In the middle of the night, a regular looking car stopped at the backdoor of Calliope's house in the capital. She was dressed in the same clothes that she had been wearing all day with an addition of a long brown overcoat.
"Your Grace, Sir Dyke asked if you would want to use the family Jet?" The driver respectfully asked.
"I want my visit to Orin to be as confidential as possible," Calliope said, looking out of the window. "Prevent authorities from knowing my itinerary."
Using the family Jet would create more suspicions. She didn't want King Leonardo or his loyal dogs to find out that she was going back to Orin. She was not hiding because she was afraid of King Leonardo but because of the fact that her visit to Orin was for a short time. Not just the royal family, she didn't even want her own family to know that she was coming to Orin.
"Right away, ma'am," The driver bowed and started the car.
It would take almost eight hours by car to reach Orin even while using the shortest route. Calliope dozed off during the drive. It was eight in the morning when they reached the first checkpoint of Orin.
As the driver pressed brakes, Calliope woke up with a jolt.
"What's the problem?" Calliope questioned, rubbing her sleepy eyes. Her neck was stiff and her shoulders ached badly.
"We are going to enter Orin, Your Grace," The driver replied.
Calliope didn't answer him but stared at the huge board, welcoming people to Orin. As the car started entering her Dukedom, her eyes turned glossy all of sudden. This was her place. Her legacy. Something she cultivated with her blood and sweat.
Her eyes were graced with the picture of vast land covered with pistachio trees. As the driver could see her staring out of the window, he explained, "This year farmers are hopeful to receive good pistachio prices. Everyone is saying how this is the best harvest in the last ten years."
"That's good to hear," Calliope smiled. Nobody sees the hard work farmers put in their fields. When the common people were moaning and grumbling about inflation, they never bothered to think about the farmers.
"Yoan canal project helped farmers to a great degree," The driver said. "His grace, the duke initiated the execution of the canal last summer."
He told her many stories of the place and she listened to them quietly, not missing pride in his voice. Just like every person born in Orin, he too was proud of his land and what it had accomplished in the last few years.
"Four women of Orin are now the members of parliament," The driver said proudly. "One of them is my distant relative…."
Orin has changed in the last two years yet it's still the same. She could feel it in the freshness of the air.
"What's that?" Calliope asked when she saw construction work carried on at the most forbidden place of Orin. "And stop the car."
It wasn't that the area was forbidden but because people were not allowed to go to that side of Orin. Hundred of acres of land was left barren and empty because it was the spot of dormant Volcanoes. Geologists were expecting them to burst anytime soon.
The driver halted the car and assisted her to get out of the car to have a clear look at the construction on that place. Currently, she was wearing a face mask and oversized sunglasses so that anyone can't recognize her. She could see workers engaged in the construction task from a distance.
"Your Grace, the locals stayed away from the land because they were afraid that the volcanoes may erupt any time," The driver informed her. "However, recently, a team of geologists declared those dormant volcanoes extinct. Some businessman from capital brought this land from the government at a cheap price and now they are building…"
"Building what?" Calliope asked.
The driver thought of the right word before answering her, "Onsen."
"Hot water springs?" Calliope asked.
"Something like that but in an innovative way," The driver replied. It could be seen from his face that even he wasn't aware of this strange project. "You are aware our land is full of hot water springs."
"This doesn't look like a regular hot water spring," Calliope muttered. They stayed there for a few minutes, starting at the construction."What did you say when the construction would end?"
"In three months," He answered her question. "They will complete the resort in three months."
"Are people satisfied with the decision?" questioned Calliope.
"Very. It will boost tourism," The driver said.
"Let's go," Calliope said.
Actually, the government had always known that the so-called forbidden land wasn't forbidden anymore but they lied to the Duke's family. The government auctioned the land at a high price.
They didn't stop anywhere in the route. When they reached their destination, she alighted the car and looked up at the majestic old castle. It was smaller compared to Wilding Family house but its grandeur was no less than it. It was the old place where Wildings used to live several decades ago.