Chapter 31 - CHAPTER 30

The day started with the sun hidden behind the clouds. Some snow covering the land started to slowly melt. Winter is almost ending, and spring is now coming.

Eleanor stared at her window with a blank face on. Her mind seems to be wandering around when she heard a faint knock on the door that snapped her back to reality.

"Uh…umm…come in!", she answered while slowly turning towards the direction of the door of her room. The door opened and a smiling Meridia came in. Her smile is different from the ones she showed her before. Her smile right now is not the same jolly-like kind of smile she normally has but instead, her smile is a gentle kind of smile that she rarely shows.

She entered the room and walked towards Eli, "I've brought you lunch. You haven't had any breakfast yet so I decided to bring you lunch after finishing creating some potions that are out of stock", she brought down the tray that she's been holding on the small table inside the room.

They heard a small creak and saw someone…something else entering the room. "Riku", Eleanor called out to the robot dog that soon came running towards its master after hearing its name.

Riku jumped to her bed and sat beside her with a wagging tail. Eli slowly put her hand on the top of its head and slowly stroked it. She then faced Meridia again and sighed after seeing the change on the alchemist's facial expression while looking at her.

"Master, I'm fine", she shortly said before turning back her attention towards Riku again. She continued stroking its head as Meridia can't help but ask her, "About what happened to the festival yesterday"

"What about it master?"

Her stroking hand paused and her eyes looked at the anxious alchemist looking at her with worry. After the incident that happened due to Riku wildly wreaking havoc, everything became blank for Eleanor.

What she remembered last was the duke pulling away after hugging her and looking at her with teary eyes saying the words, "My daughter", on her face. After that, she doesn't remember anything else.

She didn't remember how she came back to the academy, to the lab, and to her room. She didn't remember how she changed her clothes and how the incident caused by Riku was solved. She didn't remember what she even did after that and how did she fell asleep.

Her mind seems to be stuck on the words that the duke left to her at that day, and right now, her mind seems like it's still stuck on those words a little but Eli knows that she's slowly recovering from the revelation that just happened yesterday.

Meridia, and probably also Ren, are both worried about her but the two of them let her be for now since they know that a lot of things must've been circling inside her mind. But the next day, seems like Meridia can't help it anymore and decided to approach her to check on her with the excuse of bringing her meal, and Eli knows that.

"I'm still a bit…blanked out, but so far, I'm still fine. I guess I just need a little bit more of time to think about things by myself, master. But thank you for checking up on me, I really appreciated it, and please tell Ren not to worry too much, just….just give me a bit more time to process things", Eleanor said flashing Meridia a small smile she can muster for now.

She's still indeed processing things for now and her emotions are all mixed up. After checking up on her, Meridia then let her be again, as per Eli's request, and exited her room. As Eleanor's mind started wandering again, her eyes caught something outside.

She squinted her eyes and soon, it became clear to her what it is. Outside, flying in the sky, a familiar carrier pigeon is on its way towards her.

It soon flew inside and landed on Eli's table. She stroked it for a bit and gave it some bird seeds that she has as a thanks before taking the note tied on it.

She opened it while the bird is busy eating on top of her table only to see a familiar handwriting inside the note. She can't help but sigh before smiling at how sheepish the person who sent her the note is after reading the contents of the note,

'I heard what happen from some anonymous guy (with the initial of R), wait for me, I'll finish some things up a bit, but I'm coming over after that'
-Dan





















"You guys really…"
"Well we can't help it, we're worried"

Eli sighed for the nth time after seeing how the two boys in front of her pouted like little kids. But then she smiled after that making the two smiled back at her. Ren and the newly arrived Daniel are now sitting in front of her.

Both of them are smiling and are both acting normally like how they usually do but she can see worry on their eyes. "You guys are worrying too much, it's not like I have a very big problem you kn…"

"Liar / Can't fool us"

Ren and Daniel both cut her off. The two are now glaring at her with serious faces. Eli scratched the back of her head while avoiding looking at their glare, "W-where's Anette anywa…"

"She's too busy / She can't go out", the both of them cut her off again. She sighed in annoyance after being cut off twice now. But seeing how the two gentleman's faces stayed the same…

" *sigh* Okay fine. I give up", and soon after saying that, Eleanor's facial changed in an instant. The happy and jolly expression that was once on her face and served as a mask for her was changed into an anxious one, her real feeling now being shown to the two gentlemen.

"Well, where should I start? Hmmm….okay, so honestly, what do I feel? Ummm, confused? Unsure? Happy? I don't really know actually. I just feel….so many mixed emotions. My mind is not blank; it's actually full of thoughts, full of what ifs, full of questions that even I myself can't answer. My mind, my emotions, they're all in a turmoil"

The 2 boys just quietly listened to her as she tried to voice out how mixed up everything is for her. But little did they know that not only are Daniel and Ren listening to her. Outside the door, two more pair of ears are listening to the girl speak as well.

