After entering the dining room, the duke quickly arranged for our positions.
He took the seat at the head of the table since this was his manor, but to my surprise, I found that he put me at the other end of the table in the guest of honour seat.
Normally, a noble of my status would have been placed at one of the side seats even if I was the only guest that had been invited. After all, this was a matter of honour rather than courtesy.
The guest of honour seat was given to someone that would be at the same level as the duke, so it shouldn't be given to someone like me who was only a baron.
If a baron was put on the same level as a duke, then that would be inverting the noble hierarchy and looking down on the duke, so they shouldn't have done something like this.
But here we were…
At the same time, the duke's daughter Veronica was surprisingly seated right beside me.
Instead of sitting at the other end of the table with her family, she was seated to my right…
It was almost as if…
But I didn't let that terrifying thought remain in my head for long.
After all, they should know that I was already married. In fact, it was because I married someone with the baroness title that I was even a baron in the first place.
After sitting down, the courses were brought out by the servants.
Even if this entire ordeal had been stressful, I had to admit that the food served to me was amazing. These were even better than the dishes that Baroness Rose had prepared for me, so all I could say was as expected of the ducal family.
I didn't eat the food placed in front of me right away, I only started eating after seeing Shaka give me a secret nod to show that it was safe.
I didn't know what method Shaka used to test the food, but I didn't doubt his abilities since I had already seen all the shocking things that he had done before. Once I received Shaka's seal of approval, I started digging into the food.
As I had expected, the food was very delicious, even more so than what we ate back on our own territory.
With the title of duke came the wealth and power that a duke should have.
This allowed him to find the best cooks and get the best ingredients for himself, so I really couldn't compare to the duke when it came to this.
The meal itself wasn't that special since all we did was exchange a few words in small talk while enjoying our food.
The main event of the dinner came after the entree course and while we were waiting for dessert.
All of a sudden, the duke asked, "Baron Zwein, can you tell me for what reason you have come to my city?"
As he said this, he suddenly revealed a serious look and an aura that only someone of power would have. When I felt this aura hit me, I could feel the pressure that was coming from him.
All I could think was that this was what a duke should be.
But luckily, I had already come up with an answer for a question like this since I had expected the duke to ask this.
Albeit, I had expected him to ask this in our first meeting and not in this second meeting over dinner.
Still, I took a deep breath to calm myself before saying, "I have come to seek your grace's patronage."
The duke raised a brow when he heard this.
Seeing that look on his face, I continued by saying, "As you know, my territory is in a place where there are many other minor nobles that are looking to expand. As such, we are facing pressure from many different nobles around us. If we were to obtain the support of a…"
I didn't finish my words, but the way that I left it hanging made it very clear what I was implying.
The duke narrowed his eyes to look at me which was to be expected, but then to my surprise, the duke just gave a sudden clap and said with a smile, "Is that all?"
I couldn't help being taken aback when I heard this since this was not the reaction that I thought I would get.
After all, the duke must receive many different requests like this in a day, so why would he agree to this one so easily?
Then to my surprise again, the duke suddenly clapped his hands once more.
The butler on the side suddenly came over with what seemed to be an envelope on a tray, but the butler didn't walk over to where the duke was. Instead, the butler came over and put the tray down in front of me.
I looked at the envelope on the table and then looked up at the duke sitting in front of me.
The duke just sat there with a smile and a look on his face that seemed like he was waiting for me to open the envelope.
Since that was the case, I didn't hesitate to open the envelope and read what was inside.
As I read the report that was inside, I couldn't help slightly knitting my brows.
The more that I read this report, the more that I knitted my brows.
I had also wanted to let Shaka read this report as well, but it would be rude here, so I held back in the end.
After I finished reading it, I asked the duke, "Your grace, this is…?"
The duke said with the same smile, "Just as you have your problems, I have my own problems. This is one of the problems in my territory that I would like you to take care of. Consider it a favour to me and I'll take care of your problem as a favour to you."