head steward had described to her.

Fortunately, it seemed her son had not yet made it here, otherwise there surely would have been trouble.

Swiftly sweeping her eyes over the rest of this group, Norah could tell that not only were there several very strong soldiers among them, they also carried themselves with great calm and poise, regardless which kingdom they belonged to.

This could mean one of two things, they were either extremely confident, or extremely arrogant; Norah was leaning much more heavily towards the former.

She was ambitious, but she wasn’t a fool and also had decades of political experience, so Norah felt her judgement when it came to people was quite sharp.

Shifting her gaze back to the only young girl amongst the crowd, Norah was particularly impressed with her, not just because of her looks, but more-so because she was standing next to Prince Landon without the slightest hint of discomfort, as if the two of them were equals.

This also wasn’t some kind of false bravado. Norah had met plenty of talented young daughters in her life, but none had anywhere near the noble aura this young lady possessed.

Taking note of this, Norah smiled politely as she approached close enough to speak without shouting, "Greetings, Your Highness. I am Viscount Norah Dunne, you honour my family and house with your presence."

Nodding back, Landon returned the greetings, "Thank you for accommodating us on such short notice, Lady Dunne. Your hospitality is most gracious."

"Hohoho, think nothing of it, Your Highness," Norah bowed elegantly before turning to the silver-haired girl, "Forgive my ignorance, but I’m afraid I do not recognize you, Young Lady. Might I ask for your name?"