Chapter 4

Meanwhile Philip had spent the morning in his study, pacing around for most of the time. The Grand Duke had sent word that he would be arriving in the early hours of noon , but Philip was way too restless to bother attending lunch. There was no room in his head for unimportant things like food right now. This meeting would define the future. His future, his sister; the future of the servants and the future of this estate. Philip was painfully aware of the importance of this encounter.

Was this the right way to go? At this point, Philip didn't see another way. The deal had to be accepted. There was no other option. It was their last hope. Still, it didn't feel quite right and it surely wasn't fair on his sister, that he would just decide about her future for her. But this was how it had always been. Someone had to be in charge and make the decisions. And he was that person now. No matter if Willow liked it or not.

Talking about his sister, she really had been at her best behavior this morning. She had been a completely different person from the one that he had been arguing with the night before. She had been so quiet and calm. He hardly saw her like that. It almost felt a little dull. He had gotten quite used to the constant fighting between the two of them and to some part he liked her fierce personality. The way that she would always defend the things that she considered right.

Philip knew very well that it wasn't all her fault, that the fight last night got so out of hand. He had been on the edge due to the letter of the Grand Duke before she even burst into the room. Maybe he should have told her about it... Maybe they could have talked about it and he wouldn't feel so stressed out about it now, since it wouldn't be his decision alone then.

But she wouldn't have understood. She was just a girl. She probably would have just gotten mad at him for wanting to marry her off without her having a choice about it. She wouldn't see that really they had no other option than to accept the offer. And that it wasn't all bad.

The young Duke threw a quick glance at the clock on the wall, only to realize that close to no time had passed since he last looked at it. God, why was time not passing at all today?

To distract his mind a little, Philip went over to the window to look at the gardens. There she was, strolling through the gardens, the book she had gotten from the study this morning in her hand. Clearly Willow paid no attention to her surroundings whatsoever. She was way too captured in the story.

At that moment Philip envied her. How he wished he could get caught up in a book like that right now. To not worry about reality and instead be on an adventure somewhere far far away.

He had managed to get a glance at the title of the book she took this morning. It was Ivanhoe. He had actually read that book himself not too long ago and had absolutely loved it. Philip wished to be just a common thief as well. There would be no worries about whom to marry his sister too. There would be no servants that needed to be taken care of. No estate to be taken care of. It would have been just him and his adventures. The thrill of breaking into some noblemens castle and seeing the happiness in the poor people's eyes, when he'd give those noblemens treasure to them.

But this was nowhere near the reality. The reality was full of problems that needed to be solved. Surely once that deal was settled Philip would feel relieved though. It would give him some time to take a breath. Maybe he'd even go out for a little ride, once this was all done and over with. And it was just a few hours more. Just a few more hours until he would have his freedom back. Philip couldn't wait to feel the weight of all those worries being lifted off his shoulders. He would be free like a bird again. To go and do as he pleased.

A knock on the door brought him back to reality within seconds though. It was Thomas coming to inform him that the Grand Duke's carriage was about to pull up at the Cornwall Estate. Philip wasted no time, quickly making his way towards the foyer to greet the Grand Duke upon his arrival. And he was just in time as not even a minute later Thomas opened the big entrance door for the Grand Duke.

He looked just like Philip had remembered him and every bit a Grand Duke. His large figure in a hard contrast with the sun shining in through the door as he made his way inside.

"What a pleasure to see you, your Grace!" Philip bowed slightly, all of a sudden feeling really inferior to the man in front of him now. "The pleasure is all mine, my friend!" the Grand Duke replied in his usual loud voice, a smile on his lips, patting Philip on the shoulder.

"It really is an honor to be able to welcome you here today." Philip forced a nervous smile on his face now too. "Please, would you like to follow me to the study so we will be able to talk privately?" His hand already extended towards the directions of the stairs that would lead them to the study. With a slight nod the Grand Duke passed Philip and the two men made their way up the stairs.

"Please, have a seat." Philip continued, after he had opened the door for the Grand Duke and pointed towards the empty chair in front of his desk. "Would you like something to drink? Maybe some scotch or whiskey?"

"Scotch would be delightful. Thank you, my friend." the Grand Duke replied now seated in front of the desk. He couldn't look much more out of place. Everything in that study was worn down, including Philip and then there was the Grand Duke, seemingly without a single flaw to him.

