"I'll be honoured, my Lord." Camilla replied, the smile on her face evident in her voice.
"Father, what is this?" Juliet asked, feeling the news hit her like a ton of bricks.
"I'll have you know that no daughter of mine shall spend her marriageable years whistling alone in a garden and tending to roses."
"Father—"
"You shall make yourself as appealing as possible to the men that'll grace our estate this season. If you can't land a husband, you might as well move to another part of the country."
"Father—"
"That's enough from you. You've failed to get yourself a husband for the past three years. That is the most unusual behaviour." Peter said, his voice rising. Juliet knew nothing could be done to appease her father whenever he started to boilfrom within. The best thing to do was to keep quiet and not to fan the flames of his anger.
"Perhaps if you spent half the effort you do on the roses into looking for a husband, you might have gotten one by now." Adam said in his annoyingly sleek voice.
Juliet glared at Adam. He was enjoying this as he did anything that brought her misery. Camilla was still holding onto his arm. Juliet's eyes darted from him to her. She was staring back and had the most coy smile on her face. One that annoyed Juliet even more. Camilla was a social climber. That much was obvious. No one in their right mind would want to settle for her half-brother. Apart from his title and inherited wealth, he had nothing to offer. Adam couldn't hold long conversations without angering either the women he was engaging with or just women in general. Sometimes, she found it hard to believe they both came from the same father.
"This season, you have to get yourself, at the very least, a Marquess or an Earl." Adam continued. Juliet turned to look at her father, hoping he would do something and keep him quiet, but alas, Lord Peter's eyes were buried in his food once again.
"You have a substantial dowry. No man wouldn't want to be with you." Adam continued.
"Was that how you got her?" Juliet mentioned, turning towards Camilla, whose smile dropped almost instantly.
"Have you been hit on the head by a brick?" Adam's eyes widened in anger.
"I mean—your dowry was just as sizable as mine. Even more."
"Have you gone mad!?" Adam asked again, now rising from his seat.
"Remind me again, how did you and Camilla meet each other?"
"Father, are you going to watch her talk to me this way?" Adam asked, turning to look at Lord Peter.
"Perhaps we all need to simmer down." Aunt Grace said, her maternal instincts kicking in. "Adam, why don't you sit down and continue with your food? You know how Juliet can be sometimes."
"It's no surprise she can't find a husband." Adam replied, lowering himself onto his seat.
Aunt Grace rose from her chair and gently slid closer to Juliet.
"What did you do that for? You know how angry your brother can get." She said her voice in a mellow and admonishing whisper.
"Half-brother." Juliet corrected. "And I don't mind the anger at all. I don't think you should too."
"This isn't going to help anyone, Juliet." Aunt Grace continued. "You can't spend the rest of your life looking after roses."
"Why not?"
"Because you're a lady, Juliet. You can't think about what's good for yourself alone. You have to think about Willowbrook all the time. Not getting married on time is reflecting poorly on the estate. Come with me."
Aunt Grace rose from her seat one more time, took a short bow before Lord Peter, and exited the dining room. Juliet grabbed a glass of water and sipped it before doing the same. She could feel Adam's heated gaze in the back of her head as she slowly made her way out.
"So, I did not want to say this in front of your father because I do not want another war on my hands." Grace started, once they were out of earshot and in a quiet part of the court. A few guards stood still at the closest entrance, and some maids gently walked past them, quickening their steps once they saw Aunt Grace.
"What is it?"
"I have found a way for you to shed your wallflower ways. You say the problem is that these men only want you for your money and what you look like. Is that right?"
"Yes?" Juliet replied, narrowing her eyes. If she knew anything about her aunt, it was how eccentric and unusual her ideas might be sometimes.
