Chapter 75- Decisions

(NASHI'S P.O.V)

I was stunned after hearing that I was engaged to someone else without my permission. I rose out of the chair in anger and looked directly at my father.

“How could you do this to me!”, I shouted at my father.

Sylvester walked over and stood next to our father.

“Like I said, this is for your own good”, my father said.

I balled up my fist and gritted my teeth.

“That's enough of your selfishness, you know how the noble society works, not everyone marries for love. Everything is political, if you want to remain as the next in line for the Dukedom. I suggest you get over your little fantasy and get your shit together” father said, with an upset expression.

“Father is right, Nashi," Sylvester said, “This is bigger than your feelings for Sage. We must protect the Dukedom” he said.

I put my head down and felt myself shiver in anger.

Father sighed and walked around the desk. He placed his hand on my shoulder and grabbed the back of my head.

“I'm sorry my son, this is the only way I can protect you and the Dukedom” he said.

I could feel the tears running down my face, as my father consoled me, while rubbing my back.

He pulled back and looked directly at me.

“You have a very important decision to make, either you marry Lady Victoria and take control of the Synovial dukedom or you risk your life for a love that can cost you your life at any time” he said.

Father walked back round the desk and went towards the door. Sylvester followed behind him and they both looked back at me before opening the door.

“You have until the Winter Dukedom succession ceremony to make your decision. The conference is tomorrow, make sure you get some rest”, father said and turned to leave the office with Sylvester following behind.

I flopped back down into the chair and put my head down once again.

(SAGE P.O.V)

Later on that evening, after dinner Prince Antonio, Duke Benjamin and Serbia left the castle to return to the Kalpana kingdom. Duke Winter insisted that they should stay and travel back in the morning. They politely declined because they wanted to return so they could inform the king about Serbia's situation. Before they left the castle, Doctor William checked on Serbia and her baby, to make sure it was safe to travel for a long distance.

I was walking in the garden, for some fresh air and to clear my mind. I was still having a hard time trying to process the whole destined partner situation that Duke Winter and my father explained. After Prince Antonio left, a part of me suddenly felt empty inside. It was a feeling I've never felt towards Nashi. It was an unexplainable feeling, I thought to myself.

I turned my head around and slightly looked back behind me after hearing footsteps approaching and saw Duke Winter walking towards me.

“Duke Winter”, I said, looking directly at him.

“Sage, my dear”, he said, and smiled, “I'm taking my evening walk, would you like to join me dear?”, he asked.

I nodded and walked over to where he was standing.

We started to walk through the garden, and it was quiet for a moment.

“Duke Winter, can I ask you something?”, I asked.

“Of course dear”, he said.

“How did you find out Duchess Mary was your destined partner?”, I asked curiously.

Duke Winter chuckled for a bit before speaking.

“The Duchess and I met at one of the debutantes that was held for the young noblewomen that had become of age. I was the Crown Prince of the Winter Kingdom, and I was very popular. Many of the young women wanted to dance with me. Mary was the only one who wasn't interested in me, which hurted my pride. Even though she already had a date for the debutante, I couldn't take my eyes off her”, he said and snickered. “She was surprised when I approached her and asked for a dance. I felt a weird sensation flowing in my body, as she stood in front of me, while I was holding my hand out. That was the moment I realized she was my soulmate. My father explained to me how the Winter bloodline finds their destined partner. Our warrior's spirit reacts when they are near. While we were dancing, I leaned down and whispered in her ear. At first, she thought I was joking. Until I sent her family a marriage request the next day." He continued on saying.

I watched as he smiled as if he was mesmerizing.

“What did you whisper?”, I asked, curiously.

He looked over at me.

“Finally, I found you”, he said.

Wow, that even made me blush, I thought to myself.

He stopped walking and turned towards me, causing me to stop walking as well. He placed his hand on my shoulder.

“I know everything is sudden to you my dear, but we won't rush you into an unwanted marriage just because he's your destined partner. Unfortunately, in the Winter lineage, once we find our life partner, we can't help but to want them. No one can compare to them, It could be a blessing or a curse”, he said and sighed.

I put my head down and looked at the ground for a moment because I knew he was talking about Queen Malaysia, when he mentioned the curse part.

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“What should I do?”, I asked, while raising my head and looking directly at him again.

He moved his hand from my shoulder and placed it on the top of my head.

“Take your time and move at your own pace,” he said.

I nodded my head.

“Come now my dear, we should get some rest. The conference tomorrow will be very entertaining”, he said.

(NATALIE'S P.O.V)

I was sitting on the bed as I watched Moises pace back and forth for the last thirty minutes. He continued to mumble to himself, after mumbling he would glance at me and glare a bit before turning again.

I sighed.

“Moises, quit pacing back and forth, you're making me dizzy”, I said, while holding my head.

He looked at me.

“This is your fault”, he said, looking directly at me.

I sighed again.

“Moises get over it, she was going to find out eventually anyways”, I said and got up from the bed.

I walked over to him and grabbed both of his hands and looked up at him.

“Honey, they are both old enough to get married now. I know you're trying to hold onto them because we missed so much of their young lives. No matter what she chooses, we will support her no matter what”, I said.

Moises sighed, “You're right”, he said, “Since it's unavoidable now, I should keep my focus on the most important thing for the moment, removing all the obstacles in front of us and clearing the path for our family”, he said.

I kissed him on the lips and pulled back a little.

“Let's focus on making sure no more harm comes to them before the debutante.”, I said.

Moises nodded and kissed me on the left cheek. A second later, we heard a knock on the door. Moises and I walked over and opened it and saw Prince Christian standing in front of us.

“Sorry to bother you”, he said, “May I have a moment of your time”, he added, looking back and forth at Moises and I.

