Chapter 37 - Angry

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(From Ella's Perspective)

"Hey, you okay?" Jed asked, catching the sight of me. Perhaps I looked worse than I thought.

"No, I'm not okay," I said, loudly than necessary.

"Why? What happened?"

"I'm not feeling alright. My hands are aching, some kind of insect bit my neck and there are stupid marks left, my back is aching as well, my head is spinning, I did not eat properly, this morning, I hit my leg with the door, I'm worried and angry," I breathed out the words, almost feeling the things that I said.

"Whoa! You're really not okay," Jed said. "I can fix the hunger problem. I got a slice of cake. I brought it for you."

Jed handed me a medium-sized piece of lemon cake, wrapped in a thin paper bringing it out of his trouser pocket.

"Edrich brought a whole cake this morning. He seemed to be in a good mood. He told me to have as much as I want and also told me to take some for you. I could not risk bringing more than one piece, but there are more at home. You'll better come by tonight."

"I will," I said, taking the cake and stuffing almost the whole in my mouth. My anger seemed to make me hungry. "Lee isn't at home. He told me to stay at your place until he comes back."

"Where is he going?"

"I don't know. He doesn't describe his plans with me," I replied.

"Why not? He seems to like you a lot."

"But he doesn't trust me," I grumbled. "Anyway, forget it."

"Yeah. But now you gotta tell me about everything for what you're not okay. First, why are your hands aching?"

"They got stuck in a hole behind a shelf in Lee's place," I said.

"How?"

"I just wanted to see if... Well, I can get both of my hands out of that gap without trouble," I muttered.

"Oh, Leora," Jed sighed. "And then what kind of insect bit your neck?"

"A huge one," I murmured, my mind instantly recalling the moment when Jed bit and sucked the skin of my neck.

"Not too severe, is it?"

"No."

"Why are you worried?"

"I don't know," I lied, but I was sure he could not detect it.

"You don't know why you're worried?" Jed asked, surprised.

"It's not my fault my brain is malfunctioning," I said.

"Alright, I better try to stay on your good mood today. You can work less today. I'm in a good mood, so I'll manage."

I was very grateful to Jed for saying this. But I could not just let him do all the work just because I was in a bad mood.

"Oh, don't worry. I'll be okay. Thanks for the offer though," I said.

We made our way to the castle. Jed seemed a bit happier today. He usually was, but today it was a bit too much.

"What's that smile for?" I asked.

"Nothing. Just..."

"Spill it out, Jed."

"He asked me if I can go and meet him in his house. He wants me to show him how to play guitar when I told him that I can," Jed said, grinning like a fool.

"That's cool!" I exclaimed, suddenly the anger almost vanished. "I think he likes you."

"No, he doesn't."

"What if he does?"

"And what if he likes me as a friend?"

"We'll see about that. You should go tonight then. I'll stay in your room, watching the romance," I said, nudging him on the arm.

"You're so..."

"Yeah, I know I'm annoying. It's my duty as a friend to annoy the hell out of you," I laughed.

"I wouldn't say annoying yet, but yeah, that works too."

"Anyway, so we will work really fast today. Then we'll relax. Besides, you need to do something for me."

"What? Are you going to eavesdrop again?" Jed asked.

"No. Not that. You need to yell Rose in front of the king's slave. I mean, she can't know that you're calling her. You'll behave as if you are talking to me about something and you didn't even notice her," I explained.

"But why?"

"Because I told you so," I said. "Just kidding. Her name is Rosaire, right? I want to see if she wants to be called Rose as well. Then we can make her our friend. I mean, we need to approach her, right? That's the way, I mean, my way."

"You're weird," Jed muttered.

"Took you long enough to find out," I laughed.

As we reached the castle, the whole place seemed to so quiet for some reason. The castle was always quiet, but today it was too much. It felt odd.

"What's wrong?" Jed asked.

