"Are you serious about wanting to meet my family?" The man asked to confirm. He didn't want to be presumptuous and make his own assumption.

"Yes, I am serious," Rose replied.

"But, didn't you say that you will spend the holiday with your friends in Paris?" Rune asked again. "You said it will be a good time to spend time with Peter and Helene before they get married and George will come too."

"Yes, I did say that," Rose nodded. "But I will only spend two or three days in Paris, and then I can come and see your family. Didn't you say that you always spend around one week to ten days together at that little island that belongs to your mother?"

"Yes, yes.. we do. In that case, you are very welcome," Rune said with a grin. He couldn't believe that Rose finally changed her mind about going. He became curious and wanted to know why. "What made you change your mind?"

"Oh... I don't know," Rose shrugged. "You?"

"Me?" Rune was very pleased to hear her reply. Did that mean, Rune could touch Rose's heart that now she had decided to open the door for him to enter?

This development made him so happy.

"Yes," Rose replied with a smile. "You are a kind man and I am impressed by your family. If you still have a space for me... I would love to come and join your family for the holiday."

Right at that moment, Rune felt like he wanted to jump up and down and hug Rose. But he held back and only nodded coolly. He pretended to be deep in thoughts. "Hmm... I'll think about it."

His pretend action made Rose laughed. She hit his shoulder and rolled her eyes. "You...!"

"I'm joking..." Rune laughed too. "Of course, we have a space for you. I am looking forward to introducing you to my family."

"Ah.. okay, that's good." Rose smiled and kissed his cheek. "Let me freshen up to see the reporters. Are you joining me?"

Rune nodded. "Yes, if you want me to."

His face was beaming with happiness because Rose took the initiative to kiss him.

"I do." Rose nodded. "If you don't mind, I want you to come with me and talk to the reporters."

"Okay, then I will wash my face and change too." Rune agreed. "I'll see you downstairs."

"Yeah, I'll be down in ten minutes."

"See you."

***

Ten minutes later, Rune was walking down the stairs in fresh new clothes. He intentionally looked his best, since Rose seemed to plan to introduce him publicly, at least to those reporters.

He must not be a letdown. If the reporters saw him looking simple and modest, they might think that Rose had a bad taste in men. Hehe.

Luckily he listened to Aleksis's advice to bring with him some nice expensive clothing for occasions like this.

Rune looked elegant and wealthy as he caught the attention of ten reporters with their cameras and notes, waiting in the majestic living room.

Rose was standing cooly at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for him. She turned to him when she heard Rune's steps coming down from the second floor.

"Hey," she said with a smile. "We are still waiting for my family lawyer to come and give them all NDA to sign before we can start."

"Okay," Rune replied. His family did the same when they needed to have this type of conversation with certain people or journalists. So, he was quite familiar with the procedure.

"She is already on the way. In the meantime, we can have small talk with the reporter about what they think can be done to boost tourism in Medion," said Rose with a chuckle. "Better than sitting in silence for one hour, don't you think?"

The reporters laughed when they heard her words. They had a good impression of Rose Fournier since her family was famous in the country for their charitable works and their support for many good causes.

Also, Rose was never involved in any scandal throughout her young life, unlike many descendants of the other noble families.

At least until the rumors spread about her past relationship with her half-brother came out to the surface.

Now, they could finally sit together with the most sought-after woman in their kingdom, to give her statement about all the rumors that had been swirling around her presence.

"Sorry, you all have to wait for a little bit. My family's attorney is still on the way. If you have other pressing appointments, you can just leave," Rose said to the reporters.

They all shook their heads in unison.

"It's okay, Your Grace. We will wait," one of them replied to represent their colleagues. They all nodded in confirmation.

"Very well," Rose smiled at them. She treated the reporters well because she knew they were just doing their jobs.

Two maids came and serve them teas, cakes, and coffees. She offered them to enjoy themselves while waiting for her attorney to come.

