Bacilia
Bacilia
The driver's serious face immediately filled with smiles as soon as he saw Rose's arrival.
"Good morning, Lady Rose. I hope you had a nice flight," said the man kindly.
"Thank you, Mr. Rolland. I had a very pleasant flight," said Rose with a smile. She then turned to look at Rune. "Hi Rune, this is Mr. Rolland. He's my family's chauffeur. He's been working for us since I was a baby. You could say he's like family to us."
" Oh, hello, good morning, Mr. Rolland," said Rune with a broad smile.
" Good morning. Nice to meet you, sir," Mr. Rolland replied pleasantly.
Rose then introduced Rune to her driver. "Mr. Rolland, this is Rune Schneider. He is my boyfriend."
Instantly Rune's face was filled with a sheepish expression. Ah, he was super happy when he heard Rose introduce him as her boyfriend.
Even though he was only a fake boyfriend but at least in front of other people, Rose acknowledged him. Those people didn't know that their relationship was fake. Rune believed in this principle: fake it till you make it!
"Welcome to the Bacilia, the capital city of the Kingdom of Medion, sir. I am delighted to meet you," said Mr. Rolland this time with a wider smile. He looked very happy to hear that Rose already had a boyfriend.
"We've been in a relationship for a few months now," said Rose. "So, I decided to introduce him to the family now that we'll have the grand wedding at the royal palace."
Mr. Rolland nodded excitedly. "You're right. That is a good plan, Miss. The whole family will attend the important event. This is an excellent opportunity to introduce your future husband to the family."
The middle-aged man tuned to Rune and bowed down slightly. His face seemed filled with joy. It was obvious and he cared about Rose and was happy to see her happy.
Ahhh... Rune's heart felt so light and filled with warmth. He could feel that Mr. Rolland liked him and gave him his blessing. And didn't Rose said Mr. Rolland was like family to her?
So, getting Mr. Rollands' blessing was almost as good as getting her family's blessings too.
The middle-aged man wanted to say something, but then he canceled his intention. Maybe he remembered Rose and Leon's secret relationship back when they were teenagers.
Mr. Rolland felt sympathy for Rose, and so he did not want to discuss matters that would open up the wound in her heart. Therefore Mr. Rolland only smiled kindly and didn't say what was in his mind.
Meanwhile, Rose could guess why Rune's face was beaming. However, the girl deliberately didn't say anything. She just smiled wryly as she patted the happy man on the shoulder. "Let's go."
"Yes, miss. Please get in," said Mr. Rolland as he opened the car doors for Rose and Rune. After they both entered and sat nicely in the back seat, the driver put their little suitcases in the trunk.
Not long after, the black luxury vehicle was moving along the highway to the downtown area.
This was Rune's first visit to the Kingdom of Medion even though his family lived in Europe and they often traveled to various countries around the world.
Their family didn't have any businesses in Medion, so the Schneider family did not consider it important to travel there. So, this was his first time to see the beauty of the country located in this southern part of the continent.
Medion was a small country in southern Europe that had a long coastline. It was also famous for its many islands that became the main attraction of their tourism industry.
Tourism and banking were the countries' main sources of revenue. Recently, Medion was also trying to be the new hub for high-tech companies to operate.
They made things easy for tech companies to open and run their operations there by providing tax breaks and various other incentives.
These were all done for the sake of making the country attractive for many technology companies. They wanted to be the European Silicon Valley.
That's what Rose explained to Rune while they were on the way. The man listened attentively to Rose's explanation. Ahh .. maybe later he could ask his father if their family business could open a branch in Medion.
So far, they preferred Moravia or Monaco to have the operation for several Schneider Group subsidiaries.
But of course, it would be nice if they also had some business in this country so that Rune would have plenty of excuses to visit Rose to her country when the girl chose to come home.
Along the way to her family's house, Rune paid close attention to the scenery to his left and right. He was very impressed with what he saw.
Even though it was in modern times now, apparently, Medion was quite unique. Along the way, Rune saw that there were a lot of old and historical buildings that dot the entire city of Bacilia.
The historical buildings were very well preserved and they all looked so beautiful.
If they were not currently riding a car and saw so many other cars around them, Rune would feel like they were entering the world of the past.
"I didn't know that the Medion Kingdom is so beautiful," Rune gushed excitedly.
Rose smiled when she heard his praises. The girl seemed pleased that Rune admired her hometown.
"Thank you. For a long time, the royal family has implemented a policy to preserve the historical buildings and basically all our heritage. Many of the buildings in the old town area in the center of Basilia are as old as 600 or even 700 years old," the girl explained.
"Oh, really? Wow.. ! They are so old ..." Rune murmured. He was reminded of his family's castle in Stuttgart. It was also centuries old. If he remembered correctly, their castle was built in the 16th century.
The building had been renovated dozens of times to keep up with the changing times and was made as comfortable as possible for its residents.
However, the Schneider family still tried to maintain the original design like when it was first built, nearly 600 years ago.
He could imagine that maintaining and renovating hundreds or even thousands of old buildings in Medion would have cost a fortune.
"Who pays for the maintenance of the old buildings here?" asked Rune with interest. "The owners? Or the government?"
"The government has a foundation that is responsible for ensuring that all our historical heritage is well preserved. I think the foundation receives a lot of donations from various concerned parties," said Rose.
"Ahh ... is that so?" Rune nodded in understanding.
"The dynasty that ruled the kingdom now has been in power for the last 600 years. So their history in this country is very long."
"You talk about them as if they are not your family ..." said Rune with a smile. "Aren't you part of the royal family too?"
Rose just shrugged. "Maybe because our family is not directly related by blood. My grandmother and Leon's grandmother are sisters. One of them just happened to marry the old king."
The girl suddenly fell silent. She seemed to be trying hard to hold back her feelings so as not to look sad.
To change the atmosphere, she opened the window and pulled Rune's hand, showing him the sight outside.
"Look, that's the old town in downtown Bacilia. I'll take you there, after we've stored our luggage in my house."
Rune clicked his tongue in awe. "The old town looks nice."
"It is really nice. You'll like it," said Rose.
Then she went quiet. After that, they said nothing more.
The closer they got to the Fourniers' mansion, Rose's body looked like she shrunk in sadness. Rune could tell that slowly, Rose was overwhelmed by her broken heart.
This was where her love for Leon bloomed and withered. And now, she came back to pick up her heart's broken little pieces, glue them together, and presented it with a smile. As if she was fine.
Seeing her sad, made Rune's heart ached However, he didn't know what to do to make Rose feel better.
Fortunately, the trip from the airport to Duke Fournier's house lasted for only about 30 minutes. So that they didn't stay in the car too long.