Philip was quick to put the glass of scotch down on the desk in front of the Grand Duke, then poured himself a glass as well and finally sat down on the chair behind the desk, looking exhausted already.

After an attempt to smooth down his hair, Philip spoke up again: "I do apologize for the mess, your Highness. This room hasn't really been taken care of in quite some time and with all these things going on I just haven't mana-"

"You needn't apologize." the Grand Duke interrupted "I can imagine that you had anything on your mind, but cleaning and renovating this place."

A wave of relief washed over Philip at these words and a smile made its way on his face.

"You might not know this, but your dear father and I had been good friends when we were about your age."

As a matter of fact Philip had really not known about that. He had been careful to keep away from his father's so called friends that he used to play cards and went out for drinks with. But the Grand Duke of course hadn't been one of those friends.

Seeing the surprised look on Philip's face, the Duke continued "Yes indeed. We used to go hunting together quite a lot. But you know how life is. Soon enough we both got married and both had our duties and there was less time for fun things like that. When you were really little, just a baby really, our two families met a lot. You used to play with Marcus when you were three or four if I remember correctly. But when your mother passed away...." Interrupting himself there, the Grand Duke took a sip from his scotch. "No one would have seen that coming. And your father - he took it so hard. But who could blame him? Antonia was the love of his life, he always said that. I can't imagine the pain he must have felt. One can hardly blame him for his actions after that. Although I did not in the slightest support his drinking and gambling. Your mother's death was what really made him shut me out, even though I would have been so eager to help him."

Philip just sat there, listening to the Grand Duke talking about his father and a lump started to form in his throat by the thought of his parents. The Grand Duke seemed to notice the discomfort Philip was in and spoke up once more. "But I do hope that you are not as stubborn as he was and will let me help you." A smile was playing on the Grand Duke's lips again now.

"To be honest, your Grace, I am so very grateful for your kind offer and I do not know what we would do if it weren't for your so very generous help." Philip replied, making sure that the Grand Duke understood, just how thankful he was and that he was more than willing to let him help them.

"So I am assuming this is a good time to settle this deal then. I have already let you know in my letter, what my offer would look like. I will make sure that all current debts are paid off - therefore I will of course need your help to figure out what those debts are exactly and who needs to get what and all of that. But that is a matter to discuss on another day.

Furthermore I shall act as your counselor for any future business, should you feel the need to get a few tips from an old-stager or just a second opinion. In return your sister will marry my son Marcus once he has returned from his travels. I expect that to be in about a year, two at the very latest. The newlyweds will take over the estate, so you needn't worry about it anymore and you will live in the small chateau for as long as you wish. Of course you are free to go and do whatever you want, so if you prefer to travel the world instead feel free to do that."

Philip nodded, making sure that he hadn't missed any sneaky details in the deal. "You mentioned some financial aid in the nearer future as well, your Grace, if I may be so free as to mention that." He spoke up, not too comfortable with the fact of asking for even more money.

"Oh yes, yes, of course, my friend. I am well aware that it will take some time for you to get back on your feet again and to get the business blooming again. If you are even in need of a little help with whatever it might be, just send me a letter and consider it settled." the Grand Duke replied, obviously not caring about money too much at all. Well as a Grand Duke he surely never had to worry about that either.

"Thank you, your Grace. This is so much more, than we could have ever wished for. I shall be so very glad to accept this generous offer from you." Philip replied happily, getting up from his chair.

"It is settled then." the Grand Duke replied, getting up as well to shake hands with Philip to settle the deal.

"I was quite surprised that your sister would so easily agree to this." the Grand Duke mentioned, as they had already made their way out the study. "Most girls her age would have probably been very upset about an arranged marriage like that. They all dream about marrying the love of their life, their prince in shining armour, now don't they?" He laughed wholeheartedly, while Philip tried to figure out what to tell the Grand Duke as an answer to that. His hesitation seemed to be answer enough though.

"Oh so you haven't told her? Well do not worry yourself about that. I am sure she is an intelligent girl and will understand the importance of that marriage. In fact I have not mentioned it to Marcus yet either. That will be quite a surprise when he'll return, huh?" The Grand Duke stated, laughing again and patting Philip on the back. They had now reached the entrance door that had already been opened by Thomas.

