From Ashes of Scandals to His Embrace novel Chapter 469

The knock at the door came right as the doorbell chimed. The butler stepped out from the back kitchen, barely missing a beat, and made his way to see who it was.

Adolphus glanced at Edison and Orville, his voice dropping to a low whisper. “You guys didn’t tell anyone you were coming, right?”

Edison and Orville set their chopsticks down and shook their heads without hesitation. “Nope. Egan told us to keep it quiet before we even left. If word got out that you’re in Cabinda, it definitely wasn’t from us.”

They looked so honest that Adolphus immediately accepted their answer. He turned to Laurinda, puzzling over who else would bother showing up at this hour.

A few minutes later, the butler returned, this time with two more guests in tow. Laurinda recognized them and blinked in surprise.

“What are you doing here?”

“We came for a free meal, obviously,” Irvin said, grinning wide.

He and Teddy grabbed chairs and plates from the butler, didn’t even wait to be invited, and started piling food onto their plates like it was nothing out of the ordinary.

Watching them make themselves comfortable, Laurinda could only shake her head to herself. She didn’t need to guess who brought Irvin along. Hardly anyone knew her actual address, but Teddy was definitely one of the exceptions.

After dinner, Adolphus slipped away with Egan and Sam, heading to his study in the smaller courtyard to get some work done.

York led Edison and Orville off to a different tea room, keen to discuss some project details for the company.

Meanwhile, Laurinda fired up a video game with Seraphina, Teddy, and Irvin. She was totally in her element, sniping her way through a theme park battle royale. Seraphina, holding a recall flare gun, was hiding in a bathroom and practically shaking from nerves. The other two were running all over the place, grabbing loot as fast as they could.

She always treated Teddy like family, trusted him with pretty much everything, and sometimes even had him help out when it wouldn’t interfere with his schoolwork.

“Is Cabinda getting a tournament stop? I want to get tickets,” Teddy asked, his eyes lighting up.

Now that he knew the season had started, he was dying to watch a match live.

“What tournament?” Seraphina cut in. She’d been listening and was instantly interested. She’d always liked esports, and whenever there was a tournament in Cabinda, she tried to go watch.

“It’s Titans’ Clash. Seraphina, have you played it before?” Teddy perked up right away, getting chatty just talking about games. He spent most of his life buried in lab work, so gaming was pretty much his favorite way to escape. Knowing Laurinda actually owned a team just added to his excitement.

“Yeah… I’ve played, but I’m pretty bad. Honestly, all my national-level trophies were won for me by people I paid to carry me.”