Willow and Philip were just "enjoying" their breakfast in their usual tense silence as Thomas entered the dining room in company of another man. Judging by his attire it was a servant as well. He bowed slightly towards the siblings before he spoke up. "Please excuse me for interrupting your breakfast, your Graces. But I am to deliver this letter to the Duke of Cornwall, as soon as anyhow possible."
Philip gestured for him to come to his side so he could deliver the letter. After handing it over the servant bowed again and had left the room with Thomas a moment later again.
Willow watched her brother curiously as he opened the letter. It must have been written in a hurry since there wasn't any attention put in the folding or even just sealing of it. Or maybe it was from one of Philip's friends... Maybe they wanted to go out hunting or something like that and therefore the letter had to be delivered immediately.
Philip's expression changed from surprise to something that could probably be described as indisposition. Willow did not like the look on her brother's face all that much. She could nearly feel trouble approaching. Who was that letter from? And what did it say?
"You are going to stay in your room this afternoon. You will go there right after lunch and you will not come out of there until I come and get you. Is that clear?" Philip spoke up, looking towards his sister now. He didn't need her to be snooping around when her husband to be would come by and she had no idea that she was even betrothed to someone yet. The risk of her overhearing something, freaking out and running away was way too big.
"But-" Willow tried to argue back, not at all willing to spend almost all day inside her room, when the weather was so lovely outside today.
"No buts. You will do as you're told." Philip wouldn't have any of this. He didn't have the time to argue about this withWillow. For once she would have to just behave herself and do as she was told.
"Please Philip. Can't I stay in the gardens? I promise I'll keep away from the house. I will not get in your way. I promise." Willow pleaded - she just had to try to change his mind. If he would just let her stay in the gardens instead, she would make sure to stay at the far ends off the garden, as far away from the house as possible. Obviously someone important would come to visit and her brother didn't want to be interrupted. And that was fine with her, she just didn't want to be locked away in her room.
Philip looked at his sister for a moment, considering her request. It probably wouldn't matter whether she stayed in her room or in the gardens. Either way she would be far away from their guest. "Alright." he finally gave in. "But you will not come near the house, is that understood?"
"Yes," Willow nodded happily that she could at least spend the afternoon outside. "Yes of course." To be honest she hadn't expected her brother to give in to her so easily, but she was really glad that he did. "Thank you, Philip."
But her brother already seemed to be too deep in thought to even notice that she said something. And only a few moments later he had gotten up and left the room, not even sparing his sister a glance.
This was bad. Really bad. Marcus didn't seem too pleased about the arranged marriage at all and Philip noticed that he hadn't really taken him into consideration at all, when he made his decision all those years back. What was he going to do? What was Marcus going to do?
What if he was really mad? What if he would refuse to get married to his sister? Would the Grand Duke insist on him to pay back the money that had been used to pay all those debts? There was no way for them to pay back that much money at once. The business was stable now, much better than it had been 3 years prior but they had not saved up much money just yet. Oh what did he get himself into with this decision?
Philip was up in his study again, pacing back and forth as he usually did when trying to find a solution to a problem. What was he supposed to tell Marcus?
Sure, he was convinced that accepting the deal of the Grand Duke had been their only option and he had had good reason as to why he would have agreed to it, but he wasn't so sure if Marcus would understand. He didn't know Marcus too well at all, but a man who spent 3 years travelling the world surely loved his freedom. And finding himself faced with an arranged marriage right after his return... Philip would be outraged if he were in Marcus shoes.
But to him Marcus had always seemed to be quite a calm and rational person. Maybe Philip could explain to him his reasons and maybe he would understand. Maybe he could convince him that this deal had helped so much that Marcus would consider it worth dedicating his future to a girl he had never met.
After pacing for another few hours and racking his brains about what words to choose and how to explain all this, lunch time had already passed and he had dismissed Thomas when he had come to get him. He couldn't have gotten a bite down his throat anyways. Philip started out the window and saw that his sister had actually stuck to her word. He could see her walking towards the bench in the very back of the gardens, that was barely in view from the house, with a book in her hand. Once she would have started reading nothing could distract her until she had finished it, Philip knew that, so he would be safe from any interruptions from her side.
It wasn't much later that Marcus had arrived and the two of them had settled into the study. Philip had offered a glass of whiskey or scotch, but Marcus had declined politely. He didn't seem mad. Maybe a little tense but nothing compared to how Philip was feeling. He was nervous beyond repair really.
