Chapter 13: Ch. 13 My Greed Was Endless (2)
After preparing for bed with the help of her maid, Elena stood in front of her bedroom with the mug of cocoa in her hands. She sensed that someone was inside and guessed their identity. She walked into the room innocently when suddenly someone jumped out with a yell.
"Ha!"
Elena turned her head and saw Mirabelle making a scary face. Her sister had probably been waiting there for a while and Elena belatedly wondered if she should act surprised, but then she realized the timing was off. Elena placed the cocoa on a table.
"What are you doing here? I told not to enter my room without permission."
"Oh, what's the big deal? …It's just one time."
Mirabelle's voice softened a mumble, and Elena's mouth couldn't help but twitch. Mirabelle tossed a pillow at Elena.
"I was waiting to sleep with my sister today."
"Why do you want to sleep with me all of a sudden? You're not a child anymore."
"But…didn't what Father said hurt you?"
Mirabelle said with concern in her voice, but Elena shook her head and simply stroked her sister's hair.
"Not at all."
"I think Father is the strictest on you sometimes. He overlooks Derek or me even when I complain all the time."
"There was nothing wrong with what Father did."
"It was wrong! I hate it when Father says things like that."
Mirabelle's anger made Elena's disappointment melt away like snow. She had no idea if Mirabelle knew that Elena had no hatred towards their father, who had always supported her, even in her past life when she wished for her father to treat her more kindly. She wished her father shared the same warmth he had for her sister, and had the same expectations he had for her brother.
Despite the the fact the time had turned backwards, the feeling remained unchanged. Elena could feel it again. She really had returned to the past. As a cold-blooded female knight, she had forgotten what it was like to be the daughter of count. It was said that location makes people, and while she had lived another life for about twenty years, as the days went by she was slowly assimilating to the feelings of her current present. She didn't imagine that she would feel disappointment seeing her father alive and well…
But at this moment, all her remorse had melted away. The cocoa she received and Mirabelle's warm words made everything all right. Once again she thanked God for having her family around her.
Elena climbed into bed first and patted the place beside her.
"Come here, let's go to sleep."
Mirabelle's face lit up and she grabbed her pillow and jumped into bed. It was just as sweet a suggestion to Elena as it was to Mirabelle, who hadn't shared a bed with her sister for a long time. Elena hadn't been able to sleep properly ever since returning to the past, worrying that if she opened her eyes it would all turn out to be a dream. She whispered to her sister softly, feeling the weight and warmth of Mirabelle filling the space next to her.
"Mirabelle."
"Mm-hmm."
Mirabelle's voice was already thick with drowsiness. Elena wrapped her arms around her sister and slowly closed her eyes.
"Thank you for being by my side, my sister."
"What are you talking about?"
"Don't go anywhere now. I…I was so lonely."
"Hehe, I'm going to leave without my sister."
As she listened Mirabelle's teasing voice, Elena was able to indulge in a sense of comfort she had not felt for a very long time. For years she had raised her sword in pursuit of revenge, and even when she had returned the past she couldn't fully leave the instinct behind. She soon fell into a deep sleep. As far as Elena remembered, it was the sweetest sleep in the world.
*
*
*
"One, two…forty-nine, fifty."
She was doing a muscular workout, holding on to a solid horizontal bar that connected bedposts and lifting her body weight with only her arms. It was a early morning, not yet sunrise, but after arriving at Blaise Castle she trained every single day. She may have saved Carlisle this time, but there was no way of knowing the future afterwards. There was so much she had to prepare in order to bring down Paveluc. Among them, sword fighting should be the most basic skill. In her previous life, she had focused on escaping after her family was destroyed and didn't learn it right away. If corrected, the time she spent now she could be used in reaching a higher level than she did in the past. Elena was determined to reach that goal.
"Ha."
She finally released the horizontal bar with both hands, breathing hard. When she landed on the floor she did not rest and immediately went outside. Luckily, the Blaise's were a family of had a lot of space for physical training. Elena had chosen running as the most effective training method that no one would feel suspicious about.
Tadag, tadag.
There was the constant sound of footsteps as the family knights marched around the training ground. Some of them glanced strangely at her when she had ran this for three mornings straight, but eventually they become familiar with her routine. She avoided most of them by working out very early in the day.
Elena was running and breathing steadily when a long shadow came up to her. Elena glanced sideways at the person approaching. It was a handsome man with a tall, healthy body and a stoic expression, running like a perfect specimen of a knight. It was her brother Derek.
Elena greeted him with a furtive nod but didn't stop until she reached her the end of her lap. Derek, who had been running beside her, stopped and heaved in huge breathes next to her.
"What caused you to suddenly start exercising?"
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