Crowns of Heritage

Chapter 76- Decisions (2)

(NATHAN'S P.O.V)

After memorizing the location of both of the rooms. Valian and I returned outside of the mansion and blended within the guards that were patrolling around the estate. Before we carried out our plan to kidnap the two women, we wanted to gain more intel about the identity of the two women from the staff.

We were following behind a guard named Caleb who worked at the estate for a long time. He mentioned the sudden increase in guards that happened recently, after the estate had an intruder. He didn't seem suspicious of us and had mistaken us for new guards. He didn't seem bothered by the many questions Valian and I were asking, as we followed him around the estate.

“What was the commotion upstairs about?” I asked, curiously. “ I heard the guards and maids talking about it,” I added.

“Ah, Viscount James recently brought in a mistress, and it caused the Madam to go ballistic. She bullies the poor girl daily and even the maids bully her” Caleb said.

Valian and I glanced at each other and continued to follow behind him. After an hour of patrolling, Caleb dismissed us and ordered us to return inside since it was time for the guards to switch shifts. Valian leaned closer and whispered.

“Looks like around the clock surveillance, it might be possible that this isn't just a simple intruder situation.” Valian said.

“What's our odds of getting out of here without alerting the guards?” I asked.

“It comes down to timing”, he said and looked towards the stairs.

“Our best option is going directly inside the rooms, and escaping through the window,”I said.

Valian nodded, “Since we timed how long it takes to reach each room, we have to escape within the time frame of the guards patrol” he said.

I nodded.

Valian and I split up and walked in different directions after making it to the second floor. I headed to the young woman's room while Valian headed to the right wing of the mansion.

I walked down the hall until I reached the door of the young woman's room. I knocked on the door and pretended to be a butler. A few seconds later, the door opened and the young woman stood in front of me. I could see her eyes and hair more clearly this time. They were both dark green and matched her fair skin tone.

Before she could speak, I reached my hand out and covered her mouth. I gestured to her and she nodded and started to walk backwards inside the room. I shut the door behind me with my left foot and kept my eyes on her.

“Are you here to kill me?” She asked.

“Depends on whether or not you're useful”, I said.

All of sudden she stepped forward and grabbed both of my hands.

“Please kill me or get me out of here” she said.

I saw the desperation in her eyes, without asking anything else. I walked over to the window and opened it and peeked out.

“We have at least 10 minutes before the patrol makes its rounds to this side of the mansion, let's hurry” I said.

Without hesitation, she ran towards me and I wrapped my arm around her waist. After climbing down the side of the mansion, I threw her across my shoulder and rushed through the garden. When I made it back to the wall, I bent down and placed her onto her feet.

“Remain quiet, I'm waiting for someone” I said, and she nodded.

About ten minutes later, Valian came rushing over with the woman laying across his shoulder. When he made it to the wall, I could see that the middle-aged woman was unconscious. I heard the young woman gasp and Valian and I looked over at her.

“Why isn't she unconscious?”Valian asked, “This old hag put up a hell of a fight,” he said.

I was about to laugh at Valian expression, until we heard the guards approaching in the distance.

“Shit, we need to hurry up and climb over the wall” I said. And reached out my arms to Valian.

After placing the middle-aged woman into my arms. Valian climbed up the wall and I lifted the woman's body and reached her to him. When he adjusted her body, he jumped over the wall while carrying her on his shoulders.

“Let's climb”, I said and the young woman nodded.

We climbed the wall and I jumped over, when I landed I turned around and reached out my arms and the young woman jumped into them.

“I see we have a willing participant”, I heard Masiro say and looked over at him and saw the amusement on his face.

(SAGE P.O.V)

Duke Winter and I went our separate ways after returning inside of the castle. While walking to my room, I saw Peyton and Massey walking in my direction. Peyton smiled when she noticed me and without a second thought I ran towards her and engulfed her in a hug, catching her off guard.

“What's wrong Sage?”, she asked as she hugged me back and caressed my hair.

For some reason, I felt all the pressure lifting off of me as I held on to Peyton. Maybe I just wanted to be comforted by her. I could tell that my father and Duke Winter were trying to spare my feelings, but I needed someone to be honest with me, I thought to myself.

When I pulled back I looked over and saw Massey walking away.

“I told him to give us some privacy”, Peyton said. “Let's go to my room.” She added.

I nodded and we walked towards her room that was further down the long hallway. Duke Winter made sure we all had rooms on the second floor so we could still be close to each other.

We entered the room and walked over to the couch that sat on the right side of the room. I took a seat and Peyton sat next to me.

She grabbed my left hand while looking directly at me.

“Now tell me what's troubling you”, she said.

“I don't know what I should do, my father and Duke Winter told me to take my time and move at my own pace but I'm so conflicted between Prince Antonio and Nashi. If Prince Antonio is my destined partner, what am I going to do about Nashi's proposal” I said.

Peyton pulled me closer, placing my head on her shoulder and caressed my hair.

“There will come a time when you will no longer feel conflicted about choosing between them. You and Nashi will have to part ways eventually” she said.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked, feeling confused at what she just said. I lifted my head off her shoulder, and looked directly at her.

“Remember when I told you about Duke Vernon and I being engaged but we canceled the engagement after I became Prince Moises personal knight”, she said.

I nodded.

