Saving The Abandoned Empress

168 “Eleanora’s Trauma”

‘Noo!!’

‘If they follows Operation Moonlight tactic, then-‘

“But that will only be a disguise,”

“!!!”

Eleanora was surprised, where Jennifer sighed in relief; as the emperor listened to them.

“Your highness... What do you mean?”

The dumbfounded officials asked as they couldn’t understand the emperor’s plan.

“Our group of soldiers will be divided into three and march towards the central as the Rua’s want.

But in actual, they will hide standby near the central base.”

.....

“They wants us to divide our soldiers so that when they attack Demacia from behind, Dame Dalton wouldn’t be able to help us.

Neither we could sent help in need.

This way, either Demacia or the central base; one of them would suffer heavy consequences.”

“So, when the Rua’s troops attack, the hidden troops could be used as an emergency back up for us.”

The emperor explained but keep some words hidden as it wouldn’t be good if someone exposes their plan.

Their is another reason as to why Rua would do that...

“Follow my orders, This time, Dame Dalton will command the central troops and i will participate to lead the east troops in Demacia,”

“!!!”

“Your Majesty, What are you saying?!”

“What if they doesn’t target Demacia at all?!”

“What if they target the Central?!”

Everyone was shocked as well Eleanora because of the sudden change of leadership.

The Central army’s are Elite imperial troops, where the east army’s are mixed.

Even the west troops are the first squadron imperial troops trained by the Duke of Dalton, They are also Elite troops.

Only the east troops were mixed troops of the second and third squadron imperial troops, which is not completely elite.

Many of them can’t use magic and the reason Eleanora took over them is because of her powers.

She alone is enough to face thousand army’s, not to mention the assist of Cedrick.

As Duke Richardo doesn’t have that high magic powers like Eleanora, he had the Elite troops to not fall behind.

This was how the power of each war army team was balanced.

So, if the central army moves towards east as a backup and Eleanora leads them;

Even if the Rua troops attack the central, there will be not much damage.

Where, if they attack Demacia and the backup reaches them early which will be lead by the emperor;

There will be not much damage either.

But the problem is, if the emperor leads the east’s mixed army, which is not much experienced or professional like the first squadron knights and gets injured somehow...

That would be bad.

“Your Majesty, I can handle-”

“That’s an order, Dame Dalton.”

“...”

Eleanora wanted to convince Cathain but he was firm in his decision.

‘Don’t you want to play stranger with me? Then i will play with you!’

Cathain’s superior aura instantly made her submit and froze on the spot she was standing.

Eleanora felt like choking as it was getting harder for her to breath because of his superiority.

As she didn’t took her knight oath to swore her loyalty or married him to become his partner, so that she won’t be affected much by his aura.

Seeing her like that, Cathain let out a heavy breath as he controlled his aura a little to not make it hard for her.

‘I can’t even bear to punish you...’

He thought as he opened his mouth to speak again.

“If our troops lose, i will take responsibility,”

“Am not gambling with our soldiers life’s but i agree with Dame Dalton, Lady and... Colonel Raven.”

“This tactic was suspicious from the very beginning.”

Cathain spoke as he stood up from his seat, preparing to end the meeting.

“Generals,”

“Yes, Your highness...”

“Prepare yourselves, this time we will show them the difference of a Kingdom and an Empire!”

“YES, YOUR MAJESTY!!”

The officials also stood up to follow the emperor out, as they kept discussing about the attack plan.

Where Eleanora felt her legs go weak and dropped on her seat to sit down, as the heavy aura pressure from the emperor was finally gone.

‘I need to swear the knight oath quickly...’

Eleanora thought but then she noticed Jennifer and Cedrick going out, who wanted to talk with her but was hesitating.

“Lady Raven!”

Jennifer turned back quickly as soon as she heard Eleanora’s call with enthusiasm.

“Yes, Your Highness?”

Eleanora stood up from her seat and walked towards Jennifer and Cedrick.

“Thank you very much for helping me,”

She immediately bow down a little to express her gratitude, which shocked them.

“E- Dame Dalton, You don’t have to do this...”

Cedrick spoke in a low tone as he changed the way he used to call her.

‘It’s better to keep distance...’

“Yes, Dame Dalton. Brother is right. You don’t have to do this, we just did what we thought was right...”

Jennifer spoke guiltily, after making everything wrong; she is trying to make everything right now.

“You even helped me to convince the emperor to upgrade the environment of the hospital, Duke Dalton sent medical supply...

Think about it like just a little thing to pay you back.”

Jennifer spoke as she helped Eleanora to straighten her back as she smiled at them.

“If you ever need something, don’t hesitate to tell me. I will try my best to help you...”

Eleanora spoke and then lead the Raven siblings out of the meeting room together.

And turned her face a little as she narrowed her blue eyes to see a black figure disappearing from behind.

…

In the midnight~

After finishing her meeting with the central troops for tomorrow’s battle, Eleanora stood beside her window to enjoy the night scenery.

Her long silver hair was swaying because of the cold breeze as she leaned on the window side.

