A few days after Azeph’s visit to the royal castle. The duchess’ funeral was held. Although they were barely able to recover her body, the king had insisted on holding a proper farewell for her. Either because of guilt or simply because he had considered her family. But either way, the funeral was a grand affair. A lot of people came to give Elinor’s mother their last farewell.And the strange thing about it all is that, well, they all spoke of how wonderful of a person Elinor’s mother had been.As she stood before the casket watching it get lowered to the ground, Elinor didn’t cry. She couldn’t no matter how much she tried.She heard some sniffling from the side and watched as her aunt, Louis’ mother covered her mouth with a handkerchief and leaned against her husband crying, If only Elinor could be this honest about her feelings.There was a light tap on her shoulder as her uncle looked down at her with a sympathetic look nodding and Elinor nodded back.Reaching out with the white r
“Where did Elin go?” Azeph asked as he looked around the room not finding her.Everyone was either drunk or asleep and Louis was busy helping Stella get to her room.“I saw her going out through the balcony,” Louis said as he carried Stella in his arms and made his way out of the room.Azeph made his way out through the balcony looking for Elinor. She was drunk too. A bit too drunk. She had been drinking enough for two men as it was and that’s saying a lot. Who knew that his alcohol tolerance was this good? She didn’t even look like she was drunk even after going through one bottle by herself. She must be one of those people who are functional drinkers. He would cave in long before she went through half of what she drank today. She was truly amazing.As he made his way around the huge balcony, he glimpsed her standing in front of a figure. The man before her was crouching before her on top of the railing looking like a cat easily shifting on the high edges not even worried that they
Elinor slowly opened her eyes slowly squinting and groaning when she realized that the light was too bright for her pounding head. She knew that she drank too much last night. She should have stopped long before any of this could have happened.“I see you’re finally awake…” Said a voice from beside her and she found Azeph leaning on the bed from the other side as she opened a slit of her eyes and closed them against the light.“Did you open the curtains?” She complained not bothering to think why he would be there. After the week he had spent at the royal palace, she stopped bothering thinking about his presence in her bedroom. She had long since given up on giving it many thoughts.Besides, it won’t be too long before everyone started to suspect that he was her lover. If she had been simply a noble lady their society would have torn her apart for such transgressions with an unmarried young man. But she wasn’t, she was the future queen, and no one dared to utter anything about her.In
The day after the funeral, Elinor went on attending to her duties just like she would have done every day. There were a few whispers about her drinking party right after the funeral which she hadn’t bothered to hide and whispers about her and Azeph’s relationship.It was as if she didn’t care about maintaining a public image, and even her smiles amongst the nobles were becoming more and more rare.Azeph had decided to watch over her from afar and let her do her own thing. He know that she was trying to accomplish something so he had no intention of getting in her way or trying to stop her. After all, all of her actions were justified so far, and as long as she was showing determination to become the crown princess, he was sure that she was going to do it, one way or another.After the funeral, there were three days that people keep visiting the mourning family in their kingdom. And although both the king and Elinor were so busy, they kept the tradition in honor of the duchess. And the
Elinor stood there looking at the Aid waiting for him to announce the news that she already knew.“Your Majesty, Your Highness, You need to come at once,” He said his voice trembling.“What is going on?” Count Colone asked always the curious member. She could at least rely on him for asking the right questions when she needed him to.“It’s his grace…” The aid said sounding panicked.“What is going on, young man? Speak up!” The king said and the man was obviously floored by his commanding tone because he seemed to have regained his composure and was looking at them with a steady gaze.“Your majesty,” He bowed, “I am afraid that his grace had done himself in and took his own life…” He said with a trembling voice.There was a chorus of horrified tones around them and Elinor watched as everyone’s gaze turned to her.“I see…” Elinor said calmly not even trying to fake a reaction, “This is quite troublesome.” “I am so sorry your highness, if only we had watched him more carefully,” The ai
“Guys… Why is no one asking me why the duke had been poisoned?” Elinor finally asked her friends.They had the appropriate reactions when the news was delivered and they did look shocked when they heard it. But once they were alone, it was as if nothing happened.“We knew….” Noah said hesitantly and the others awkwardly looked away from her,Elinor felt a chill run down her spine and she froze in place. Did her friends know that she was the one who killed her own father? Was this why they wouldn’t meet her eyes?“Don’t get us wrong. We don’t know anything except for the fact that you were scheming something,” Will said, “The way you acted yesterday after the funeral was as if you were trying to forget something…”“We didn’t know that this is what you had been planning all along,” Alan said, “But now that I think about it, it all makes sense…”Elinor felt a tremor running through her body. All she could think about is that they knew… They knew what she did.They knew what kind of perso
After the death of the grand Duke, there was a huge mess following it in which Elinor was deeply connected. The extended vacation that the Academy had allotted them was nearing an end by then and the king still hadn’t said anything about Elinor returning there.When it was time for the other nobles’ trials, Elinor unexpectedly left the royal palace and went on to stay with Louis for a while.Louis being the scheming person that he was, decided to Make use of Elinor’s visit.His mother, the duchess was distraught since she heard about what happened with her father. Since the bond those two shared was strong despite the fact that Louis’ mother never got involved in politics.So even though the woman knew that the duke had been a traitor who had been trying to kill the king, her other brother, and the fact that he hurt his own family, her heart broke at the news of his death. And since then she had been confining herself to her house silently mourning the death of her brother.Elinor kne
“What are you going to do from now on?” Louis asked. As they walked down the illuminated path leading up to the central garden.“You’re asking me this after you’ve sworn your allegiance to me?” She asked looking at him with a slight smile,“I am not talking about that. I’m talking about Nicolas,” He said and her smile sobered up for a moment before she looked far away into the spacious grounds of the estate, “Are you still going to look for his killer?”“I am…” She answered simply and Louis sighed.“Elin,” He began and she interrupted him.“But not because I want revenge or anything like that.” She added and he looked at her for a moment.“Then why?” Louis asked “Because whoever did this, must have had some kind of plan. Killing the crown prince of a country is a bold move. A move that could lead to internal conflict,” She said.“We already took care of those internal conflicts…” Louis paused for a moment then asked, “What are you trying to say, Elin?”“I am trying to say that our co