Chapter 476 The Fight for the Duncans’ ‘King of Chess’ Throne
Eric obediently followed after Alexander, who was carrying his luggage, as soon as Alexander’s figure, which covered half the door, had gone out. While carrying and pulling the luggage all by himself, Eric didn’t forget to fawn.
“As long as you take good care of the Young Mistress.”
Upon hearing that, Alexander quickly clasped his fingers around Courtney’s slender ones. He had a loving look in his eyes as he lowered his gaze to look at her.
“Let’s go home, my wife,” he cooed sweetly.
Her expression remained impassive as she was used to hearing him say things like this. However, this was the first time Eric had heard the young master he had served for years speak in such a mushy tone. He was so surprised that he lost his footing. He then pushed the luggage wheels off the ground, and the luggage fell with a loud thud.
“Did you not have dinner?” a gloomy voice rang out from behind, obviously displeased. Despite the darkness of the dawn, it was easy to see the nervous sweat on Eric’s light blue shirt as the clumsy man hurried to pick up the fallen luggage.
Courtney couldn’t help but pity him as she watched him frightfully stuff the luggage into the trunk of the vehicle.
After the couple had gotten into the car, Alexander leaned against Courtney’s shoulders. At that moment, he looked somewhat exhausted with a frown on his face.
Eric tried his absolute best to keep the drive smooth, and when he saw the couple asleep through the rearview mirror, he finally heaved a breath of relief. However, the ringing of a phone at that moment immediately broke the peaceful silence in the car.
Alexander took out his phone from the pocket of his shirt.
At the same time, Courtney, too, reached into her bag and fished for her phone with her eyes closed.
The two unconsciously exchange looks after getting calls at the same time. They each then leaned to the windows of the car.
“What is the matter, Gale?”
“Hello? Cameron?”
“You are calling because your wife told you to? Do you not have your pride as a man?”
“Did you force Gale into this again? Okay, okay. I will treat you to a meal to make up for it someday, alright?”
“…”
——
The following day, Courtney set up the breakfast party at the Duncans’ ancestral home after getting permission from Old Master Duncan.
With Gale and Ethan on one team and Alexander with Josephine on another, they started a game of war, where they formed different groups amongst themselves. As they had their fun ‘killing’ each other off, Cameron had her hand on her forehead while looking at them. She was so unhappy about the fact that Gale had changed sides that the container of the beverage she was holding had deformed from her tight grip.
Seeing that, Courtney put on a naive face and brought her a plate of desserts.
“An international chef made these. Give it a try.”
Cameron only grumpily rolled her eyes as she complained, “No wonder you and your husband are business geniuses. You promised to treat me to a meal, but you’re fulfilling the promise through this party at Duncan’s ancestral home––which was pre-planned! You know that we have to be mindful not to embarrass Old Master Duncan. It wasn’t such a bad move for you lot to use those ideas on Gale, but do you really think you can get rid of me that easily?”
Her tone would have been even more aggressive if it wasn’t because she was munching on desserts as she spoke. Her hand eventually stopped moving when she caught the sly gaze in Courtney’s eyes.
“GV’s latest limited edition handbag. There are only 100 of them in the world,” Courtney said.
“…”
“2 of it.”
Cameron immediately let out a hearty laugh after hearing her words. “Good job, Courtney,” she cheerfully replied. “Oh, this dessert tastes pretty good! I will go get you some.”
Courtney looked on at Cameron’s hastily retreating back as she plopped her forehead in her palm. Despite the heartache from doing such a generous thing, she turned to show an “okay” sign at the man on the sofa who was busy conquering lands.
Their plan had succeeded, but it really did take them a lot of money to get there.
Cameron was on her way back with the desserts when she heard Gale’s pained howl from the sofa. Josephine was holding a sticker in her hand as she tried with all her might to slap it onto Ethan’s plump, rosy cheeks.
“Papa, you dummy! There is no space left on my face to stick that on!” Ethan cried.
