Before I can continue chewing him out for his total lack of manners, I suddenly catch the expression on Orlando's face.
For a moment, he doesn't answer. He is still struggling to pull air into his burning lungs, his chest heaving heavily as he fights to catch his breath. He stands there completely out of breath, unable to form words right away, his usually composed posture totally shattered by whatever panic drove him here.
Then Orlando finally manages to steady his breathing just enough to speak, his voice spilling out in a frantic, urgent rush.
"Are you... are you alright, Eleanor?" he asks, his words tumbling over each other, laced with deep anxiety. "What happened to you? Are you feeling well?"
I blink, caught completely off guard by the worry in his tone. "What? Yes, I'm fine. But what about you?" I ask. "Did you run here in a hurry all the way from wherever you were? Why..?"
Underneath the exhaustion, his features are twisted in unmistakable panic. He isn't playing a prank. He genuinely looks terrified and deeply worried about me.
Orlando blurts out again, in breathless and defensive voice, "I...I just heard that you fell hard from your bed! That's why I came. I thought something terrible happened to you, but... you look perfectly fine. So what's going on?"
I blink again, even more bewildered. "What are you talking about? Who said something like that?...Who on earth is spreading rumors like that around the estate?!"
I cross my arms, raising my voice defensively. "I am perfectly fine! I did not fall from the bed. It was just... I was simply trying to stand up to go outside, and my feet went a little numb from resting too long, that's all! It...wasn't a real fall, I assure you!"
My cheeks burn red as I stammer through the explanation, intensely aware of how defensive I sound.
Suddenly, a strange, muffled noise catches my attention. I glance sideways and spot Lily standing right beside me, her hands clamped tightly over her mouth as her shoulders shake. She is desperately trying to hold back a fit of laughter and the slight cracking sound of her suppressed giggles giving her away completely.
After seeing her smiling like that a fresh wave of mortification washes over me.
"Who told you that, Orlando? Tell me right now!" I demand, whirling back to face him, my face blazing. "I'll punish whoever started it! It is completely false information, totally wrong!"
Lily manages to take her hands away from her face just enough to speak but her voice was trembling slightly with suppressed laughter. "Y-yes, my Lady! Exactly! It is entirely wrong, misinformation, indeed!"
A sudden, playful glint sparkles in my eyes as the initial shock wears off, instantly replacing my embarrassment with an urge to tease.
I tilt my head, flashing him a bright, mischievous grin.
"My, my... did you really hear some absurd rumor and get so worried about me that you just started sprinting?" I say, letting out a light, teasing laugh as I step a little closer. "Are you really that worried about me, Orlando? Oh my, I'm truly flattered! I honestly didn't know you cared for me this much."
Orlando's face immediately flushes bright crimson. He opens and closes his mouth like a fish out of water, completely caught off guard by my sudden pivot from defensive panic to outright teasing.
"W-what are you talking about?!" he stammers, waving his hands defensively in front of him as his ears turn a bright shade of red. "Don't be ridiculous! I didn't...I wasn't worried! I just... as a member of this family, I couldn't ignore the possibility of an emergency in the estate!"
"Oh, of course not," I reply with an exaggerated sweet voice while I exchange a quick, amused glance with Lily, who is still trying desperately to hide her giggles. "Keep telling yourself that, big brother. But honestly? It's kind of sweet how fast you ran."
Because of my relentless teasing, his cheeks burning a deeper shade of red as he stammers out denials.
To understand the reason behind Orlando's behavior and exactly how he heard about Elanore's situation, we need to go back thirty minutes earlier.
"Just what kind of alarming rumor reached Orlando's ears to send him sprinting blindly across the estate? To find out how a simple, clumsy stumble turned into a family emergency and to step back thirty minutes in time to witness the chaos unfold, stay with us for the next chapter!