New World with Four Husbands-Chapter 627: Introducing her friends
"That smells so good." Coco said, her eyes wide with delight, as if she wasn’t crying just an hour ago.
"It does?" Cleora hummed and turned to look at her daughter, but she visibly froze when her attention landed on Coco’s red and puffy eyes, and before she could ask what was wrong, she quickly stopped herself from doing so.
Instead, she cleared her throat and flashed Coco a smile. "It’s lasagna. It’s been a while since I last made it, so I figured why not make it today?"
"I’m glad you found the ingredients you need." Coco hummed, walking over to the table and taking a set on Jacques’ left, and Coco’s vacant spot on her left was immediately taken by Heiren.
"Of course, it’s not that different here." Cleora stated, the mother and daughter duo’s words were cryptic enough to not let Jacques’ and her mediators know what they were talking about since Renaldo and Jonathan were still left in the dark.
Coco could only laugh at her mother’s sentence before turning to look at Jacques, wanting to ask what she may want to eat.
But Coco found her friend staring at Cleora with wide eyes, disbelief and horror crossing her features, then, as if sensing Coco’s puzzled stare, Jacques turned to her.
"You didn’t tell me that your mother is literally the Duchess of the north and is the only heiress of the House Dilitriodix!" The pink haired woman hissed, her voice cracking slightly.
"House Dilitriodix?" Coco blinked, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
"Yes." Jacques grumbled, shifting uncomfortably in her seat as she looked away from Coco and glanced at Cleora’s way. "Didn’t you know that there are two Dukedoms in this world? And one of the duchy belongs to the family of Dilitriodix!"
Coco blinked again, nodding her head absentmindedly because wow, the woman’s body her mother had taken control of died.
Which means.. My mother is the ruler of the original Duchess’ land now? Coco thought, her eyes shifting towards her mother who was busy placing the dishes on the table.
"Mother, let me help." Alhai said, walking beside Cleora and trying to give the older woman some assistance, but she glared at him. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦
She refused to let the children, or so she called them, help to prepare the table.
She’s the one who wants to meet Coco’s friends so she will deal with cooking the food they will share with each other, preparing the table, and serving them the said meal, because that’s what good mothers do.
But it didn’t sit right with the others, so Heiren, Alhai, Kairo, and Richard tried to help.
Cleora is Coco’s mother, someone who is very important to her, so why would they let her do all the grunt work?
But the woman herself was stubborn as a mule and merely continued to shoo them away from the kitchen the whole time Coco was outside to fetch Zaque and her friends.
By the time Coco got back, Cleora was already done and they were not able to help with a single thing.
Alhai flinched upon seeing the glare and could only let out a sigh. "Okay.. I’ll take a seat."
Coco watched the interaction and couldn’t help, but giggle a little. The mediators already looked incredibly handsome for her eyes, but strangely, they only grew more attractive over the days.
Is it possible to just keep falling in love with them? Coco thought, the corner of her crinkling as she smiled gleefully.
"Stop staring at him and listen to what I’m saying, Coco!" Jacques whined, her voice barely above whisper as she nudged Coco with her elbow. "Are you not shocked to know that your mother is literally the Duchess of the north? This means that you’re the heiress!"
Coco’s eyebrows furrowed and she glanced at Jacques, shaking her head. "But that’s not how it works is it? I’m not blood related to her or anything."
"You don’t have to be blood related." Jacques mumbled under her breath, her head dipping low to avoid suspicion. "I don’t know what it is like in your world, but here.. The ruler of the two duchy can choose their own successor, blood related or not."
"Is it because they are powerful enough to do whatever they want?" Coco whispered back, dipping her head low as well.
"Yeah, it’s because they are powerful." Jacques said, accompanied with a single nod of her head.
"But I’m the Baroness’ daughter, who got disowned.. And a person like me lives longer than the average human life in this world." Coco murmured, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "I can’t be the successor. In fact, I don’t even know if my mother would want me to be the successor of the original Duchess’ land."
It was Jacques’ turn to be confused. "Why not? You’re her daughter, aren’t you?"
"Yes—"
"That’s exactly why I don’t want her to be my successor." Cleora’s voice sounded loud and clear as she inserted herself between the two whispering women, causing them to tense up in their seats.
"She’s my daughter. I want her to enjoy her life and worry about herself rather than worry about other people." Cleora explained, her voice lilt with a matter of fact tone. "Out of all my children, Coco’s not the type to rule over a land, but your worry is heard, dear."
Coco laughed nervously and looked up, finding her mother standing right behind them. "H-How long have you been listening, mama?"
"Long enough to know that she knows about us." Cleora answered, her lips curled into a knowing smile as she glanced at Jacques. "Does your husbands know, dear?"
"They don’t, ma’am." Jacques swallowed thickly, her hand quickly finding Renaldo’s under the table. "I-I want Coco to tell them herself.."
Cleora blinked, her emerald irises twinkling with joy. "Ah, I see! You’re such a wonderful friend!"
"She is." Coco sighed heavily and turned Jacques head away. "Which is why you shouldn’t drive her away by sneaking up on us and eavesdropping on our conversation."