His big, watery eyes were filled with shame for being in such an embarrassing state in front of Josephine. Papa is too much! the young boy thought as he turned his head in the other direction while pouting.
“Alex, don’t go so hard on me—”
Gale looked even more pitiful than his son did. He had come here today to get what he wanted, and yet, it only took so long for their relationship to fall apart again.
Alexander was playing with the braids on Josephine’s head then. He had the expression of a loving father, but the words that left his mouth next sounded grumpy. “Shall we play a different game?” he asked.
Cameron had been watching them before she angrily shoved the plate in her hands to Courtney. Rolling her sleeves up, she chased Gale off the sofa. She was motivated to win from head to toe.
“How dare you bully my husband and son! Let me have a go!” she confidently announced.
“Wifey—”
“Momma—”
The man and the boy both had a similar glint in their eyes as they cheered, “Our savior is here!”
The ongoing ‘war’ was too fervent for Courtney to stay there unscathed. She quickly left the room by walking through a winding corridor to another living room. When she arrived there, Old Master Duncan and Jordan were having a game of chess, with both of them in their respective wooden armchairs. The older man seemed rather energetic, while the younger one had a frown on his face, making him appear more mature than he was.
“Jordan, listen to me!”
Tina, who was standing behind Jordan, had her eyes widened urgently as she urged her brother to pay attention to her. She quickly made a decision on her brother’s behalf.
Jordan’s solemn expression instantly had an additional trace of resignation when he saw one of the chess pieces being placed on the chess board.
He turned to Tina and scolded, “I just told you that—”
“—That those who watch a chess match without commenting anything are noble,” she unhesitantly took over her brother’s words. “Hurry up, then. I have something to tell you.”
“Great-grandpa, this one doesn’t count.”
Unable to talk some sense into Tina, Jordan turned toward the chess board again to take back the chess piece Tina had put without his permission. However, the older man reached out with his fan to stop Jordan, and he chuckled, “Isn’t there a saying that goes, ‘it is no use crying over spilled water’?”
A child-like smile appeared on Old Master Duncan’s face then as he leaned back into the backrest of the chair. Even though he was feeble and his movements were fairly slow, he still had a young and energetic mind. He had finally caught young Jordan making a bad move, and he took his time capturing 7 of Jordan’s pieces.
The outcome of the match was already determined then. Tina blinked and shook her head. “One rotten apple spoils the whole barrel,” she sighed.
Hearing that, Jordan stood up and corrected her, “It is supposed to be ‘a boneheaded team-mate can do you more harm than a strong opponent’.”
The smile on Old Man Duncan’s face deepened as he happily waved his hands to prove the legitimacy of his title as the Duncans’ King of Chess. “Little girl,” he called out to Angie who was sitting at a side. “It is your turn now,” he said and motioned for her to take Jordan’s seat.
Angie raised her head from the laptop screen, and her frown seemed to dissipate at that moment. Closing the laptop, she let out a robotic smile that made her face look stiff.
“Promise you will make me a ‘Duncans’ King of Chess’ championship gold belt within 3 days if I win!” she exclaimed.
Old Master Duncan laughed at that, and he turned to wink at the butler. “Did you hear that?” he teasingly asked.
The butler quickly nodded and replied, “We will even have your name carved on it, Miss Angie!” It had been a long time since he last saw Old Master Duncan this excited, so he was naturally happy for him.
Angie nodded after hearing his words, and she began to do some simple stretches. “Elijah was the one who taught me how to play chess,” she warned.
Courtney’s expression changed a little as she watched the ongoing chess match. She then called over little Tina, who had been cold-heartedly chased off by Angie.
“Angie seems like she is in a bad mood. Did something happen on Seiban Island?”
Upon hearing that, Tina shuffled closer to her mother with a crafty look in her eyes.
“Mommy, you asked the right person! Other people may not know about this, but I do.”
After saying that, Tina pulled Courtney to the second living room. She shrunk into a ball on the sofa as she dug, and she finally brandished a phone, which she then passed to Courtney.
