Fated Eclipse: The Illegitimate Princess And Her Alpha Suitors

Chapter 292: The Question That Would Not Be Answered

Lyria’s POV

After I asked the question, there was a beat of silence.

It stretched between us, as though the very air had stopped moving. It lasted for about a minute, perhaps more.

Then someone chuckled.

I turned towards the direction the sound came from to see Elara trying to hide her smile behind her hand.

Brayden coughed.

It was a short, sharp sound, and when I glanced at him, he was looking at the ceiling with an expression of studied innocence, as though he had suddenly found the architecture of the library utterly fascinating.

Pippa and Debbie had similar looks on their faces, as though I were some strange creature.

I did not understand why.

Baron Redwick stared at me, his eyes wide behind his spectacles.

”Pardon?” he said.

I blinked, confused by their reactions.

”Did I s-say something w-wrong?” I asked. ”I only a-asked if perhaps you w-wanted to be b-best of friends. I have h-heard it is m-more than being j-just friends. You said you w-wanted something m-more, so p-perhaps that is w-what you meant?”

Baron Redwick sighed.

It was a long, heavy sound, as if he had just realised he was carrying more weight than he had anticipated. He adjusted his spectacles and seemed to be searching for words that would not come.

”Your Highness,” he said slowly, ”I—”

He paused, adjusted his spectacles again, and tried once more.

”There is nothing wrong,” he said, before shaking his head.

”We should focus on the lesson. Perhaps we will have this conversation at another time. When the moment is more... appropriate.”

I opened my mouth to argue, to press him further, to demand an answer to the question that was burning in my mind. But something in his expression stopped me.

He looked tired.

Defeated, almost.

So I said nothing.

But throughout the rest of the lesson, I could not focus. The words on the page blurred before my eyes, and I found myself staring at the same sentence for minutes at a time without absorbing a single word. My mind kept circling back to his words, turning them over and over like a puzzle I could not solve.

What did he mean?

He said he did not want to be friends. What else could he possibly want? What was there beyond friendship that he could not say aloud?

I turned the question over in my mind again and again, but no answer came. The shape of it eluded me, slipping through my thoughts like water through fingers. The more I tried to grasp it, the further it seemed to recede.

At the end of the lesson, I decided to ask him directly.

”Baron Redwick,” I said, gathering my courage, ”I h-have been rather p-preoccupied during t-the lesson due to o-our prior conversation. A-and I f-find myself wondering... you said you w-want to be more t-than friends, and if that does n-not m-mean being b-best of friends, t-then what d-does it m-mean?”

He was quiet for a moment.

The silence stretched between us, and I could see him wrestling with something behind his eyes, some internal battle I could not see.

Then he spoke.

”There will come a day when I will freely be able to tell you,” he said. ”But for now, I must settle for us being friends. I must be patient, even when it is difficult.”

I frowned.

”That only m-makes me more c-curious,” I said.

He chuckled. The sound was fond.

”Evander really did know what he was doing when he gave you that pet name,” he said. ”It suits you perfectly.”

He paused, his gaze meeting mine.

”Perhaps if you continue being curious, one day you will get the answer. And perhaps you will discover it yourself—without me telling you. Sometimes the journey to understanding is more important than the destination.”

Before I could respond, he stood.

”I will see you another time, Your Highness,” he said.

He began walking away, only to pause just at the turn. He seemed to hesitate, as though he were about to say something else.

Then, with a nervous edge to his voice that I had never heard before, he added,

”You are also welcome to watch me train, Your Highness,” he said. ”That is, if you wish. I would not... object to your presence.”

And then, before I could respond, he was gone, his guard following close behind.

I stared at the spot where he had been standing.

I still did not understand.

I did not care that he had just invited me to watch him train—that would require my attention at a later time. For now, I was still trying to decipher what his words meant and why he would not give me a straight answer.

If only Patricia were still alive, I would have asked her.

She would have known.

She knew almost everything, after all.

But she was gone.

I shook my head, forcing the thought away. There was no use dwelling on what could not be changed.

---

I was in a daze as I walked back to my chambers.

The corridors seemed longer than usual, the shadows deeper. My feet moved of their own accord, carrying me through the familiar halls without any conscious direction from my mind.

I changed out of my clothes with the maids’ assistance without really thinking about it, my hands moving on instinct. The fabric slipped through my fingers, and I barely noticed as they helped me into something more comfortable.

Finally, I could not bear it any longer and turned to Elara.

She was older, so perhaps she knew what Baron Redwick had meant.

”Elara,” I said, ”d-do you know what B-baron Redwick meant? When he said he w-wanted to be m-more than f-friends?”

Elara smiled gently at me.

”Your Highness, perhaps,” she said, ”like Baron Redwick himself said, you should discover that for yourself. One day, you will come to understand what he meant and where he is coming from. But some things cannot be explained—they must be discovered.”

I stared at her.

That only made me even more curious.

I turned to Debbie.

”I am of the same opinion as Elara, Your Highness. Perhaps you should discover it yourself,” she told me.

I turned to Pippa, and she said the same thing.

Margery and Bridget, who were now present, told me exactly the same thing.

Why was nobody telling me?

Why did everyone speak in riddles and half-answers?

Just then, a knock sounded at the door.

Debbie went to answer it.

She returned a moment later, a folded note in her hand.

”Brayden said it is from Duke Aurelgrave,” she told me.