"The place... it's too quiet. It feels like something is up," I muttered, glancing around the corridor.

"You call this quiet?" Jed laughed. "The dog has been barking since we've come here."

He was right. I looked out the window and saw that the huge German Shepherd was barking loudly. But I did not hear it at first. What was happening? Or was I too worried about Leandro?

"Oh."

"Are you even alright, Leora? You look really pale and you've been acting weird," Jed said concernedly, touching my arm gently.

"I'm always weird."

"I mean, weirder than usual," he said. "What is it, Leora?"

"Nothing, Jed. Really, I'm fine," I said, trying to smile which I was sure I failed in a huge way.

"Don't try to fool me. There is surely something going on. Is it about the nightmare?"

"No. Wait, you saw me screaming as well?"

"You were sleeping on my bed. Then suddenly you started screaming and you were calling Leandro."

"Leandro?"

"Yes. And then the cold guy came upstairs, running and pushed me on the floor thinking that I had done something to you. I had to say again and again that I did not do anything. Then he hugged you and you were gripping on him tightly as if he was your home, your safe place."

My safe place? Jed had no idea that what he said was the truth. Leandro was my safe place, no matter how reluctant I was to believe that.

"He was saying that he will keep you safe, he won't let anything happen to you. He also said that he won't leave you. His voice was not cold. Trust me, I would never believe he could be so gentle if I had not seen it with my own eyes."

I did not listen to Jed anymore. I was asking myself if what Leandro was saying was the truth. Would he truly keep me safe? Would he never leave me?

"But why were you calling him Leandro? Is that his full name or something? I thought his name is Lee."

I snapped my head towards him at this question. I could not believe I had been screaming Leandro's name in my nightmare and now Jed asking this, I was searching every corner of my head looking for an answer.

"Do you know what the previous king's name was? I mean King Nicklaus's brother."

"Yeah. His name was Leandro Gregor."

"Exactly!" I said. "The king's brother had raven-black hair as well and he was very tall. Lee is that way as well. So I call him that to mock him. Well, the mocking name has turned into a very real one."

I held my breath as I watched Jed thinking. I wished he would not ask me anything about it anymore. I was not sure for how long I would be able to keep up making lies.

"Then why was he calling you Ella?" Jed asked after a while.

"It's my birth name. But I don't go by the name anymore. But Lee likes taunting me," I said.

"That means you gave the name Leora to yourself?"

"Yes. It's not bad, is it?"

"No. But Ella is far cuter."

True to our words, we worked very quickly. But unfortunately, we did not get any sight of Rosaire.

We could rest for half an hour after our work was done. Thankfully, today the king's father was not in his room, fucking another whore.

"By the way, what's the king's father's name?" I asked Jed as we were getting ready to leave.

"Wallace Gregor," Jed replied.

"Weird name, but never mind. Anyway, is Edrich going to be home tonight?"

"No. He is going to be in the brothel. He told me this morning," Jed replied.

I felt relieved. Then I would not have to do something to make Edrich get out of the house. Even though Leandro questioned if he could trust me, I was going to do this thing for you. I did not know why, but I wanted to do it.

I was about to ask more, but suddenly I heard someone scream. It was a girl's voice. "What's that?"

"We better get out of here," Jed said quickly.

"Someone is hurt," I said.

"It doesn't matter. Whoever is hurting her will hurt us as well."

Before I could say something else, Jed pulled me with him. "We need to go and see what we can do," I said.

"No. We'll get in trouble."

But I wanted to see if I could help the girl. I could not just stay still hearing a girl's pleading and cries.

"Alright. You better head out. I need to talk to the cook. She wanted to talk to me. But I forgot. You better go to Miles's place. I'll go to Edrich's place and see your little romance," I said. It did not matter if he did not want to go with me. I was going to see if I could help the girl anyway. I knew that Leandro would not like it. But it did not matter.. I never liked to listen to anyone anyway.

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