Saving The Villainous Monster From The Male Lead-Chapter 108 - 107: The Problem

For the rest of the ball Eleanore didn’t turn to either the queen or Alastor, Hael was busy with Stella and Caelestis was standing at the corner. His eyes moving between her and Stella, then falling on Hael for a fraction of second, frowning then falling on the third wine glass in his hand.

Eleanore was paranoid, she was scared he might attack her brother in jealousy or could also attack her. On the other hand, Alastor’s smile was making her feel burdened and the queen’s words continued to ring in her ears.

Frustrated, she turns to Alastor. "Should we go for a dance too?" She asked, wearing her fake smile as always.

"Sure." He holds out his hand, which Eleanore grabs and starts away from the throne area.

She could finally breathe, the heavy air around her had vanished but the queen’s stare remained on her.

As they danced, Eleanore scratched the topic of crown princess again. "Alastor, I don’t think I am fit for that position. I will never marry you." She says, her gaze on the queen, who returned a sweet smile on her.

"I will still continue to persuade you, no matter what." He smiles.

The dance ends and Eleanore excuses herself to Stella. She looks happy at least. Once Stella gets married, she might not need to worry about her anymore. Her mission would be completed, and she could perhaps go back home.

"How was it?" Stella asked. "I can’t believe you are going to be the crown princess. I am so happy for you."

"I am not going to be the crown princess." She declares.

"What?" Hael jumps in. "If not, then why did you accept his invitation?"

"Because I didn’t know." Eleanore turns to him. "I made a mistake, I know." Her face fell.

Hael was happy to find out that his sister was finally moving on. Moreover, Alastor is an amazing man, and the Crown princess is considered the most noble woman in the kingdom, after the queen. It is a great position, but great positions bring great threats.

The rebels have their eyes on the royal family. Killing Eleanore has been their motive for years. If she goes ahead and becomes the crown princess, that will make them want to kill her even more. Moreover, that dark mage, Eric. Hael was not able to solve his mystery yet either.

"It’s okay." He pats on her head. "You can do whatever you want."

Eleanore smiles, feeling secure under her brother’s protective hand.

"Thank you, brother." She says, when her eyes shift to the person standing behind Hael.

She was wearing an orange gown, shimmering with jewels. Anyone could say at a glance that it was Stella’s handwork. Hael moved when he saw her as well and she bowed in respect to offer a greeting.

"Good evening, Duke Sinclair, Lady Eleanore and Baroness." She speaks.

"It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lady Flora." Hael begins. "Sorry for the inconvenience before." He mentions the sudden change of Eleanore’s stay at the Demaria Mansion.

"Oh no. Elle has already informed me about everything. Right Eleanore?" She turned to Eleanore with a smile that somewhat made her feel strange.

Even her demeanor that looked pure three months ago, looked different. There was a huge space of distance between the two that had formed because of Eleanore, herself. She couldn’t feel the same warmth from her, anymore.

"Flora, I apologise—" Before Eleanore would pour out her caring words, Flora cut her off.

"Not here." She speaks. Her smile vanished and wormed again, just as quickly as it fell on seeing Eleanore, her once best friend. "Can I borrow her for a moment?" She asks.

"Sure." Hael says, slightly pushing Eleanore forward, who glances at him over her shoulder once, before leaving with flora.

They walked for a long time, outside the royal ballroom. The gardens were just as beautiful as the ones in Sinclair mansion or even Lancaster mansion. However, they just looked a bit neat and too large for her taste. As they crossed a rocky area, she could hear the sound of a waterfall. Is this sound from a lake, or fountain? She couldn’t quite differ.

She could simply walk in silence, following Flora without a question to an unknown place. For some reason, she didn’t feel like she was in any kind of trouble or Flora was going to harm her in any way. Flora just wants to talk about her grievances perhaps.

