Stand By Me Darling
Chapter 110: Alliance

Chapter 110: Alliance

"This is a comfortable seat. No wonder Lord Clairmont wishes for this," Arthur said in a smooth voice but his curled lips revealed his intent of mockery.

Olivia sitting to the left of Arthur was mesmerised for a moment seeing the man to her right. His hand holding the cigar was on the armrest while he was leaning on the backrest casually with his right ankle over his left knee as he was shaking his feet.

His side profile with that clean shaven angular jaws, tall straight nose, the thin lips that curled up with mockery and those sharp eyes that followed Lord Clairmont, made her throat dry and she gulped unconsciously.

He is a hunk!

But soon she remembered this stinky man is the one who sank her father’s ships, saved Talia that other day and she had to leave Jared and be with this... "Prince" because of him.

Jared’s more cooler than this Arthur...

Yes! It is true! And I want to destroy Arthur!

Olivia said that twice in her heart to make herself stick to that truth.

Jared is the best!

Prince Edward noted the wandering eyes of Olivia and his hands automatically went for her hands. He held her hand inside his hands and placed it over his knee.

She is his!

Olivia gritted her teeth to control her thoughts. She just couldn’t bear to have her hand in between those sweaty, smelly paws of that man-child with abandonment issues and severe mother issues.

Seriously! Can he be any more clingy and cringy? Talia! It’s all your fault!

"Sinclair, You know very well Lord Clairmont is an avid supporter of Lord Brunton and in his absence he takes his place to speak on his behalf. It is you who have to explain your presence here, " Lord Reilley who is another board member of Northern Star and also a member of the Head Council tried to speak up for Lord Clairmont.

There are some talks among the lower level workers of Northern Star that they’d benefit more if their company is nationalised. Arthur knew the distributors of such thought among the workers are these two.

" Explain? "Arthur smirked, "Explain what? I bear the Crest of the Brunton family now. No one else have to bother themselves with the burden of speaking on behalf of Jerome. I’ll speak for myself!" he spoke with conviction and all the men in there were flabbergasted.

He is proclaiming himself as the Lord of the Oakley Castle?

The entire hall was filled with the harrumphs of the men while Arthur just silently leaned back on the seat.

The nobles in this assembly were not all smart with their finances and many of them are barely holding up their castles but they are smart enough to hold their position in the council for this long.

They all could infer from Arthur’s behaviour that either he has the strong backing of Jerome Brunton for him to speak this confidentially, or... Jerome is impaired to make the decision and Arthur is using this circumstances for his benefits. They all had doubts when they saw Jerome sitting for most of the time in last night’s party. He must be sick!

Also Arthur is a Boswell. It should be in his blood to betray a Brunton.

Not everyone trusted his " affectionate act" of staying with Jerome Brunton because he "loved" his granddaughter who is a murderer.

Not to mention they received credible news that she’s not in Rosandale either and is in A country dating other men.

What man can still be in love with such a frivolous woman? Like he is the first man with ambitions they’d met! All men want power and this one is smart enough to get what he wanted this early in his life. Who cares how he got it?

He got the golden apple; the goose laying golden eggs.

He got the Northern Star! He made his family proud! His grandfather must be smiling looking from above.

’If only my son had the same wisdom as this Boswell pig! While this Boswell was laying trap for the precious granddaughter of Brunton, my son got wasted away in bars and strip clubs! If my son had listened to me, I’d be sitting in the chair by now! The chair closer to the monarch! ’

Lord Clairmont was particularly devastated. But he still had some hopes.

Arthur took a glance at the men each in their own thoughts with no one bothering to say anything. Those who support Brunton won’t speak out since they don’t have all the details. Even if they had something to say, they’d be speaking directly with Jerome.

Those who are against Brunton will keep their silence since the sudden changes would have made them disoriented and they would want to change their plans accordingly.

The company... No one can convince all the workers to get nationalised. They are getting paid almost double as the government jobs. Why would they want to reduce their paychecks?

His sole purpose of coming here is to sow doubts and division among these nobles. These men all hated the others but stayed together because they found strength in numbers and wanted to maintain their authority. They all had secrets of each other and so everyone will keep their mouth shut and won’t go against the other.

But Jerome Brunton is another case. There isn’t anything they can say about him other than bringing up his granddaughter. Not to mention, his wealth. He is as rich as God! Many wanted a piece of his wealth. And hence they are pushing this nationalising idea. Once they nationalise Northern Star, they all can find themselves attached to each of the sub companies and pretend they own it.

Deplorables!

They all think Northern Star is a big cake with many tiers they all can cut and get a piece of to eat. But the truth is, Northern Star is a knitted sweater. If left undisturbed, it will give warmth. But once you cut a part from it to try and share, all you’d be left with are knotty woolen threads which will help no one.

Idiots!

Arthur’s face got hardened as he got angry and his eyes ended up at the big golden star, the emblem of their country, embedded at the middle of the table.

Esteria - Land of the star.

He knew his father and other ministers elected by the people worked hard for the welfare of the people but the bills passed by the Parliament will be rejected by these greedy men if it doesn’t work for them.

