Silly, Im Not The Villain!

Chapter Sixteen: Uninvited Guest

"Young master, it seems that Lady Arina is coming this way."

Alex looks around with his eyes and spots the group of people approaching him.

"Mn, thanks." He takes another two bites of his cake to allow the group to get closer before acknowledging them.

When Arina was close enough he slipped off his chair and quickly pitter pattered towards her, intern she walked slightly faster towards him. They stopped about a meter apart from one another and Arina initiated the conversation.

"Elias, I haven't seen you in few hours, how are you?"

"Hello grandmother, I'm alright and you?" his sweet tone and smile practically melted her heart but left a sting on his.

"I too am alright, you seem to be having afternoon tea, do you mind if I join you."

"Of course not, please come have a seat."

"Thank you."

She lets Alex take the lead to his table with meticulously decorated pastries surrounded by blooming flowers creating a scene straight out of a fairy tale. Alex pulled out the chair opposite him for Arina which surprised her.

"Elias you don't have to be so polite with me, I'm your grandmother, you should be more casual with me. But thank you anyways." She instructed as she sat down on the seat offered to her.

"Haha alright."

Alex sat down as a slice of cake was placed in front of Arina as well as a cup of fragrant tea.

"I heard you've been studying since breakfast." She sliced through the crimson cake and popped a small bite into her mouth.

"Yes, I have, I thought I'd do that early in the morning and enjoy the rest of the day." He reasons.

"That's good, but make sure you take breaks, it's not healthy to study for six hours straight."

"Ahaha yes." he wondered how she knew that but brushes it off as he takes a sip of his hot tea.

"I also heard you were sick before you came here, you were unconscious for several days even, you're still recovering so don't work too hard."

"I'm really alright, plus I hardly remember what happened then."

"Hmm, then I guess it must have been like being sick one moment then waking up all better than," she muttered more to herself, "then how are your brothers and friends, I'm sure you must have made some in school no?"

"Oh...Uh, my brothers seem to be doing well, they were quite... lively last I checked, haha."

"That's good to hear, I can't imagine Axis being anything but. And your friends." she chuckled lightly at the thought of Axis.

"Oh, uh friends? Um I... don't really have any?" he shrugs.

"Not even one?"

"Not one." he hoped.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear..." this one off handed reply that Alex was fairly sure was true sent her mind into a thinking storm determined to help Alex find a friend one way or another and making her quiet.

In their silence Alex saw an opportunity to finish his cake and go. He wasn't going to stick around to try to answer anymore questions he didn't have the answers to. He quickly ate as much cake as he could to be considered full and downed his still warm-ish-hot tea that slightly burned his tongue, though he concealed his pained face under the mask of a poker face.

"Well, I think I'm full now, I'll be on my way then grandmother, I'll see you later." He smiled as he got up from his chair.

"Oh, then I'll see you at dinner." But Alex was already walking away.

He stepped into the mansion and heaved a sigh of relief. Any longer and he felt that she could ask him a question he couldn't answer or worse have Hope catch him lying then be suspicious of him, he'd have to do his best to steer conversations away from Elias, especially around Hope. He sighed again, slumped his shoulders and decided not to think to much about the what if's when they didn't even happen, instead he wondered what he should do now.

Right now, he is far away from just about all the important characters of the book and completely out of harm's way, given his situation he couldn't be any safer. There really wasn't anything for him to do right now so the logical thing for him to do was nap. 'Yeah that sounds great right about now.' He thought to himself.

"Young master, would you like some cold water?" Hope the ever-observant maid noticed his reaction to drinking the tea in one go and deduced that when Alex swallowed his tea it must have still been fairly hot.

"Yeah, that would be great. Actually wait, before you get it could you take me to my room."

"Of course."

Alex was swiftly guided to his room where he would take off some articles of clothes to sleep more comfortably and arrange his many pillows of different sizes to create a sort of nest around himself.

When he was done, he laid down on the bed and sank into the comfortable nest he made. His eyes roamed around the room hopping from one object to another, tracing as many details his eyes could and taking in the scene. He pinched his arm and felt a sting on the spot of skin his fingers tightened on and sighed to himself, there really weren't any words to possibly describe what he was feeling right then and there. He felt a sort of emptiness, loss and numbness all at the same time with discomfort mixed into it. He briefly closed his eyes and opened them again feeling disappointed by the sight in front of him.

Moments later, Hope walked in with a glass of water in hand and Alex sat up to receive it.

"Here you are young master."

"Thank you." he gratefully drank all the water.

"Not at all."

Seconds later he handed an empty glass to her and instructed her to wake him up for dinner. Hope obliged and left him to sleep for the next few hours.