Chapter 157 - 156: The Truth Doesn’t Stay Hidden For Long

Chapter 157: Chapter 156: The Truth Doesn’t Stay Hidden For Long

Eleanore thinks for a while. Is she so weak that she needs her brother’s and sister-in-law’s support to handle this matter?

No! She is not weak, and she can definitely handle Caelestis. There is absolutely no need to leave this mansion, over something so trivial and ordinary accusations that Caelestis is used to put on her.

"Brother, Stella." She turns to them and then her gaze travels to Caelestis. "I can handle this. It’s nothing." She closes her eyes in disappointment, that she was feeling towards Caelestis.

"But Elle—" Hael tries to reason with her.

"Brother let’s talk in the living room. Just you, Stella and me. How about that?" She asks and Hael simply smiles as he pats on her head.

"Got it. Come along, my dear little sister." He holds out his hand which Eleanore grabs and they exit the room, leaving Caelestis behind.

Like usual, with no improvement from how many times he has blamed Eleanore. The guilt of it does form in his empty heart, but he never learns from his mistakes, instead he loves to repeat them.

If he could, he would love to get out of this cycle, but it never ends, it only continues to flow without a stop. He can’t even find the root cause behind his problem, or should we call it a bad habit?

"Elle, how have you been?" Stella asks, as she takes a seat on the sofa.

Eleanore ordered Marina to bring some snacks and tea. She settles down opposite her brother and sister-in-law. Hael noticed the distance that had grown between them and swallowed in all his words, he had prepared to tell her when he met her again.

"I’m fine. Thank you for asking." She smiles. "How about you?"

"Never been better."

A silence plagues over them after that, none of them being able to strike a conversation with each other.

Minutes later, Eleanore notices the stress lines on her brother’s foreheads, so she takes the initiative to eliminate this silent environment surrounding them.

"Don’t worry. He isn’t always like that." She began.

"In fact, he is actually very kind." She lies.

"He gives me personal space." by not being around for three whole months. They didn’t have a single conversation at that time.

"He doesn’t bother me." by ignoring her.

"And he doesn’t try to control me." by not assigning her the duties of the duchess, since he had forgotten and Lilith fought to have them finally be passed on to Eleanore. Since, she was too tired to carry it on, with her head maid duties already hovering over her.

"He just has one flaw. He is too judgy and blames others easily."

"No, Elle." Stella speaks up. "He only blames you, no matter what the situation is." She argues.

Eleanore sighs, as she thinks about it and how to deal with this. "People change, Stella. With time they do."

"Do you love him that much?" Hael asks, finally filling the room with his hoarse voice.

Eleanore gulps as that question. Does she? She wasn’t sure. Her situation was somewhat similar to when she was to marry him. She felt nothing then or now. But then what about that kiss they shared? Was that just passion, that happened in the heat of the moment or something else?

"I do." She lied through her teeth and Hael recognised it.

He leans back. "You do not love him, maybe you are just obsessed with him. But love? I cannot smell it even from this close."

"Hael?" Stella is surprised by the words he was uttering.

"Just like once, Caelestis was obsessed with my wife, you are with him. That’s all."

"Enough!" Stella tries to stop him before he ruins everything.

He looked at his sister, whose eyes had widened in disbelief. "Elle. Believe me. I know what falling in love means. When you had a crush on him, I couldn’t understand love. So, I thought what you had was love."

He grabs Stella’s hand and looks at her warmly. "However, now that I have felt love and know what it is. I can see that what you two have is not love."

Stella turns her gaze to Eleanore fearing she might lash out on Hael for the words he had thrown her way but instead catches her smiling.

"I am happy for you. Truly." Her eyes melts in happiness. "You two really do form a great couple. However, I am now stuck in the flaws of my decision. There is no way out."

"Who says that?" Hael jolts out of his seat. "There is always a way out of everything."

"Brother—"

"Just divorce that asshole and come back home." He suggests.

Eleanore shook her head. "I can’t." She speaks. "I can’t leave this mansion."

"Why?"

"Because then I would be a failure in this marriage. The world would make fun of the Sinclair Family. I do not wish to put any stain on our family."

"I don’t care!" He shouts.

"But I do." Eleanore retaliates.

"I agree with Eleanore." Stella stands by her side.

Hael turns to her in horror. "What are you doing?" He asks in a gritting voice.

"The Grand duke isn’t a very fine man, but a woman should never give up on their marriage so easily. If Eleanore has the ability to change him, then we should at least let her try." She speaks her mind and her ideologies.

"What the hell are you saying? Eleanore can never live with that man, for there is no way he could ever change."

Just then, Marina enters the room with snacks and tea and everyone shuts up. She senses the tension and thus quickly does the setting and leaves.

"Hael, I am not saying that she should keep trying all her life. But at least one year. She should give that much time to this marriage at the very least." She argues, immediately.

"Why are you saying such nonsensical things? What’s wrong with you?"

Stella gets up. "If I had married you, who is just as rude as the grand duke. I would have still given our marriage some time and thought. Some efforts, anything that could save our marriage."

"It’s easier said than done." He shouts. "Just stay out of this, you are not even her sister. Don’t come between us siblings."

Stella feels a pang of slap on her face, with those words. Her heart shivered in pain when she was reminded that she is not the true Sinclair.

"Brother, what are you saying?" Eleanore stands up.

"I am her friend and her sister-in-law. You might not consider me a part of the Sinclair family but I do. I have every right to speak my mind here, just as much as you do." This was their first fight ever since they got married and first time ever Stella had lost her cool.

"I stand by Eleanore’s decision; you can do the same or just stay out of it. For you don’t have the right to interfere in her marriage. She will do whatever she wants. Is that clear?"

Hael clenches his jaw on that and storms out of the living room.

Stella takes a deep breath and turns to Eleanore with a smile. She gently places her hand on her shoulder and says, "Don’t worry."

Eleanore looks at her, with concerned eyes. "Will everything be fine?" She felt guilty that the two loving couples had a fight because of her.

Stella laughs at that. "Of course. I will take care of him and will also convince him to give this marriage at least a year."

"Thank you."

Then her smile blends into something evil, as if she wants something in return. Eleanore quickly catches what she is looking for and immediately backs out.

"No way." She speaks.

"Come on, you can at least give me an explanation."

"Absolutely not!"

"Okay." She turns away and folds her hands around her chest. "Then even I will not convince your brother. You know only I can pull this off right?" She teases her.

"Stella!" Eleanore sighs. "Fine. I will tell you but you must absolutely not tell anyone at all."

"Fine." She sits back down and in response Eleanore, grabs a seat next to her.

She takes a deep breath as she thinks about what to tell and what not to. "He was going to interrupt the marriage. He came to me the night before your marriage and blackmailed me that if I were to not marry him, which would become a medium to jealous you. He would kill brother and marry you forcibly."

Stella glares at Eleanore. "You believed him? Don’t you know how strong your brother is?"

"I didn’t at first, but his eyes showed utter madness. I couldn’t get that guilt in my head. Instead marrying him felt like a better option."

"He is trash!" She holds Eleanore’s hand tightly. "Don’t worry Eleanore, I am always with you. Just be careful here. This is more like a madman’s house than the grand dukes."

"Yes, I will."

Stella gets up. "I will convince your brother, he is ready to forget everything and go back to how things were. We had initially come here to talk about that but then one thing led to another."

"I understand." Eleanore sighs.

"Well, that’s great. It’s good to know you didn’t try to trap your brother and were just saving her." She smiles. "Take care."

"You too." With that Stella departs in the same carriage, from which the couple arrived.