Saving The Villainous Monster From The Male Lead-Chapter 21 - 20: Breakfast

An hour later, the Chamberlain of the house Lancaster arrived at Eleanore’s door step. Marina opened the door and accepted the message he had been assigned to deliver to the Lady.

"The Duke has invited you for breakfast, My lady." She said to Eleanore, who was busy brewing her favourite pink grass tea.

She had never tried a tea like this before. As the name suggests the tea is pink but it requires milk for nourishment. It has a wet grass aroma and sweet yet strong taste, enough to make you feel alive for the day.

"For breakfast?" She asked, to which Marina nodded, confirming that she heard it right. "But I am not hungry." She said,

Eleanore mostly misses breakfast and so did the original-owner-of-the-body. Both of them have always hated breakfast and would rather prefer to have lunch early. This is a known fact for everyone who has ever been close to them. Then why is Caelestis-?

"But can you refuse the Grand Duke, my lady?" Marina questioned, making Eleanore accept the invitation.

"Shall we?" She got out of her seat without touching the half made tea and left the room, followed by Marina, to the dinning hall.

The huge wooden doors opened without a single cracking sound and revealed Caelestis handsomely sitting in the arm chair, holding a glass of orange juice in his hand. He welcomed Eleanore with a warm smile, surprising her completely.

’Is he truly the same man that hated her mere mention, until yesterday?’ She asked herself.

Marina quickly found a place alongside the other servants standing at the corners of the room. Her action made Eleanore realize that she had to keep moving, instead of standing there stunned.

She pulled out an armchair close to her, opposite Caelestis’ words stopped her.

"You can sit over here." He said, gesturing to the chair closest to his, on his left. Again surprising her.

Eleanore had no idea what was going on. What on earth is wrong with him? Why is he being so nice, out of nowhere ? She was too stunned to move, blankly staring at the grand duke.

Caelestis simply stared back as if he hadn’t noticed the change in behaviour in him. "Lady?" His question, that was filled with concern, made Eleanore move to the chair closest to him and take the seat.

"Did Something happen, Grand Duke?" Eleanore asked while adjusting her dress around the chair she was seated in, worried that this was silence or rather warmness before a dreadful storm.

She gulped at that thought.

"Why?— of course not." He replied and then sipped the juice he was holding on since the moment she entered.

A servant gracefully filled up a glass of orange juice for Eleanore. She wanted to refuse but didn’t know how. So she instead focused on solving this mystery in front of her.

"I thought you hated me?!" Eleanore asked the question she had been holding from the moment she entered this fantasy world.

She found it odd. Why? Just why would a childhood friend despise the other so much? What had Eleanore done so wrong except for stalking him? Of course, stalking was equally bad and enough reason to loath a person, no matter who they are. But did Eleanore stalk in childhood too? Of course, not. Then why? —-

Eleanore felt that there was some other base reason that made him hate her.

Caelestis was caught off guard, when that question was shot his way. The orange juice choked his throat and made him cough continuously, several times.

Eleanore calmly filled a glass of water for the grand duke, who couldn’t stop coughing and passed it to him. "Here." She said,

"Uhh-hmm." Caelestis cleared his throat, after swiftly drinking up the water. "I never hated you." He explained.

The answer was absolutely unbelievable for Eleanore. That was a lie, she knew it. Pissed, she picked up her juice and took a small sip of it, after which she side lined it, unwilling to drink it anymore.

"That’s a lie." She said, while hiding her disgust from the taste that had overwhelmed her tongue. "Grand Duke, I am not a fool. You hate me and I know it. If you do not wish to answer my question honestly. You might as well not need to say anything at all."

Before Caelestis could say another word, the chef had arrived with the breakfast. Eleanore, on receiving it, asked the chief to cut the portion into half.

"Does the food not suit your taste?" Caelestis asked on seeing her food not just getting cut in half, but instead she just picked up two toast breads.

"No. I am used to skipping breakfast." She replied, while biting a piece out of the plain toast, which she didn’t feel like eating.

"Oh!"

"I thought you knew, considering we have been acquainted since childhood." Eleanore expressed her disappointment.

Caelestis couldn’t find a proper response to that one as well, making them turn silent for the rest of the breakfast. Both of them then got busy with their own struggles. Eleanore was busy stuffing the food in her already full and somewhat upset stomach.

And Caelestis, overwhelmed by the silence between them, was busy finding ways to strike a conversation.

Once, Eleanore was done with those two sad toasts. She gulped in two glasses of water, to shove the food down her throat. Once she no longer felt nauseous, she finally asked what she had in her mind from the time she had left her room. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"Where is Baroness Stella?" She asked while whipping her mouth with a napkin.

***

|| Chapter 2: The Shatter of Stella’s Pride

Caelestis felt like the only way left to have Stella by his side, went ahead and confined her in a secret room of the Lancaster Mansion. His intention is to shatter Stella’s Pride and hope, so that she has no one else to rely on. Once achieved, he would go ahead to marry her, leading to the downfall of Stella.

Quest 1: Find Baroness Stella

Task 2: Gather clues

Do you accept the task?

Yes/No

Note: Reward: + 1000 coins

Penalty: -1000 coins

Total Reputation: -200,000

Total Coins: +90,100 ||