Chapter 166 - 165: Flora’s Letter that Broke Her

It had barely twenty minutes, when Lilith found Adena in the sitting room, still looking somewhat shell-shocked from the entire exchange.

"I heard there was a bit of a scene at lunch," Lilith said, settling into the seat across from her with the composed, unbothered grace she carried into every room.

"It wasn’t that bad," Adena mumbled, though her expression suggested otherwise.

"Mm." Lilith reached into the small box she’d brought with her and withdrew a familiar object, the duchess’s stamp, cool and heavy, catching the light briefly before she set it down on the table between them. "Madam has decided to hand this over to you for the tea party preparations."

Adena blinked, sitting up straighter. "Wait — really?"

"Indeed. Full authority over the arrangements — guest list, vendors, whatever details you’d like." Lilith’s tone remained light, almost casual, though there was something more deliberate beneath it. "Madam asked me to give it to you. She has no intention of taking part in its organization anymore."

"But Lady Eleanore said the organizing was supposed to stay with her—"

"Madam changed her mind" Lilith said simply, waving off the concern before it could fully form. "Consider this settled. You have the stamp. Use it well."

Adena looked down at the stamp in her hands, a complicated knot of excitement and unease tightening in her chest, pleased at the trust being placed in her.

---

By the time Caelestis worked up the nerve to knock on her door that night, Eleanore had already gone quiet in the particular way that worried him far more than shouting ever could. He found her lying in bed, back turned toward the door, either genuinely asleep or doing an extremely convincing impression of it.

"Eleanore." No response. "I know you’re awake."

Still nothing.

He stood there a moment longer, weight shifting uncertainly, replaying the lunch table in his head — the exact second her expression had shifted from irritation to something closer to betrayal, right after he’d sided against her over something so trivial it barely deserved the word argument. He hadn’t meant to. He’d just wanted, foolishly, to keep the peace, to avoid one more thing turning into a fight in a house that had been full of them lately. Instead he’d managed to hand Adena a win at the exact moment Eleanore needed him not to.

"I’m sorry," he said quietly, to her unmoving back, to the dark room, to no one who was apparently listening. "I didn’t think it through."

She didn’t stir. Whether she was truly asleep or simply choosing not to answer, the silence stretched on regardless, heavy and unbroken, and Caelestis stood there a moment longer before finally retreating to his side of the pillow wall she’d built, feeling, not for the first time, like he’d taken one careful step forward only to trip immediately backward into the exact same mistake he kept swearing he wouldn’t make again.

---

The letter arrived tucked between a stack of business correspondence, easy to miss if not for the familiar, looping handwriting on the front that made Eleanore’s chest lift the moment she spotted it.

Flora.

She hadn’t heard from her in a long time since she got married. Not since Flora had decided to sever this friendship that Eleanore refused to accept and feel anything about. By the time she realised it and found the friendship contract everything had already fallen apart.

The first few lines were exactly what she’d hoped for. Flora’s taunting writing was not something Eleanore was a fan of, it almost made her heart itch at every word she gulped in with great difficulty. Her grasp on the letter tightened as she almost crumbled teh edges. It hurt her every word was like a needle piercing through her heart.

Then she reached the third paragraph, and everything in her went very still.

I saw the article, Flora had written. I have to say, Lady eleanore, I didn’t expect this from you. Poisoning a woman like that, trying to kill her for your obsession. You never change. That day at the Crown prince’s birthday banquet where you said you had gotten over him was all a lie. It was all proven by how you had gotten into this new marriage of your. I could not expect anything good from you.

I hate the fact that I ever considered you my best friend.

Eleanore read it once. Then again, slower, as if rereading it might change the words into something else, something less like an accusation dressed up as concern.

Her hands had started shaking before she fully registered it, the paper trembling faintly between her fingers. It wasn’t just that Flora had seen the article, that alone she could have brushed off, laughed about, explained away in a return letter. It was the certainty in it. The complete, unquestioning belief that whatever the tabloid had printed was simply true, without a shred of doubt spared for the person she’d known for years.

You know me, she thought, something cracking open in her chest, raw and sudden. You’ve known me since before any of this. How do you believe this so easily?

She didn’t remember sliding off the bed. She didn’t remember her knees hitting the floor, or the letter slipping from her fingers to land somewhere beside her, or the first sob tearing loose from somewhere deep in her chest before she could stop it. All she knew was the sudden, overwhelming weight of it, not just Flora’s words, but everything underneath them, weeks of exhaustion and scrutiny and the strange, hollow ache of being seen as something she wasn’t, by someone whose opinion had never stopped mattering.

|| 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||