Chapter 76 Heading Towards the Sea "Come on, I'll take you to see the sea."...
As the play ended, the actors came to the front of the stage and bowed.
"They acted really well, from now on I... Eleanor?!"
Andra smiled and turned to her lover, but her mind suddenly froze: the once lively girl was now slowly blinking, tears streaming down her cheeks and falling to the ground.
This isn't the normal Eleanor. Could it be... poisoning?!
She trembled with fear and grabbed her lover's hand to help her steady herself.
"Belley, what have you done?!" Andra helped Eleanor up and immediately slammed his fist on the table.
The instruments and singing stopped abruptly, and the nobles all hid in the shadows, not daring to make a sound.
The Norlana nobles who had come with Eleanor stood up one by one, some even placing their hands on their weapons.
King Belle, sitting in the front row, was sweating profusely, but his voice remained steady.
"What happened? I swear, we absolutely did not make any impolite arrangements."
She stood up in the darkness, and this time the oil lamp did not illuminate the king's figure.
Charlotte pondered in silence for a while, then suddenly realized something.
She said helplessly, "The incense we use has a certain...entertainment effect. Perhaps Princess Norlana is more sensitive to this kind of fragrance. Please rest assured, this incense has no harmful effects on the body; at most, it will help people sleep better at night."
Andra frowned and had Coral help Eleanor to the side to take good care of her.
The scholar acting as a doctor in the diplomatic corps nodded to them, meaning that Her Highness seemed to be fine and was really just asleep.
Eleanor seemed to be having a sad dream; her eyelashes trembled as tears streamed down her face. But her breathing was steady, and her complexion was still rosy, so she certainly didn't seem to be poisoned.
In the half-minute of their standoff, the guards had already seized the opportunity to crowd around King Bale, even raising their shields.
Charlotte breathed a sigh of relief. She regained her composure and opened her arms warmly, saying, "I usually like to fall asleep to its scent. Why don't you distinguished guests who have come from afar go back to your rooms and rest for a while?"
After saying this, King Belai arranged for his courtiers to lead the Nolana nobles to the largest and most comfortable side hall for the night.
Andra wanted to turn around and leave, to take Eleanor away from here first.
But then she thought: if Eleanor is unwell because of this spice, the healers on King Baelai's side are definitely the most experienced and it would be easier to treat her.
Moreover... she coldly swept her gaze across everyone present, memorizing Charlotte's face.
If Eleanor were to suffer any mishap, assassination within the palace would be the fastest method.
Six years have passed, and Andra has gained a deeper understanding of his own strength.
A few years ago, if she encountered a powerful enemy who wanted to kill her, she would have to fight to the death. But now, she only needs to worry about one thing: where to run away quickly after killing someone.
Andra concealed the violence in his eyes and nodded: "Then I'll trouble you to make the arrangements as soon as possible."
......
Eleanor floated in a thick dream, a faint fragrance wafting to her nose, and in her hazy vision, she imagined a scarlet river.
When the image of the blood river appeared in his mind, all illusions vanished.
Hmm...
She bit her lip and tried to open her eyes, and immediately a pair of hands reached out and gently grasped her fingertips.
"Eleanor, how are you feeling?"
Andra's voice was a little hoarse as he slowly rubbed his cheek against her forehead.
Eleanor didn't speak; in the darkness, only their quiet breathing filled the air.
It took her a while to pull herself out of the romantic drama and fragmented memories, and she whispered, "Thank goodness... thank goodness it was all fake."
I wish it were fake.
She seemed to hear her cowardly self whispering in her ear.
"Only the life one is living right now is real, so Andra hasn't done anything yet. If you kill her, it's indiscriminate killing of innocent people."
Yes... I guess so.
Eleanor moved her fingers, echoing the voice in her mind.
I'm prepared to pay the price.
Even if she regrets it so much that she can't sleep every night in the future—and can only die from exhaustion—she will never let Andra go.
"Yes, they're all fake."
The lovers lit the candles to check Eleanor's complexion, and only after confirming that she was alright did they blow them out with a whoosh.
It was probably quite late, yet the young man was still wearing the formal attire he had just worn, not even taking off the decorative leather armor.
Andra kissed her forehead, his lips brushing gently against her ear as he softened his voice.
