Saving The Abandoned Empress

“No.”

“...”

Eleanora was speechless as it has been more then 15 minutes that she is giving him a massage.

But he still says he is not feeling better?

‘My hand hurts!!’

With a frustrated mood, Eleanora decided to pull his hair as she scratched his scalp with her nails sharply.

Cathain tried his best to conceal his laughter as he let her continue to scratch his head.

‘This feels good...’

.....

‘She is a kitten for sure, No- A fierce kitten with sharp nails and a bad temper.’

“Ouch- Be-Be gentle...Eleanora”

Cathain called her by full name which made her pause as it has been long since she heard him calling her by full name.

He either called her by his empress or nickname, which made Eleanora once again realise the person infront of him is not ‘Ain’ anymore.

With whom she can casually behave however she wants.

“I apologise, Your Majesty.”

Cathain’s face dropped as he felt her being formal with him again.

“I feel a lot better now. You can go-”

“Take care then, Your Majesty.”

Eleanora left even before he could say that she can go after having a cup of tea with him.

Cathain stared at the door even after she was already gone.

‘Why am feeling so sad?’

...

Across the Valentino empire, Capital city of the Rua kingdom at northern part of the south.

“Well, the newspaper from the Valentino today is quite interesting.”

“The emperor’s speech was so serious that no reporter in Rua could write anything about it.”

“And... This girl, who messed up our plans from the very beginning is also going to the war?”

A man with black hair and eyes spoke as he smirked at the picture in the front page of the newspaper.

All the newspapers from Valentino empire has published their crown princess’s speech from the other day in their front page, along with the picture of the emperor and the crown princess holding their hands together.

‘Eleanora Ariande La Dalton...’

The king of Rua, Mendel De Melendez Rua murmured Eleanora’s name in his mind as he tore apart the newspaper into two parts.

Then he picked up the part which only showed Eleanora’s picture in the newspaper.

‘What a beautiful girl...!’

Even if the picture was only black and white, it couldn’t hide Eleanora’s beauty.

Mendel had his eyes on Eleanora when she came with the crown prince for the negotiation process.

The way she bravely spoke and presented her thoughts, backfire his father’s plans, there was no way she wouldn’t catch his eyes.

The only reason why Mendel became the king is to get her, the crown princess of the Valentino Empire.

“Hah... I want to have her...”

‘If i defeat the imperial army, i can take her.’

‘She would be my trophy for winning the war.’

‘Whether it’s the crown princess or the battle between Rua and the Empire, this war is certainly very interesting.’

…

“Elee, have you ever been on boat like this?”

Cedrick asked as he put down the box he was carrying and helped Eleanora to put down her box too.

‘If i say this is not my first time on a boat... He will nag me for more details right?’

Eleanora thought as she tried to roll up her sleeves.

“No... It’s my first time and the sea is really beautiful.”

“We still haven’t left the empire, are you okay?”

Cedrick asked as an ice mage, Eleanora is sensitive to cold and he helped her to roll up her sleeves.

“The wind feel nice, it’s not that chilly.”

“You must tell me if you feel cold okay?”

Cedrick spoke as he was concerned for Eleanora because she catches cold easily.

But before Eleanora could speak back, someone else spoke as he put down a box on the ground.

“Tell you? You better stay away from her of you don’t want her to catch a cold.”

“...”

“...”

Both Cedrick and Eleanora was speechless.

The person who just spoke was Duke Richardo.

Unlike Cathain’s fire magic which makes the people around him feel warm and gave off a superior aura which force everyone submit to him;

Cedrick’s aura is like cold wind, which makes people feel cold.

As Eleanora also has ice magic which gives off chilly cold aura like winter nights, it will be easier for her to catch a cold with Cedrick standing beside her who uses wind magic.

‘Does he need to be so direct?’

Dion left without giving them any time to react and then Eleanora suddenly remembered about the handkerchief which Dion had given her previously to cover up her wound.

“Wait a moment, Rick!

I will be right back!”

Eleanora spoke as she took out the handkerchief from her pocket and ran after Dion.

“...”

‘What am i supposed to do now?’

Cedrick thought as he was left alone in the corner with piles of boxes.

…

“Duke Richardo!!”

Eleanora called Dion, who was standing near the railing of the boat alone.

“Your highness?”

Dion was a little surprised to find Eleanora calling for him.

