Chapter 162 - 161: Caelestis’ Strange Behaviour!

The flowers showed up the next morning, which was, in itself, deeply suspicious.

Eleanore stared at the bouquet sitting on her desk when she walked into the study. White peonies, arranged with more care than someone like Caelestis should logically know how to put into anything that wasn’t a business proposal. There was no card. There didn’t need to be. She already knew.

She found him in the hallway, walking back to his study along with Victor. When Victor saw her, her greeted her before leaving for the study himself, alone.

"What," she said, arms crossed, "was that."

"What was what?"

"The peonies. On my desk."

"Ah." Caelestis didn’t even have the decency to look sheepish. If anything, he looked faintly pleased with himself. "You noticed."

"They’re the size of a small shrub, Caelestis. Of course I noticed."

"I thought they’d brighten your study."

"My study is beautiful enough."

"Your study," he said, walking in the distance between them, "has a desk, a fine chair and is covered by books all day long. It needed help."

She narrowed her eyes at him, searching for the usual angry face, sarcasm, an insult, anything. She didn’t find one. That, more than anything, put her on edge.

It didn’t stop there. Over the next several days, small things kept appearing, her favorite tea placed exactly the way she liked it, sitting on her desk before she’d even walked in. A rare edition of some history book she’d mentioned once, months ago, in passing, that she was fairly sure she hadn’t spoken about since.

By Thursday, she’d had enough of pretending not to notice.

"Alright," she said, cornering him in his studt after a meeting that had run twenty minutes too long. "What is going on with you?"

Caelestis looked up from his desk, feigning innocence so badly it was almost impressive. "What do you mean?"

"The flowers. The tea. The book. You’ve been—" she gestured vaguely at him, searching for the word, "—nice. Consistently. For a week. It’s unsettling."

"I’m allowed to be nice."

"You’re allowed to do a lot of things. Nice has never been one of the ones you actually chose."

He set his pen down, leaning back in his chair, and for a moment the teasing edge dropped from his expression, replaced by something quieter, more deliberate. "I told Victor I wanted to change," he said. "I meant it. This is me trying."

Eleanore blinked, caught off guard by the honesty of it. Whatever she’d expected, a joke, a deflection, some clever excuse, it wasn’t that. "Oh," she said, and then, because she didn’t quite know what to do with sincerity from him, added, "Well. It’s very disorienting."

"Good disorienting, or bad?"

"Not sure.."

That earned a small laugh from him, real this time, not the practiced charm he usually wore like armor. He studied her for a moment, something shifting behind his eyes, and then, before she could brace herself for it, he asked, "Have dinner with me. Not as husband and wife or as rivals. Just dinner. A date."

The word landed heavier than she expected it to. She felt her spine straighten on instinct, the old, familiar wall sliding back into place before she’d even consciously decided to put it there.

"No," she said.

He didn’t flinch, but something in his expression stilled. "No?"

"No," she repeated, softer this time, though no less firm. "Caelestis, I appreciate the — whatever this is. The effort. I do. But I’m not going to pretend a bouquet and a week of good behavior undoes years of you being insufferable."

"I’m not asking you to forget it. I’m asking for dinner."

"It’s the same thing wrapped in nicer paper." She crossed her arms, half to keep herself steady, half because it gave her something to do with her hands. "I have enough going on right now. Adena’s about to move back in, work is a mess, and I just put my brother on a train for a month. I don’t have room for whatever this is supposed to be."

"That’s not a no because of me," Caelestis said slowly, watching her with the kind of focus that made her want to look away. "That’s a no because of timing."

"Does it matter which one it is?"

"It matters to me."

She hesitated, caught off guard again by how steady he sounded, how little of his usual deflecting humor was left in his voice. For a moment neither of them said anything, the silence stretching just long enough to feel uncomfortable.

"Ask me again later," she said finally, quieter than she meant to. "When things aren’t quite so — loud."

Something in his shoulders eased, like he’d been braced for a harder rejection than the one he got. "Later," he agreed. "I can work with later."

"Don’t get used to it."

"Wouldn’t dream of it." But the small, satisfied smile on his face said otherwise, and she found she didn’t have it in her to argue with that one.

|| Mission 1, Phase 1: Change Caelestis Destiny. Has been successfully completed.

Phase 2: The Rebels

The Kingdom of Seraphine has been plagued by this organisation called Rebel. They are after the crown and want to kill the royal family, so that they can attain a complete dictatorship. These rebel groups also involve some of the nobles of the empire, who harbour hatred against the royal family of Seraphine.

In their madness for the throne, many innocents die, including you. Your death triggers Caelestis’ fate falling into darkness again and Hael turning against his dear friend again.

Chapter 1: The Woman Named Barbra

Barbra was known to be a very gentle and kind woman of the kingdom. She was always quiet and had no enemy. Until she fell for the wrong person and tried to win him over only to be trampled on completely by the queen of the social circle, Eleanore Sinclair (You)

Quest 1: Death Case Of Lady Barbra Fein

Task 1: Collect information on the relationship between Eleanore Sinclair (you) and Lady Barbra Fein

Do you accept the task?

Yes/No

Note: Reward: + 100,000 reputation

Penalty: -200,000 coins

Total Reputation: -100,000

Total Coins: +90,100||