Chapter 50 - His And Her Worries

"Einz…" Leon's solitary and lonely figure was sitting on the window pane. Wearing only his robes. The cold nightly breeze brushed past his silver hair. 

"I will take responsibility.." He said with his frigid voice. His tone was low, yet full of determination. 

"I'll do my best to make it up for her. Even if it means marriage, I'll do it at all cost." 

"But Leon, you are the prince of the Empire, for you to give up marriage for this.. Are you sure?" Einz's feelings were complicated. He worried for his dear friend, but his heart broke for Elise, whom he considered as her little sister.

He couldn't blame Leon for his choice... But he couldn't accept it either. 

"Einz, before I have decided to do it, do you know what she said?" Leon blankly uttered these words, not minding if his dear friend was listening.

"She said she wanted to see more beautiful things.. She was looking forward for tomorrow.." Leon's voice was shaking in anguish. 

"Einz.. I can only give her one thing.. Between things that are beautiful, or her tomorrow.. I was only capable of giving her one, and that is her tomorrow. Even if it won't be beautiful by the time she wakes up."

He looked at his two hands and clenched it tight, "I am incapable of giving her both…"

"I won't justify my actions. Einz, I'll carry this guilt until I die." 

"But even if it meant giving my future to her, in exchange for me taking away her innocence, I would gladly do so."

"Sigh…" Seeing that his friend was emotionally miserable, Einz chose not to let him feel more guilt. 

Looking worriedly towards the bed, where Elise was sleeping soundly, Einz said, "I know my words are meaningless, but I'd like you not to make yourself miserable over this matter. At the end of the day, the choice rest with Elise."

"Her choice to live has consequences. I think the whole team has already raised her enough for her to understand this." Einz said in a serene tone. 

"If she chose to condemn you, then that's the time you start living your life as miserably as you wanted, if that would free your heart from guilt."

"But if she didn't, then just support her in the way she wanted."

Seeing his friend, lacking in reaction, Einz sighed and helplessly continued, "Spend the night here..  This room was actually from my villa, that secretly connected to my office at the hospital."

"Don't let her be alone when she wakes up, if you have decided to really become the Barbaric Prince they said you are.. Then see this to the end."

He gave his friend one last stern advice and then went out through the secret door. As soon as the door was shut, it disappeared, the surface turned into a normal wall.

--

The sun shone gently inside the bedroom where Elise was sleeping. 

"Urggg.." She felt like her body was a little bit heavy, especially lower back. 

She also felt pain down there, as soon as she realized it, she was fully awakened from her groggy state. She was lying on a king sized bed, with a pure white quilt. She was also wearing a long sleeved sleeping gown with light pink ruffles.

"You have awoken…" A cold voice sounded from afar, Elise looked towards the direction of the voice and saw a man, in his inner robe, lying mindlessly on the sofa. 

His silver hair and crystal blue eyes made him look like a noble man, but when Elise looked down on his robes, where a part of his robe let her peak his ripped upper body, he looked like a fallen angel!

"Wait, Mister, where am I? How did I even get here?" Confused as to why she was alone in an unfamiliar bedroom with such a dangerously handsome man, she asked.

"You do not remember what happened last night?" The man with the silver hair answered with his deep cold voice. He was a bit far from the bedside, so Elise was not able to clearly see his stiffening body and his eyes tinged with worry and uncertainty. 

Elise tried hard to remember what happened. She sneaked out to the hospital to see the festival. Then as she was freely wandering, a burly man from a particular stall offered her a liquor for drink.

'A liquor! Who would have thought that I would get drunk after that one glass…' Elise facepalmed. 

Everything after that was hazy, she never had been drunk, so that feeling of heat and extreme pain... 'That must be how it feels like when I get drunk!' 

Then blurry memories appeared on her mind, 

"Hello mister.. your eyes… are like stars… beautiful." She said while boldly touching the skin under a silver haired man's eyes.

"Mister, I wonder.. will I see more beautiful things like this tomorrow?" She brazenly blurted out such teasing words, asking if she would be able to still see him when the morning comes…

"It would be nice to see some more...right mister?" She shamelessly asked if she could see more of his body. She held herself back from staring at his chest area, afraid that the beautiful mister see through her, so she just longingly stared at the window.

'Oh my herbs!!! I flirted and did THAT with a random man!!!' Elise was shocked out of its wits. 