‘Why is she here?’

“Your handkerchief”

Eleanora spoke as she passed him the handkerchief with a silly smile.

She felt embarrassed because of her behaviour that day, when she deliberately hurted herself.

“Don’t worry, I have washed it! I couldn’t find a right moment to pass you this, so i bought it with me this time to give it back.”

Dion was dumbfounded to get back the handkerchief which he forgot about and didn’t knew how to react.

But Eleanora misunderstood him and thought that he found it dirty because it was used by her.

“No No No- I didn’t meant that... It’s just you didn’t need to return it.”

.....

Dion spoke as he looked at the handkerchief in her hands but his insides was full of nervousness.

‘What am i supposed to say in this kind of situations with a lady?!

Diana that brat!

Why didn’t she teached me about this?!’

Actually Dion is kind of person who speaks a lot in his mind and rarely with his mouth.

And whenever he opens his mouth, he ends up being too honest and hurting the other person.

So he keeps quite most of the time and only speaks which is teached by his little sister, who is afraid of her brother die single.

Where, Eleanora was the same as him.

‘What am i suppose to say now?’

“Pardon me then,”

In the end, Eleanora just decided to put in on his suit pocket, ignoring the awkward expression on Dion’s face.

‘Agh, i don’t care. What will i do with a man’s handkerchief anyway?’

“Pff- i guess we are the same kind.”

Dion spoke as he found her to similar to himself, who just does the work quitely without speaking much.

“I guess so...”

Eleanora spoke as she laughed with Dion for her this action, not realising the two person passing by them from not to far away.

‘Since when did they have such a good relationship?’

‘What are they talking about that made her laugh so happily?’

Cathain narrowed his red eyes as he stared at Eleanora and Dion from afar.

Even if he doesn’t remember the past, but during the current time when he was with her; she never laughed so happily.

‘Her expression is completely different then when i was with her...’

Cathain felt hurt as he remembered how she looks shocked or nervous, like she just wants to find a excuss to leave when he is with her.

‘This is a problem... Am feeling messed up... How can i make her feel comfortable around me?’

He knows he doesn’t hate her as he remembered himself to do anymore and because of his current feelings, he knows the crazy things he did before must be done by himself too.

‘Whom should i ask about it? There is no one...’

“Your highness? Is there something i can help with?”

“...”

“Where were you looking at? What’s there?”

Brayden pretended to not notice Eleanora and Dion as he wanted to tease his superior.

He knew that his superior was having problems with his personal life, how can he not notice this as someone who has been trainned to aid the emperor?

But Cathain hesitated to ask as he felt this matter is rather embarrassing to discuss, specially worrying about something like this, that to even during the war?

Will people not consider him as a lovesick man?

Cathain thought as he didn’t knew that everyone around him is used to this kind of situations.

“Nothing, call everyone for an urgent meeting right now. Everyone must attend.”

“...”

‘What you exactly want is to bring the crown princess to you and prevent her from talking with others right?’

Brayden sighed as he did what the emperor had told him to do.

A few moment later~

“This is bad...”

The emperor spoke as he read the reports in his hands, which was sent by the knights from the borders.

“Yes, Your highness. After investigation, we have found that Rua had joined hands with the neighbouring countries to fight our support army at the borders.”

“We have to adjust our strength first. The support armies at the borders and the remnants of our army combined total up to 320,000.”

“But there are 430,000 enemy troops, which put us at a numerical disadvantage.”

‘We lack nearly 100,000 soldiers.’

The knights was all tensed up as soon as they realized it.

But unexpectedly, the emperor and the knight leaders thought differently.

“Fighting will be worth it.”

The emperor spoke and the officials nodded.

“Yes, After all we are the great imperial battle army of the empire!”

“Although that new king of Rua is quite irritating, we don’t know what tricks he might use later...”

An olderly man with white hair spoke, who is trains a special unit of soldiers for the war.

“Dealing with a sly scheme is simple. We don’t need to resort to underhanded methods like them or we would be fooled by their tricks.”

The emperor spoke with a relax tone as he put down the reports on the table.

“WE WILL ATTACK HEAD ON!”

Cathain spoke with a serious tone.

He doesn’t know why but just by the mention of the current king of Rua, he feels uncomfortable.

‘Why do i feel like am forgetting something very important?’