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Chapter 4 - The Second Round

As soon as the fighting was called to a stop, Arthur made eye contact with Eleanor. She could see the wicked determination in his gaze. This man had no good intentions coming into this fight, and if he were to come out victorious then Eleanor would definitely end up being even more miserable than she currently was. The glorification of the rich and noble was not always as it seemed.

Commoners would never have to deal with the potential (inevitability) of being married off to someone they held no desire towards. Because simply, no one with significant money would marry their child to a commoner. The simplicity of poverty.

The entourage that the Prince came with, surrounded him once again, although significantly cut down in numbers thanks to the gladiator. There were around twelve in the beginning and a good half was gone.

"It’s only a matter of time." Arthur mouthed to Eleanor before he walked away. Disgust crawled over her skin and she had half a mind to shout at him but restrained herself.

The referee called for a break so that the remaining participants could rest while the arena floor was cleaned. From blood and the injured.

As they made their way off the ground and into the building, Eleanor passed her eyes over the group and then they stuck on the only other individual that stuck out beside the Prince.

The gladiator was already looking at Eleanor when she caught sight of him and although she could not clearly see his eyes, she could feel the intensity of his stare. His face was hard and emotionless and it made a bad feeling pass over her stomach. A feeling worse than when she saw the Prince.

For a moment, it felt like he was looking through her. Or into her. And it scared Eleanor enough for her to completely turn in the other direction, causing her chair to scrape against the stone.

"What did you think of the first round Eleanor?" Caine suddenly asked her.

Gently shaking herself free of her jitters, Eleanor looked at her father. "Unexpected... is all that I can really say."

"I never expected to see such a fast drop in numbers so quickly. It seems that many competitors dropped out thinking they didn't have a chance at winning because of the Prince. What an expected twist I would say. But pleasant nonetheless." Her mother chimed in.

All Eleanor could do was smile and nod her head in an unbelieving way. It seemed like her mother was very much enjoying the violent part of the Coming of Age Trials. Definitely not ladylike in Eleanor's opinion. And she had to physically bite her lip to keep that thought to herself.

The break was for an indefinite amount of time and Eleanor would use as much of it to get away from her spot. The arena was thick with the scent of sweat and blood and it was making her nauseous. She needed to inhale air from anywhere else.

Taking one final look at the arena floor before she left, she saw the bodies of the injured. Some being carried away and others still in their original positions. Eleanor was sure that most of them were unconscious and that there were even some dead amongst them. There was never a trail that had gone by that didn't have someone die in it. A blow too fatal to be saved or an injury that was left untreated for too long. Infection, blood loss, or whatever else.

And yet, it was still a thing. And yet, people still showed up.

Accompanied by her maids and some guards, Eleanor decided to walk around the building. "The next round, what is it again?" she asked the group behind her.

"It is when the remaining men must fight against beasts in order to move onto the final round." One of the guards answered.

Eleanor had forgotten about that portion of the trials. Or maybe she had made herself forget because she hated the thought of innocent animals getting hurt for her sake. If people wanted to fight each other for her hand in marriage then she could see that. But bringing animals into it was too much. And it was all her fault.

That morning, Eleanor had been too nervous to eat much of anything. And although her stomach still had not settled, she knew that it was the best thing for her to get something in her body. But with the news of what was coming up in the next round, she didn't think anything she ate would stay long enough for her to even get the nutrients from it.

And so, for the rest of the break, she walked around, taking in the fresh air away from the arena, before the horn signaling the start of the second round called her back to her seat.

The second round began and the remaining contestants were given different animals to go up against. And although the animals are chained to prevent the death of the participants, Eleanor could not help but wish that they weren't so that they could fight back properly. The animals included were lions, wolves, bears, and rhinoceroses.

For this match, Eleanor kept her eyes mostly on Arthur. He was placed against two wolves and it did not give her as much pleasure as it should have, knowing that he was not the only person in the contest that was there for him.

One of the royal guards that was in Arthur's section did not waste any time helping when he saw the Prince struggling. He had his own problems, as he was paired up against a bear, but since there were no rules prohibiting contestants from helping each other out, he simply left the bear and went to assist Arthur before going back.

Eleanor bit down on her tongue, she wanted to say something, she wanted to scream at her parents that it was not fair, but she knew it would just be a waste of words. So, she just sat in her anger, imagining the Prince getting torn limb by limb by the wolves.

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