Not So Perfect?

"What is next?" Elara shook her head when the sweating boy who was struggling to take breath asked for his next lesson. 

She had thought he would already be crying or whining that she was too strict or he had tired but here he was! Standing tall despite his trembling body and eyes blazing fire. When she looked into those eyes, strangely.. She saw herself. 

He was a future duke, an heir to the legacy while she didn't even know who her parents were. Yet.. he was struggling the way she had.

"You need to increase your stamina, my lord. I would suggest running but you could be caught practicing." he assessed, a child worrying about survival and hiding in his own home.

"How about I run at night?" she nodded, that was the best they could do. 

"You can always make an excuse that you were trying to tire yourself so that you can sleep if you get caught." he nodded, satisfied that the problem was solved.

"What if next?" Did this child get tired?

"Should you not have breakfast and then take a nap since you are planning to run at night?" her eyes were wide as if she was asking, "should you not be worried about it?"

"I will do that later. What else do I need to learn to survive?" Elara stared at the ceiling as if it was the most beautiful thing to see as she dragged her sigh, hoping it would show her irritation but the child did not care.

He stared at her with his big eyes waiting for her reply.

"I will suggest you start lessons about your estate. If you are planning to manage it, you must know how large it is, what kind of business your family deals with and other things about it.

I heard from butler that you refused to take your lessons?" she raised a brow when his eyes dimmed. For some reason, her mood went sour looking at his vulnerability.

"It was a way to show harmlessness. If I work hard I will be noticed." he replied in all seriousness when she sighed.

"You should not behave too clumsy too. It would be suspicious. How about you let them teach but you did not perform well in your tests. This way, you will be able to learn too and show your incapability." His eyes flickered and flashed with shock but his body relaxed as he slowly nodded.

"It sounds like a good plan. I will do that." He finally stood up as if he had gotten all his answers and left the room.

Elara looked at the door and then at the small closet in her room. She took a second to stand up and leave the room after checking the closet was perfectly closed.

But instead of going to the dinning room where she would look after Killian's breakfast as her governess. She took left and went to the kitchen.

The chef was humming softly as she mixed the batter when Elara entered with soft steps.

"Making lunch already?" The chef jumped at his place, shocked to see Elara. His widened eyes filled with anger and a pint of guilt.

"Mrs Brentwood! You scared me." he exaggerated, "if you are here for a meal, i apologize but it is still early for servants to eat."

Elara grinned. Her lips curving perfectly as if she had caught the chef stealing.

"Oh no! I am here to collect my dues from last night. I thought you would prefer privacy for that or you want me to punish you in front of everyone?" her lips were still curved in a sweet smile as if she was complimenting the man but his eyes grew wide and a frown took place on his brown lips.

"What are you talking about? Have you bumped your head and injured your brain or is it because you have been announced as a governess of the lord? You think that you can threaten me?" his voice went loud and cold as he tried to scare the woman but she had seen many of him.

All her life, she had seen how men tried to scare the woman by their empty words and threats. 

  "I have stolen the rest of the bottle as proof when you went to sleep and I can prove that you mixed laudanum in my drink." his eyes widened and he took a step back. His hands moving to the cabinet where he had kept the rest of the drink

Smart! He did not believe her but was foolish to think that she would not snatch it now.

The moment he ran to check the bottle, she followed and picked up the bottle first.

"You are a liar." his eyes narrowed as he tried to snatch the bottle but failed. His chest was heaving and sweat covered his hands but she laughed.

"So are you Mr Moore. So it would be better that we did not go into detail. I have proof and I want you to accept it." He wanted to punch her to get that smirk off her face.

But surprisingly the woman was agile. She runs faster and knows how to dodge attacks. After the exercise last night, should she not be sore and resting? Or his grace was not in form last night.

"What do you want?" he growled but she was not a least bit affected.

"I want to buy the finished ingredients from the market for you since I am good at volunteering." confused flared but understanding too when she grinned.

"You want to go out? Slacking your work! So the governess is not so perfect after all?" Though he sneered, his body relaxed. He did not care if she worked or not as long as she kept her sharp mouth shut. "Take it as done, i will take the permission from butler for you."