CHAPTER 13: Her Answer

Deitrick Alexandro de Medici

After a hectic day full of charts and figures, I decided to go home along with this irritating man who tagged with me the whole day and tried to interrogate me in every aspect with strange questions. The only time I got rid of him was when I was in the conference room, in peace.

When I stepped into the doorway and entered the great hall, I saw Diana chatting with my mother, who had a unique grin on her face.

"Good evening.", I said on the way when we were approaching them. I stood there without taking a seat on one of the arranged chairs.

"Buonasera, Sua Eccellenza,", Mikhaelis greeted my mother with a little bow of his head. "Come sta?"

Immersed in her conversation, she looked at us when we stood near her.

"Oh, Mikhael, you are here. I'm good. When did you come? I thought you were busy with your work. "my mother showed surprise at his sudden arrival. "And prefer to speak English. Diana doesn't understand Italian."

"Is it so?... My apologies, Signorina", he said with entirely unapologetic expressions. Then he gazed at Diana, who was sitting in the wheelchair in her summer dress, looking extremely beautiful and radiant...

Then his gaze moved toward me, giving me a knowing look and a signature smirk.

Demonic bastard! I muttered under my breath. 

"Did you say something, Amico?" He had the same private smile on his face, like he was enjoying all this.

"Nothing." I gave him a threatening look which he ignored leisurely. 

"It's a pity that I cannot hold a conversation with such a beautiful Lady in Italian. Anyway, it's nice to meet you, Signorina Diana. This humble being is called Mikhaelis Agnito... Deitrick's friend."

He is not humble at all, and it can be carved in history.

"It's nice to meet you too. Mr Agnito.", She humbly greeted him, but f, she didn't need to be formal in front of this man.

"Signorina, I suggest you should learn Italian as soon as possible in order to avoid inconvenience in future.", he said with a smile on his face. Diana understood his meaning and diverted her beautiful brown eyes with embarrassment.

"She is learning a little...  But it is not that important to learn Italian Mikhaelis. Is it?", My mother said with a cautious look on her face. "By the time she recovers, she will not stay here. That's what Deitrick told me the other day."

She would not stay, but it would be another story if she accepted my proposal to be my potential bride.

I gave him an elbow hit, and he hissed with pain. I didn't tell my mother about my marriage; this man would reveal this. My mother is beyond clever not to notice the clues he is throwing right now.

"What?", He whispered with irritation on his face.

"Can you not be so obvious?" I gave him a threatening look. "If you don't want to be kicked out of the palace right now, keep your mouth shut."

"Oh, come on! She is going to know about it anyway.", he said, and his voice was low, but my mother listened to him.

"What am I going to know about?" she heard it.

I cursed him a few times under my breath. "Nothing... it's just that he is going to stay here for a week." I diverted the course of the conversation.

"Really?" She said with doubt and looked at Mikhael. "It's been so long since your friends came to visit you. I am glad that you came to visit him. I am going to England three days after today so that you can accompany Deitrick and Diana here.", My mother said with undisguised joy.

"Sure. It'll be a pleasure to spend time with such a beautiful lady.", he exclaimed, and Diana smiled. "And my friend, of course." He said after a pause. This whole thing is making me uncomfortable.

Very uncomfortable.

"Mikhaelis, weren't you asking for something important to discuss with me? Let's go." I cut their conversation and tried to chase him away from the ladies.

"Was I?" he raised his eyebrows with a smile on his face.

"Yes, you were... Now let's go." I wanted to drag him away at this moment.

"Stop," my mother said, and it caused an unforeseen fear to develop in me. "How is your mother doing, Mikhael? I couldn't see her for a long time." I heaved a sigh of relief.

"She is doing fine, always loving my father. I sometimes think I'm not their child the way they ignore me," he replied.

My mother chuckled. "Naughty child."

I gave him a stern look signalling him to stop the conversation and follow me.

"Alright, then, let's go. See you at dinner, Ladies.", he said then we both went to my study.

One day has passed, and my anxiety is increasing every second of the day. I wanted to know the response to my proposal, but I restrained myself from asking Diana because the time limit was today night, and I stood by my words to wait.

I am sitting in my vast library looking at the files, but my half concentration is diverted because I look at my watch every five minutes.

The clock struck 9'O clock. It's the time when Diana takes her medicine. I called a servant who was standing in the Library beside me.

"Si Sua Excellenza?" he asked.

"Go call Diana here.", I commanded, and he went to call her.

Since her room was quite far from here, it took about ten minutes, and I heard a knock at the door.

"Enter.", I commanded. Helena pushed the wheelchair inside the library and adjusted Wheelchair's position beside the table so we could face each other.

"You can go, Helena.", I said. She greeted me and went outside.

I looked at Diana's face, which was solemn and gloomy. She was not like this during dinner.

Ignoring her expression, I started the communication.

"So what had you thought about the proposal Signorina Diana?" I hit up my question.

She looked into my eyes, and I could see a wave of palpable anger burning in her eyes. She gave the expression as if she was suppressing her anger. She said, "My answer is no."

"What?" I shouted in disbelief.

"I said no. I'll not marry you, your excellency." she straightforwardly repeated her answer.

I looked at her in bafflement. I mean, who in the world doesn't want to marry me? Suppressing the anger which was surging inside me, I asked, "I have the right to know about the reason for rejection, at least." her behaviour was not like this earlier.

She smiled, which was not real, and placed her phone in front of me, "Take a look, your excellency."

I took the phone in my hand and looked at the screen, 

The beginning of a passionate era of romance between the Duke of Florence and Charlotte Perez.

The duke is seen with a young entrepreneur outside the restaurant after three years of not being involved with any woman. Multitude wants to know. Is it one of his flings, or has he finally decided to settle down with the woman of his dreams?

 A curse escaped from my mouth, and I looked back at her.

This time my anger was mixed with a bit of joy. With a smirk on my face, I looked at her, "So this was the reason that you rejected me."

"This is the first time I am seeing a person who is happy to find the reveal of his colourful life in a tabloid. How can "her voice was smeared with anger?

"It looks like you are highly mistaken, Signorina. The reason why I'm amused is that you are looking exactly like a jealous wife, Signorina.", I said, maintaining the smirk on my face.

"I'm not.", she denied in a breath.

"Oh yes, you are." I stood from the chair on which I was sitting and said, "Not To make you angry any further, I'll tell you the truth... The girl in this photo is the business partner with whom I signed the deal yesterday... Usually, this kind of bullshit is blocked by my assistant, but yesterday night, it was quite late, so it was ignored. I didn't have any relationship with any women for three years. So, the reason for your anger towards me is unjustified."

I stood in front of her and leaned down a little, "Now that everything is clear, What do you think of this proposal?