"So..." Philip started, without even knowing what to say, but also not being able to withstand another second of the silence that had settled between them. His hands were sweating, that's how nervous he was and he had to brush them off on his trousers.
"Look Philip. I did not come here to rip your head off so would you please calm down?" Marcus spoke up. Feeling bad for making Philip so nervous. He didn't come here with any bad intentions, he just wanted to talk. "I merely want to hear your side of the story. I don't feel like I have enough information to know what the right decision to make is in that matter."
At those words Philip relaxed a little. Right, just talking, that was fine.
"Right." He nodded. Trying to figure out where to start. "Well I don't know how much your father has told you about all of this so I shall just start from the very beginning." He paused, waiting for Marcus' approval and continued when he nodded.
"I'll have to go into greater detail for you to understand how I or rather we - my sister and I - got into that situation in the first place. Our mother had passed away giving birth to my sister and our father... he didn't take it very well. She had been the love of his life, his everything and just like that, she had been gone. That was why he started drinking, which then continued to gambling with his "friends". It got worse and worse over the years and I was just a boy back then. I wasn't able to take care of the finances let alone the Estate. I had my hands full with taking care of my sister."
Philip paused again for a moment, trying not to let these memories overwhelm him. It had been hard - so hard - and he had always done as much as he could, but he still felt like it hadn't been enough. Like he had failed.
"So... When he passed away about 3 years ago he left us behind a huge mountain of debts. I spent days - weeks sorting through all the paperwork in this office, trying to get a grip on things, but it seemed impossible. And there was just no way for me to pay back all the people he had borrowed money from. At this point the only option seemed to be to just sell it all. The house, the grounds, the whole Cornwall Estate really. But then your father got in touch with me and made that offer."
Philip paused once more, glancing at Marcus to find him listening to his story with great interest, nodding at him to continue.
"He said that if you and my sister were to get married, once you returned from your travels, he would take care of the debts and help me with the business and managing the Estate. It had been the only option, Marcus, you have to believe me. And it had been the hardest decision I ever had to make. But I just didn't know what else to do."
Philip had finished talking and silence settled over the room once again. Marcus was obviously still thinking about Philip's words. And Philip was sitting there nervously waiting for him to speak up and say something.
"Thank you for being so honest and telling me the whole story." Marcus finally said. "I am sorry for all the things that you had to go through. I can only imagine how hard it must have been. And I do completely understand why you accepted my father's offer. I am not blaming you for any of this, Philip."
You could practically see the weight lift off of Philips shoulder at those words. He had so hoped that Marcus would understand and he did.
"Nevertheless the decisions that have been made have gotten me into the position that I am currently in and to be honest with you I do not know if I can just obey my father's wishes like that." Marcus continued a serious expression on his face. He could see Philip's face fall again at those words as it had just lighted up moments ago.
"But," he therefore continued, "I am not going to just leave you hanging. I want us to work out a solution together that will work for everyone involved."
Relief washed over Philip once again. He hadn't expected things to go so smooth with Marcus. If their roles were reversed he surely wouldn't have been so calm and forgiving as Marcus was.
"Thank you." Philip answered and meant it with all his heart. "Really. This is so much more than I had hoped for." He looked at Marcus, making sure that he understood how much this meant to him. "I am willing to do whatever it takes to resolve this situation."
A smile spread on Marcus' face that made Philip smile in return as well. "I am sure we will figure something out."
The two of them spent some more time in the study, discussing the options that they had and all possible outcomes that could occur. Philip was very glad that he and Marcus got along so well especially after all that has happened between them. He felt like he had gained a new friend in Marcus and appreciated his efforts in resolving this situation in the best way possible.
A knock on the door interrupted their conversation. It was Thomas asking if they wanted some lemonade that Elise had made this very afternoon. Philip glanced at Marcus for an answer and the grin on his face said it all. Obviously he was a fan of homemade lemonade just as much as Philip was. They decided on going downstairs and enjoying the lemonade on the back porch since the weather was so nice and both of them had enough of spending the whole afternoon in that study.
As they were sitting on the porch, now chatting over their hobbies and Marcus telling a few stories about his travels, Philip offered to show Marcus around the Cornwall Estate. Just in case that they came to the conclusion that the arranged marriage was really their best option and Marcus would in fact take over the Cornwall Estate. At that moment it was mentioned in an amusing tone though, not at all as the serious topic that it had been before.
