Sadly, it was not such a distant future, for there was no end to the threats that could come their way.
Like the well-trained ears of a leader in need of capable or passable subordinates.
To be fair, they hadn't done anything wrong. At least, not technically.
Because they really tried to avoid overhearing things, but couldn't when their ears twitched by themselves.
So they listened.
And wept.
Wept so hard that, had Duchess Amelia not been so engrossed in her own tears, she would've come out swinging just to scold them for reacting worse than she did.
And it showed.
Their eyes were red. Their noses were stuffy. Their hearts cracked and taped together after one hell of a ride.
Maybe save for the adjutant who couldn't even spare a tear because he was too busy keeping the mop from melting into a puddle of emotional goo.
He was too busy keeping all of Ollie's shattered pieces together that he'd have to delay processing the emotions associated with learning about the truth.
