It was a long ride no, I think it was a long journey before we finally reached the McKenzie Mansion because it is located somewhere in the Highlands. How can they agree to still live here, I mean hello it takes a lot of time before you can step in the cobble stoned doorway of the mansion, it feels like you're going to hike everyday.

I breathed heavily as we walked towards the door of the mansion.

"I wasn't informed that we would do hiking today." I playfully ranted to Rachelle.

She laughed lightly as she also breathed deeply.

"I apologize my dear, but well you should expect this kind of place here because ye ken, Scotland is very popular with Highlands." She said stopping and took her time to breathe.

I also stopped walking.

I moved near Rachelle to try to assist her but she waved me off with a chuckle.

"Den worry about me, I'm already used to this." She said as she stood up.

"Wow, you're using Gaelic to me huh." I said teasingly.

She laughed. "I'm Scottish so yeah can't control it."

And with that I chuckled.

We continued to just stood there to have more rest while chit chatting until Rachelle's green eyes moved passed my shoulder. I followed her gaze and there, we did not realize that we're in front of a tall door.

We both looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders.

Looks like we're in our destination.

The tall door looked very historical, giving some vibes that I didn't understand. It's my first time going here and it felt strange.

We walked towards the tall door.

No one attempted to knock on the door because we're both observing the area and honestly kinda nervous to talk to one of the McKenzie clan.

"Don't they have a doorbell here?" I asked while still checking the area.

"Hmm that's what I am also looking for but I think we have to just knock on the door?" Rachelle answered still wandering around the area.

I stopped and put my hands on my waist.

"Hey I know we're both buying the time here, what if let's do it now?" I said looking at her.

She also stopped then sighed.

"Yeah you're right, let's finish the business. Better wish us luck." She said shaking his head slightly.

We composed ourselves in front of the very historical and tall door. At first, still no one had the courage to knock on the door but after how many minutes, Rachelle finally did it.

According to the article that I've read about McKenzie Clan when I had the time researching them on the phone when we were on a ride a while ago, they are very intimidating and private. They portrayed very well the image of their ancestors. I tried to search more about them but all I got was the description of the clan. I also searched about the McKenzie Statue that they are keeping inside the mansion but again I did not get anything about it. As what Rachelle said, they made him low-key or unknown to the people, not everyone knew the story behind this warrior.

I gave up to dig more about this warrior but before finally giving up, I noticed an article that talks about the McKenzie Warrior.

Actually there's nothing much on that article but it was the only one that describes this warrior like, how great this warrior was in the battles, he's the feared warrior assassin that countries wanted to claim and etc etc but every descriptions point in one thing, he's ruthless and was used to kill people either innocent or not.

The tall door opened and I felt the cold air hit our skin.

An old woman around 60's stood up at the doorway. She looked at us and immediately checked us from head to toe. It felt like she was judging us for an instant while giving us a vibe of hostility.

Rachelle cleared her throat to remove the awkwardness that we are feeling. I straightened my formal dress and gave the old woman a genuine smile.

But she didn't smile back at us.

"Good day, I-uh..." Rachelle started with a nervous voice, turning to me as if addressing my presence.

"We're both working from the National Museum of Edinburgh, uh we're here to talk to you about the McKenzie Statue. If you would allow us, we can negotiate about it." Rachelle finished, breathing deeply.

I was waiting for any hint of reaction from her but we only received an expressionless face.

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Oh it's starting to become awkward again.

But you can see in her slight wrinkled white face that she's having a thought of it. Her clear blue eyes was like looking at our souls, still judging the both of us.

Her right eyebrow raised and looked at us again from head to toe.

"How many times should I tell you, we will not surrender the statue of our pride. He's not for sale nor for display in that museum." She said with a blank expression and in a hostile but calm voice.

It made me want to just go home.

"Ye, it is your pride but we just want him to be known to everyone, to be known that he had a huge contribution in the history of Scotland. Den ye want that?" Rachelle said with convincing tone.

I looked at Rachelle and you can really see the determination in her green eyes. If she got this mission, it will give her the advantage to become one of the curators of the museum in the future. It will also be her success since as what she said, a lot of past curators from the museum tried their best to get the statue and they were all unsuccessful.

How many years passed but they still failed to convince them.

I turned my attention back to the older woman in front of us who I am also curious about since she is a McKenzie and knows a lot about their history, I gave her a warm smile. Maybe if we can push her more, she would give us the story of McKenzie Warrior.

"Madame, let me introduce myself. I am Bethany Collins, a museum conservator from the National Museum of Edinburgh." I started though deep inside I wanted to walk away from this situation.

