Chapter 17: Lancaster Mansion

For some reason as soon as Eleanore entered the mansion, she felt a sense of familiarity, the paths and every place that only the owner might know, made its way to her brain that had already been taking a lot of weight. All this rushing in memories was creating chaos in her brain.

As the pain in her head magnified, she felt a slight disbalance in her body, and was about to fall. She closed her eyes believing that no one would save her. Her brother was already quite far from her and she had no expectations from Caelestis who was standing right behind her.

For seconds she felt no pain, making her want to open her eyes, only to find out that it was none other than Caelestis who had held her by her waist.

Eleanore could see him up close and felt like his description in the book hadn't done justice to his characteristics. Although he is cruel and hotheaded, his face looked very calm and peaceful, as if he was made to have a life everyone wishes for, yet could never live it.

His scarlet eyes, that were hardly one shade darker than hers, only had her image in them, and his handsome face was only inches away from hers.

Caelestis gulped and then quickly helped Eleanore get back on her two feet, unknowingly hurting her already wounded arm. A hiss that left her mouth, so silent that only he could hear it, made him flinch.

"Apologies, my lady. I didn't —" Before he could complete his first ever genuine apology, from the guilt of making her wound severe that day. Eleanore interrupted him—

"It's alright." Saying that she turned to walk close to her brother, leaving a hint of glum in Caelestis' heart due to her dejected expression.

He guided them to his study where Eleanore sat at a distance, from which she could barely hear anything. They could have their conversation in peace without fear of being heard.

"Caelestis, thank you for allowing her to stay at your mansion." Hael said immediately after receiving the documents related to the next mission. "If it's you. It puts me at ease."

"Hmm." Caelestis replied, then continued with the instructions he had just handed over to Hael. "He is a very special enemy, Hael."

"True." He said, opening the file, knowing who that man was. "This man must be hunted to his death." A picture of the man had been stapled on the first page. He looked like an old, grumpy, weak man, but defying his age he is right now the biggest and strongest threat not just to White Knights but also to Seraphine. "I will come back as early as possible with good news, brother. Don't worry."

"Hael, he is dangerous. Be careful." Caelestis warned.

At first Caelestis had wished to lead the mission himself but Hael felt he wasn't the right choice for this mission. Thus instead he himself took it up.

"I'll be careful. Just take care of my sister."

Caelestis nodded.

"Also, although she says she is over you, deep down she still loves you. If she does anything that upsets you, please ignore that." Hael held out his last concern before leaving.

___

Lancaster Mansion has one place that not everyone has heard about and has a desire to see. Very few have seen this place, and one of them is Eleanore.

This new Eleanore had a visual map of every place that might have been ventured by the original one.

As Eleanore followed Marina to this place called the secret garden. There is nothing secret about this garden except for the immense beauty it holds. 

They passed by the window belonging to Caelestis' study, from where he had already understood where she was heading but couldn't care less about it. He had too much work to attend to and looking at her face made him lose the motivation to continue. He quickly got back to his seat and started attending to the documents.

When the three of them were young, they used to hang out there often. It didn't take Eleanore long to become good friends with Caelestis like her brother in their teens and follow him around almost everywhere. Annoyed by her actions, Caelestis stopped meeting up with her and would find excuses to get away from her every time she appeared.

Caelestis, who found her an eyesore, thought that he gave clear signs of his disgust towards Eleanore's possessive friendship for him but instead Eleanore thought he was just shy. And then when he saved her from assassins a year ago, she realized that he was no longer a crush of four years but her only true love. Then her obsessive friendship and crush turned into obsessive love. 

On getting the memories of original-owners-of-the-body's embarrassing actions, Eleanore felt second hand embarrassment in her stead. She blindly headed into a flower garden, having beautiful red roses on both the sides of the road.

Marine stopped Eleanore from entering into the garden by jumping in between the entrance and her mistress. "My Lady, here take this first before entering in."

She offered an inhaler covered in valuable pink gems. Eleanore took it up to confirm that it was actually an inhaler. An Inhaler, a medicine covered in jewels, everywhere. 

'Did Eleanore have asthma?' was the first question that rose in her mind. It was very much possible, considering there was very little description of her character in the novel.

"Why is it covered in these shiny diamonds? And why on earth are they pink?" Eleanore uttered, without thinking twice. She was disgusted by that color.

"My lady, you are the one who ordered me to decorate it." Marina answered, puzzled by those words. If her memory serves her right, Eleanore loved the color pink.

"I did?" Eleanore observed the inhaler and realized that there was no mouth space on it due to jewels. She pulled out the huge ones and threw them down. "They are blocking my medicine." She said,

"My lady, they are expensive." Marina gasped in surprise.