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Chapter 160 - More Trouble Than He Appeared
Chapter 160 - More Trouble Than He Appeared
Even though Lena and Samuel had been gone for near half an hour, Jovani was still standing where he had been when they left. He and Zane had stopped talking when they entered the room.
"Did you come to any decision?" The princess asked as she looked over at her father who seemed more relaxed than he did earlier.
"Based upon what he says, the best route would be for Sam's mother to go with them." Zane replied. Evelyn had also taken part in the conversation after Lena had left. She wanted to get an idea from Jovani what had changed before she made a decision to agree on anything.
"Would things be safe for her to go back with us after she has been gone for so long?" Samuel asked, interjected into the conversation.
"Absolutely. So long as I'm there with both of you, no one would even consider touching either one of you." Jovani assured.
"In fact, I'm more than certain some of them will remember your mother and be surprised to see that she came back after being gone so long without one word about her decision to leave. Evalyn nodded her head in agreement with this.
"I'm not exactly sure that everyone will feel warmly towards my return, but the family isn't one to hurt those who return of their own accord so long as they haven't broken any of the laws while they are away." She added.
"Why does it have to be three days?" Lena asked brining the conversation to the point that was bothering her the most. She didn't understand why whatever needed to be dealt with couldn't be finished up in one day so that Samuel could return the same day or following morning.
"Because Princess, there are a lot of matters that need to be addressed and dealt with." Jovani explained as he crossed his legs.
"Three days are the minimum amount of time that it will take to sort everything out. Unlike yours, not all of our family lives closely together. It will take them a while to come back and be there for the whole process. Samuel hasn't been initiated into the family yet after all." He reminded. This was something that would've been done when he was a child automatically as Samuel would've been born on groups land and thus any children in such a situation are automatically considered part of the family.
This wasn't the case however for Samuel since he was born on neutral territory. By blood he was part of the family bot not initiated into it officially which was what mattered. The princess narrowed her eyes at Jovani after he said this.
"I hope you don't intend to tell me you expect to put him through a normal initiation just because he's been outside of the family for the past eighteen years." There was an edge to her tone that told Jovani that it better not to be what he was intending to do the. If so, the princess wasn't likely to let the other man go back with him to the Vedova Nera family.
"Of course not. Even most of those who are the older generation within the family understand that we don't put our own blood through such things. It will most just be making sure that he understands the code of the family and there are no risks of him acting out of turn or confidence." He replied as though it wasn't that big of a deal.
"You really should give me more credit princess. I have been around long enough to know what I'm doing and how to handle this situation in order to make sure that not a hair on the head of your fiancé is touched for both of our sakes." Jovani commented as he looked over at Samuel, he could tell the younger man had questions he wanted to ask.
"Don't worry, some of these matters will be explained to you on the way there. Most of it you should know, but a lot of it won't apply to you. I'm sure your mother would also be happy to fill you in on the smaller details if she will be coming back with us." Jovani told his younger cousin.
"You're talking about this as though the decision for him to go back with you has already been decided." Lena commented, not liking the way the conversation was being lead.
"Well hasn't it? I mean, you're intent on going through with the engagement. I think that I have done my part in that line to assure you that nothing would happen to your dear fiancé and my cousin. As such, is there any real reason why he shouldn't be allowed to come back with me?" Jovani asked, tilting his head slightly. It was obvious by his tone that he thought he made the perfect point that the princess couldn't really argue with.
She could think though of a hundred different reasons why Samuel shouldn't go with his cousin even if his mother would be there with him. She still didn't trust this one a ounce more than she had when she first met him and talked with him over the phone. There was still something about him she didn't like, she just couldn't pinpoint what it was.
"I haven't agreed to anything yet and would prefer if there was another day to discuss matters before a decision is made." The princess replied glancing over at her father.
"Do you think that it would be too much to take an extra day to further discuss matters since it's nearing the afternoon?" She asked. Zane was quiet for a moment as he thought about it. To him it didn't seem like there was much of a reason to keep the conversation going any longer.
He didn't trust Jovani anymore than his daughter did, but he hadn't found any reason to believe he was a threat from the conversation that they had. Thus, he couldn't think of a decent reason not to agree to let Samuel go back with him today. If the princess didn't want it however, he would give that to her.
"Very well. We can take another day to discuss matters. I think that there's more of a discussion that Samuel needs to have with his mother anyways before they leave." Zane finally agreed as he looked around at those in the room with him. Jovani didn't seem pleased about this decision but he wasn't about to protest it since Zane had sided with this daughter.
"Very well. Would it be acceptable for me to take up residence here until tomorrow. Perhaps it would help to create more good will if you show that I'm not much of a threat while residing with the family?" Jovani questioned. Rather than looking at the princess, he glanced over at Samuel who he thought would be most likely to say yes to this. Lena opened her mouth to protest this but stopped for a second.
"Very well, but I don't want you making so much of a commotion around here. There are plenty of guestrooms that you can use. Keep to yourself and don't harass any of the staff while they're working or ask too many questions." Lena conceded even though she wasn't happy about this, she knew that Samuel would be.
"I'm sure that Jovani knows how to mind himself and won't create too much trouble." Samuel commented as he look over at his cousin who had somewhat of a smug look on his face.
"I will do my best to make it as though I'm not even here today. I understand how to respect a space that isn't my own and to stay out of the way so that I don't end up causing any unnecessary trouble." Jovani agreed as he stood up.
"In fact, I will most likely want to spend most of my time with my cousins here. There are a lot of things to catch up on that I'm sure will make things easier when we head back eventually." The princess didn't want the other man anywhere near Samuel, but thinking logically, she knew that it would be the safest place for them to discuss certain matters while everyone else was around.
"Fine. There's only one other rules that needs to followed as well and that is for you to not even step one foot while you're here in the sunroom." The princess warned. It was the one place in the house that she refused to allow any strangers to enter because of how important it was to her.
"Dully noted princess. I will make sure to not even think about investigating that room." Even though Jovani said it in a light tone, she could tell he meant that as he reached out his hand to shake hers. She hesitantly shook his hand. She just hoped that it didn't turn out to be a bad decision to let the other stay.. Something about him gave her the impression that he was more trouble than he appeared.