"Firstly, I apologize if I don't sound scottish-ly because I grew up in America and am starting my career here in Scotland. I know a lot of people from the museum already went here to negotiate with you but this time Madame, we want to negotiate with you not just for the sake of our career and money but we want to feature the story of your pride." I said with full honesty.

"You see, we are very much interested in his story not just him but your stories as part of the McKenzie Clan. Don't you think it is time to put McKenzie in the history of Scotland?" I said more convincingly but not to the point of desperation.

"So if you allow us madame, we will be so grateful and excited at the same time because this will be a big news in Scotland." I added politely and smiled.

Still, she gave us a blank expression.

We were still waiting for her reply but we got nothing.

After how many minutes of waiting, she didn't give us anything nor a word.

Finally, she moved a little but to our surprised she closes the door.

Rachelle and I looked at each other and mouthed 'wow'.

We waited for more minutes but the door didn't open anymore. I think this time we have to give up now.

I recalled all the things I've said to madame to know if I said something that is offensive to her but I think, none. I mean hey I was talking to her politely and I just tried to convince her but anyway what can we do, they didn't want to give us the statue.

Plus I will be forever clueless about that warrior.

I sighed.

"Hey, thank you for helping me there Beth. I really appreciate that." She patted my shoulder.

I looked at her and smiled weakly.

"You're welcome Rach, but still I wanna know the story of that warrior." I said.

I looked around the mansion, it was my first time to check it since I was preoccupied about my thoughts of meeting the McKenzie clan.

It was a huge mansion, with a touch of ancient style and historic vibe. It felt like I am in the 1800's something era and to be honest it felt good. I was always curious what it feels like to be in those years, like maybe everything was so simple yet beautiful.

This is why I love to read some historical romance novels, I mean I am not into the love story but just the feeling how it would if I was in those times.

I really have a thing with history.

I was snapped out of reality when I heard the tall door moved allowing us to see the view inside the mansion and there, the madame that we're talking to a while ago appeared again from the doorway, gesturing us as if welcoming us inside the mansion.

Again, Rachelle and I looked at each other with shocked expression.

"Thigibh a stigh agus labhraidh sinn." She said in a strict voice.

We both turned to her still shocked with what's happening right now.

I felt Rachelle moved closer to me.

"She said come in and we will talk." Rachelle translated which I nodded.

We walked towards the doorway and when we got inside the mansion, madame closed the tall door behind us.

I immediately looked around and I was in awe. It was really huge and very spacious inside. The area is also clean and everything is arranged properly. The walls are also high that you have to look up so that you can see the beauty of ancient style of the mansion.

This is not actually a mansion, this is a castle.

I breathe the slightly cold air inside, and it smells like the scent of sandalwood.

This totally makes me feel like I am in 1800's.

She walked us through the red carpeted floor to the mansion's living room. Again I was really in awe because of how big the living room is but what do you expect, it's a mansion, no it's a castle.

She gestures us to sit in their soft- looking brownish sofa and we obeyed.

To say, it was not just a soft- looking sofa but it definitely is. Wow it felt like I sat in an ancient luxurious sofa.

The madame left us in the living room but minutes after she appeared again holding a tray with a porcelain teapot, also a porcelain tea glasses and some cookies on it. She put it down on the woody table in front of us.

She sat on the single sofa that is parallel on where we are sitting.

The way the madame move is very classy and smooth.

She looked at us both, this time with welcoming vibe and finally she gave us a smile.

"Feel at home and please drink some tea, I know it's too tired to go here." She said sincerely.

With that, we took our tea glasses and poured some and then we also took a sip of it.

Wow this is some kind of Chamomile Lemongrass Tea. I put down the tea glass on the table and smiled at the madame.

"Thank you for this madame." I said.

She nodded and smiled motherly.

"By the way, I am Olivia McKenzie and as you can see I am part of the McKenzie clan." She introduced.

"So, you say you want to get the McKenzie Statue right?" She started.

"And you're willing to now include the McKenzie in our history, but do you have any idea about our pride?" She asked calmly.

We both shook our heads.

"I see and I am fully aware of that, as we all know we are very reserved clan that's why we really don't give any information about us but since you are interested with our pride, I think I have to let you know about our story." She said smilingly.

Before she started to tell us the story, she turned slightly to the right side and looked at the rich woody door that looks like a room that we did notice at first.

And again, my curiosity hit me. Why is she looking at that room? Who is in there? Before I could ask, she turned to us again.

"Alright, I'll talk to you now about the infamous McKenzie Warrior but first please I want this to be recorded because I'll just speak about this once." She said with slightly strict voice.

With that, we both took our phones inside our bags and started to record it.

"There you go Madame Olivia McKenzie, the record has been started." I said with full excitement.