My Disfigured Duke Husband Helps Me Plot My Revenge
Chapter 37: A Red-Haired Surprise

Chapter 37: A Red-Haired Surprise

For the past two months the Prince had visited her, Leonor didn’t know how to accept his kindness at face value. She was constantly suspicious of an ulterior motive, yet she was met with generosity each time she doubted him.

Deep down, Leonor knew that most of her suspicions were simply because his father, the King, was an evil man to his core. It was hypocritical for her to doubt the Prince because of his father. After all, he could very well do the same thing to her.

At a certain point, she had to relax her paranoia and accept that nothing was predictable. He had never given her a reason to doubt him. Her best chance at life was being away from her father and he had given her that much.

During one of his visits that the Count mistook for interest in his daughter, Leonor went on a walk with Prince Stephano after dinner one evening. He confessed to her that he would need capable people on his side when he was the King of Castille. Although the reasoning was vague, he never went into more detail than that.

The last time Leonor and Prince Stephano spoke to one another, he wished her well at the academy. She had jumped to the conclusion that her time with him was over.

However, as Leonor stepped out of the carriage and was met with a self-assured smirk from the prince, she knew she had bitten off more than she could chew. She accepted his help into the Academy and would pay for it.

"Your Highness," Leonor greeted him. "I shouldn’t be standing above you."

"I’m hardly a prince here," he admitted. "This place was my school when I was a teenager. I’m here to show you around since you’re being here is my idea."

"Should we see what others think?" she asked, trying to ignore the attention they had already begun to receive. "They will undoubtedly treat you differently when they realize who you are."

The Prince led Leonor to the curb and he shook his head.

"You didn’t," he reminded her. "That’s why I find you tolerable."

Leonor gasped.

"It isn’t fair to hang this over my head all the time, Your Highness," Leonor urged, thinking of their first unexpected meeting. "That was an entirely different scenario. And to call me tolerable? As if I’m food you don’t particularly like but have gotten used to."

Her words fell on deaf ears as the Prince led her toward the building that would house her for the foreseeable future. Her father’s coachmen were already bringing her few crates of things into the building, knowing the unit where she would be staying. Of course, her father hadn’t told her specifics. She was meant to figure things out for herself.

"That isn’t accurate," Prince Stephano insisted. "I don’t particularly care for eating."

His slender frame wasn’t because of his metabolism. If he wasn’t in Coeurvalle, he hardly ate at the worry someone was trying to poison him. His father’s paranoias lived on in the Prince’s heart as crippling anxiety. Sometimes he couldn’t even take a bite without immediately throwing it up.

Once he knew Leonor beyond his sword instructor’s love for her, he realized she was someone who didn’t make his anxiety spike. His serious nature took a break when it was just the two of them. All of his friendships had been fleeting, but something about their friendship made it seem more concrete than the ones prior.

"As a noble lady, I wish I were more willing to starve myself," Leonor admitted, but the small smile pulling at her lips indicated she was kidding.

There was a silent understanding that the Count had starved her the first day Prince Stephano showed up to the manor unannounced. He was far more observant than anyone gave him credit for.

Leonor realized the Prince knew where she would live because he hardly paid attention to anyone in the foyer and went directly to a stairwell that went up four stories. The two friends only walked up three floors before stopping and going down a narrow hallway.

Leonor observed everything there being made of a reddish wood. The walls were plastered in a light cream color and most things weren’t adorned or decorated. It was basic compared to the heart of the manor she grew up in.

She welcomed the change.

Seeing that her father’s men were already ahead of them with crates in their arms, it was easy to tell which room was hers. It seemed they had also gotten help from workers within the building because there were a couple of men carrying crates whom she didn’t recognize.

At the end of the long, narrow hallway with four doors on each side, she found a small dormitory made of the same wooden floors, beams, and cream walls as the rest of the building. It was a decently sized room that fit a single bed, a desk with two chairs, a comfortable armchair, and a bare bookshelf.

What she enjoyed the most was the large window sitting above the desk. The reddish wood created a grid pattern on the window and cast shadows across her room considering it was approaching early evening. She was happy to see she could open the window if she needed to.

Breaking her from her thoughts, one of the coachmen spoke to her first.

"My lady, do you need anything else before we return to Burien?" one of the men asked.

Leonor met the man’s eyes and she offered a small smile but she shook her head.

"Nothing else," she assured him. "Thank you for helping me settle in."

Even if she needed help, she wouldn’t ask him. Multiple times in her life, that very man had reported back to her father on her behavior and actions. She was elated to be an environment where fewer people were reporting her every move to her father. However, getting over that paranoia wouldn’t be instantaneous. She wanted to trust people but she knew she couldn’t right away.

Before the man could leave, he bowed to Prince Stephano who only acknowledged it with a stiff nod before uttering a quiet farewell. It wasn’t lost on the Prince that the man sized him up before he shut the door.

"Will he report back to your father that I am here?" Prince Stephano asked.

"Certainly," Leonor uttered from where she stood at the window. "Something about the promiscuous Count’s daughter has another man hanging around her. Fortunately, the Magic Academy doesn’t allow guards to follow even nobles around. I’ll be able to breathe a bit easier."

The Prince held out a gloved hand as if asking for a handshake.

"Then I would like to reintroduce myself," the Prince said. "The Count’s promiscuous daughter, meet the King’s womanizing son."

Leonor’s eyes widened and a grin spread across her lips. She shook Prince Stephano’s hand.

It seemed they were both wrongly accused of something in the past. The title of womanizer should have put her off, but she trusted him more.

"Now that you know the ’real’ me, shall I introduce you to someone you’re going to get to know quite well during your time here?" the Prince asked.