Chapter 9: Chapter VIII

The following morning, Christian received a missive, requesting his immediate presence to one of his estates in Kent. It seemed that there had been disturbances of late and his people were growing restless. His estate in Kent was the only one that was in proper condition. When he had inherited the title, it already had a big debt attached to its name. Since Kent had been his childhood home and the home in which his parents had resided, most of the time, it had been the only one to be kept in a somehow acceptable state. He had already started the procedures to invest his wife's money and to start renovating his other estates. He wondered what his wife would think of his childhood home... He remembered the time when he had loved his parents, when he had been carefree as a second son, knowing that he would never have to take on the burden of a title. He remembered his mother... but the memory was a bitter one. She had played with his affection, never really caring for him. Hi Brother Arthur had been his father's favorite but he, he had delighted in being the only one with their mothers love and attention. He would always do whatever she asked, sometimes even making it possible to correspond with her lovers. He raked a hand through his hair and sat down on the chair in his office. He had been a fool and his actions had led to the deaths of four people. Two of them did not really matter since they had also been a catalyst.... but his brother and father? They had paid for his naivete.