"Well, I really must get going now, my friend. It was a great pleasure to meet you and you'll receive word from me about those debts as soon as possible." And with that he was out the door and Philip was left behind a little dumbfounded and speechless.

The Grand Duke seemed like a nice person, but the way he just talked about Willow and Marcus... It was like their feelings and their thoughts in this matter were of no importance to him at all. And Philip wasn't sure if he could be so careless about that too.

In fact it bothered him quite a bit already. His sister's future had been settled. And she had no idea about it. She was probably still caught up in her book, oblivious to those huge decisions that had been made above her head, even though it was her life that they were deciding about. Had it been wrong to accept that offer? Had it been wrong not to tell her? Philip knew that he should have talked to her about it. And it was only now that he realized what the reason for him not to do it had been.

He had been scared of her reaction and scared that she would have talked him out of it. He had been scared that she would have made him take another way. It might have seemed to him like there was no other way, but maybe he just wanted to see things that way, because this was the easy way. The easy way for him at least. Would she ever be able to forgive him for that?

Philip found himself back in the study, looking out the window, down at the gardens. His sister was nowhere to be seen. The gardens were empty. How was he supposed to tell her? How do you tell someone that pretty much their whole future had been planned out for them? How was she going to react?

If Philip were told that he would have to get married to the daughter of a Grand Duke in one to two years time and that there was no way for him to even just meet her beforehand, he would be mad - really mad. And Willow... She was full of spirits. She'd probably rip his head off. She would probably never talk to him again. And he couldn't even blame her for it. This deal was in no way fair to her - or Marcus if you were to take him in the equation as well. But nevertheless it was a deal that had been settled. The decision had been made. There was no going back now.

The young Duke was once again pacing back and forth in his office. This was not at all what he had imagined to be doing after the deal had been settled. This was not at all what he expected to feel like. He didn't feel light or free. He just felt guilty. He should have talked to her beforehand. It would have been way easier that way. And if she wouldn't have agreed to it and he still decided to accept the offer she wouldn't be any more mad at him than she would be now.

Nevertheless he would tell her tonight at dinner. He had to. This was not something that should be kept a secret any longer. It was weighing him down more than enough right now and he figured that for once actually talking, communicating with his sister might just be the right thing to do in order to lift at least some of that weight from his shoulders.

But just how was he going to start that conversation? "Hi Willow. I hope you had a great day. Oh, by the way, I arranged your marriage today, I hope you don't mind." Philip laughed bitterly at that sarcastic thought. There was no right way in telling something so wrong. It would be terrible, no matter how he would put it. She would be mad, no matter what words he'd end up choosing. It would lead into a fight. Even if he tried to apologize, it would end in a fight. And it would drive them further apart than anything ever had in the past.

This was way worse than shutting her out as a kid, when he prefered to play with his friends instead of her. This was way worse than ignoring her, after their father's passing. This was way worse than making her feel like all this mess was her fault. This would destroy even the last bit of trust that she might have had in him and he was not sure if he would ever be able to regain that trust.

What did he do? How could he accept that offer? How could he not take into consideration what this would do to Willow - what it would do to their relationship? Philip knew that there would have been another way. A much harder way that he had prefered not to see, let alone take into consideration. It was the way of putting his sister and their relationship as siblings as their first priority and not the comfortable life that they had lived so far. They would have had to sell it all. Move to a small house somewhere on the outskirts of town. They would have had to work hard to earn the money they needed to survive.

Willow would probably have prefered that option as it meant freedom for her. But that was not the life that Philip wanted his sister to lead. He wanted her to be happy more than anything. And he had hoped and still was hoping that maybe she and Marcus could be happy together. Sure, it would take time, but they could be happy together right? Maybe all these wrongs could make a right. He hoped and prayed that they would.

After staring out into the gardens for what seemed like all eternity, still trying to find the right words for the conversation ahead of him, Philip saw Willow strolling through the garden again. The book now closed in her hand. All he could think of was that she didn't deserve this. He wished that he could stop time at this moment. To not let another second pass. He didn't want to ruin her day like he was sure he would. He didn't want her to get upset or mad. He didn't want her to cry.

There was a knock on the door. How dreadful that noise sounded to Philip. It was time.

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