The Courtman Victor Clark

Chapter 3 The Courtman

At the Hospital.

The next morning, Victor opened his eyes and saw his beautiful wife Emily seated by his side. "Victor," Emily cried out, "I thought I was not going to see you again." She burst into tears in Victor's embrace.

"What happened?" Victor asked, as he couldn't remember exactly what had happened last night.

"In as much as I love the reunion, it would be best if Emily Herbert comes with me to the doctor's office," said a female nurse who attended to Victor all night.

"I will be back soon," said Emily as she walked out of sight with the nurse.

Victor rested his head back on the bed. As he lay there, his memories of last night slowly caught up with him. He then remembered leaving the birthday party, and ended up being kidn*pped by some mysterious men. And lastly, he recalled that there was an accident.

It all seemed unreal, like a strange dream from which he couldn't wake up.

But in all his memories, a few details were missing. How did he survive the accident and make his way home last night?

While Victor was resting, he heard footsteps approaching his bedside. Victor thought it might be a doctor, considering that the sounds were from a man's shoe.

However, it was indeed a man approaching but wasn't a doctor. Victor soon noticed that the figure beside him was wearing a dark designer's suit and quickly turned to see his face properly.

"Who are you?" Victor questioned with a straight face.

"I'm honored to finally meet the long-lost heir of the Graziano trillionaire empire after many years of searching" An old man in his late sixties greeted him with a bow to show respect to Victor.

"What are you talking about? Who are you?" Victor raised his voice in confusion.

In all his miserable life, he had never recalled anyone showing him any sign of respect, let alone doing so by bowing. And to round things up, the person in question was an elderly man in an expensive, well-ironed Italian suit.

Victor might not be wearing luxurious clothes anymore, but he could identify one just by looking at it. And from where he stands, he could tell that the man's suit cost a fortune.

"I apologize for not introducing myself properly. I'm your humble servant, Mister Collins from the Graziano family. I'm here to take you home, my lord. Your grandfather has been searching for you for the past 25 years. Luckily, the Blackwood coven was able to locate you," said the old man with a humble tone.

Mister Collins could see the puzzlement in Victor's eyes and decided to explain further. "You were separated from your family 25 years ago at the airport. Ever since, the Graziano family have not stopped looking for you," Mister Collins explained.

"Looking for me? But I'm no one, just a poor husband and a disapproved son-in-law of the Herbert family. How can you call me an heir of a trillionaire empire?" Victor addressed his miserable life compared to whom the old man thought he might be.

"Well, good thing we found you now. You can stop being a poor and disapproved son-in-law and take your rightful place as the original heir of the Graziano family," Mister Collins added.

"Okay, let's just say I'm the one you've been looking for, but how did you find me after twenty-five years?"

Mister Collins exhaled before answering the question. "Well, I didn't find you myself. The Blackwood coven did."

Victor's mind raced back to the fact that this was the second time he had heard the name 'Blackwood coven'. He wondered what that was.

"Blackwood coven, you say? And how did they find me?" Victor questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"After you died, you completed the final procedure of becoming the Courtman of the Blackwood coven."

"Wait! What!" Victor jumped up from the hospital bed. "I was dead?" He stammered incredulously. "How?"

Just as Victor questioned repeatedly, he recovered the missing piece of information he hadn't remembered earlier.

After the accident happened, he remembered being in a critical state and passing out. But suddenly, he was at the Herbert family's mansion and remembered seeing his wife before passing out again.

This was when Victor quickly checked every part of his body and realized that there wasn't even a single scratch, let alone a broken neck. Come to think of it, there was no way he could heal overnight.

Mister Collins decided to throw more emphasis, "It was in the early hours of the night when the Blackwood coven sent us your location, that they finally got a signal. And getting a signal only means one thing: it means that you had died," Mister Collins explained. "But no worries, because as the next Courtman, death can't hold you for long." Mister Collins explained, but it only led to more puzzlement.

"I don't understand, Mister...?" Victor mumbled, trying to get the old man's name.

"Mister Collins."

"Yeah, Mister Collins. I don't understand a word you're saying. Are you saying I died and came back to life because I'm an immortal being?" Victor asked with his expression showing disbelief.

"I won't call it immortality though. The only two possible ways you can die for good are by growing old or when the courtship is transferred to another. The courtship is what makes you defy death," Mister Collins explained.

"Oh, I see. So what you're saying is that I'm the new Courtman? But what is so special about being the Courtman?" Victor questioned again.

Mister Collins walked closer to Victor and whispered, "Being the heir to the Graziano family will open a thousand doors for you, but being the Courtman of the Blackwood coven will open doors that are not from this realm. What is special about being the Courtman is that the northern part of the continent is now yours to rule.

Immediately, Victor's expression darkened, and he slightly grinned at the last word, 'rule.' If this was true, then he would make sure that all those who humiliated him crumbled at his feet, and his in-laws wouldn't be an exception.