Philip started his tour inside the house. Showing Marcus the dining room and living room, the kitchen and the guest rooms. He let out his own and Willow's room as his was quite messy and he didn't want to interfere with his sister's privacy. Marcus of course understood and they joked about girls and their tons of gowns and jewelry for a bit.
"How is she?" Marcus wanted to know curiously, referring to Philip's sister.
"She surely can be a handful sometimes." Philip laughed, shaking his head at Willow's bubbly temper. "But to some part I feel more like her parent than her brother, if you know what I mean. She never had a mother and our father... he was barely there. So I basically took care of raising her."
"It must have been hard for her too." Marcus thought out loud. "Growing up without a female role model and your father gone so much."
Philip paused for a second, before answering. "Yes. I'm sure it hasn't always been easy for her. But I did the best I could to be everything she needed in one person." The past hadn't been easy for either of them.
"Tell me about her hobbies. What does she like to do?" Marcus asked in an effort to cheer up the mood again. He surely didn't intend for his new found friend to linger in bad memories.
"Oh she's quite easy when it comes to that really. You just give her a book and you won't see or hear from her for the rest of the day." Philip laughed, remembering that that's what Willow was up to right now too.
Marcus raised an eyebrow at that information. A bookworm huh? Not exactly what he had imagined her hobbies to be. Had he been ever so wrong about her character?
The two of them had now made their way out the back door and were on the way to the stables, when Philip stopped and pointed down the gardens. "In fact," he started, "that's what she's doing right now. Sitting back there, caught up in another book."
Marcus squinted his eyes, the sun slightly blinding him, but yes there was a girl, sitting on a bench in the very back off the gardens. But she was too far away to make out any details. All he could tell was that she had her head bowed down, clearly mesmerized by the book in her hand.
All of a sudden the thought of marrying that very girl over there didn't seem so out of this world anymore. If she liked reading so much, she would probably also enjoy listening to him telling her about his travels and that was definitely a good thing.
"What else does she like?" Marcus couldn't help but question further. There was this sudden urge to find more about that girl.
"Well... She spends quite some time in the stables these days. I don't really know what she does there, you'd have to ask our stable boy that." Philip answered, but realizing the moment that the words left his mouth that they could easily be understood wrongly and quickly added "Don't get me wrong there! I made it quite clear to the boy that if he was to act out of place around her even in the slightest he'd be in big trouble."
It wouldn't have even come to Marcus' mind that Philip's sister might have had an affair with the stable boy and something else about Philip's statement had caught his attention way more. The stable boy. Will.
"Will, right?", he asked, referring to the stable boy.
"Pardon me?" Philip asked not understanding in the slightest, what Marcus was talking about.
"I have met your stable boy a little while back. We happened to run into each other." Marcus explained vaguely, not wanting to get Will into any trouble. Although now that he met Philip he hardly thought that he would get too mad if he found out about his stable boys nightly trips. "His name is Will, isn't it?"
"Errhhh... no, his name is Arthur. We have never had a stable boy called Will." Philip clarified. Still not fully understanding why Marcus would know and care about his stable boy. "But why don't we ask him, maybe this is just a misunderstanding."
They headed inside the stables, where Arthur was just busy cleaning out one of the boxes. "Arthur." Philip called him over to them. "Is this the boy that you ran into the other day?" he asked, looking at Marcus as Arthur made his way towards them.
Marcus couldn't help but stare at Arthur for a moment as he came to a halt before them and bowed slightly. Feeling Philip's gaze on him, Marcus snapped himself out of it by shaking his head slightly.
"No. I'm sorry I guess I mixted something up there." Still shaking his head trying to wrap his head around this. Will, or whatever his name was, had lied to him. It had all been a huge lie. How dare he!
Marcus took a deep breath to calm himself, he mustn't let Philip know about this as it would be highly embarrassing. So he put the smile back on his face and they laughed it off.
Not too much later Marcus excused himself though, mentioning that he had some business to attend to and had to leave now. They said their goodbyes and promised to stay in contact about the whole arranged marriage matter, that still had to be resolved.
Philip was relieved that it all went so well. He didn't expect his afternoon to end up being so pleasant. In fact he had been quite sure that it would have ended in an utter disaster, but instead of gaining an enemy he had actually made a friend.
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