The reporters obeyed. They secretly stole glances at Rune and wondered if this man was Rose's boyfriend. They thought Rose and Rune looked close, but they didn't show overly PDA.

They remembered the article from a few days ago about Rose dating a man from the Schneider family. Was this the man?

The article didn't have a picture to go with it, so they were not sure. They only knew the name but not the face.

Duchess Fournier and her husband arrived fifteen minutes later from a state event and were surprised to see the horde of reporters in their living room.

The duchess greeted them and the guests immediately bowed down in respect to her and the duke.

"How are you?" Duchess Fournier nodded to them and then turned to Rose, asking her what was going on, using only her eyes.

Rose immediately explained what happened and, for a moment, her mother looked at her with disapproval in her eyes, but Duchess Fournier didn't say anything. She only nodded and finally left them.

Half an hour later, finally, the Fournier family's attorney arrived with her assistant. The attorney was a feisty woman in her forties, looking sharp with an impeccable suit and carrying a briefcase with her.

She greeted everyone in the living room and quickly took out some doc.u.ments and handed distributed them to the reporters with pens.

"Please sign the non-disclosure and legal agreement before we can start the interview," she said to them in a pleasant but firm voice. "Her grace will talk to you, but there are some things that you have to keep confidential."

She added, "Also, Lady Rose has already asked that the articles shouldn't be published until AFTER the royal wedding. So, you have to sign to confirm that you agree with her terms."

The reporters skimmed the legal agreement and signed. Five minutes later, everything was done and they could start the interview.

Finally, the most awaited time had arrived.

"Okay, now, you may start asking questions," Rose sat gracefully on a beautiful chair, facing the reporters, while Rune sat next to her.

"Lady Rose, thank you for allowing us this opportunity to talk to you to clear all the rumors out there. We have read a lot of news about you and your family, especially since your half-brother will get married tomorrow. He is, after all, our future king. So, of course, there bound to be so much interest in himself and the people closest to him." An older reporter spoke after Rose motioned them to start.

"Yes, I understand that," Rose nodded. "What is your name, Sir?"

"Ah, I'm David Nolan, Your Grace. I'm with the Bacilia Chronicles." The man introduced himself, clearly happy that Rose showed interest in him as a person.

"Okay, Mr. Nolan. Thank you for coming. And your question is?" Rose asked him patiently.

The reporter smiled and checked his notebook before he asked the burning question that everyone in the room was dying to know the answer to.

"Did you always know that Prince Leon is actually your father's bastard son, growing up? And how was your relationship with him before Duke Fournier announced him to be his son? We never really get to know your perspective about this issue since two years ago."

Rune turned to Rose and looked at her attentively.

This journalist really didn't hold back on his question, he thought. They were quite personal questions to ask, and Rune was interested in knowing how Rose would handle them.

Rose was unfazed. She replied to David Nolan's question with a pleasant voice, like before. There was no hint of resentment or feeling offended in her expression.

"Leon is my best friend because we grew up together. I never knew that he was my half-brother. I found out at the same time as everyone else. Does that answer your question?" she looked at Mr. Nolan calmly. "Before, and after the announcement, we have a great relationship. He is a very good man and I treasure our friendship and the years we spent together."

.

>>>>>

IMPORTANT:

The next chapter, 1039, is not a chapter about Rune and Rose. It's a chapter where I post a very important announcement regarding my new book and my plan to join Spirity Award 2021.

DON'T UNLOCK THE CHAPTER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE NEW BOOK.

You can skip to chapter 1040 which I will publish tomorrow.

However, if you are interested in finding out what I have planned for the new book, its relation to "The Alchemists", and READING THE FIRST CHAPTER, go ahead, go to chapter 1039. It's quite special.

I intentionally capped the coin price at the lowest (5 coins), by only adding the complete text AFTER publishing,? so you don't have to spend many coins on the 1800 word text. Let me know what you think. xx