Crowns of Heritage

Chapter 55- Another Problem (4)

(ROSEMARY P.O.V)

I woke up and started to feel around the bed. I looked over at the clock, It was already six in the morning and I realized Yeshiva had already left the villa to go to the forest near the palace. I got out of bed and went to take a shower. I remained under the water for a few minutes and saw all the dye coming off of my hair. When I got out of the shower, I walked in front of the mirror. My reddish hair was back and looked like it was never dyed.

I looked at my hand, remembering it was covered in blood not too long ago. I realized I didn't feel anything after killing those maids. I put on my clothes and then heard a knock on the door. I walked over to answer it and saw Nashi standing outside the door. He bowed his head.

“I'm sorry for my behavior,” he said, as he raised back up.

I looked at him and punched in the chest. I watched him fold up and looked directly at him.

“What was that for?” he asked, while rubbing his chest.

“You're such a loser” I said.

He put his head down, “I just love her so much, I panicked” he said.

“Then prove it, do everything you can to find my sister or stay away from her” I said.

He nodded his head and walked off down the hallway.

I closed the door and flopped down on the bed. I sighed.

“Everyone is losing their minds” I mumbled out loud.

(PRINCE MOISES P.O.V)

I stood by the window, I could barely sleep at a time like this. I kept waiting for Natalie to come back. I should've never let Sage go to the palace, but I would've never found out my mother was trying to rescind my exile.

I felt a little agitated and decided to go to the training hall. I walked over to the area the knights practice in. When I got there I saw Nashi swinging around his sword. He didn't notice me until I walked closer to him.

“Let's spar,” I said, getting his attention.

He bowed his head and I grabbed one of the wooden sword.

“Show me your resolve” I said.

We got into our stance and I remained on defense. Nashi ran towards and clashed with my sword.

“Too weak, again” I shouted.

He stepped back and ran towards me again

“Again!” I shouted.

This time I switched to offense and went in for an attack. He raised up his sword and I slashed across his chest with the wooden sword.

“You have a lot of openings”, I said, “Again!” I shouted.

We started moving around faster, continually clashing our swords. It was loud and it made some of the knights come out of one of the buildings.

“If you love my daughter, show me, I won't give her to a weak man” I said.

Nashi gripped his sword and started to breathe more calmly.

“Good, now show me if you can protect my princess,” I said and gripped my sword.

We ran towards each other and continued to clash swords while other knights stood around.

After an hour of continually sparring, I heard a voice yelling.

I looked back and saw Natalie and Sylvester running towards us. I dropped the sword and caught her in my arms as she jumped up into it.

“Sylvester” I said as he walked closer.

He bowed his head, “Prince Moises, I had to tell you it wasn't your mother who arrested me and sent knights after Sage. It was Prince Marshall” he said.

I balled my fist, “That son of bitch is going to die as soon as I see him” I grit my teeth

Natalie jumped out of my arms.

“Well, we have something of his that we can use against him,” she said.

I looked at her, “What is it?” I asked.

She gestured for us to follow behind her. We walked back to the villa and entered the garden. After walking through the garden for a few minutes, I saw a pregnant woman and I was confused. She turned towards us and looked a little afraid.

“Looks like Prince Marshall's having an illegitimate son of his own.” Natalie said.

“What?”, I said, sounding surprised.

“And I kidnapped his daughter” Natalie said, with a smile on her face.

I sighed, I'm reminded again just how dangerous this woman of mine was, she placed a key in my hand.

“We need to talk. I'll go get Rosemary. Let's meet in our room”, she said.

(YESHIVA'S P.O.V)

The sun was starting to rise, and it made it a little easier to travel through the forest. I've been traveling west for the past few hours and stumbled upon a small cabin. I looked around on the ground and saw dried up blood throughout the area. It looked like a battle went on, I thought to myself.

I approached the cabin, and started to notice someone was watching me. I walked over to the river and pretended to drink water. I felt the person approaching.