Despicable!

His vision shifted and ended up at the carvings in front of him. The corners of the table had carvings of laurel leaves, the symbol of the Brunton family. And that’s when he noted an abnormality in the carvings of the leaves.

Who dared to scratch this table made from a thousand year old oak that was in this exact place before the Assembly of Nobles was built on this hill?This table can be considered a sacred thing in this country.

There seemed to be to be letters scratched and he tried to read the letters.

N-N-A-Y-R-A-M-A-I-L-A-T

What is this?

Oh, It should be read from the bottom to top.

TALIA MARYANN

Look at that! How cute!

His hardened face relaxed immediately as he imagined the little girl, sitting on his grandfather’s lap using a tool in her hand to carve her name on the carvings of this thousand year old tree, not caring for anything else.

Ah, who is he kidding? Jerome wouldn’t have allowed her to carry tools. She probably carved it with a diamond. Only diamonds could carve this strong oak wood this sharply.

Did no one notice these scratches? This could be considered blasphemy!

’Oh, Iris! You never liked this place either, did you?’

His defined fingers traced gently over the scratchings of his Little Iris.

"Are you really not married with Talia, Mr. Sinclair?" Olivia asked placing her free hand on her cheek.

’This guy seems to be enjoying this seat so much. Did he actually pretend to be in love with Talia, that bitch?

But he did protect her. What was that about? Was that an act to make Jerome Brunton believe him? Come to think of it, Jerome Brunton has handed over his company to him after that incident. Could the other mercenary organisation be hired by Arthur? He didn’t want his plan to get spoilt and so he threatened my father? It is possible, entirely!

Ah, Olivia! You are the smartest! Talia was used! Ha, bitch! I want to say this to your face! Wait for it! ’

Olivia hid the evil laughter with a celebrity smile as she looked at Arthur with her googly eyes.

She saw Arthur darting his glance at her with a soft smile in his lips and her heart skipped a beat. And that’s when she knew. There is no man in this world who wouldn’t fall for her googly eyes. All the efforts she put and the money she spent to make her eyes look more attractive have paid off. This Arthur was no different. He fell for her eyes.

"Yes, it was the council who arranged the marriage between my brother and Talia. But they didn’t mind when I got married with Talia following the unfortunate accident of my brother. Both of us weren’t happy. Jerome felt the need to just pretend that the marriage was valid to not incur the wrath of the Council. I guess, I should apologise for that?" Arthur’s sharp eyes scrutinised everyone in that room and finally ended up at Lord Lockhart.

" What’s there for you to apologise?"Lord Lockhart patted Arthur on his shoulder with a chuckle, "All I want is the suffering of my son’s killer and everyone associated with them," his eyes became a bit dangerous and soon it became soft once more.

" For now I wish the Council agrees unanimously in denying Lady Talia’s entry inside our country."

"Hear! Hear!"

With that everyone nodded and agreed. They don’t want her here too.

What if she comes here and fights for a piece of Northern Star since it is her inheritance? That cannot be allowed! The less the amount of people to share, the biggest each piece will be. Simple, right?

They all knew Lockhart family despises the Brunton family especially Talia Brunton. By the way Lord Lockhart is aligning with Arthur, there seems to be a chance for something interesting to happen in the future.

Lockhart family is now siding with Boswell family to destroy Brunton family? Well, well.... Interesting!

No one in the Council knew Talia is not entirely responsible for Cyrus’ death. For now, the Lockhart family knew the culpability is not solely on Talia but she is needed to find the truth about Cyrus’ death.

At that time, Arthur noticed Lord Clairmont signalling Lord Reilley.

"Why is no one opposing this snake?" Prince Edward gritted his teeth. He hated Arthur, the commoner. How could he bear sitting beside him forever?

" Ehem" Lord Reilley cleared his throat, "May I suggest something?" he placed the glass he had in his hand on the table and everyone focused on him.

Arthur smirked..

Now what are they going to say?

"This council only accepts men with noble blood in these hallowed seats. I know much of us still have reservations about accepting a Sinclair in here. But let us think this through... Jerome Brunton was always a wise counsel among us and if he decided Arthur can take his place, he must have thought this through. We cannot say that Arthur here, stole Jerome’s brooch chain, can we? " he laughed and all the men followed suit.

They had to act along to survey the situation. No one wanted to talk first and look stupid.

" Also, It is not like the Sinclair family has no place in this council. The Boswell family used to share a seat in this council until some decades back. And which one of us can say with certainty that we don’t have a single drop of Boswell blood in us?... "

Lord Reilley went on with his speech and Prince Edward felt his temper rising. As he was about to interfere, Olivia stopped him. She wanted to know what happens next.

Fool! How could he have not realise the Council will decide this way?

Prince Edward’s anger subsided as Olivia rubbed the back of his hands with her thumb. She is such a sweet person who would quell his anger easily. She really cares for him.

"What are you suggesting?" Lord Wallace interrupted Lord Reilley.

"What I am suggesting is... Even though we accept Arthur among us, the other commoners might rise up against us and think that anyone can enter the council now that..." he wandered off again.