The seminar went pretty well. It focused mainly on how to live as a family man, how to respect the boundaries of your wife, and how to handle marital matters with children around. It was positive, I'd say. I believe anyone who listened to it attentively would gain a lot of understanding from it. However, I, of course, tried to listen to it, but I was on the clock, hoping the time the Viscount wanted us to meet would arrive and hence make him wait for me. If there was one thing I hated the most in this world, it was making a man wait for me, especially a man older than me. I preferred to be the one waiting. That's just how I preferred it. I never wanted anyone else to wait for me. I felt heartfelt and remorseful; I would surely hate myself for it.
Anyway, the seminar lasted almost an hour and a half. We closed with a prayer, and I apologized to the father, explaining that I would not be available for the next two seminars as I was urgently needed for an appointment at the hospital. It was, of course, a lie, and I hated lying, but sometimes I needed to escape from something. It was more of a necessity. I believe anyone else would do the same, but lying to a Catholic priest is worse. However, I really needed to see Ezron, and I needed to understand the workings of the Barons, even if it meant skipping the seminars. I attended this out of respect for the princess.
However, the father was understanding and hoped that I would be available for the last one, to which I agreed very swiftly. Sister had told me about the seminars; they were just random Bible teachings, and well, it's okay. The princess will teach me how to deal with marriage if I'm not able to cooperate on some matters.
After the seminar, I asked the carriage driver if he had delivered my letter as instructed, and he stated that the princess had given something to me. It was also an envelope, and I hoped it would contain the best of messages. However, I had no time to read the written message; I just placed it perfectly in my trouser's front pocket and decided I shall read it when all of this is over. I'm really experiencing a lot of stressful occurrences.
It was already evening, and I knew the Viscount might already be waiting for me, so I directed the man guiding the horse to move as fast as possible to Times Square Tower. As it drove, I thought of everything happening in my life, the pressure to have more and more, and the happiness that I had finally won the hand of the princess. I knew anyone would kill for her hand; I was just a lucky boy.
I was never the type to wonder what women loved in boys and men. I never really found myself wondering about the same, as most times, I never found the time to approach a woman. The only one I ever approached was Princess Diana, and it was all because she caught my eye. I don't know if anyone reading this understands how much of a pull someone feels when they see a beautiful woman seated in the corner of a room, that pull, the urge to just get to know her name. If anyone has ever felt that, well, I seek to tell you that you are not alone. We are alike, and I believe many have had such feelings.
The viscount had not yet arrived, so we just left the carriage there. I asked the guard to go and treat himself to a drink while I waited for the viscount.
After a lengthy wait, the viscount finally arrived.
"Waited long enough?" He asked as he stepped off the carriage.
"No, just arrived," I lied. I hated telling someone that I had waited for them for so long; it would either make them feel guilty or overly important. I preferred them to see the situation neutrally.
"Let's go for a drink," he stated, and I pointed to my carriage. He instructed his driver to take it somewhere and then return for theirs.
"No, my driver has just entered some hotel."
"I shall find him," the viscount's guard stated, and so we left. Sometimes being a guard or driver is unlucky; you just live a life of working for men. It is not the best of things, but sometimes hierarchies need to be respected. That's what makes a man - the hierarchy.
"Okay, Willock," the viscount stated as he gulped a drink. He seemed to be really thirsty or somehow nervous. It was confusing as to which it was.
"Yeah, you seem thirsty," I stated, making him laugh.
"We gulp beers to know how strong it is. It is something from the old. Willock, I have wanted a word with you for a long time, but time and days just seem to pass by quickly. I cannot imagine the young boy I held in my hands some years back has already grown into a handsome young man and is set to be married soon," he paused, and when he talked, I just smiled.
"I was born at your house?" I asked.
"Yes, boy. My sister, your mother, felt the pains inside that house, and in the chambers that all my children have been born, I let her lay there, and I feared not a single guard, nor a single royalty to tell me that you never deserved any of that. I made sure you were catered for. Unfortunately, she lost a lot of blood. I was holding you; you were as little as this cup of beer, very tiny, wrapped up in some cotton clothing, and I watched you, little and innocent. When I looked at her, she did not move, and I demanded, 'What is it that makes her not move?' I knew, with the way the maidens looked down, you shall be alone to face this world. However, I believe, despite not having the carings of any man ought to belong to your family, the Duke has given you nothing but the best love."
"Yes, father has been a great, a really great poet in molding me into who I am today. All thanks to him."
"Apologies, Willock. I should have stood by you. I should not have listened to society and to my... um, to individuals who were afraid of the powers you held, you being just a little boy, innocent, already scaring and shaking almost the entire world. I had to let you leave."
"Why do you apologize? You have nothing to be sorry about. Father taught me everything, and mother... she made me be the most comfortable, she made me feel how it feels to have a woman in my life whom I can trust and care for. You did what was needed for your people, and what was needed for me. All your worries, I tell you, you sure should not worry. I am fine, as you can see. I have now grown into a strong man who is ready to have a family," I stated.
The viscount was feeling remorse with each cup of beer he took. I believe he feels he has not been the best uncle that his sister, my biological mother, would have loved to see him be. I understand his worries, but I believe that in his house, I would have lived a painful and regretful life. I surely would have moved out and found myself somewhere else to start a new life. I just feel that; I just feel it. His wife, the viscountess, never had a liking for me. She always looked at me with different eyes, eyes that seemed to mean that given the chance, she would never hesitate to take my life. She seemed to feel that I was more of a competitor with her son, but what did I really do to deserve this kind of hate from her? But sometimes, the people who make you suffer are never strangers; no, it is always someone close to you, someone filled with envy and jealousy. I just thank God I never found time to initiate many conversations with her; she was never my favorite. Who would want such a person with an envy-filled heart to be their mother? I thank the viscount for making that decision. He may think he did me wrong, but the truth is, he saved me from the jaws of a crocodile. He really did. I wondered why he actually wanted this talk, maybe it was sort of closure, to feel a little better. It seemed his actions in the past seemed to haunt him. I don't blame him for feeling that way, sometimes society can push one into places where the never expected themselves to ever do. Society always make a human being leave his comfortable self, it is always something that it demanded. However, I really needed the viscount to finish off his partying off the beer, as my mind had only started playing what I was ought to do the next day, I needed to be in Wales, in order to meet Ezron, meaning I needed rest first, to prepare my mind for a tiresome best day of travels, however the viscount seemed to be enjoying the night, and who am I to distract and distort the enjoyment the old man was having, I guess I needed tp watch him.
"I like drinking, I always drunk with your father some time back. I hate it when I regard him as your father and it should be me having that name, I hate it boy,.. hell how much I do, but I respect him as much."