Apple wood burned in the fireplace, occasionally emitting a slight crackling sound, as the air was filled with the distinctive sweet scent of wood burning.
The tableware was the most simple type, without gold or silver inlays, just a few sets of polished silver knives, forks, and white porcelain plates, each edged with the Hardy family's antler crest.
Duke Hardy sat at the head of the long table. When the Duke first entered, he saw him and sighed in relief. During his last visit, the old man's hair was already white, and he was weak and breathless. The chronic ailment from old injuries made him cough ceaselessly, each breath resembling an old bellows about to fall apart.
At that time, the old Earl needed assistance to get out of bed, and the Duke along with Vivian had gone to great lengths to gather life-extending resources and therapeutic potions from various sources to barely take his life back from the hands of death.