"You're cuter than Lilia and Evelyn."
Eleanor paused for a moment, then chuckled and bumped her forehead with hers. "You..."
Andra wasn't talking about the two actresses, but the goddess of love from the legends, and a peerless beauty with a status equal to Helen—capable of attracting the amnesiac god of war. What makes her comparable to them?
But Andra's expression was very serious.
She said in a serious tone, "I'm much luckier than the God of War. You're just cuter than them~ Sigh, my baby would be even cuter if he relied on me a little more."
She wrapped her strong arms around Eleanor, pulling her firmly into her embrace.
Andra gently shook his arm like she was coaxing a child and said softly, "You've had such a tough time these past few years. Take some rest and don't rush things."
She attributed part of her lover's fainting to King Bale's indiscriminate use of drug powders and aromatherapy, which was like a psychotic disorder, and part of it to Eleanor's constantly tense nerves.
Nervous and impatient.
She saw the exact same emotions in her lover.
She can endure pressure endlessly and enjoy it, but she doesn't want Eleanor to develop the same "interest"—she's too prone to internal conflict.
Andra pressed his ear against Eleanor's neck and gently rubbed against her earlobe.
"Is there anything that's bothering you?"
"No."
"Didn't you like today's performance?"
"...well enough."
Hearing his lover's dejected tone, Andra seemed to grab a loose thread from the middle of the ball of yarn.
She straightened up and said seriously, "Don't be afraid. The tragedies in the play are all fabricated to attract the audience. We two wouldn't do that!"
"......"
Her lover's adorable, dazed look made her want to hug him tightly, and she whispered in his ear, "Don't worry, whether it's ten or twenty years, I will always love you. My sword is for protecting you, I will never hurt you... not even scare you."
Eleanor was speechless.
Seeing that she still didn't speak, Andra thought that the second play had hurt her lover's fragile heart.
She thought for a moment and said casually, "We won't be like Ares and Evelyn, one chasing and the other complaining. We're very much in sync."
"Andra".
Eleanor reached out in the darkness and gently put her arm around her shoulder.
Strands of her lover's long hair clung to her body, making her tongue tingle.
What do you most want to do? What do you think... I most want to do?
Eleanor sat on Andra's lap like a water sprite, quietly watching her with only her eyes.
You are a leader charging into battle, a king who commands respect from all sides, and a ruthless politician.
You are also a terrible and extremely selfish mother to your children.
...You are still the lover I couldn't be faithful to.
Tell me, when will we finally find common ground, and where should we go from here?
Glug.
Andra could hear himself swallowing.
Eleanor's legs were pressed between hers, and most of her body slumped limply into her arms.
A rapid heartbeat, a warm body temperature, and... that sigh-like question.
What do you most want to do? What do you think I most want to do?
Two questions pulled Andra back from her swaying thoughts.
She instinctively sensed that this situation required serious attention and quickly began to think.
Eleanor's experiences over the past six years played out in her mind like a slideshow.
She quickly extracted the key point of "care".
Eleanor cared so much for the common people that it sometimes made Andra jealous—jealous that her lover was showering his precious affection on strangers.
She astutely realized that her lover loved not just "commoners" in a broad sense, but humanity itself.
Eleanor did not uphold her foundation from the perspective of a ruler, but rather showed extraordinary tolerance towards nobles, commoners, slaves... all those she considered to have human identity.
Why? What's the point of doing this?
Eighteen-year-old Andra didn't understand the question yet, but that didn't stop her from giving what she thought was a better answer.
She longed to bury her head in her lover's soft embrace, but her arm movements pulled Eleanor even tighter into her arms, as if afraid of a cat about to slip away.
"I... most want to realize our dream."
Andra wanted to give a vague answer.
But she sensed her lover's ambivalent emotions in the darkness, and then said, "We can continue to build Enlin, and then expand outwards, bringing more people progress and civilization."
unified.
Her answer was exactly the same as in her previous life.
Eleanor's eyes flickered with emotions that Andra couldn't understand.
Is your rapid "enlightenment" in this life due to the faster development of Enlin, or because you have always held this goal?
Andra answered in a low voice, as did Eleanor.
She asked in a low voice, only the two of them could hear, "Then what would be the king of such a country...?"
