Chapter 79- Early meeting

(NATHAN'S P.O.V)

When Masiro received the warning message from Jemas that an attack would happen in the kingdom during the conference. Masiro immediately started to drive again. Valian suddenly woke up as Masiro and I continued to speculate about the attack.

“Why are you two so loud?”, he asked, while yawning.

“Valian, we received some intel from Jemas that an attack will happen during the conference”, I said.

“What?, Is someone attacking the palace or is it another border attack?”, he asked.

“We're not sure yet”, Masiro answered.

“Apparently, the King of Kalpana is in an uproar, but I doubt it's another attack on the western border since Prince Antonio visited the Winter Dukedom”, I said.

“What are your thoughts on this matter?”Masiro asked.

“The rebel groups, Prince Marshall will probably begin attacking them, since his coronation is in the next four weeks”, I said.

“We're four hours away from the castle, most likely everyone is asleep. We should arrive around seven in the morning ," Masiro said.

We traveled for the next four hours, Valian fell back to sleep and Masiro and I continued to converse about our next plan on dealing with Viscount James.

It was about 7:30 am, when we arrived at the castle. When we pulled to the castle's gate, the guards opened it and we drove through the entrance. After Masiro handed his keys to one of the guards,we walked into the castle. Upon entry, butler Jackson welcomed us back.

Masiro told Butler Jackson that we need to speak with Duke Winter and Prince Moises. Butler Jackson escorted us to the third floor and told us Duke Winter, Prince Christian were in the office and that Prince Moises was still in his room.

“I'll go get Prince Moises”, I said.

(DUKE WINTER’S P.O.V)

After resting for a couple of hours, Mary and I got up early and discussed our schedule for today. Since Sage and I had to be at the palace by the afternoon, the conference was going to last a couple of hours. Now that Rosemary was off of bedrest. We wanted to continue to focus on the upcoming debutante. Mary informed me about what she wanted Rosemary to do while we were gone, and I agreed. A few minutes later, she left the room and headed to her office with Lucy, our head maid.

When I left our room, and walked through the hallway, I saw Christian standing in front of my office door. When he saw me, I could see a look of concern on his face.

“Duke Winter, may I speak with you for a moment?”, he asked.

“Of course you can," I replied.

Before we walked into the office, I noticed Jackson walking in our direction. I gestured to Christian and told to go into the office, while I talked to Jackson. He entered the office, and I looked towards Jackson, who's in front of me.

“Your grace, the guards at the gate have informed me that Sir Masiro, Sir Nathan and Sir Valian has returned to the castle.”, he said.

“Welcome them back and send them to my office. I know they would want to share the information they found before they get some rest”, I said.

Jackson bowed his head and turned to walk off. I entered the office and walked to my desk and took a seat. Christian sat across from me, and still had a concerning expression on his face.

“What seems to be bothering you, young Prince?”, I asked.

Christian put his head down for a moment and then looked up at me.

“I remember Valian saying my mother might be disguising as a seamstress after my brother Moises mentioned she had a hobby for making dresses.”, he said, “Have you already hired a seamstress for the princesses debutante?”, he asked.

I nodded, “Actually, my wife was the one who hired a seamstress, I can get the woman's information from Lucy.”, I said, “Are you returning to the castle after the meeting?”, I asked.

Christian nodded, “it won't be today though, I still have the meeting with my uncle coming up. I usually meet him after the rebel meetings. I don't disclose what is discussed in the meeting truthfully. He doesn't know who the leader is”, he said.

Suddenly, the door to the office opened and Masiro and Valian walked into the office with an unfamiliar young woman walking behind them. She seemed a little frightened as she looked at Christian and I. They all bowed their heads before approaching my desk.

I know mercenaries in general don't respect nobles regardless of status. Even now I'm still surprised that Masiro shows such courtesy to the Duchess and I. I know the only reason is because we are technically in-laws.

“Your grace”, Masiro said and slightly bowed again. He gestured towards the young woman and introduced her.

“This young lady's name is Angela”, he said.

A few seconds later, Moises and Nathan walked into the office.

(PRINCE MOISES P.O.V)

I was in the shower and suddenly Natalie came walking into the bathroom. She undressed and got into the shower with me. I immediately grabbed her and started to kiss her as the water ran down our bodies.

I lifted up and placed her back onto the wall, she moaned as I sucked on her neck.

“Let's have sex in here, we don't know when we'll have a chance to do it once we leave the castle.”, she said.

Without saying anything back to her, I continued to kiss her and entered my dick into her most precious area. She moaned loudly as I thrusted into her. She grip me tightly and we fucked for a few minutes until we both climaxed. After our love session in the shower, I lifted her up again and carried her back into the room.

