IT'S BEEN A COUPLE OF DAYS SINCE THE WHOLE KINGDOM found out about my letter to the Lord. And the whole kingdom was on a mission to find this mysterious girl, even me...who is the mysterious girl.
With everyday Riftan was getting more and more intense with this case. He was searching for this girl, aka me, like if he find her it will change his life. All I was hearing from him was "the letter this" and "the letter that". I didn't even remember what I actually wrote on it.
Funny enough, the whole kingdom must've found out by now who wrote the letter. But they don't wanna say anything and ruin everything. Since our Lord received my letter, he's been in a good mood all the time. He lets the knights rest, the servants don't have that much chores and everyone was happy.
The only ones, who had a lot of work to do, were me and Ruth. He was working on a spell to make the oak tree grow again and I was managing the renovations. My head was about to explode any minute now. Both me and Ruth were sitting in the library, he was surrounded by books and I had a little mountain of papers in front of me. It was humiliating. I look over at Ruth, who looked like a high school student before an exam.
"Are you doing okay, Ruthy?", I tease him a little bit and I put a smirk on my face. I love to see him with more work than me, it makes me feel superior for some reason.
"Shut up and finish your job", he said without moving his eyes away from the book in his hand, "I want you to help me out here".
"You forgot the magic word", I said in a high pitched voice and I started blinking fast to make it even more annoying for him. Ruth rolls his eyes and looked at me only to stick his tongue and got back to reading.
I got annoyed and I stood up from my chair and I threw myself on top of him. Ruth tried to push me, but I started biting him. He pushed my head back and bit me back on the shoulder, then I kicked him in the leg. We started wrestling and Ruth took over. He pinned me to the ground and I started laughing. He laughed too and winked at me.
"You know..you look good in this position right now..I might get excited", he squeezed a little my wrists and winked once again. I kick him in the stomach, but not too hard and he fell back.
"I see", a deep voice broke the laugher and both me and Ruth turn out heads to the door to see Riftan standing there watching us with those scary eyes, "seems like you two have fun".
I quickly got off the ground right on my feet and Ruth just stood there on the floor, but he didn't dare to look at Riftan. The Lord's eyes were piercing my soul and send shivers down to my spine. We are in trouble, I thought.
"My Lor- ..I mean Riftan. I'm so sorry, we were just taking a break and we didn't mean to..", I started explaining, but seems like my words weren't helpful. Riftan looked even more mad.
"Save your explanations, Eleanor. I want to talk to you for a moment", Riftan said and he walks out of the library.
I look at Ruth, who just shrugged at me and got back to work. I fixed my dress and I slowly walk to Riftan, who was waiting for me outside the library. His arms were crossed and his body was tense, his eyes..still very scary. I stood right in front of him and I looked down at my feet. I felt ashamed for something so minor.
I was about to say something, but Riftan lets out a deep sight and leans on the wall behind him. I look up and I see him smiling a little.
"I can't say I didn't saw it coming. You two are spending so much time together", he started saying and chuckled, "I don't see you as a good couple, I mean..you can do better than Ruth, but...I hope he makes you happy", Riftan looks down for a moment and I swear I could see a sad expression, but then he lifts his head up.
"You misunderstood the situation. Me and Ruth aren't together. We are just friends", I said and I started waving my hands in front of my face, "I'm in love with another", and then, ladies and gentlemen, this slips out.
I felt like slapping myself at that moment and letting the ground to just swallow me. Riftan looks at me with those eyes, who say: now you got my attention. What should I do now?
"Just forget it, Riftan. I'm sure you didn't call me out here to talk about my love life, do you now?", I tried to hide my eyes, because I was sure they will tell him everything.
"I called you out here, because I want you to take a day off tomorrow. I want you to come with me somewhere", he explained, "but now I'm interested who's the lucky fella. If it's not Ruth, then who it is?", he smiled.
"Why do you wanna know? You have your own engagement to think about, my Lord", those words slip out my mouth and felt like venom on my lips. Engagement. Wife. Not mine.
"Eleanor, you may not feel the same way, but I don't view you as my servant. I view you as my friend. I wanna know what's going on with your life, okay?", Riftan came close to me and for the first time ever he wraps his arms around me. I can feel his muscular arms on my back and I felt secure once again, "Just tell me who he is, so I can help you out".
I really thought about confessing to him. I had a moment of bravery, but then the reality hit me like a truck. He's getting married in two months, Eleanor. Even, if you confess to him now...he won't accept it. I heard it with my own ears..I'm just a friend to him.
"Okay, it is Ruth. But don't tell him, okay. You are the only one, who knows about it", I lied and I had no shame.
"Okay, I promise you", Riftan finally let go of me and scratched his head, "I don't know what you saw in him, but..I guess you were right about the love thing, huh?", he chuckled.
"Yeah..", I nod my head and put a fake smile on my face just to avoid more questions.
"Okay then..I'll leave you to work with your Romeo", Riftan winks at me and turns his back to walk away, "don't forget tomorrow morning at 9 o'clock I'll be waiting for you. Oh, and Eleanor, please..don't let anyone see you doing dirty stuff with Ruth. It speaks bad about you".
"WE WEREN'T DOING IT!", I shouted after him, but he just waved his hand and continued to walk down the corridor.
From one lie to another, I was falling into a deeper hole. First I lied about the letter, then about Ruth. At this point it would be much more easier, if I just confess and let him kick me out of the kingdom.
Ruth walks out of the library. I'm guessing he heard the whole conversation. He came to me and put his hand on my back rubbing it a little bit. I turn to him and I threw myself in his arms allowing him to hug me tight.
"I know it's getting harder everyday, but please don't let him kick you out", Ruth said next to my year and buried his face in my neck, "the rest of us will miss you, if he kicks you".
"I won't go anywhere", I gently brushed my fingers through his hair and let him stay in this position for awhile. We both were tired and we both had our things to worry about. That's why, when we both have too much going on, we just let ourselves get venerable. We find conformity in each other.
UNEDITED