17 Love. Pain. Strength.

Once she manages to calm herself down, Noelle heads back to the manor without realizing a pair of eyes have been monitoring her.

"Noelle! You should not simply run off like that.", grandpa stood in front of the stable when he saw Noelle get down from the horse with a stern facial expression.

"I am sorry Grandpa. I was trying to get out of my internal turmoil so I took a horse ride to the edge of your estate.", Noelle explains softly while she hugs him.

"I am not angry at you, Noelle. I could not take another bad news today.", he replies while hugging Noelle. He knows that it is hard to lose both parents on the same day. However, he needed to take a firm stand so that Noelle would not make any reckless decision during this period of time.

After dinner, Noelle heads back to her room and cleans herself up for bed. However, she is having a hard time falling asleep. Her eyes were in pain since it was swollen from crying. Noelle decided to take a walk around the garden. The cold breeze has made Noelle cover herself with the thick scarf that she brought along.

"Hoot! Hoot!"

Occasionally the silent night is disturbed by owls calling for the moon. Without realizing it, Noelle has reached the south wing building. It is where Papa resides. "Well used to residing in since he is no longer around", she thought to herself.

Noelle to the second floor where Papa's study was located. It seems like Papa has been using the study more compared to the other room. There are papers scattered around the room. Noelle remembers that in their old house, Papa's personal room has always been this messy. No one was allowed to clean it up because he thrives in such condition. Despite it being messy to other people, Papa never has any issue in finding anything among the pile.

However, what attracts Noelle more is that there are glass shelves on the right side of the office. Noelle slowly makes her way there while carefully not to trip as the floor looks like a minefield. Noelle gasped when she found out that the cabinets were filled with trophies engraved with Noelle's name on it.

Papa must have requested people to make extra from the competitions so that he can add to his collections. There was not even a speck of dust on all the trophies. He took great care of the trophies more than his own things.

Noelle walks out of the study and heads towards Papa's bedroom. First thing that she notices is the enormous Pikachu doll sealed in a glass container placed next to the bed. There were red ribbons on top of the box. That was her birthday gift that she has been waiting for but has never been given to her.

Life is so cruel because it takes away things that you care about before you get the chance to enjoy them. As much as Noelle wants to stay in that room but she would rather just head back to her room.

Noelle opens the glass box and she carries the fluffy Pikachu back to her room. If people see Noelle at that moment, they will be terrified because all you can see walking is Pikachu in the middle of the night. Noelle laughed at that thought because tomorrow, the servants might talk about this incident.

Noelle lay on her bed and hugged the Pikachu as she drifted to dreamland.

Few days later..

"Come on! Is that all you got in you?!" Conrad yelled at Noelle for falling for the tenth time from training in *Krav Maga.

"No Sir!". Noelle replied while wiping her sweats that were accumulating on her forehead as she got up from the floor. Noelle has been training for four to five hours every day at break of dawn. Years of her training and competing in Taekwondo has not prepared her enough for the difficulties of Krav Maga.

It does not help when Conrad is already serving the country in the military and will not give a leeway to Noelle despite being the next heir which soon to be his boss.

"Dushh!" Noelle once again being thrown down by Conrad. However, this time she is more determined to over power Conrad. Without thinking further, Noelle sprint towards Conrad and yet again she is left defeated. Determination unable to stand a chance against experience. "How I wish I could have a training montage like typical movies.", she thought to herself. At least in the movie, it will be done in fast forward motion.

Noelle's body is full of bruises from the training. Apart from Krav Maga, she has been given a full course of military training combining multiple martial arts. She has to do various obstacles such as climbing straight walls and crawl under barbed wire. Mud is her new best friend for skincare nowadays.

However, it is not the worst compared to having to do Helicopter Underwater Escape Training(HUET). Being tied down in a helicopter and then getting submerged underwater as it flipped upside down is not the best thing to do. Especially if you need to get down within the time limit set by the trainer.

All the training might be harsh but grandpa is always known to be having a heart of steel when he was providing training to Noelle's dad. He knows that being too soft will make them vulnerable. Thus he will not make it easy for Noelle despite she is his beloved granddaughter. However he still calls for a physical therapist to check on Noelle as he wants her to have a balanced development on her strength.

After the straining activities, Noelle has to face a few tutors teaching her on how to handle the companies and the estate. Luckily she was majoring in economics and it was too hard for her to catch up with the syllabus provided. She came to learn that her family owned quite a huge share in world's leading businesses.

All along she thought that she only had to care for a mining company and a few small companies in the country. No one has told her that she will inherit such wealth at a young age one day. If she has known this, she probably gave herself some slack in studies. She spent most of her life studying and preparing for competitions across the country. However, she did not fully regret it as she has met a lot of people along the journey. The cash prize from the competition has also made their life better as Mama no longer needs to work two jobs.

Yesterday Kian asked for permission to go to Germany to check on something. Noelle reluctantly lets him go because Kian is in an unknown country without someone by his side.

"Noelle, I think I remember something and I would like to check it further.", Kian sat across the table while holding Noelle's hands.

"What do you remember?". Noelle's face lightened up because at least she can know further about the person that she has been sharing intimate moments with.

"There is a village in Germany where I used to live. I think I have found its new name. I will be going there to dig further about the truth.", Kian replies in a low deep voice.

"But... But.. You will be alone. Can't you wait until I finish my training?", Noelle looked down to her plate and started moving the food around her plates using the fork in her hand.

"I can't be holding you back. The sooner I know who I really am then I can be worthy by your side. Right now I am scared if it turns out that I am bringing harm to you in the distant future.", he says with a sad voice.

"I do not care about all those things. You have never harmed me all these times you were with me.", Noelle tried to persuade Kian to stay longer.

"Noelle.. It is very important for me to know my history so that you can make better judgement on me. I might be a serial killer or criminal in the past. That is why I rather start this relationship where there is no secret between us. I want you to like me, not just like a mindless child that constantly needs your attention. However, I want to be someone that you can rely on.", Kian tries to make Noelle understand what has been going on in his mind.

Ever since he wakes up in her house, he has been dragged around and had responsibilities pushed to him. Kian knows that he loves Noelle for sure however he does not want to dwell in and play a puppet role.

"I hope you understand that this is very important for me.", Kian added further while kissing Noelle's hand to assure her.

"Please come back as soon as you can.", Noelle said in a sad tone and she forced a smile on her tiny lips.

Note:

Krav Maga- military self-defenses focusing on real-world situations and its extreme efficiency.