This Princess is an Extra-Chapter 36: Snooping

Meanwhile, the first ray of the morning sun crept over Eli’s face. Footsteps pounded behind her and before she could turn Callisto appeared at her side in a rush, utterly confused, he grabbed her by the shoulders spinning her toward him as his eyes swept over her searching for any sign of wounds or injuries.

"Why is it that of late, I always find you in situations like these?" Callisto held her shoulders firmly in controlled rage as he tried to gauge his sister’s reaction.

Eli was so shocked she couldn’t speak for a long while.

"Brother...," finally, she barely managed to squeak out her response, "I... I shot him." was all Eli replied.

Callisto stiffened, "Whom did you shoot, Eli?" searching for answers in her face with concern.

"I-I didn’t mean to," she whispered shaking her head as if trying to wake herself from a dream. "Him...him, the one who broke free from the cells. The man who was standing there. I just....." Her voice thinned growing faint with shock as her gaze drifted toward the cliff’s edge and then back to Callisto, he watched her carefully as she struggled to continue. "I only...I simply reacted... an-and"

Before Eli could raise her concern any further, Callisto was the one to part his lips so that he could speak. "We’ll sort that out," he added, "But not here."

"Take her!" he growled looking back at the guards who had followed him while his eyes swept over the fallen cross bow at her feet once and then across the area as they began searching the vicinity.

"Allow me to escort the princess back to the palace." The white-furred man with black and streak of green eyes from earlier met Callisto’s green eyes waiting for his silent approval. Then the duke turned toward Elinessa and bent slightly in respect after Callisto gave him a subtle nod. "Your Highness," he said gently.

However, Callisto didn’t follow them, instead, he stepped to the very edge of the precipice and his eyes narrowed down as he scanned the sprawling wilderness below. It was clear that his mind was made up to score his kingdom for the intruder.

Behind his back, Eli walked away while a glowing mission window was floating by her side displaying a message ’Hidden Scenario Completed’.

***

It was past noon when Elinessa was sitting alone in a small parlor outside a council chamber in the palace, her fingers were curled around the teacup that had been offered to her while she waited to be summoned inside.

Suddenly, a sharp thud echoed from the other side of the closed doors. It sounded as though someone had slammed a hand onto the table.

Immediately after the thud, her father’s raised voice followed, "I know not whether his courage deserves praise... or whether I should instead grieve over the shame of our own defeat!" Ordinarily, the thick doors would have swallowed every word spoken inside, but today, the voices inside were heated and forced their way out.

They were discussing about him, Eli thought to herself. Even after two days and him being injured, he still hadn’t been found. It was as if he had vanished into thin air.

"We all agree," after some time, Callisto’s voice pushed louder "but rushing a decision now will only worsen the situation." Even though a serious discussion raged inside, Elinessa barely paid any attention to it. She continued to sip on her tea as she had her own things to think of and get tense about. Things had really started to turn strange around here.

Soon, the doors groaned open and she shot to her feet, quickly placing her cup down before smoothing her skirt. The attendees of the council filled out and greeted her as she made her way towards the doors.

Among them, she caught sight of the man who had escorted her back to the palace the previous day. Their eyes met and a quiet exchange passed between them where his gaze lingering on her a fraction longer before he turned to leave. Now that she saw him clearly in the bright light, Eli had to admit... he wasn’t bad-looking at all. He had a sharp jaw, his neck following down with the visible adam’s apple. His eyebrows were dark and his green forest hair complimented his complexion.

He was supposedly a friend of Callisto’s, a noble from another nation, and yet she had never read about him in the novel. Yesterday was the first time when she was hearing about it. Is he... an extra? she wondered, because for someone with that kind of presence and unfair level of handsomeness he was oddly ....absent from the pages of the story.

"Have a seat, Eli," she heard the king speak as the doors closed behind her once more and she greeted him. "You have a great many matters to account for, young lady." The chamber had barely emptied leaving only the King and Callisto inside.

Yesterday, in passing, she had overheard a group of maids gossiping among themselves about how Callisto had been discussing with the King about suspicious persons in the hold. They had even chattered aloud if he was doubtful of Eli’s presence there.

But Eli knew better than anyone that Callisto wasn’t pointing fingers at her at all, because he cared for her far too much for that. From their conversation she had surmised that what actually might have him worried would be the fact of how the hold’s location had been leaked and how deep the breach went, which was likely the reason for her being questioned.

Gladly, Eli was fully prepared for this, so she answered their questions right away of how she had been forced to enter the hold because Lady Florence, the duke’s only daughter had stolen Lady Charlotte’s deceased mother’s keepsake necklace. Eli claimed she had discovered that Florence had ordered one of her knights to hide the necklace in the Blackridge Hold and she hadn’t wanted her friend to suffer the heartbreak of losing something so precious.

That was definitely not true, thought Eli to herself.

It was a fact that Lady Florence had actually stolen the necklace during this time in the story, intending to torment Lady Charlotte for supporting Mira’s position as future Crown Princess. But Florence hadn’t hidden the necklace in the hold, rather she had planted it in Eli’s chamber to frame her.

So, Eli simply shifted the lie. A little deceit against someone wicked, she decided, was hardly a sin. And given Florence’s spoiled nature, the other two in the chamber were more than convinced by her story. Yet Eli also knew, no matter what bully behavior Florence displays, she would be forgiven again and again protected by the shield of her father’s position.

"Your friend just can’t leave us alone, can she?" Callisto words weren’t loud but they were enough to reach the king’s ear and earn him sharp eye from the king.

Eli couldn’t believe that even in this situation he didn’t forget to call Lady Florence her friend.

The King then leaned forward asking his next question. "Now tell me, child... how did you managed to enter in Blackridge Hold?"

Eli swallowed, twisting her fingers in her lap. "Umm...B–Brother...," She looked at Callisto, "before I say anything, can you promise you will not scold me?" 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Of course, she already knew most of the hidden openings that led to the hold from the palace as she was an ardent reader, but she couldn’t tell them that. She had needed another explanation entirely, and it took her far too many hours of brain-rotting to come up with something embarrassing but convincing.

"I can promise nothing until I learn what you’ve done. You have been in dire need of discipline for your recent escapades." Came his obvious response to it as he narrowed his eyes reckoning what new chaos his little sister had managed this time.

"That does little to ease my mind."

"Eli," the King ordered her with such a force that Eli couldn’t helped feeling perplexed, "Answer the question."

Eli shoulders dropped as she sighed before answering them. What Callisto heard next had him direct a gaze of disbelief at Eli. Her nonchalant reply caused his mouth to drop open.

"...I-I read your diary."

"I— you— my diary?" he blabbered widening his eyes from utter shock.

In the original novel, it had only ever been hinted that Callisto wrote about his feelings and daily moments with Mira in his diary. So, wanting a few extra perks of the story, Eli had snuck into his chamber and read it—the novel from his POV, so to speak.

Callisto dragged a hand down his face. "Gods above. Eli?!"

"I didn’t mean to find it! Who in their right mind writes military secrets alongside entries about Mira’s favorite flowers?"

"That is private, Eli!" Callisto declared getting slightly red from anger or perhaps embarrassment. "PRIVATE! As in—not for you to go snooping through it like some nosy little mouse!!"