“I don’t mind if you die, but we’re on the same team right now, and I won’t be able to leave this mountain if you die!”
From the moment Matthew was put on the same team as Eleanor, not only did he have to lug around additional deadweight, but he even had the added responsibility of protecting her..
He didn’t know whether it was a wily setup on Tanya’s part because she had found out who he was, or it had been Eleanor’s decision instead. Either way, Eleanor couldn’t die here!
Eleanor leaned against his shoulder. Although the pain was torturous, all she could think about was Matthew. She’d craved to be this close to him for so long now.
She soaked her hand in the water and dyed at patch of her hand red. The red water that meandered down the stream. was particularly eye-catching in the sun. “Master, tell me. Am I… going to die here?”
Her mind was getting a little hazy, though she didn’t know whether it was from her blood loss or the venom had been simply too powerful. She felt so dizzy that she cuddled up against Matthew.
Matthew nearly shoved her away at once, but after recalling the fact that she had saved him, he managed to resist. He sat down on a rock while Eleanor remained pressed up against his chest. Her hand was still soaking in the stream.
She opened her eyes and stared at the face near hers. Her heart was pounding, and a smile crept onto her face. “I hear Veronica… calling you… Matt. Can I do that too?”
Envy. The woman who’d gotten everything she wanted her whole life was filled with envy over another woman. She envied Veronica for getting what she couldn’t have.
For the first time, Eleanor understood what it meant to have feelings for someone and to love someone! Similarly, Matthew’s appearance made her believe that there was such a thing as love at first sight after all.
“Shut up!” Matthew growled in irritation. “How… can you be so heartless…”
Eleanor raised her uninjured arm and stroked his face with her pale fingers. ‘Master, if I give Veronica the position as the head of the clan, will you… let me have a future with you?”
Matthew was holding her injured hand in the water with one hand to make sure the venom got washed out while he used the other hand to hold her body steady.
If he let go, she would fall to the ground, which was covered in sharp pebbles. However, knowing he owed her his life, he had to quell his fury. “Take your hand away!” “I don’t want to.”
She shook her head weakly. “Let’s see if I won’t cut open your aorta if you don’t remove your hand now,” Matthew threatened.
Eleanor still had a faint smile on her face. “I don’t believe you’d do that, but…” She sighed feebly. “I’m really not interested in being the head of the clan, but I’m not the one who can decide. I’m… so exhausted. Master, did you know… that in the entire palace… I’m the one who wants to escape from that place the most.”
She was disillusioned by the schemes and all the fighting; it gave her nothing but exhaustion.. She couldn’t find a purpose in life. Eleanor liked the vast and borderless world. She liked how it felt to be free. She wanted at carefree life without any restrictions.
“You just can’t stop talking, huh?!” Although Matthew felt a slight tinge of sympathy when he heard what she said, he immediately drove out that feeling.
He figured that the venom should have been cleared from her body by now, so he took her hand out of the stream and put her flat on the ground before bandaging her wrist.
