Lu Xia was a little surprised by Smelian's words. It wasn't the request for her to visit Lady Rafaelde that was unexpected, but Smelian's attitude about it.
Graces, however, looked perfectly normal, as if he wasn't surprised at all.
As a male who had also once been considered 'defective,' he could understand Smelian's line of thinking.
"Why?" Lu Xia set down her utensils and looked at Smelian intently, as if she wanted to hear his reasoning.
In truth, she could guess most of the answer, but she hadn't expected Smelian to be willing to state it so frankly.
"Because I am your husband now, and my connection to the Rafaelde family is secondary. My mother wishes to leverage your prestige, but she should have been the one to ask you herself. I don't want to make unreasonable demands of you because of this. You have no obligation to do anything for me or the Rafaelde family."
To put it bluntly, Lu Xia owed them nothing.