“Sure”, Moises said and gestured towards the couches that sat on the left side of the room.

We walked over and took a seat, Moises and I sat on one of the couches and Prince Christian sat across from us. He looked directly at Moises and began to speak.

“Brother Moises, I need to return to the eastern rebels headquarters for the next meeting. Would you like to join me?”, he asked.

I looked over at Moises who looked to be deep in thought. We were still skeptical about Prince Christian, we haven't yet to confirm if he's trustworthy or not.

“Who's the leader of the eastern rebel group?”Moises asked.

“Duke Pordigase's youngest son, Sir Logan Pordigase, he's the current advisor for the military for the royal knights' ' he said.

My eyes widened, just how far did Duke Winter and Prince Morgan plan this rebellion, I thought to myself.

I looked over at Moises who didn't seem surprised at all.

“It's not surprising that Duke Pordigase Dukedom is deeply involved. After all, Duke Pordigase and Count Vaughan families are originally from the Winter Kingdom. Most of the noble families that sided with Morgan after my exile has ties to the old Winter Kingdom before the two kingdoms combined together.”, Moises said. “Yes, I will join you”, he added and looked over at me. “You should come as well,” he said.

I nodded my head.

“I can check on the clan members that's infiltrating Count Livens' villa, while I'm in the eastern region.” I said.

Moises nodded and turned back towards Prince Christian.

“When shall we leave?” Moises asked.

“Tomorrow afternoon”, he said.

Moises and I nodded, and got up from the couch.

Prince Christian got up from the couch, and we walked over to the door. After he left, Moises and I walked over to the bed and sat down.

“I should leave a message for Nathan and Masiro, in case they return before us.”, Moises said.

(NATHAN'S.O.V)

When it became night time, we returned to Viscount James estate. After hiding Masiro's truck in the nearby forest, we traveled the rest of the way on foot. Thirty minutes later, we arrived near the estate, we noticed a couple of guards standing in front of the large white gates.

The guards were talking amongst themselves, we discreetly rushed over while they weren't paying attention. A few seconds later, Three of the guards walked away from the other two guards, who remained standing in front of the main entrance.

“They must be the guards who patrol the area”, Masiro said.

We waited for a moment until they turned the corner and were out of sight from the other two guards. We rushed over while they were still walking and conversing. We caught them off guard, hitting them in the back of their necks, knocking them unconscious. We each grabbed the guards by the feet and dragged them toward the forest. After snapping their necks, we changed into the guards uniform and made our way back towards the side of the estate.

“I'll pretend that I am patrolling, I'll remain here”, Masiro said.

Valian and I nodded.

We climbed the side of the wall and jumped over to the other side. When we landed, we looked around and saw that we were in a well lit area.

I was about to say something to Valian but suddenly heard a voice coming from the left of us.

“My lady, I've bought your coat”, I heard a voice say.

Valian and I turned our heads in that direction and saw two women walking in a distance coming towards the area we landed in. One dressed like a noblewoman the other dressed like a maid.

“I wonder if that's the wife or his daughter”, Valian said.

“Let's pretend we were patrolling and approached them”, I said.

Valian nodded.

We walked towards them as they came closer to the area.

“Are the guards still patrolling the area”, she said as she approached us.

I bowed my head and nodded, “Yes my lady,” I said.

I lifted my head up and saw a young woman, her hair was in a large braid that was across her right shoulder. She had a warm expression while looking at Valian and I.

“My lady, we should return inside soon, the madam will be upset if she finds out you went out without permission”, the maid next to her said.

The woman's facial expression changed, I could sense the shift in her body language as she looked over at the maid and sighed. She looked back at Valian and I.

“I shall return to my quarters, keep up the good work”, she said and started to walk away and the maid followed behind her.

“What was that about?”Valian said as if he sensed the same thing.

“I don't know, but let's find out”, I said.

We waited until they were in a distance and discreetly followed them through the garden back into the mansion. For some reason, there was an unusual amount of guards inside of the mansion. Fortunately, Valian and I were able to walk inside without being noticed and we continued to discreetly follow them.

“I've infiltrated many noble households and having a certain amount of guards inside is normal. But something about this feels weird, are they preparing for something or is Viscount James worried about retaliation from someone”, Valian said.

“He must have hired more guards since he went after the Winter Dukedoms successor”, I said.

I noticed something and tapped Valian on the shoulder.

“There's two guards following the woman and the maid”, I said and watched as they walked up the stairs.

We continued to follow behind them and waited until they were no longer on the stairs. We walked up and suddenly heard a loud sound as we made it to the second floor.

“How dare you walk around without my permission”, I heard another woman say.

Valian and I peeked around the corner and saw the young woman that we followed and a middle-aged woman standing in front of each other. The young woman was holding the side of her face while the other woman scolded her.

“You little whore, how dare a mistress walk around like she owns the place” the middle-aged woman said.

The young woman kept apologizing as the other woman continued to hit her. I noticed none of the maids or guards was stopping the middle-aged woman.

“Looks like we found some targets worth kidnapping”, Valian said.

The middle-aged woman started to walk away in the opposite direction of us. She looked back towards the young woman.

“That orphan bitch need to learn her place” she said.

Valian and I looked at each other as soon as we heard her say orphan. We looked back towards the young woman and watched as the maid helped her up. A few seconds later, they entered one of the rooms on the right side of the hall. After the hearing the door closed. Valian and I walked down the hall and searched for the middle-aged woman.

While walking down the hall for a few minutes. We made it to the right wing of the mansion, and ended up seeing the middle-aged woman again as she was approaching our direction but suddenly turned and entered a room on the left side of the hall. We waited in the hallway to see if she would come back out or not. After an hour passed, she remained inside of the room.

“Let's get started, since we have the location of their rooms”, I said and Valian nodded.