“Are you hunting as well?”, I heard a man's voice.

“No, just traveling,” I said.

I turned and saw a middle-aged man standing behind me.

“I'm Palin, That's my cabin”, he said and pointed at the cabin.

“Yeshiva”, I said, while raising my body up.

“What happened here, looks like a battle happened?” I asked.

“Palace knights, we ended up killing them all.”, he said. “What made you want to travel to the western region?” he asked.

I was stunned a bit, “Western region, Did she come this far, I thought to myself. Have you met a young woman by the name of Sage?”

I noticed his body language became defensive, then I heard footsteps approaching. I turned my head and saw a tall man with maroon hair.

“Who are you and why are you searching for Sage?”, he asked.

I felt threatened and quickly moved away.

“She's my clan mate's daughter, she fled the palace and we've been looking for her '' I said.

He looked a bit relaxed after I said that.

“Henrico Clan right”, he said, looking directly at me.

I nodded my head.

“How's Rosie, holding up?” he asked.

Why was he asking about Rosie, I thought to myself.

“She's my adoptive daughter,” he said after seeing my expression.

“Your Nathan?” I asked, shit now I have to deal with two fathers, I sighed.

He nodded his head and gestured for me to follow him. After walking through the forest for an hour, we arrived at a large wooden building surrounded with people standing around outside conversing.

“This is one of the western rebels headquarters” he said.

And my eyes widened, “Where's Sage?”, I asked.

“She's safe at Duke Winters estate” he said.

I was about to ask him something, until he held his hand up.

“Since you've made it this far, how about joining me. I'm getting ready to leave for my meeting with Prince Morgan” he said.

(SAGE P.O.V)

After I got settled into a room, I went to sleep. When I woke up it was morning, and I heard a knock on the door. When I opened it, I saw an older woman and Chena was standing next to her.

“Good morning Princess, I'm the head maid Lucy”, she said, bowing her head.

“Good morning,” I said.

“Come now, My lady, we have to get you dressed for breakfast.”, she said and gestured to a maid who was standing beside her.

“This is Haley, she will be your personal maid” she said, gesturing to a woman with long copper colored hair, she was a bit taller than me.

The maid bowed her head and I followed behind them to a large bathroom. I got undressed and lowered my body into the water. I could feel Haley washing my hair. When I looked down I noticed the dye was in the water and my hair was back to its natural brownish color.

“You have the same hair color as Duchess Mary and Queen Malaysia.” Haley said, “You get your gray eyes from the Duke. You're definitely the descendant of the Winter Dukedom” she added.

After leaving the bathroom, Haley helped me get dressed. I wore a beautiful blue dress and she put large jewels around my neck. When I walked out of the room, I saw Duchess Mary who was standing near the window looking at the garden. She turned around and noticed me.

“You look gorgeous”, she said, “Now my young duchess, let's head to the dining room.”

When we got to the dining room, I saw Valian talking to Duke Winter. They looked over at me and Valian's mouth dropped.

“Wow, it's starting to sink in that I'm related to a royal,” he said.

One of the guards pulled out my chair, and I sat down by the table.

“I've sent a letter to Duke Vernon's villa, your father should get it soon”, Duke Winter said.

The butler came out and placed our food onto the table. I started to eat just like Hannah taught me.

“You have wonderful etiquette, looks like I don't have to get you a teacher”, Duchess Mary said.

“I'll be introducing you as my successor at the next conference meeting later this week, I'll make sure no one can touch you,” Duke Winter said. “If they try to touch me, I'll destroy their family tree,” he added.

I felt instantly safe knowing that.

“Once your father gets the letter, we'll start your inheritance lessons. You will learn all the history involving the Winter Dukedom” he said.

I nodded my head and we continued to eat our food.

“Young Duchess, would you like to meet the Knights today?” one of the guards asked.

I nodded my head.

“I think that's a wonderful idea,” Duke Winter said.