“We'll have breakfast with the girls before we leave, Sage and my grandfather will be leaving before us, and Rosemary will be staying here.”, I said and we both got dressed.

Unexpectedly, we heard someone knock on the door, and I walked over to answer the door. When I opened it, I saw Nathan standing in front of me. Natalie walked over and stood beside me. Suddenly, Nathan sighed loudly and Natalie and I looked at each other.

“I need to find myself a wife”, Nathan said while sighing again.

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Before Natalie and I could say anything, he pointed at both of our necks, then we realized we both left marks on each other's necks.

Nathan chuckled when Natalie covered her neck.

“Prince Moises, we need to talk, Masiro and Valian are already heading to the Duke's office”, Nathan said.

I nodded and looked over at Natalie, “Go see the girls, while I go to the office.”, I said and she nodded.

Nathan and I started to walk off and Natalie suddenly called out to Nathan and told him about Rosemary. I could see the relief on his face when he heard she had fully recovered from the poison.

We continued to walk until we reached the stairs and made our way to the third floor. I saw Masiro, Valian and a woman entering the office from a distance.

“You three should get some rest after this”, I said to Nathan.

He nodded his head and we entered the office.

When we entered, I saw Masiro, Valian and a young woman standing in front of the desk and Christian was seated in one of the chairs. They were looking in our direction as we walked in the room.

“Now that everyone is here, let's get started”, my grandfather said.

The rest of us took seats on the couches and the young woman suddenly sat next to Nathan. I sat next to Masiro and Valian on the couch across from them. My grandfather and Christian remained by the desk.

“Who is she?”, I asked, looking directly at the young woman.

“Her name is Angela”, my grandfather said, “Masiro was introducing her to me before you walked into the office”, he added.

She looked very uncomfortable, and was only looking down at the floor. Nathan whispered something to her and looked up at me.

“Duke Winter, do you know a nobleman by the name of Viscount James?”, Masiro asked, as he looked over at my grandfather.

The rest of us looked over at my grandfather and saw that he had nodded his head.

“The palace advisor for Prince Marshall, what about him?” He asked.

“We found out he's the one who went to Ellis Tavern and paid for the assassins, who attacked Sage and Rosemary”, he said and gestured to the woman, “She's his mistress that we kidnapped after Nathan and Valian infiltrated his estate”, he added.

I balled my fist up and gritted my teeth out of anger hearing that Marshall's advisor is involved and my grandfather slammed his hand onto the desk.

“I knew the aristocratic faction had to be involved in this”, grandfather said.

“I order Valian to kill his wife and hang her from one of the trees as a warning.”, Masiro said, while looking directly at my grandfather.

My grandfather didn't seem surprised and just nodded his head. I'm reminded again just how ruthless Masiro really is, I thought to myself.

“That's not all, Angela willingly came with me, when I intended to kidnap her. We learned that she is also an orphan and was sold to Viscount James from Marquess Vince Francis”, Nathan said.

“Marquess Francis, the Lord of one of the towns by the western border?”Grandfather asked and looked over at Angela.

“Young lady, how old are you?”, grandfather asked.

She still looked a little afraid, “I'm 24, your grace”, she said.

My grandfather's expression became angry after hearing that Marquess Francis was involved in the trafficking of young orphan women.

“The aristocratic faction is made up of nobles whose families are rooted in the Vanuatu kingdom before our kingdoms combined. It is possible they will continue to target the Winter Dukedom. Especially, once the treaty becomes Invalid after the coronation.”, I said.

“I also received intel from two of my clan members. Saul, who is currently in the Kalpana Kingdom, emailed me that the King of Kalpana is in an uproar. His son Jemas, who is currently disguised and infiltrating Count Livens' villa in the eastern region, said there is an unexpected attack that is supposed to happen during the conference. We currently don't know what location it will happen in”, Masiro said.

My grandfather and I already discussed that the war will happen sooner than we expected. Now that we know the King of Kalpana is enraged. It is certain that Prince Antonio and Duke Benjamin told him about Serbia's situation. I'm sure Prince Antonio would contact us with the details before they declare war with our kingdom.

“I will inform Morgan and Malaysia about the information you received. I'll tell Morgan to make a visit to the castle so he can plan the next rebels meeting and inform them about our alliance with Kalpana Kingdom.”, grandfather said.

“Natalie, Christian and I are leaving this afternoon to head to the rebels meeting in the eastern region”, I mentioned.

“We'll join you”, Nathan and Valian said at the same time.

I nodded my head.

“We can deal with visiting the town near the border later.”, Valian said.

