My Charlotte Hates Me

Chapter 24: Unreliable Friend

It had been around a year later since Eli and Stella had moved in to live with Arielle at the castle. Arielle had offered me a place to stay at as well and had begun working as a Court Lady which is the highest ranking for a female to achieve herself. My main duties consisted of supporting Arielle in her work. I support her as her hands and feet as well as gather information from the castle before relaying it to her as well as assisting her with her paperwork. Arielle was surprisingly a lot more efficient than I would have liked, so there was practically not much work left for me to do.

In the time that I had been watching Arielle, I noticed that she had grown exponentially much happier and had even begun smiling more often.

She had also grown much closer to the Captain of the Knights enough to invite him to have a picnic with us.

That leads us to the present where the Captain of the Knights is casually sitting beside Arielle with Eli wedge between them. It also seems as though they have grown much closer and are able to carry a long conversation with just their eyes. They must have no mercy for the people around them, but then again, there are no rumors between the two of them.

Even though I still love Arielle, I want her to sincerely be happy...but watching their romance blooming right in front of my face kind of angers me.

"Try this, Agile!" Eli said as he tried to hand feed Captain Agile Fueler a sweet and then turned towards Arielle to feed her a different treat with his other hand. "Try this too, Mama!"

Eli suddenly dropped the treats at the same time and bent down to pick up the sweets. This caused the two being fed to share an accidental kiss with Captain Agile Fueler's lips over Arielle's eyebrow.

You are the worst of them all, Eli!

"My apologies!" Captain Agile Fueler said as he quickly turned away with a reddened face.

It is not like I hate him, he just suits Arielle so well much more than the man she married that it irritates me an eligible bachelor was so close by...

"...It was an accident. Please do not mind it," Arielle said shyly.

I saw that the two gradually become closer but also saw that there was always a strange distance between them. I could understand if it was because they were both a master and a Knight but it seemed as if Arielle was the one who could not take the next step. She seemed uncomfortable whenever she looked at the Captain for a long time. The Captain realized her hesitance towards him as well and took some time apart from her and assigned someone else to care for her.

I decided to wait for Arielle to come to me when she was troubled as she always had, but that day had been too far away as I felt her smile slowly dim with the passing days.

One day, I had forgotten an item in my office and had to run back to retrieve it. I had noticed Arielle's office had been slightly cropped open. As I walked past, I heard sniffling sounds.

"...I'm sorry, Erik. I never wanted to fall in love again," a pitiful voice said.

Her husband died shortly after they were married and left his child who is almost his exact copy behind to take care of. Of course she would carry some moments where she would feel guilty and sorrowful towards her own husband and child for having fallen in love once again.

I quickly turned around and made haste towards my room.

I knew that asking her outright about her feelings would only make her hide them even more and bring her more suffering.

Just why? Why?

I could not understand why my best friend could not come up to talk to me about her problems.

Was it because I became her Court Lady, or was it because I became someone unreliable to turn to in her eyes?

I found tears falling down the sides of my face. I soon felt a dull aching pain inside of my chest that I had not felt in a long time. This subtle aching pain is something I knew all too well. It had subsided recently.

Yes, this annoying prickly feeling had subsided ever since His Majesty died...

To be exact, I was elated to hear that he had died. I took joy in knowing that I could have Arielle all to myself again.

I see...I had ran away not because I could not comfort her then because I wanted her to come to me when she was ready. It was because I was not ready to face her or my guilty feelings for her.

Maybe Arielle has realized that I feel guilty towards her and avoided telling me anything? Was it all my imagination that we were close?

Of course I want to support her and make her happy, but at the same time, I want her to belong only to me. I keep desiring for a future that will never belong to me. My feelings only hinder my judgement and make me want to destroy everything I worked hard for. I want to bury that selfish desire and shred it to pieces.

Before being her Court Lady, I am friend first and foremost...even if my feelings for her are not the same as hers.

I should do everything in my power to make you happy. You deserve every bit of it even if I have to sacrifice my own feelings every time.

"...I will do my all to help you, but just for now, let me cry for now," I said quietly to myself.

After I calmed myself down, I waited until the bright morning of tomorrow before marching into Captain Agile Fueler's office.

"May I help you today, Court Lady Castile?" Captain Agile Fueler asked.

I took off my glove and threw it down in front of him. Him and his assistant opened their eyes wide in surprise.

"I challenge you to a duel!" I said loudly.

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