“You may know why I summoned you here today,” The king said as he sat in front of Azeph sipping his tea,“Is it because of her highness?” Azeph asked and the king smiled.“That too. But the official reason is for the still ongoing investigation,” The king answered and Azeph smiled. “I see,” Azeph answered, “If I may ask. How is she doing?”“Not very good,” The king shook his head hopelessly, “I’m afraid that she had things bottled up so tightly within her that it is impossible to reach out to her,”Azeph knew what the king meant. He knew about Elinor’s tendency to lock things in her heart and try to pretend as if she was okay while she was being slowly destroyed from the inside.“What she went through is no easy feat, your majesty,” Azeph said, “Having to save the kingdom at the price of losing your family is a cruel fate that we only hear of in tragic plays,”The kind of play where the hero always ends up with a twisted fate causing him to lose his life or his mind.“Her highness di
Azeph looked at Elinor wondering what to do. He wanted to reach out to her so badly. To touch her and pull her into his arms. Feel her warmth press his lips against her soft her, her skin…What in the world was he thinking in broad daylight?!He awkwardly watched as Elinor remained silent for a while and he remained rooted on the spot wondering what to do. There were way too many eyes for him to do anything.He wanted to comfort her and ask her why she was making such a gloomy face. What made her so sad upon seeing him? But there was no way that he couldHe looked at Stella who was watching Elinor with her usual neutral expression and wondered if she could arrange for them to be alone for a moment.“Your arm… How is it?” Elinor asked snapping him out of his thoughts.She walked toward him her hands lifting the exquisite dress she was wearing before her. She really looked like a princess. Beautiful, ethereal, unreachable…“All fine thanks to your help,” He said, “I just overdid it a li
A few hours earlier…“Are you sure you want to do this?” Elinor’s uncle asked her for the tenth time that day alone and she looked at him with a soft smile.“I am sure,” She said confidently, “I owe him this much closure. We both do,” “Normally I should be the one asking him this,” He said with a sigh.“I know that you do not want to face him, and I don’t think that he will be willing to talk to you. This is the best option, besides I need to ask him one more thing besides this,” She said.“Alright, but I will be sending Loyd with you, Just in case,” He said and she nodded,“He won’t hurt me but it’s okay,” She said softly and he nodded.Elinor stood up and left her uncle’s office.“Elinor… Are you sure that this is what you want?” He asked, “I know that I am forcing you to do something hard, you can’t stop being a ruler even if you are tired of it,”“I don’t know, uncle…” She said softly, “I will have to think about it more.” “Alright,” The king said with determination and Elinor e
Elinor looked at Azeph hesitating for a moment. Somehow, now that she knew the truth, it felt like it wouldn’t matter to him. Although she had been so hung up on it all this time wondering how she would face him.She still remembered her conversation with Stella a few days after she woke up. She kept bringing in Azeph’s letters. But Elinor couldn’t bring herself to read them. Not with how much guilt she was feeling over her father.“Aren’t you making a big deal out of this?” Stella had asked.“My father was the one who caused his sister’s death…” Elinor had argued back“You don’t know for sure, Besides he had been sending letters since he went back doesn’t that mean that he would want to see you and hear back from you? If he cared about what your father did he wouldn’t be doing this, besides, he is not the type to hold you responsible for it.”“Of course he’s not, Azeph is a man with a big heart, there’s no way he would blame me for it, but my family was responsible for this, and just
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