“Nathan and Valian can join Christian when he meets Count Livens after the rebels' meeting to find out what else he is planning”, grandfather said.

My grandfather suddenly stood up from the desk.

“I plan to report the attack on Sage and Rosemary while we're at the conference. I won't mention any names, I will know from their reactions just how many of them are involved in this”, he said and looked at the young woman. “I'll get the maids to get a room ready for her, she can stay in the castle while the rest of you are gone”, he said.

He walked around the desk and the rest of us stood up. I looked over at the time and realized we've been talking in the office for the last two hours.

“Let's head to breakfast Moises” he said, "the rest of you get some rest before you leave”, he added.

Nathan nodded, “I'll visit Rosemary before I do”, he said.

Grandfather looked at Christian, “Follow us to the dining room, Lucy should be setting up the dining room.

Christian nodded.

We all left the office and Masiro went to look for Natalie. While Nathan and Valian went to visit Rosemary.

(ROSEMARY'S P.O.V)

I was awoken by the sudden light shining into my eyes. I rubbed my eyes as I opened them and looked around. I realized that I had fallen asleep on the couch that was facing the window. I was lying on top of Yeshiva who was cuddling me.

“Yeshiva, why didn't you take me to the bed”, I said as I pinched him.

He groaned as started to wake up.

“You're the one who came to lay on top of me after you couldn't sleep”, he said.

I suddenly remembered getting out of the bed and climbing on top of him because he looked so comfortable laying on the couch, while I was having a hard time sleeping.

“What time is it?”, he asked, while closing his eyes again.

I raised my body up and slowly placed my feet onto the floor. I got up and walked over toward the clock that sat on the nightstand.

“It's 10:00 am,” I said.

When I looked over I saw Yeshiva had fallen asleep again.

Now that I was off of bedrest, I couldn't wait to finally leave this room. I decided to let Yeshiva sleep, and walked over to the door. I opened it and peeked my head out of the door and looked around to find a maid or butler. When I looked in the right direction, I saw Haley, my sister's personal maid walking towards my room with another maid walking beside her.

“Princess Rosemary”, Haley said, both of them bowed their heads for a brief moment before raising their heads back up.

Haley gestured to the maid next to her, who had short coral colored hair and dark brown eyes.

“Princess Rosemary, this is Vivienne, she will be your personal maid starting today”, Haley said.

Vivienne bowed again, “it's a pleasure to serve you Princess”, she said.

“I came to inform you about your schedule today Princess”, Haley said.

“What's the schedule?”, I asked, curiously.

“The fitting for your debutante dress, the seamstress will be arriving today for the first fitting. Afterwards, you will be touring the castle with Duchess Mary and visiting the castle's ballroom. I've heard that some of the young noblewomen who have become of age will join the debutante due to the noble society demands”, she explained.

Great, back to dealing with reality, I thought to myself.

“What time is the fitting scheduled for?” I asked.

“We have time, the seamstress will arrive in a couple of hours. After the tour of the castle, Duchess Mary wants you and Sir Yeshiva to practice dancing in the ballroom. The rest of the schedule will proceed once the young duchess returns and Hannah arrives at the castle ”, Vivienne said.

After Haley and Vivienne explained the schedule Duchess Mary had made for Sage and I. Haley had mentioned the breakfast was ready.

“Rosie”, I heard Sage's voice and looked over in her direction. She was walking towards me with a smile on her face.

I walked out of the room and walked towards her.

“What time are you leaving to go to the conference?”, I asked as we hugged each other.

“After breakfast, hurry up and get dressed, mother wants to have breakfast together before she leaves”, Sage said.

I noticed Sage seemed to be in a better mood, and I wondered if she was just pretending to be fine.

I suddenly heard voices coming from down the hallway. Sage and I looked in the direction and saw Nathan and Valian walking towards me.

I saw the biggest smile on Nathan's face when he saw me. Then I suddenly saw a woman following behind them. When they finally made it to where we were standing. Nathan hugged and slightly picked me up as he squeezed me in his arms.

“I'm happy that you're okay, sweetheart”, he said and kissed my cheek.

He placed me back onto the floor and looked over at the woman next to him.

“Did you find a girlfriend while you were away from the castle?”, I asked as I tilted my head to the side. Something about this woman felt odd to me. Nathan introduced her and she bowed her head when he introduced me as a princess. Nathan gestured to Sage as he introduced her to the young woman. I noticed as the woman's eyes had widened.

We were caught off guard, when the woman suddenly grabbed Sage's hands and started to shiver as she ramble on. I heard the sound of Nathan and Valian gritting their teeths when they heard what the woman said.

“You must stay away from Viscount James. He wants to sexually harm you”, she said, in a panicking tone.