She took the hookah pipe into her mouth as she exhaled the smoke.

‘Why am i feeling so sad now?’

Eleanora thought as her cold body started to hit up because of the special tobacco ingredients in the hookah.

.....

As her body is sensitive to cold and the winter is approching, she bought this with her before coming here.

So that she doesn’t fall sick during the winter again because of the cold atmosphere.

Eleanora herself couldn’t understand why her behaviour was becoming like this.

Sometimes she would feel happy.

Where sometimes, she would feel like crying or angry for no reason.

‘Am i being poisoned?’

Eleanora thought and turned her head at the sound of her bedroom door opening.

A tall figure entered her bedroom and closed the door silently.

In the dark room, his red eyes glowed like some wild beast in the forest; approching her slowly.

“As far as i know, Your Majesty has an allergy reaction with the smell of smoking...”

Eleanora spoke and Cathain paused on his steps.

Her lips curved up into a smrik as she saw his action and kept smoking to keep him away.

“You seem to know me too well, My empress...”

“...”

Cathain spoke as he stood at a distance from her, where his expression couldn’t be seen because of the darkness.

Eleanora didn’t replied as she turned a little so that the smoke she is exhaling could be out from the window, not inside of the room.

“Are you still angry with me?”

Cathain asked as he recalled how he pressured her to submit and obey his order.

“Why would i be angry, Your Majesty?”

Eleanora asked back.

“You know why i don’t want you to lead the east troops and be in Demacia for tomorrow’s battle.”

“I am a swordmaster, Your Majesty. I was born to fight not to hide like some coward because i can be in danger.”

“I WOULDN’T BE HERE, FIGHTING ALL DAY, IF I WAS AFRAID OF DYING, YOUR MAJESTY!!”

“BUT I AM AFRAID!! I AM AFRAID THAT YOU MIGHT GET HURT, BE IN DANGER!!”

Cathain yelled at her as he approached her, not caring about the discomfort he was having because of the smoking smell.

Eleanora narrowed her blue eyes as she glared at him fiercely.

‘How will he react if he ever gets to know that he is the same person who killed me in my last life?’

“His target is you, from the very beginning. He is aiming for you, Elea...nora”

“So, what?”

Eleanora asked as she took a step towards Cathain and faced him.

“Nothing will change with my death... You all will mourn for a day, a weak, a month, a year... Then you all will return to your normal life.

You will have to marry and give birth to a heir, my father has to train another heir to succeed the duchy...

The third squadron will get another commander.

Maybe i will stay alive in some people’s heart, my name will be written down in history...

But nothing will stop or change because of my death-”

“Are you done with belittling your life and my feelings for you?”

Eleanora paused on her words a little because of Cathain’s dark expression.

“Do you think that four years ago i took the arrow for you... To hear this nonsense from you?”

“Y-You...”

Eleanora was surprised as she thought he recalled the past seven years.

“No, I don’t remember the past yet.

But i was curious about the mark on my chest, which has appeared after i was shot by an arrow and you healed me...”

Cathain kept taking steps towards her and Eleanora took steps backward as she started to feeling afraid of him again.

The hookah pipe fall from her hands as she looked at the person infront of her with fearful eyes.

Which made Cathain more angry.

He started to speak out loudly and Eleanora’s back hit the wall.

“As the crown prince, My safety mattered the most- this is what i was taught during my first study lessons.

But still i threw my life away to save you... Because even back then, i didn’t wanted to see you getting hurt.

If what you said is true then i wouldn’t push you aside at that time as i could just get another fiancee to give birth to an heir!!!

IF WHAT YOU SAID IS TRUE, THEN I WOULD JUST MARRY YOU AGAINST YOUR WISH!!

WOULDN’T THINK ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS AT ALL, OR LET YOU FIGHT LIKE THIS!

I WOULD JUST DRAG YOU TO THE BED AND LOCK YOU UP;

SO THAT NO ONE CAN SEE YOU EXCEPT ME!!”

Cathain yelled as he punched the wall in anger and Eleanora closed her eyes in fear as she raised her hands to protect herself.

“I-I didn’t... I d-didn’t...”

“B-Believe me...”

Eleanora murmured as subconsciously, she recalled the night from her past life.

When the emperor had slapped her because of the fight between her and Jennifer.

Cathain felt pain as he saw her weird reaction and recalled Dion’s words after the morning meeting.

‘Your Majesty, The Dame seems like she is suffering from some kind of mental trauma.

She is happy in one second, where she looks depressed in the next second.

You should be patient and try to find out what’s bothering her.

Also, control yourself around her…

Don’t pressure her to open up.’

Cathain let out a heavy breath to calm himself down and bent down to put his forehead against hers, as he cupped her small face with his hands.

Eleanora flinched because of his touch as her body started to shiver.

Tears kept pouring out from her closed eyes as her lips kept on trembling.

Cathain closed his red eyes as he asked in a low painful voice.

“Tell me... My empress...

Tell me, What’s tormenting you like this?”