Saving The Villainous Monster From The Male Lead-Chapter 55 - 54: A Cold War

As Eleanore read through each of the ten items that had loaded on her screen, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion and anger. "What the hell is this!" Eleanore shouted, forgetting the fact that Stella was sleeping beside her.

Stella jerked her eyes open on hearing that sudden loud curse. She stood up and turned to Eleanore, who had her forehead in her palm. "What’s wrong Elle?" She asked, in a drowsy tone.

Eleanore turned her gaze to her after arranging her expression and swallowing her emotions. "Nothing!" Saying this, she removed the curtains surrounding the bed and jumped off it.

"Marina!" Eleanore called her maid, who had already been standing outside the room. She came in and greeted her mistress good morning. "Prepare my bath. We have a party to attend." She said,

Marina nodded, then rushed to the bathroom to fill up the bathtub with hot water. Meanwhile, Eleanore turned to Stella, "You should sleep more, I will wake you up once I am done bathing."

Eleanore entered the bathroom and started undressing herself. The hot water was ready and Marina was pouring in some flagrant oil in it.

Once she had settled inside the bathtub, Marina started washing her mistress’ soft blond hair. As she worked her way to her body, a question that had loomed over her mind since she was released from her punishment, spilt out of her mouth.

"You are still angry, Mistress?" She asked.

Eleanore, who had only started relaxing from her prior shock, opened her eyes again to that question. "No." She answered.

Marina hesitated on hearing that. She felt a sudden shift in her mistress’s behaviour since the day she was released. Eleanore had personally come to set her free, accompanied by a warning.

"Leave your mind in your quarters when you come to serve me. You have no opinions, no thoughts of your own. You do what you are told to do and you must not reveal anything related to me to anyone. Do you understand?" Marina remained quiet and only nodded. This behaviour that she was receiving was the result of her own doing. Yet they sounded too professional and hurtful.

"I lost your trust." She says, as she winds up the bath.

"Yes." Eleanore answers, getting out of the bath and swiftly covering herself in a bathrobe. After fastening her rope, she again turned to her personal maid. "Don’t worry, you will still be working as my maid. Just not close enough to know my secrets, since you can’t keep them inside your small tummy."

"Mistress—"

"You can always earn back the lost trust." Eleanore interrupted her, wanting to end this difficult conversation quickly. "If you can prove your loyalty."

_____

Eleanore was still upset about those absurd items that had appeared on her system window. What were they? A rope, matchstick, wooden planks, candle, knife, ten sheets of papers, a pencil, vase, and all other useless things.

She got excited for no reason!

Stella noticed that Eleanore was sighing continuously. Ever since they sat in the carriage to the royal banquet, Eleanore remained in her own world. She sat opposite her and kept her gaze outside the window.

"Elle!" Stella called her out. As if she was awoken from her sleep, she turned to Stella with half closed eyes. "Were you not able to get a proper sleep last night?" She asked.

"What? No!" Eleanore had the best sleep last night, in weeks. What made her look drowsy was disappointment in that useless system. "Yesterday was the best sleep I ever had. Even when I slept with Grand duke. I didn’t get such a sound sleep."

Stella’s eyes widened in shock, on hearing that. "You slept with the grand duke?"

Eleanore had learned nothing from last time when Marina had misunderstood her words. "No, I didn’t sleep with him, I only slept in his study." She tried to explain.

"In the study?" Stella was still surprised. Various scenarios popping up in her mind. Thoughts, she never thought she could ever have.

"On the couch, in the corner, far away from him." Eleanore panicked, trying to explain by gestures and hand movement that it was nothing like how Stella was imagining.

"Oh!" Stella let out a breath of relief on hearing that. "But why did you do that?"

"Well, he had saved me from the assassination. Since then I started finding him more secure." Eleanore no longer wanted to have this conversation as everything she uttered sounded absurd and unreasonable. They all sounded like an excuse to stay closer to her ex-crush.