"I'm happy that I finally found out who I am, at least a piece of who I am, of who ELEANOR is. But I didn't expect it to be this extreme. Plus there's….", Eleanor….Ammiel stopped talking and ranting when she realized she almost gave out the truth about her not being the true Eleanor and about the mission the goddess gave to her.

She then took a deep breath and was about to start talking again when her door burst open, startling not only her, Ren, and Daniel but also the two more people listening outside as well. "Master what is….wait, D-duke? Young master? What are you both doing out there?", but before Lucian and Lucius could even explain themselves to her Meridia spoke in an alarmed tone.

"It's an emergency! I received a letter from Historia. Something happened!", with those words Eleanor immediately stood up and approached Meridia.

The alchemist took out a small paper from her pocket and gave it to the girl. Eleanor started reading it while Ren and Daniel slowly came close to them. The duke and the young duke just stood to where they were as they watched them all.




'I'll save the greetings for later, I'll cut to the chase, while in the middle of investigating for a case, we were attacked by familiar people wearing black suits, and yes, they're members of the ERA. Don't worry, none of us got hurt badly, moreover we were more worried about Eleanor. We tried getting answers out from one of them, and before they even self-destruct, we got at least one information out from them. Their primary target is the privileged person who can use Holy Objects. Looks like their leader is focused on capturing THAT PRIVILEGED ONE. You know what this means right, Meridia? Please keep HER safe at all cost. For now stay alert, we don't know what they might do next. We'll be visiting you guys soon to check on you all. Stay safe.'




Eleanor sighed as she finished reading the letter she/ got from Historia. She glanced back at the letter again, 'It's starting, what that old woman said before. It's starting'




XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Prepare yourself child, this world is not the one you know previously. So you should expect that some things might change as well. When the spotlight started coming towards you, will you still avoid it?"

…

"I'm only a fortune teller but I can still give you one advice based on the cloud of obstacle that I saw in your future. Don't just look back at where you came from, remember your past but for you to be able to look forward to your future, you also need to accept the reality of the present"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX



Meridia took the letter from Eli whose mind is still wandering to the memory of what the fortune teller told her before. She passed it towards Ren who read it with Daniel who peeked on the letter from behind him to read it as well.

After reading the letter, the two men look at the girl worriedly. They're aware, especially Ren, about how many encounters did Eli had with that ERA organization after raid on their hideout.

"Things are getting ugly", Daniel murmured when, "Mind telling us the predicament now?"

All 4 of them look at the 2 present nobles whom they forgot minutes ago. "Your grace…"

"If this involves my daughter, which is something I can clearly see, I won't be able to stand doing nothing for her", Lucian added even before Meridia could say anything.

All 4 of them look at each other, while Lucian and Lucius stared at all of them. Meridia looked back at the letter that is in the hands of Ren.

'Please keep HER safe at all cost. For now stay alert, we don't know what they might do next. We'll be visiting you guys soon to check on you all. Stay safe.'

" *sigh* Let's proceed to my office"
























"Here"
"Oh thank you"
"Are you sure you're okay? Your hands are cold"

Eleanor looked at her hands sitting on top of her lap. She clenched the both of them and looked straight into Ren's worried eyes before nodding.

To be honest, she doesn't know what to do. She's still in turmoil because she's still trying to accept the reality about ELEANOR's true identity. In the novel, the duke of Donati, Lucian, is one of the minor villains. He is one of the nobles who joined during the rebellion against the royal family, but the reason why they did that was not stated.

And in the novel, it was also not stated in any chapters nor paragraphs or even lines that the duke has a missing/ lost child that he's been finding. His son, Lucius, is a mini character who fought with the crown prince Cyphel during the battle and lost to him.

That's why now that things became this way, she can't help but feel confuse. Eleanor is a nameless extra and is supposed to be (just a hypothesis) just a part of Daniel's past/ history, but now, she's someone who's connected to some characters now. She even encountered the main characters and befriended the female lead and the other supporting characters.

And now, another problem arose. Her being the target of the ERA organization, and her targeting the leader of the organization believing that the leader might be the INTRUDER, who's been running havoc and caused the setting of the novel to be ruined, the one she's been finding for the mission that goddess Anchora gave to her.


'When the spotlight started coming towards you, will you still avoid it?"


"Is this what that old woman is talking about?"
"What?"
"Oh nevermind"

Daniel just scratched his head and ignored what he heard and instead focused staring at the door of the office of Meridia. Meridia is with the duke and the young duke inside her office, talking…discussing things that the 3 youngsters have no idea what is.