“Everything in the noble world is political. Noble successors, men and women chooses their duties and titles over their personal relationships. Many of them end up in loveless marriages, some are lucky enough to fall in love with their arranged partner. Sometimes many of them get disowned from the family if they go against the family's decisions. Duke Vernon was pressured by his family and chose to inherit the Dukedom over our relationship and married Nashi's and Sylvester's mother. It was a loveless and political marriage. I was heartbroken but being a knight kept me occupied, so I didn't have the time to dwell on it. It was hard seeing him and his late wife at different social events but I understood the way our society works and I managed to move on as well. I dated another knight until the time of Prince Moises exiled. Even now I am at peace with the decisions Vernon and I made a long time ago”, she said.

She placed her hand on the side of my face and brushed my hair back, placing it behind my ear.

“You are new to the noble world, and there will be a time when you will also have to choose your duty over your personal feelings just like Nashi will have to choose between you and his duty as the next Duke of Synovial. I don't want you to suffer like most of the young women in the society. We want the best for you, the noble world is a cruel place, my only wish is for you to remain strong no matter what happens in life.”, she said.

After hearing what she said, I felt even more confused but also felt relieved for some reason but couldn't figure out why.

“What do you suggest I do?”, I asked, curiously.

“I suggest you wait until the opportunity presents itself to make a decision and prepare your heart for the choices you make,” she said.

She got up from the couch and reached her hand out. I grabbed her hand and got up from the couch. We walked over to the door and Peyton opened it.

“I'll walk you to your room, get some rest. I'm sure you'll be seeing Nashi at the conference. You two should have a serious talk before the debutante”, she said.

I nodded my head and Peyton walked with me until I made it back to my room.

(DUKE WINTER’S P.O.V)

I was sitting in the office going through some of the documents that Jackson brought to me. It was from the courts, finalizing Moises' family into the registry.

I was suddenly distracted by the sound of the door opening and looked ahead. Moises came walking into the office, and came over and took a seat across from me.

“Grandfather, I came to inform you that Christian, Natalie and I will be leaving tomorrow afternoon. Christian wanted us to join him for the eastern rebel meeting.” he said.

“Ah, yes, Duke Pordigase's youngest son is the leader over there. I'm sure he'll be excited to meet you” I said.

I handed the document that I was reading to Moises.

“What is this?”, he asked, as he looked down at the document.

“The notarized document for the family registry, your family's last name has officially changed to Winter.”

Moises nodded and slightly smiled.

“You will be able to attend the social events under the Winter Dukedoms name. We can't have you and Natalie missing your own daughters debutantes because of your current statuses right?” I teased him.

Moises chuckled for a moment.

“Speaking of the debutante, how should we deal with Young Duke Nashi? It's unavoidable now that Sage knows that she's destined to be with Prince Antonio. Duke Vernon is a good friend of mine, I wouldn't want to have to kill his successor because of his behavior. I'm worried how he'll react when he sees Sage dance with another man” Moises said and sighed.

“Duke Vernon is a respectable figure amongst the noblemen , I'm sure he plans to handle Nashi accordingly, if he wants to remain having a Dukedom” I said.

Moises raised one of his eyebrows while looking directly at me.

“Grandfather, did you threaten Duke Vernon?” He asked.

“I just gave him a little advice, after all I'm sure he felt embarrassed when Nashi stormed out of the conference to follow behind Sage. Duke Pordigase informed me about it through one of the letters he sent. It could have easily caused suspicion from the king and Prince Marshall the way he behaved” I said.

“He what?” Moises asked with a frown on his face. “Does that brat not know how to control his emotions?”he added and leaned back into the chair.

I shrugged my shoulders, and Moises placed his hand over his forehead.

I reached in the top draw and pulled out one of the letters from Morgan's informants. Moises took his hand off of his forehead after I reached out the letter to him.

“Moises, the Synovial dukedom is currently being watched at the moment. After Prince Marshall found out Sylvester was no longer in the dungeon. He's been keeping a close eye on them. Malaysia managed to avert Prince Marshall's attention by claiming she released him to avoid the suspicion of him breaking out. If Prince Marshall finds out Sylvester is the one who broke Natalie and Sage out of the dungeon under Morgan's order. Duke Vernon's family will be in danger.” I said.

Moises held the letter in his hand.

“What was the advice you suggested?” Moises asked.

“That Nashi should marry one of Duke Pordigase's daughters. It's the only way to ensure Nashi's future and let him be able to become a support for Sage” I said.

Moises nodded.

“What about Serbia, do you think he found out she's not in the dungeon?” He asked.

I shook my head, “I haven't heard anything, I'm sure he doesn't want anyone to know he kept a pregnant woman in the dungeon” I said.

Moises and I sighed at the same time.

“That bastard,” Moises mumbled.

“Once the King of Kalpana hears about Serbia's situation, it is positive that he will declare war against the Vanuatu kingdom. King Lincoln and Prince Marshall will try to pressure the Winter Dukedom into joining the war. As the commander of the Winter Knightage, you will have to meet them. How entertaining”, I said.

I looked at the time and saw it was almost midnight.

“We should get some rest” I said and got up from the chair.

“Do you need some assistance getting to your quarters, grandfather?” Moises asked, while getting up from his chair and walking around the desk.

I shook my head, “I can manage this much”, I said.

Moises and I walked to the door and just as Moises was about to open it. Someone was turning the knob to come in. When the door opened, Doctor William was standing in front of us.

“Your grace, your highness”, he said while bowing.

“Doctor, did you need something? I asked.

Doctor William shook his head, “No your grace, I came to inform you that Princess Rosemary's bedrest ends tomorrow, she has fully recovered and will be able to travel with you to the palace”, he said.