"Stel! Now that I think about it, I think I am indeed tired. I should take a nap." Eleanore was not sleepy, she only wanted to evade this conversation.

"Do you want me to lend you my shoulder?" She offered with a big smile.

"No. I’ll be fine." Eleanore laid her head on the wooden wall behind her and quickly closed her eyes. She was still thinking about the damn new feature the system had given and was cursing her fate.

Hours later, they arrived at the royal palace. Unknowingly, Eleanore had fallen asleep. When the carriage pulled over, her eyes jerked open by the sudden lack of movement. She looked around, as she felt a minor ache in her nape.

"We have arrived." Stella answered the questioning eyes of puzzled Eleanore.

"Oh! That was a good nap." Eleanore smiled, massaging her aching name, before opening the door of her carriage, only to witness a shocking scene she never knew could happen.

A monster and a gentleman, the grand duke Lancaster and the crown prince of the Seraphine kingdom were having a silent cold war for who knows what reason. They continued staring at each other even after the carriage door opened up.

"Let me help you out, my lady." Alastor said in his soft feminine tone, as he extended his hand towards Eleanore, not breaking his eye contact with the grand duke.

"No! My lady. Let me help you instead." Caelestis said in a tone having sheer contrast to Alastor’s. His husky voice had not changed at all, instead it felt like it was mixed with frustration or maybe anger. Eleanore couldn’t figure out exactly what that was.

He extended his hand out and broke his contact with the Crown prince’s mesmerizing gem eye. His gaze shifted to Eleanore, who was still standing at the door of the carriage, puzzled as to what might have led to this.

Minutes ago,

When the two carriages of the Lancaster family stopped at the entrance of the royal palace, Caelestis got out of his carriage and started walking to help the ladies out of theirs. At the entrance he met an esteemed personality. The star of the party. Crown Prince Alastor Seraphine.

"Your Highness." Caelestis greeted him with a bow. "What makes you come here?" he asked, confused by his sudden appearance.

Normally, there is no need for a royal to welcome their guests, like the other nobles. Then why is the crown prince here? Surely, not to welcome them.

"I heard the carriage of the Lancaster Family arrived. Thus, I came here to personally escort Lady Eleanore to the party as my partner." Alastor explained, wearing a soft smile across his lips.

"But I heard of no such letter arriving at the Mansion." Caelestis tried to make sure that his facts were right.

"We had a verbal agreement; the day I invited her to my party with royal knights." He explained.

Cealestis cleared his throat for what he was about to say next. "Since Lady Eleanore’s brother is out on a mission, he has given her responsibility to me. I cannot approve this, your highness."

Alastor’s eyebrows dug a hole into his forehead. He couldn’t believe the nerve of this man. How dare he refuse his proposal on behalf of the lady he had an agreement with? He glared at Caelestis for a while, before calming down his facial muscles again and maintaining his composure.

"Grand Duke, why don’t we ask the lady instead." Alastor suggested, angering Caelestis this time.

Thus, their staring competition started, until Eleanore popped in and broke it.

"I am pretty sure, my lady wouldn’t want to take the hand of a villainous monster." Alastor said out of nowhere.

"Villainous Monster?!" Caelestis repeated his words in disbelief. "Your highness, what do you mean by calling me that?" He was truly angry now.

"I am not calling you that. That’s the name Lady Eleanor has given you." He turned to Eleanore again. "Right, My lady?" He shot a smile her way. It was mesmerizing but not enough to overpower Caelestis’ dark aura.

Eleanore gulped, moving her gaze to Caelestis who was still glaring at the crown price. She couldn’t quite remember when she revealed that name to Alastor. Most of the things that took place on that day had been erased from her memory and she didn’t really like that.

Not remembering a whole evening isn’t a very great feeling. Anyone could turn up to her and claim that she had made some strange agreements with them, and she would have no way to deny it, since she has no memory to back it up.