'Calm down, calm down first…' She tried to compose herself, taking a deep breath and stealing a look towards the man. 

'All right Elise, the man must be someone from a noble family,' She looked at the bedroom around her, it was luxurious and elegant, fitting for a noble man like him. 

'I heard from my sister nurses that noble men had the hobby to do things like this and brush it all off afterwards… So then, let's be carefree and show to him that we will not be after his wealth..'

'That's a great idea! Right… I'm sure he will like it if I have no interest in making him responsible..'

'Noble men like him must already be married or betrothed, so let's just say that it doesn't matter!'

'Arrrggggh, Why do you have to be so bold Elise!!!!' Elise had her inner dialogue planning how to interact with the mister onwards. 

"Ehem, ehem! So about last night…" Elise tried to act as nonchalantly as possible. 

Leon, on the other hand, clenched his fist. His adam's apple rolled as he nervously took a gulp, as he braced himself for Elise's judgment, 'No matter what she says, if she accuses me, I'll take it all!' 

"Let's forget about this matter!" Elise declared as she flicked her hair as confidently as possible, trying to hide her shame and embarrassment.

"P-pardon?" Leon was shocked beyond his wits, 'Is Elise on her right mind? Did she even understand what I did to her?'

"I am a free lady! I do anything I want! Including what happened last night! So you!!!" Elise said, acting like a spoiled lady and pointed towards Leon, 

"You must not think that I wanted you to take responsibility for me!" She declared with a proud expression.

"So don't think I will take responsibility for you too!" She looked sharply towards Leon, as if warning her. 

"But.. you -" Leon wanted to explain but he was again interrupted by an arrogant voice. 

"FREE Lady! Call me FREE lady!" She said with pride. 

"But.. Free Lady, did you not understand what I did to you? What happened last night?" Leon's mind was already in shambles, he was mentally prepared facing Elise's anger, but not these strange things Elise was saying.

He had never interacted with women, the first time he had an intimate contact with the opposite sex was last night. He couldn't reconcile the guilt he was feeling and Elise's nonchalant reaction about it.

"I fully understood it! I'm a grown up now, a free lady at that! How could I not understand it?!" She said fuming in annoyance. She wanted to resolve this matter as soon as possible so that she could run back home in the hospital. 

Pointing annoyingly towards Leon, "You…" 

Then she pointed towards herself and declared, "and I. We slept together last night!" 

"What could I not understand about that fact?" She said irritatingly and continued, "I'm telling you, I do not need you to take responsibility for me."

"But Free Lady.. You were drunk! I was sober!" Leon tried to reason out, thinking that maybe, Elise was still childish that she looked over this matter so carelessly. 

"As far as I know, I gave you the consent last night!" Elise said in a firm manner.

"I know what it all meant, when I flirted with you, when I said your eyes are beautiful and when I asked you to let me see more!" 

She slowly got up from the bed, although she felt the piercing pain from down there, she still did her best to walk steadily towards where the mister was sitting. 

"Repeat after me!" She demanded Leon, who was not able to process everything. 

"Free Lady does not need me to take responsibility!" 

"Free Lady... does not need me... to take responsibility..." 

"I will forget what happened last night!" 

"I will forget...what happened... last night..." 

Seeing that Leon had already surrendered, she then demanded, 

"Now I need to go, DO NOT FOLLOW ME!"

She saw her cloak neatly folded on the bedside, she fastly pulled it and went out to the room. 

"Mister.. See you never!!! Bubyee!~~~" 

Leon was so shocked that he was left frozen for about five minutes.. 'Where am I, what happened? Who am I?'

Rushing to go outside with all her might, Elise hastily ran away. When she was already considerably far from the premises of the villa she heaved a sigh of relief. 

"Whew, I did a good job back there! Crisis resolved!" Elise proudly patted her chest with pride. 

"He looked so guilty, it's not as if there's something to be responsible for a person like me.." She said with a self mocking smile on her face. Her past was something that would make noble people like the mister have second thoughts. 

"Hmm as to how foolish I was to get drunk and be wild like that.. I surely have learned my lesson.."

She remembered the man's face, his silver hair, crystal blue eyes and well ripped body.

"Charge to experience! Charge to experience!" She mischievously said as she walked towards the Riverfort Hospital. 

"And it's not as if I will get pregnant from doing it once!!!" She shrugged and said with a carefree laugh.