Hearing Eli's agitated voice, Leon's blank eyes finally reacted.
He looked at Eli and examined her impatient expression. He pursed his lips as he looked away, seemingly refusing to talk.
'Oh c'mon…' Eli almost rolled her eyes in realization.
No wonder my friends in the previous life appeared to be losing patience whenever they quarreled with their boyfriends!
Look at her boyfriend! He refused to talk and she was left to guess what was wrong!
Did she do anything wrong?
Did something happen last night that made him in a bad mood?
Did she irritate him somehow?
But he never expressed his anger or grievance, how is she supposed to know?
'Men are complicated!'
'No wonder my female colleagues were irritated every time they talked about their fights with their boyfriends. Before I used to roll my eyes and blame them for lack of impatience!'
'But look at me now… I'm such a hypocrite! I am doing the same thing!'
Just thinking about these things, Eli could feel a wave of headache on her forehead.
'Wait, let's give him the benefit of the doubt. It's not like Leon always does this. In fact, this is the first time… Let's be patient… patient…'
Eli closed her eyes and breathed once again, it looks like she will be doing this a lot today.
"Leon… please talk to me."
"..." No answer.
"Did something bad happen in the palace other than what was discussed at the meeting?"
"..." Still, no answer.
Sigh… Eli counted for ten seconds before opening her mouth again. He looked at Leon's solitary figure
She did not know but, looking at the view of his back, there was a wave of heartbreak rolling in her chest.
Finally deciding to abandon her aggressive questioning, Eli sat beside him, gently touching his back.
With a coaxing tone, she finally asked, "Darling… Did I do anything wrong?"
As she was gently caressing Leon's back, she felt the sudden flinch on his body.
Eli's eyes lit up on his reaction, however, she was disappointed when she heard his response.
"... No…"
'How am I supposed to take that?' Eli's eyebrows twitched. However, she did not give up and continued what she was doing. "Is there a reason why you are in a bad mood?"
"..." No answer.
"Perhaps you want to sleep and eat later?"
"..." No answer.
"Are you perhaps angry at me, Darling?"
"..." No answer.
"My love… I'm out of ideas… Please speak to me and tell me what's wrong…" Eli was now utterly dejected, the exasperation in her voice was now evident.
Finally, Leon looked at her, his lips still pursed in displease as he looked straight at Eli's midnight eyes.
"So you finally remembered that I was 'your love'?" Leon answered, his eyes were still not looking at Eli directly but there was evidence of grievance in his tone.
Eli was taken aback by Leon's response. So she did something wrong after all?
But what is it? Did she somehow make Leon jealous and insecure?
Eli kept wondering.
"You are my love, indeed! My only..." Eli knew how cheesy her lines were at the moment, but at this point, she was really clueless as to how she would coax Leon to reconcile and talk.
The big guy is sulking.
"Then… why do you act like I was not?" Leon replied, this time his tone was quite frustrated yet Eli could feel that he was doing his best to hold back.
"Leon, I don't quite understand what you are saying. Please, help me understand and know what you are really thinking…" Eli was almost drained, both of them were already physically and mentally exhausted, and so she no longer had the energy to prolong their quarrel.
"Because you think and act like I was not in your life!"
"I was hurt! You know…"
"But it frustrates me… the fact that whenever you think of a solution, you do not consider that I am around…"
"You do not consider that I can also do things to help you…"
"You do not realize that even if you have such a complicated identity, this is no longer only your problem, it is OUR problem!"
"But why are you singling me out?"
"I was always debating myself, am I that unreliable as a partner? As your future husband?"
"Am I really that incapable?"
"I am your fiance, the father of your child… if I can not do even one thing to help you in your predicament, how do I even deserve to call myself your husband in the future?"
"Can't you rely on me just this once?"
"I am not saying that I want you to follow my opinion outright, I just want you to give me a chance to hear what I think. Especially, when it comes to the things that involve you and Little Han's safety."
"It really makes me feel irrelevant…"
"But I can't bring myself to be angry at you…"
"And so I kept quiet, I want to deal with it on my own."
"Because maybe it's only in my head, and there's really nothing wrong with how you tried to solve the problem by endangering yourself outside the empire."
Hearing Leon's rant, Eli became speechless. The more she listened, the more she could feel the emotions Leon was bottling up earlier.
Indeed he was telling how he felt, but in the end, he did not even raise his tone once to make Eli feel startled, it was just enough for Eli to feel the extent of his disappointment.
She did not react for a long time and started to think about how she acted all this while. It was probably because of the fact that she suggested something bold earlier.
Thinking back, even the High Priest and Emperor Valentin showed their approval of her suggestion earlier.
'I must have been used to being heard and having to solve problems on my own…'
'I often forget that I have people around me whom I can rely on… who were just waiting for me to ask for their help…'
'I got ahead of myself… Leon is right…'
Eli felt a great wave of guilt in her heart as soon as she realized that she was indeed in the wrong.
Although it was never her intention to make Leon feel excluded, being unable to remember the fact that she was already at a different stage of her life, where she must also consider the views of her other half would really make the other party aggrieved.
"Leon… I'm sorry…" Eli slowly uttered, she did not know how to comfort Leon as well. All she knew was that she definitely owed Leon an apology for excluding him earlier.
Leon's back was still facing Eli, and so Eli could not see his struggle on whether he would give in or not.
It was also the first time he ever quarreled with Eli and was quite unsure how to reconcile now that Eli had given in.
It felt good to be heard, and for his feelings to be recognized by the most important person in his heart.
But he was afraid that his words may have hurt Eli in some way. This was also the reason why he kept silent and unmoving earlier, he did not want that his surging emotions would hurt Eli at their peak.
On the other hand, Eli knew that Leon was indeed hurt and he needed time to recollect himself. So she nudged closer to Leon's back and hugged him from behind.
The couple stayed like that for a few minutes, nothing could be heard in the room but their calm breaths.
After a while, Leon finally managed to have the courage to face Eli again. He moved his body to answer Eli's embrace.
"I'm sorry for sulking… and… thank you for hearing me out."
Eli became relieved now that Leon had already calmed down. "Uhn…" Eli hummed and nuzzled in his embrace.
It was unknown when, but after staying like that, the couple seemed to be overwhelmed by exhaustion and ended up sleeping until the late afternoon.
It was Eli who woke up first.
Seeing Leon beside him, his eyes ridden with exhaustion, Eli felt heartbroken.
Deciding that she did not want Leon to be disturbed, she carefully moved out of bed. However before she was able to do so, she felt Leon's hand stopping her from moving away.
"Stay a little bit more…" Leon's voice was hoarse, his alluring crystal blue eyes opened partly.
Then he scooted closer to Eli's chest and hugged him tightly. It was so close that Eli was sure that Leon could hear the sound of her heartbeat.
However, Eli did not protest and allowed Leon to make her his pillow. Caressing Leon's hair, Eli watched him as he drifted to sleep again.
In her mind, not only that she felt like she had to indulge Leon a little bit, but also, she too wanted to spend some idle times like this with him.
Today and as they grow old, Leon's words reminded Eli that from now on, she will no longer be alone struggling through hard times and idling through easy times.
He now had Leon, and Little Han.
Her family.
