Chapter 1116: Chapter 96: Monsoon (End)_3

A stout middle-aged maid knocked lightly on the door: “Miss Catherine, please come downstairs for a meal.”

“I know.” Catherine turned over, lazily replied.

“Please come downstairs for a meal.”

“I know.”

The middle-aged maid remained persistent: “Please come downstairs for a meal.”

Catherine jumped out of bed, yanked open the door, and shouted angrily: “I know!”

The middle-aged maid remained calm, unwavering: “Please come downstairs for a meal.”

“I…” Catherine’s breath caught, and after a moment of speechlessness, she replied dejectedly: “I’m coming.”

“I am waiting for you.” The middle-aged maid bowed.

With the “accompaniment” of the middle-aged maid, Catherine slowly walked down the stairs.

Ever since she returned home, Lady Navarre had assigned her a new personal maid. This maid meticulously executed Lady Navarre’s orders–never letting Miss Catherine out of her sight.

Upon reaching the dining room, Catherine didn’t see her mother–beside the dining table were only her sister Olivia and her grandfather.

For some reason, Catherine had always been a little afraid of her grandfather since she was a child. As soon as she entered the dining room, she promptly went to her grandfather’s side and greeted him obediently.

Mr. Ola seemed to have just nodded off. Between his drooping eyelids, a slit appeared. He glanced at Catherine with blurred, presbyopic eyes, mumbled, and nodded.

Catherine exhaled a long breath, returned to her seat, and casually asked her sister, “Where’s Mom?”

“Mom went out.” Olivia replied in her childish voice.

“What did she go out for?”

“I don’t know.”

Just as Anna deemed Catherine inferior to herself, Catherine regarded her sister in the same way. She snorted gently: “Then what do you know?”

“I know–” Olivia deliberately drew out her words: “She won’t let you go out.”

Catherine was about to lose her temper but suddenly remembered her grandfather was still present. She gripped her fork and glared fiercely at her sister.

Olivia tapped her cup triumphantly, assuming the manner of the head of the household, and in her childish voice, instructed the maid: “Serve the meal, Miss Bethany.”

The silver platter was brought to the dining table, and Catherine absentmindedly stirred the pale red liquid in her bowl with her spoon, not taking a single bite.

The chef at Navarre Manor could not be found in the remote and isolated Iron Peak County. The ingredients used at Navarre Manor were something Catherine could not enjoy in the austere home of Captain M.

During her days in Iron Peak County, Catherine dreamed every day of the sumptuous dishes at home, the exquisite meals, and the tea time in the small drawing-room.

Yet when she finally left the disliked Paratu and returned to the manor in Sea Blue, she found herself uninterested in everything.

She began to feel bored, the exquisite silver platters, the soft bed, the silk gowns… are all nice, but all boring.

Because she was confined, Catherine hadn’t been able to attend any balls since returning to Sea Blue, but she didn’t feel lost–the thought of being the center of attention at a ball seemed less intriguing.

In the quiet of the night, Catherine occasionally found herself terrifyingly nostalgic for the booming cannons of the Revodan siege battle, for the touch of wind brushing her cheeks as she galloped across the open fields, for the sense of achievement when she and Anna finished reorganizing a mountain of bad debts…

“Why aren’t you eating?” Olivia asked, whether intentionally or unintentionally: “Catherine?”

“I’m thinking…” Catherine absentmindedly stirred her clear soup with her silver spoon, lost in thought, “Anna might still be gnawing on black bread.”

Olivia instinctively shrank her neck.

In the current Navarre Manor, “Anna” was a forbidden word. Anyone mentioning Anna Navarre would provoke Lady Navarre’s furious punishment.

“You, you, you…” Olivia stammered: “What did you say?”

“I said Anna is still gnawing on black bread!” Catherine shouted at everyone, as if venting all her pent-up frustrations: “And you all act like she doesn’t exist! Treat her like she’s dead!”

All the servants present remained silent, while Olivia screamed “I’m going to tell Mom!” and ran out of the dining room.

Only the drowsy old Mr. Ola slowly lifted his drooping eyelids, looked at Catherine seriously for the first time, then continued to lower his head to sip his soup.

“Don’t worry.” Mr. Ola said.

Just then, a servant knocked and announced: “Miss Catherine, Lieutenant Tang Juan is here to visit.”

“Please let him in!” Catherine stood up cheerfully and immediately wanted to leave the dining table.

But she remembered her grandfather was still there, so she tentatively glanced at him.

“Go.” Mr. Ola said without raising his head.

With permission granted, Catherine dashed out of the dining room like the wind.

Outside Navarre Manor, Lieutenant Tang Juan looked up at the overcast sky and touched his cheek.

“It’s going to rain.” He muttered to himself.

…

[Inner Sea]

[Red Sulfur Harbor]

Red Sulfur Harbor has now replaced Haidong Port as the new home port of the Vineta Inner Sea fleet.

Having just concluded a secret negotiation, Rear Admiral Antonio Serviati stepped out of the cabin of the Inner Sea fleet flagship, [The Glorious], and onto the deck.

He had made a decision that might affect the fate of many, but what kind of outcome this decision would lead to, only time would tell.

“It’s going to rain.” Admiral Nalesho, who was the second to walk onto the deck, said.