They talked for a while and William showed him around the palace. Also, he told Oliver about his father's offer: to come and live in their palace, or he cloud come over whenever he wanted, without needing an appointment or invitation.
"I really appreciate the offer, but I don't think I need to move here. I am really happy with the place we have in the village." said Oliver.
"I understand... Than you can come visit whenever you want and today you can stay for as long as you'd like." said William with a smile, although he suspected that Oliver was kind of scared of his family now and just wanted to get away from them.
"Thank you very much! However... if you don't mind, I would like to go home and assure everyone that I'm alright. Also, I have to make sure my bags are packed and I have to check the results tomorrow and see if I got one of the 3 scholarships, so I can attend the Academy..." said Oliver.
"I see... Well then, I will come and send you off..." responded William slightly disappointed.
"I would really appreciate that. Also, I don't really know where I am at, so if you could give me some directions, that would be great." said Oliver, realizing he had no idea how to get home.
"I hope you didn't think you would have to go by foot all the way home..." William said slightly confused. "I will send you home with a carriage..."
"With a carriage?!? Wouldn't that be too much?" said Oliver.
"It's fine... we have plenty..." responded William.
On their way to the carriage they talked a little more about various things and, although Oliver seemed like he forgot everything that happened, William still feared that he was just trying to get away. Oliver, on the other hand, didn't realize what was going on in William's mind and was pretty much thinking about all the things he had to do when he arrived home. When they arrived, they said their goodbyes, Oliver got in and the carriage left.
Once he was outside the capital, all the things Oliver went through flooded his mind. It has been a rough night!!! He was exhausted... Although he slept plenty, emotionally he needed some time to rest. However, how could he have been so calm during the whole situation?!? Thinking about it now, he was simply terrified! If William's father had actually been a psychopath, right now he would still be in that underground dungeon, or probably disposed somewhere outside the capital in some ditch... Thank God that was not the case and he was still alive!
After a few moments of processing everything, Oliver calmed down and realized that it was all in the past, there were no bad intentions and thus, no hard feelings. Actually, he really appreciated how smart William's father had actually been. The whole fight between the Duke and the guard last night in the underground dungeon must have been planned, and the guard must have faked his death. All the methods of persuasion and of making him show his true colors that the Duke used were brilliant and his combat skills seems amazing. He definitively was one of the best fighters the Kingdom had. Getting to know him better and to learn from him would sure be great! That said, Oliver never wanted to experience that ever again in the posture of a suspect.
Getting home with a carriage was very fast. In about 25 minutes they arrived at the orphanage. Oliver got off and thanked the coachman which made a small bow and then left. When he entered the orphanage he saw an unusual scene: sister Mary and all the children were pacing back and forth looking anxious. The only one who wasn't doing that was Leo, the oldest child after Oliver. However he was doing something else unusual for him: he was doing the dishes. This was not exactly the scene Oliver thought he would come home to, but it wasn't abnormal for them to feel this way. He probably would have been the same if this had happened to someone else.
"Hello, everybody! Sorry I came so late home! I must have gone for a walk last night and lost track of time... silly me..." said Oliver trying to liven up the atmosphere.
Everyone turned their heads instantly. All of them were so happy, they thought they were dreaming.
"You punk! Did it get to your head the party and the fact that you went to the capital and might attend a fancy school?!? You better go upstairs and check if you have everything you need in your luggage and then you better get to work! The floors need mopping, the clothes need ironing, the shelves need dusting... Seriously..." said Leo.
Although it might have seemed that he was heartless and that he didn't care about Oliver, this was actually his way of saying *I was worried about you! I'm glad you came home safely!" and getting everyone out of their daze. Since Oliver was taken by the Duke, Leo decided he would do everything Oliver used to do around the house. He worked a lot, trying to keep everything together, even though he was hurting a lot as well, but what happened was too much for the others, so he had to be the responsible one. Sister Mary was only able to pack his luggage while crying rivers after he was taken away.
After hearing Leo's words, Oliver felt comforted. He knew what he meant. Sister Mary, on the other hand, was about to give him a serious beating. Oliver noticed in time and intervened:
"You're right! I'll get right to it. Sorry for the trouble!" said Oliver as he began walking towards his room. Right before he entered, all the other kids and sister Mary surrounded him and gave him a big hug. They all dropped a few tears as they each welcomed Oliver back home. Happily, after that, things calmed down, the tension dispersed and things got back to normal.
While Oliver was in his room, looking through his luggage, Leo came in:
"I missed you! Welcome home!" ha said and then left.
Oliver was touched. It was good to be home!