Chapter 35 - Selfless

Back in the ship, Raymond hoisted her up a bit.

"sir.. It's okay now. You can let me down," Eloise whispered with a soft smile.

"How could I. The floor is soiled my lay," Raymond glanced down with a dazzling smirk.

Eloise chuckled awkwardly. 'Dude, if you don't let me down your BF will probably bite my throat.' she waved at Mister Fred, who was glaring at the duke intently.

She wiggled around a bit.

"Are you uncomfortable anywhere?"

"It's just my hips hurt... your grip kinda hurts..."

"oh..." the hand that was gripping her tightly became as soft as cotton. "Is it okay now?"

"Yeah, but can you let me down? I wish to walk on my own." Eloise pleased with a dazzling smirk.

Raymond pouted and placed her gently on the floor. "Watch out for the stains," he said gently leading her in a crisscross manner. "Oh, and don't look at the floor. I will lead you."

"Why not," Eloise glanced down only to see blood everywhere. "okeyyyy that was a bad choice." Just the nauseating smell and sight made her dizzy.

"I told you not to." he laughed a bit.

"How are you so unaffected," she glanced up with her brows raised.

"I had to deal with this all my life..." he mumbled, glancing at the ground. To him blood was sustenance, but the overwhelming sight of blood everywhere made him shift to his bestial form. His teeth were aching just to taste all that blood. He clenched his jaws tightly. "But even so, this sight not something I could get used to,"

Eloise glanced up at him. 'Poor guy, he must have suffered a lot in the past. To gain such a wonderful sword technique I'm pretty sure he must have fought a lot.'

"Miss!!" a small voice shouted from her right.

Her little maid ran to her and hugged her tightly.

"oomph." Eloise chuckled loudly. "whoa slow down..."

Maybe it was the force of the impact or maybe because the hug was too tight, her ribs started to hurt badly. The boning in the maid's corset was poking her ribs badly. "ow, too tight..." Eloise mumbled patting her back softly.

Odette pulled back and gently cupped her face. "Miss~ I was so worried. Why did you do that? You should have stayed in your room. Yet you came for me.. That was why... that was why you got hurt...."

"Hey, where am I hurt? Don't you see valiant Duke Raymond standing behind me? With him nearby who can hurt me huh?" she proudly mumbled whist patting the sobbing maid's small head. "Don't cry dear, nothing happened to me..."

With her trembling hands, Odette touched her shoulder length hair. "But Your beautiful silver hair.... it's gone.. I put so much effort into taking care of it. And I even got so many hairstyling tips from the other maids, now it all for naught," she sobbed louder.

Eloise's eyebrows twitched. 'So she was more worried about my hair then for me sigh.. This girl needs to get her priorities straight,'

Even so, she gently hugged her. "It's hair. It will grow. In a year or so I will have my waist length hair back and you can do all the hairstyles you want. Okay?"

Only then did Odette stop her painful sobs. She wiped at her red, swollen eyes and nodded. "I will go prepare some hot water for you to bathe. What scent do you want? I think lemon scented oil should do..." she mumbled to herself as she walked back to the room.

Eloise watched her, stunned. "This girl is something else. Duke Raymond I think I should just gift her a hairstyling book and scented oils rather than gold. What do you think?" she glanced back to see him smiling fondly at her. 'w—why is he smiling like that?'

She glanced behind her and noticed Mister Fred talking to some soldiers. 'Ahhh that why is he having that smouldering look. Che for a second I misunderstood,'

"I think you should not give her a hairstyling book, albeit that would hurt her even more. A handsome raise would do," Raymond whispered, gently patting her head.

"Yeah, I guess so..."

With her hand in his, they both slowly walked back to her room. The door was still trapped shut by the ribbon near the hinge.

Raymond leaned down and plugged it out. "You did a good job trapping this door. But you should have stayed in as well. Going out in that situation was the worst decision you could have made."

"I know, but I don't regret it one bit. The pirates had infiltrated the maid's quarters and were about to harm some of my maids. I guess my rash actions saved their lives and Odette's as well."

Raymond froze... "That was the most selfless that I have heard from you."

With a small smile, Eloise glanced back. "Did you think I was gold crazy women? You might be partially right, but I care for my people as well. Because once they are mine they always will be my people. Their protection is my responsibility. And I would give up my safety to take care of them."