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Hector kept his composure, though. He’d expected it to taste horrible. Maybe not quite this horrible, sure, but his plan remained unchanged.

He made his face light up. “Wow, it’s actually pretty good,” he said.

Lynn blinked and then tried the concoction herself. She wasn’t able to conceal her displeasure at all this time, and she had to put a hand over her mouth.

He tried not to laugh too hard while she was glaring at him with her one eye, but he could see that she was trembling from muted laughter of her own, as well. He pushed his cheesecake closer to her as a peace offering.

The cheesecake didn’t last much longer with the both of them sharing it, and not even Lynn wanted to touch the milkshake monstrosity again.

As everyone in the chamber finished up their dessert, Hector began noticing more movement among the serving staff all around them. At first, he thought they were bringing out some kind of secret extra course, but when he saw that they were carrying folded cards instead of food, he began to wonder what they were doing.

To and fro, they scurried, dropping cards off in front of the various lords and ladies. He didn’t have to wait long in order to find out what the cards were for, because several of them arrived in front of him. He unfolded one and read its contents.

‘Lord Henrich Masden requests a meeting this evening,’ it read.

He picked up another one, and it said exactly the same thing, save that it pertained to Lord Arnold Greenway. Still another was for Lady Margaret Holbach.

And more cards kept arriving with more names, all requesting a meeting.

As he looked around at the other lords and ladies in confusion, he couldn’t help noticing that they were all staring at him now.