"Then… we start with the rules," Arthur said quietly.
Eleanor held his gaze without hesitation. "I'm ready to listen."
The garden fell silent again, as though it were concealing a conversation the world had no business hearing. No witnesses, no guards close enough to catch a word. Only the wind and the soft rustling of leaves the sole witnesses to an agreement beginning to take shape.
Arthur stood before Eleanor, his posture straight, though he kept that unhurried ease about him. As if all of this were nothing more than a small game even though both of them knew this step could change everything.
"This marriage will only be a face we show the world," he continued. "Nothing more."
Eleanor nodded. "And underneath that?"
Arthur smiled faintly. "We work together. But we don't fully trust each other."
A brief silence but Eleanor raised no objection. If anything, she looked as though she understood completely.
"That's fair," she said.
Arthur studied her face, searching for doubt. He found none. Only a quiet certainty which, if anything, put him slightly more on guard.
"You accepted that too easily," he said.
Eleanor lifted a shoulder. "Because I didn't come here looking for trust. I came here for a purpose."
Arthur let out a quiet laugh. "You're honest. That's rare."
Eleanor looked at him directly. "And you're still hiding something."
For a fraction of a second, something shifted in Arthur's eyes. Then his easy expression slid back into place.
"You think too much," he said lightly.
Eleanor didn't reply but her faint smile suggested she wasn't entirely convinced.
In the days that followed, rumors began drifting quietly through the palace. No official announcement, no grand declaration. Just whispers among the nobility about a growing closeness between Eleanor and Arthur and those whispers spread exactly as Eleanor had expected.
And just as she'd hoped, attention began to shift.
"My Lady, people are starting to talk about you," Mira whispered one afternoon.
Eleanor sat in the small sitting room, a book open in her hands that she wasn't really reading.
"Let them talk," she said easily.
Mira looked uncertain. "But this could reach the Crown Prince's ears."
Eleanor closed the book slowly. "That's exactly the point."
Mira fell quiet, understanding the intention even if it still felt dangerous.
"My Lady… you actually want to draw their attention?" she asked.
Eleanor looked at her. "I want them to see what I choose to show them."
On the other side of the palace, Arthur sat with one hand propped under his chin, every bit the picture of idle disinterest he'd always cultivated.
But his eyes weren't empty. He was thinking.
"So you're really going through with this?" His mother's voice came from the doorway.
Arthur didn't turn around. "Isn't that what you wanted?"
She entered quietly. "I want to see how far you'll go."
Arthur smiled faintly. "And I want to see how far she can last."
His mother moved closer. "You still don't trust her?"
Arthur exhaled slowly. "I don't trust anyone in this palace."
She didn't argue. She only smiled.
"Including your own mother?" she asked lightly.
Arthur glanced at her sideways. "You're the exception."
His mother laughed softly. "At least you still know where the line is."
A few days later, Eleanor crossed paths with Arthur again in the same corridor.
"It seems we've already become a topic of conversation," Arthur said casually.
Eleanor fell into step beside him. "Isn't that what we wanted?"
Arthur glanced at her briefly. "You really don't waver."
Eleanor answered evenly. "Wavering only slows things down."
Arthur smiled faintly. "And moving too fast can be just as dangerous."
Eleanor turned to him. "Which is why I choose the right pace."
Arthur didn't respond immediately. He simply watched her, as though testing the weight of every word she'd spoken.
"You know," he said finally, "I still don't fully understand you."
Eleanor smiled quietly. "And I have no plans to make it easy."
Arthur laughed softly. "Good. I was getting tired of things that come easy."
That night, they met again this time somewhere more concealed. Not the garden. Not the main corridor. A small, rarely-used balcony tucked away from the rest of the palace.
"This place is safe," Arthur said simply.
Eleanor stood beside him. "Safe enough to talk without being watched?"
Arthur nodded. "For now."
Eleanor drew a quiet breath. "Then we need to be clearer about our arrangement."
Arthur folded his arms. "I'm listening."
Eleanor looked straight ahead, her voice calm but firm. "In public, we'll appear to be a couple seriously considering marriage."
Arthur nodded. "And behind that?"
Eleanor turned to him. "We share information that's relevant."
Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Relevant to whom?"
Eleanor smiled faintly. "To what we each need."
Arthur let out a quiet laugh. "You're cunning."
Eleanor didn't deny it. "I'm careful."
Silence settled between them but it didn't feel heavy. If anything, it only made the boundaries they were building together clearer.
"Alright," Arthur said at last. "I agree to that."
Eleanor gave a slow nod.
"One more thing," Arthur added.
Eleanor looked at him. "What?"
Arthur smiled thin, but with eyes a little sharper than before.
"Don't try to find out too much about me."
Eleanor paused for just a moment.
Then she smiled.
"That depends," she said quietly.
Arthur narrowed his eyes. "On what?"
Eleanor looked at him directly. "On how much you're hiding."
For a moment, neither spoke.
The night breeze moved softly past them, carrying a silence that felt deeper than usual.
Arthur finally laughed under his breath. "You really don't know when to stop."
Eleanor answered calmly. "I didn't come here to stop."
Arthur shook his head slowly but there was something close to admiration in his expression.
"Alright, Lady Eleanor," he said. "Let's see how far this game goes."
Eleanor nodded.
"As far as we need it to," she replied.
From somewhere in the distance, someone was watching. A shadow behind one of the palace's stone pillars still, but clearly paying attention.
The palace was never truly empty. Never truly safe. Eleanor had known that from the very beginning.
But she was no longer the one who didn't know any better. She had chosen her path. Arthur had chosen his role. And between them, an agreement had formed not from trust, not from feeling, but from a shared purpose. In a world built on betrayal, that was more than enough.
"It seems we're never really alone in this place," Eleanor murmured, without turning around.
She stayed composed, but her senses had caught something invisible to the ordinary eye a subtle shift, barely a sound, but enough to signal another presence. This palace never let secrets survive for long without extracting a price.
Arthur didn't react immediately. He simply glanced briefly toward the shadow in the distance, then settled back into his unhurried ease as though nothing had happened.
"Then let them look," he said lightly.
Eleanor turned her head slightly, eyes narrowing. She understood. Sometimes, allowing yourself to be seen was the best way to conceal something larger.
She stepped back from the balcony, her pace slow and measured. In her mind, the pieces were arranging themselves more clearly. Every glance, every movement, every apparent coincidence all of it was part of the game.
"If they start to suspect something, we'll need to move more carefully," she said.
Arthur lifted a shoulder, following her lead from behind.
"Or we move more boldly," he replied easily.
Eleanor stopped for a moment, then turned back with a smile that was hard to read.
"Bold without calculation only leads to ruin," she said quietly.
Arthur smiled, this time without hiding the interest behind it.
"Good," he said. "Because I have no intention of losing this game."