67 Chapter 67 ~ “Always On Her”
After coming back in time again, Eleanora often wondered if she is really back in time or not.
Everything is same, the place, the people, events.
The only thing that’s changed is her and Cathain.
She feels like their roles have reversed. In the past, it was Eleanora who always tried to make him feel her love.
But now it’s Cathain, who tried every mean to make her understand his heart for the past three years.
Maybe the reason why she pretends to not believe is just a excuse of hers. She knows who he will love.
It was Jena and it will be Jena.
Eleanora saw how gentle he was with her, how he completed her every demands, how he protected and loved her...
He behaved completely opposite with her, If Jena had his love and gentleness; Then Eleanora had his hatred and roughness.
.....
She saved her cousin and some lives that she never encountered in her last life, got a friend.
And his endless obsession and possissevness in this life when she no longer wanted it.
“Eleanora...”
A familiar voice echoed in her mind, like a distanced memory.
“Ele!?”
‘Ain? Why is Ain calling me?’
Eleanora felt a little happy as she thought about her happy training times with Ain.
Maybe what she feels for Ain is more then just friendship. She misses him so badly but doesn’t feels distanced.
Like he is with her always.
“Eleanoraaaa!!!”
The voice cut through her mind, making her realise that it wasn’t ringing in her head.
Eleanora blinked a few times, rubbing her eyes as the sudden bright light blurred her vision.
“Don’t rub it so hard...”
Cathain spoke as he caught her hands from rubbing her eyes and took a wet towel to wipe her face.
Eleanora was stunned for a moment. Not because of him helping her to wash her face but because for a moment, she mistook him as Ain.
‘How’s this possible. Ain is just a commoner merchant. The crown prince has too many works to do, rather then teaching me swordsmanship.
Ain even climbs up my window secretly. Cathain is too proud to do that.’
“Let...Let me do it.”
Eleanora spoke in a low voice as she took the towel from his hands to wipe her face.
Cathain smiled at her gently and let her take it from her hands.
“We will have to attend the council meeting. The breakfast is ready, so we will leave after you are ready.”
Eleanora just nodded her head lightly and went to the bathroom to wash up.
Everything was ready for her already, so it didn’t took long for her to take a bath.
In her last life, Only Rena and Maria was there to help her in the abandoned palace she lived in. She was used to do everything by her own.
But their was one thing that she couldn’t...
Eleanora couldn’t tie the knots of her dress. She came out holding her dress and saw Cathain, who was reading a newspaper.
“Um... Your highness, Can you call a maid for me?”
Cathain glanced at her and put down the newspaper on his hands.
“It will take a while, we are already running late. What do you need?”
“I can’t tie the knots on my dress... I need help.”
“Isn’t it just a knot? I can do it.”
Cathain walked towards her and Eleanora looked at him in disbelief. He is really going to help her?
“How can i bother you to do this Your-”
“Sush, didn’t you called me ‘Cathain’ yesterday? Why are you being so formal again?”
Cathain put his finger on her lips to intrupt her and turned her around as he started to tie the knot.
Eleanora felt embarrassed as no man has ever helped her do this, simple silly thing. She just couldn’t learn how to tie the knot no matter how hard she tried.
“Why are you embarrassed? Am not even helping you to get dressed and... Am not interested into minors.”
Cathain whispered in her ear with a mischievous tone and Eleanora felt speechless.
‘Then who was confessing to a minor last night then?’
“Okay, Done.”
“Already?”
Eleanora was a little surprised as it didn’t even took him a minute to do it. Why is he so experienced?
Unknowingly, she felt a little sad as she thought he must have did it for Jena so many times in the past that he remember this even now.
But soon she felt a little pain on her forehead. Cathain had flicked her.
“What weird things are you thinking again? I tie a lot of knots in the official papers, also i know that our future empress can’t tie a knot... So, i learnt it.”
Eleanora turned her head and her gaze meet his red eyes. Somehow, they don’t look scary anymore.
“Where did you hear that from?”
Eleanora asked as she felt embarrassed about bot being able to tie a knot. Just who dared to expose this?
“I once saw you opening a paper of your father secretly... then struggling to tie it back. Umm, You was ten at that time.”
‘Ten?’
Eleanora remembered this was when she first started to follow her father around the imperial palace.
She thought no one discovered her following Alexander but now it seems like everyone knew and pretended not to see her...
“Okay...Okay, No one saw our little empress following her father around with two ponytails and walking around with a doll as big as her. Eat your breakfast now.”
“...”
‘Everyone saw everything!’
Eleanora quitely eat her breakfast and observed Cathain. The more she looks at him the more she thinks of Ain.
‘Is it because i miss him too much? and this guy is the only guy around me except him?’
After finishing her breakfast, Cathain took Eleanora’s hand into his and started to walk towards the meeting hall with Brayden following him behind.
Along the way, Cathain kept staring at Eleanora, which she decided to ignore.
It has become a normal thing to her because most of the time they spent together, he spents most of them staring at her.
‘It was good to learn tie the knots, dismissing those maids and picking a dress with a knot.’
While Eleanora was sleeping, Cathain choosed her dress himself and dismissed the maids after preparing necessary things for her getting ready.
‘One have to be shameless while chasing.’
She glared at him as she heard him chuckling for no reason.
‘Have he gone mad?’
Soon, they reached the main palace meeting hall.
The large doors of the meeting room opened and everyone’s gaze fall on them. Specially on Eleanora, who was not only a crown princess but also a Saintess.
‘Even at such a young age, she is so beautiful.’
Cathain realised those gazes and felt a jealous. So, he released her hands and put them on her waist to bring her more closer to him.
Eleanora glares at him, signalling him to take away his hands which Cathain ignored like he didn’t understand her gazes at all.
‘Huh! Now watch! Why don’t you stare now? She is mine, so you people can only stare at her and watch me marrying her!’
Eleanora sighed and felt the awkward atmosphere around her. Even Brayden was speechless.
.....
Cathain was always someone who didn’t knew emotions and only worked.
Brayden even thought that Cathain was only interested into Eleanora to take her down as he was always annoyed at the mention of her.
But as days passed by, He become the sole witness of Cathain’s love for her. Even things from before started to become clear to him.
Cathain was annoyed at the mention of her name, because the other party never paid any attention to his works.
Even if he was the crown prince and her fiance, she didn’t even tried to befriend him or visit him.
Although he was annoyed for being engaged to her, but deep inside he was looking forward to it.
But she was always busy with her parents or the crowd around her, where he kept staring at her from afar.
So, he didn’t attended the engagement ceremony to annoy her. Which he regrets now.
It was childish of him. He begin to compet against her or stalk her, when he was six and she was only two years old!
How can a two year old child understand his feelings?!
He kept thinking her as a rival, but didn’t realised when he fall in love while stalking her.
He was annoyed because the other party kept improving without even noticing that he was competing against her.
Where he didn’t mind that he failed against her, but because he failed to caught her attention again and again.
If three years ago, Cathain didn’t realised or intended to chase her, Brayden would still think that Cathain hates her out of jealousy.
But now Brayden understood that, From the very start, Cathain’s gaze never left Eleanora.
Either it was the two year old Eleanora or the thirteen year old Eleanora now.
His gaze was always on her.
To fix the atmosphere Melendez, the king of Rua came forward to greet Cathain but he narrowed his eyes when he saw Eleanora.
“Crown Princess... Why are you here?”