The door slowly opened making them all stand up from their seats. "Master", Meridia approach Eleanor who called out to her. "Eleanor, would you mind sitting down and listening to what I'm going to say?"

The girl slowly sat down. Meridia looked at the 2 boys who both sat down after giving them a look. "So…umm, the duke and the young duke, ummm, well", the alchemist fidgeted with her hand, don't know where she should start.

"We already know that you're the privileged person who can use Holy Objects and the one examined by priest Anette. Well, that's the first clue we had when we encountered you at the palace before. The potion already pointed out that you're my missing sibling before, and there's also the hair clip that you're wearing that time, which is something, umm, familiar, because my mother created it. I just blanked out and doubted it because I…we thought that it might just be ummm, that something might be wrong. But when the potion pointed you out again the 2nd time, that's when we were truelly convinced that it is you", after Lucius finished explaining some things, Lucian continued for him.

"And now, we heard about the predicament…the danger you're facing. And….", he then faced Meridia who continued for him.

"And we they suggested something", Eleanor gulped as Meridia continued. "Well, now that they found out that you're the missing child of the duke, they wanted to ask if you…ummm, want to go with them back to the south?"

"Of course we won't force you! But now that you're in danger, it can also protect you and hide you from the ERA. We will hide your identity as the privileged person by fully making you officially the young lady of Donati Dukedom", Lucius immediately said to support what the purpose of their plan is.

"We will fully respect what your decisions will be", Lucian added as his mind remembered what he heard about his daughter's feelings are earlier. Eleanor looked at them with blank eyes. Still processing things.

"Ahem! We'll be truthful. We did create this proposition with the priority to keep you safe of course. But, we also created this hoping to convince you to go home with us. I…we searched for you for so long. We have no leads at first, we don't even know what your gender nor if you're still alive. We just hoped that the goddess protected you and kept you safe. And we, we never loosed hope. I…"

Eleanor's blank eyes changed as they widen. To her….their surprise, Lucius' eyes started tearing up. This is the second time they saw the young duke cry, well almost, and it is all because of Eleanor.

She can't help but stand up and approach him, slowly giving him her handkerchief as his eyes teared up more upon seeing his sibling so close to him. And he can't help it anymore.

He grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him as he gave her the biggest hug he could give her. Eleanor just stood still due to her being caught off guard by what he just did.

"1 minute….At least please let me hug you like this just for a minute", Lucius begged her desperately, but to his surprise, Eleanor hugged him back and started patting his back like a mother consoling her child/a child.

They stayed like that for a minute, the others let them have their moment and kept their mouths shut, and then finally, Lucius pulled off from the hug and stared at his sibling's face for a few more seconds before letting her go. "We'll give you at least a few days to decide, so don't push yourself too hard. We'll respect your decision no matter what it is. But, at least let us protect you during those days", Eli glanced towards the serious face of the duke. The sincerity of his words can be seen on both his and Lucius' eyes.

Eleanor nodded. "T-thank you…d..duke", Lucian felt a bit disappointed after hearing his only daughter and lost child call him duke, but he does understand that she's still not comfortable enough to call him 'father' or 'dad' yet, so he just nodded at the girl with a smile. "No worries"

After that, the duke and the young master left/ get back to the inn where they're staying at. Daniel, who came earlier, was given a spare room on the same floor where Eli's room is together with Meridia.

Ren was still a bit hesitant to leave his friend, but with a great persuasion from Meridia, he finally succumbs and left to get some rest back at his home.

"Now this is really crazy", Riku stared at his owner who's now just staring at the ceiling of her room. "I know that things won't go the same way as it did on the original novel, but this….this is a whole new level! I thought as an extra, the worst…I mean, the most unexpected circumstance that could happen is for me to meet the important characters, and have different kind of ability due to the goddess giving it to me. But now….being the long lost daughter of the duke, having the identity of the 'Privileged Person' who can use Holy Objects, and even befriending most of the important characters of the original novel, everything seems to be….getting extreme"

Riku whimpered, "Warning: The owner's anxiety is rising", he stated making Eli look at him. His eyes seem to be scanning her. "Don't worry Riku, this…this feeling is normal. And…"

Eleanor stared back at her ceiling again before continuing what she's saying, "…and, I have to accept this reality and go with the flow. In order for me to complete the mission goddess Anchora gave to me and live my second life peacefully, I first have to accept reality and do what I can do to survive in this world. I have to cope-up with everything. It's not like I have any choice either but, I know…as long as I was able to cope-up with this upcoming spotlight on its way towards me, I can think and plan about how to handle things. Right?"

Seeing how Eli is trying so hard to encourage her own self with these words, Riku nodded its head before jumping up the bed and licking her face with its metallic tongue, trying to encourage the extra that will soon enter the spotlight.