"Of course it would be the best."
Andra said enthusiastically, "You love them, and I can protect them. There will always be people who don't understand your vision, but I can help them understand it."
Eleanor blinked, almost bursting out laughing.
Look, how much you resemble your first incarnation.
This time, Andra has taken the same path that he took in the past.
It is probably because of the miraculous decisions she made over the past six years that Andra gained confidence more quickly and entrusted her trust in "her Angel" earlier.
Andra's answer to the open-ended question, "Who will be the king of that country...?" wasn't even a name.
Because she assumes there's only one answer to "Who will be king?", she only needs to answer "What will happen to the king?"
I will, I can, I can—the implication being: I will choose.
Eleanor had Andra's complete trust.
She can say with certainty that if she had been determined to kill Andra in her first life, the difficulty would have been that Andra himself was hard to kill, not that she couldn't find an opportunity to do so.
Opportunities abound, weaknesses are everywhere, all that's missing is a lethal poison or an assassin capable of killing Andra in a surprise attack.
But this absolute trust, enough to kill Andra, was not enough to make Andra retreat to the background, let alone give up her dream of conquering the world.
In a moment of despair, she traced her lover's young and handsome features with her hand, feeling the surging vitality beneath his skin.
The voice in his head no longer echoed, because Andra had given the same answer as in his previous life, without any change.
She hasn't changed.
That was her nature, harder than diamonds.
Tears fell drop by drop, and Andra could see her lover's trembling eyelashes clearly in the darkness.
She quickly pulled Eleanor back into her arms, gently patting her lover's back as if comforting a sobbing child.
"Are you in a bad mood?" The young man's voice trembled slightly.
"Hmm," the girl replied listlessly.
Andra's heart also rose and fell with a slight pain.
She could sense Eleanor's sadness, but it seemed to have nothing to do with the play or the incense.
Was it because of her answer just now? But why?
Andra couldn't understand the logic behind this, but she quickly made up her mind.
She couldn't let Eleanor continue to grieve; crying like this would harm her health.
Eleanor heard a gasp in the darkness.
Andra swiftly grabbed the cloak from the chair and draped it over her lover. She jingled as she hung the longsword back at her waist, then reached out her right hand to embrace Eleanor's waist, and with her other hand, she lifted the girl's legs and stood up abruptly.
"Wait, where are you going?"
Eleanor's sobs stopped abruptly, and she clutched her cloak, her eyes wide like those of an alert kitten.
Andra wanted to laugh but quickly bit her lip. She strode to the window, raised her hand, and pushed it open with a click. A cool sea breeze blew into the room, carrying the scent of summer.
Splash—
The sounds of wind, water, and swaying tree shadows... look up and you'll see a whole expanse of dazzling stars.
The moon today gently veils itself in white, and the stars twinkle, illuminating constellations of various shapes and sizes.
Andra sat sideways on the windowsill, lifting her lover in her arms toward the sky, letting the bright starlight and moonlight wash away her sorrow.
Eleanor's breathing did indeed become lighter.
She gazed at the sky under Andra's tender gaze, her lips trembling slightly.
rustling... After a while, Andra moved, and the girl in her arms also slumped over.
"Ah!" Eleanor was startled, but quickly realized that she was firmly held in his arms, with only her feet being thrown into the air without weight.
Whoosh—
Andra leaped up, grabbed the thick branch with his left hand, and jumped to the top of the tree.
This startled Eleanor, who quickly whispered a warning: "Be careful not to break your leg! The guards will spot us if we do this..."
"Haha, it's nothing!"
Andra laughed heartily, hugged the princess tightly in her arms, and leaped away, leaving all her trivial troubles behind.
A soft, hazy light shone on them, outlining their beautiful silhouettes.
Remember to hold on tight!
Andra carried Eleanor through the woods, occasionally lowering one hand, which startled the girl in her arms, who clung tightly to Andra's shoulders with both hands.
She moved up and down like a swallow, and landed on the beach with the agility of a cheetah.
Rustling, splashing.
Her feet sank into the soft sand, the sound of the waves mingling with the lapping of the waves.
The young man quickened his pace and laughed heartily under the moonlight.
"Let's go, I'll take you to see the sea."
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