The peaceful sound of the water colliding with still water below, like it was raining heavily indeed belonged to a fountain. A beautiful one. The water flowing out of the mermaid’s mouth was sparkling as if it contained some magic.

Unlike the rusted copper fountain of the city square, this was brightly painted white. It looked mesmerizing under the night sky and it felt like the coolness of the winter had increased as they got closer to it.

"No one will hear us here." Flora says, as she stops walking any ahead from here. She stays facing the fountain ahead, without turning her face to Eleanore.

"Flora?" Eleanore was puzzled by this behaviour.

"Where have you been? You do not even answer any of my letters." She says, feeling strange in her heart. She was hurt by this and at the same time felt angry to be acting like dumb dog, wagging its tail in front of its master, no matter what he does.

Eleanore remembers about the letters. So many things were going on, she had no time to answer those letters. When she woke up from her week-long slumber, Marina informed her about the pile of letters. She felt lazy and procrastinated those letters, her procrastination didn’t stop until this morning, she realised she might have to face Flora again. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"A lot of things were going on." She says, unable to mention anything related to assassin and kidnapping. That would make her worry for nothing.

"Like what? What kind of things were there that you couldn’t even read a single letter of mine, forget replying to any?" She questioned Eleanore’s reasoning.

"I can’t tell you."

"I thought there were no secrets between us." She argues. For a while none of them spoke at all, until Flora asked a strange question. "Does Stella know?"

Eleanore’s eyebrows arched, as she looked at Flora’s eyes.

It didn’t need words, for Flora knew the exact answer to that question. She scoffed. "Lady Verbena was right; you are now trying to be good. So, you do not need your sidekicks anymore."

"No—" She shakes her head.

"Yes, that’s true." Flora yells. "But Eleanore, have you ever asked yourself, who made us like that?"

Flora was not wrong. All the original Eleanore’s sidekicks bullied the girls Caelestis even smiled to only to impress her. They all had their selfish reasons, but they still turned worse because of Eleanore.

However, among those ladies only Flora didn’t have any selfish reasons. She wanted nothing from her, but her friendship.

"You made us the bad people we are. The bitches those nobles call us. Do you have any idea how much we have suffered because of you?"

Her every question makes Eleanore feel smaller and smaller. She was drowning deep in guilt, even though she wasn’t the original Eleanore. Flora’s words were making her hate herself.

"I’m sorry." That is all she could say, as she walked to Flora, but Flora stopped her.

"Stop." She says. "Tell me, why are you suddenly being so kind to Stella? What do you want from her."

"I just want to bring a good change in myself. That’s all." She answers.

"Who are you lying to?" She scoffs again.

"No, Flora. I am not lying. Truly, I want to be kind. Moreover, sooner or later she is going to be my sister-in-law. Also, she is just too kind to be able to hate her. You—"

"Sister-in-law?"

"Yes, I found out she loves Hael. So, I have been trying to bring them together." She explains.

"But a year ago, you had asked me to become your sister-in-law." Flora said she didn’t really like Hael at all. Every time Eleanore mentioned her brother’s marriage, she’d say she wished her sister-in-law was Flora. But Flora was clear, she knew Hael was never her type and would therefore laugh it off.

But today, when Eleanore said Stella is going to be her sister-in-law. It felt like someone had taken away her place. She wasn’t wrong. Stella had indeed replaced her in all ways possible, intentionally or unintentionally.

Whatever it is, Flora didn’t like it. She hated this feeling, and she couldn’t hold it in any longer. Her anger and frustration came pouring out of her.

"You are giving away my place to her. Even my friendship is getting overshadowed by hers. Why?" She shouts. "What’s so great about her that isn’t about me? Why are you replacing me with her."

"I am not." She held Flora’s arms. "I would never, believe me. I am just having a bit of a problem. That’s all."

But flora pushes Eleanore away from her.

"Lier. I am the problem. You don’t like me anymore."

"No, Flora. You are not the problem. I am."