My smile faded, and I stood still in front of him. I wasn't sure what to say at first, despite the fact that his inquiry had come out of nowhere. Was he genuinely worried about me? I was perplexed because I had never seen him make such an expression before.
I clenched my fists and tried to adjust my dress, but I couldn't feel it, and that's when I realized I was still in my training clothes. Did his face alter because I wasn't dressed normally? If that was the case, it was a good start since I got to see a side of him that I had never seen before.
"My lady, if anything is bothering you can talk to me and I promise not to judge."
His hands were already in mine, and I had no clue when he got close to me, and his look was unhappy and worried, so I had no option but to torment him. "I'm astonished, Sir Reiner, you called me your lady while there are only the two of us," I chuckled as I glanced at him.
"Well, you will forever be my lady, Lady Eliana," he said bending to kiss my hand.
Was he attempting to seduce me? Because it was a new aspect to me, and I didn't know how to react to it. "You're actually frightening me off right now since I'm not used to this kind of behavior,"
"Why should I when you've always come to me when you're upset or stressed out?" I am your sole confidante, even if you come to the training fields dressed inappropriately; you always come to seek me, don't you agree?"
I could tell he was being sarcastic. But he made me laugh in some way, and I was grateful because I was carrying something emotionally heavy in my chest, and when I finally laughed, the weight lifted a little.
"Please marry me, my lady," he said sarcastically, pushing his damp hair back, and adding, "You never know, I could be the one."
"Thank you for your excellent humor, Sir Reiner. Because of your outstanding performance, I can now return to my quarters with ease."
I turned around and went back to dress up leaving Sir Reiner behind dumbfounded. I could sense that he was still staring at me as I walked away and that made me smile. I was happy that I got to see a different expression from his face rather than his signature solemn look whenever we encountered. I thought to myself, rather than having him as a spouse, him being my personal knight and friend was more than enough for me.
"You could have just told her the truth Reiner. Why did you allow her to leave like that?"
"It is not my fault that our lady is so naïve to intimate relationships, and I don't think she will ever come to view me as a man since to her, I am just Sir Reiner, her personal knight, Erwin."
I returned to my quarters as planned, but on the way, I ran across a strange person I'd never met before. The person I had collided with was dressed in a long cloak, and the worst thing was that he dared to sneer at me instead of apologizing since he was the one who had clashed with me first. He was being pretty disrespectful, which irritated me.
He caused me to fall from the bump, and instead of assisting me in standing, he walked away, leaving me sitting on the floor. The only thing he had going for him was his appearance, but his attitude was as filthy as a sewer. That was the dirtiest thing I could think of to describe his personality.
I stood up on my own, took off my shoe, and hurled it at him until it hit his head, causing him to stop walking. He then approached me with a disgusted expression on his face.
"What the hell are you?"
"You disgusting human being, I should ask you the same question," I challenged him, forcing my hands to stop trembling from the aura he was emitting. "You bumped into me and instead of apologizing, you abandoned me on the floor. You're so bold!"
My statement had no effect on him since he just stood there staring at me as though he was looking down on me and turned around, leaving me seething. I was finally in a good mood, but he wrecked everything. Oh, I despised him to the core and wanted to know who the heck he was. I had noticed his pre-Raphaelite long wavy hair and chartreuse eyes as I chatted to him. Who could forget such features?
I went straight to my chambers and immediately threw my dress on the floor then dropped myself on my bed. I was so tired. Both emotionally and mentally since it wasn't my day and I just needed some rest.
As soon as my eyes completely shut, the door knocked and our butler, Schneider Parkson, entered the room.
"What does this mean? Schneider, do you constantly walk into my room uninvited?" I replied violently and hurled a pillow at him, which landed on his face. Why did he come into my room without my permission? What if he discovered me in an embarrassing circumstance, such as while I was naked? I needed him to leave immediately.
"My lady, I was concerned since I had knocked on the door and received no response, so I decided to come in. Please pardon this disobedient servant." He pleaded as he dropped his head, truly apologizing to me, but I couldn't help but wonder why I was offended. He didn't always make the mistake of entering my room without authorization.
"Did you really knock? Are you sure you are telling the truth?"
The middle-aged man still bowing replied to me, "Yes, my lady, I knocked several times but you didn't respond and that made us worried and did something disrespectful."
'How long was I asleep for?'
I slid off my bed and approached him, gently straightening him up. He was elderly, and no matter how different our socioeconomic statuses were, I wasn't allowed to forget that. "I apologize for being rude to you first without hearing your explanation, and I should not have done so in the first place." I led him to a chair and forced him to sit down, then called out to Andrea, who was holding a tray of fruits, and asked her for some tea.
"What are you doing, my lady? This is really unacceptable." Schneider begged as he attempted to get out of his chair. He must have been concerned that if rumors of my kindness to him circulated around the ducal court, he would be punished later by my father.
"I'm doing this because you're elderly and I treated you badly. Please accept my apologies for bashing you over the head with my pillow."
He appeared stunned at first, but his countenance instantly altered as he heard my statement. He gave me a kind grin and accepted the tea Andrea had prepared for us. "I'm not unhappy at all, dear lady; I'm just pleased you're healthy. We were all concerned when we didn't hear you respond to our knocking."
"Why were you worried? If I may ask."
"His Grace informed me about what occurred this morning and how heartbroken you looked as you left him. Are you sure you're okay, Lady Eliana?"
I didn't know what to reply to him at that time. I wasn't really sure how I was feeling since in one day I found out about the appearance of my mother and then being told after that I was the major cause of her death. I honestly had no answer to his query and I just stared at him emotionless and sipped from my cup.
"This tea tastes wonderful, do you not agree, Schneider?" I said trying to digress the topic which I didn't feel like discussing about at the moment.
Both Schneider who was sitting with his teacup in his hand and Andrea who stood beside us, looked at me and I could tell they were worried. Their expressions were just too obvious for me to catch on.
"Please, pour me another cup, Andrea, it just tastes so lovely," I said tying to suppress tears from falling from my eyes. "Thank you"
I had no idea I was that frail. How could I allow myself to cry in front of my staff? I was so emotionally confused at the time that I didn't know who I needed to talk to about it. I wanted a hug and some assurance that everything would be well and that it would pass after I wept it all out from my chest. "Papa, where are you? I really need you right now," I thought to myself as I clenched my fist over my cup, avoiding both of their anxious stares.
Andrea had already wrapped around me, almost causing me to lose my cup, but I managed to cling onto it, perplexed as to why she was hugging me and did she realize how desperately I needed it.
"It's okay to cry, my lady. Let it all out."
After hearing that, I couldn't stop my tears from falling, and my hands grew so weak that I couldn't hold onto my cup any longer, causing it to tumble to the floor. I sobbed for a long time as she embraced me, and Schneider got up and joined in. I guess I really needed that warmth and they gave it to me.