After breakfast, I followed one of the guards and Chena followed behind me. I kept seeing the guard look back at me and started to wonder what he was planning. I saw him smile while he glanced back at me.

When I entered the large training grounds, I saw well over two hundred people, a mixture of men and women. As soon as they saw me, they began to kneel on one knee.

“Young Duchess”, they shouted.

I was a little taken aback.

“Yes?”, I said while feeling a little confused.

“Princess Sage, as the daughter of Prince Moises and the future Duchess of the Winter Dukedom. We, the knights of the Winter Dukedom, swear our loyalty to you.” they all shouted.

I stood there stunned and suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder. When I looked back, I saw Duke Winter.

“Sage, as the successor for the Dukedom, they're officially your knights and guardsmen.” Duke Winter said, while smiling at me.

(NATALIE P.O.V)

A couple hours passed, while Moises, Rosemary and I were inside of the room. I began telling them about the Queen's condition. I saw the hurt on Moises face after he learned his mother had been consuming poison on their behalf. Rosemary and I comforted him after seeing him get emotional.

“What are we going to do about his daughter?” Rosemary asked.

“How about cutting some of her hair and sending it to him”, I said.

Moises and Rosemary looked at me.

“What?”, I asked.

“Mother, do you have any type of sympathy in your bones?” Rosemary asked, sarcastically

“Not when my children are involved” I said, and smirked.

Rosemary pretended to shiver, which made Moises and I laugh.

We heard someone outside the door, and Moises went to open it. We saw Sylvester and Nashi standing outside the door.

“Prince Moises, my father wants you to come to the office”, Sylvester said.

We followed behind them and walked towards the Duke's office. When entered the office, Duke Vernon was sitting behind the desk. Mosies sat down opposite of him.

“I received some news that the western border was attacked yesterday.” He said.

Sylvester and I looked at eachother. So that's why the siren was going off.

“By who?”, Moises said.

“Knights from the Kalpana Kingdom '', he said.

Then I suddenly remembered something.

“Count Livens is a double agent, he's selling military information to the Kalpana kingdom. He's trying to make his nephew Prince Christian the king”, I explained.

“Prince Christian?”Moises asked, “Is he my father's other son?” He asked.

“That's what I've heard, do you remember a woman named Macy?” I asked.

Moises looked like he was thinking, “I remembered my father brought a woman to the palace. He was going to make her his concubine” he answered.

“We need to find out whether or not she's still alive”, I said.

“There is a conference meeting towards the end of this week to discuss the recent attack. We need to get one of you in there with Nashi and I”, Duke Vernon said.

While we were in the office discussing, we heard a knock on the door. When Sylvester opened it, it was a guard holding a few envelopes in his hands. Sylvester took the letters from the guard and walked over to the desk.

“Prince Moises, you have a letter from Duke Winter”, Sylvester said.

He walked over and handed the envelope to Moises and I walked over and stood behind him.

He opened it and read for a few minutes and rose up out of his chair.

“What is it?”, I asked.

“Sage is in the western region by my grandparents”, Moises said.

“How the hell did she end up in the western region?”Rosemary asked, looking at up at Moises.

Moises looked at the letter again.

“Natalie”, he said, “My grandfather made Sage his successor for the Dukedom” he said.

My mouth dropped and I heard Duke Vernon and Nashi gasp.

“Sage will become a Duchess, meaning she has the power of the Winter Dukedom” , Duke Vernon said.

“What does that mean?”Rosemary asked, looking confused.

“You're sister just became the richest noblewoman in the kingdom” Moises said, “And the owner of the strongest knightage in the kingdom.”

A second later another guard came to the office panting.

“Sir there's multiple cars pulling up in front of the villa”, the guard said.

We hurried out of the office and rushed down the stairs. When the guard opened the door. I saw over ten cars parking in the front of the villa.

All of a sudden, all the doors opened and I saw my father and some clan members getting out of the vehicles.

“Looks like we'll be able to move around more freely now ” I said.