Chapter 581

The tears Eleanor had been holding back finally spilt over without warning. One glistening drop slid down her cheek—quiet, uninvited, and unrelenting. But she wasn’t the only one crying. Charles was crying, too. Eleanor's breath caught. His head remained bowed, his face angled toward the floor, but the trembling of his shoulders was unmistakable. His eyes, once so cold and unreadable, were now red-rimmed, glistening with the same grief she’d long tried to bury. Eleanor stared, stunned, her own eyes widening as disbelief flickered across her face. Charles. Crying. She couldn’t remember the last time she'd seen him cry. Had she ever? For all his pride, his composure, his unshakable exterior—this moment stripped everything bare. And what remained was a young man crumbling under the weight of loss. Her little brother. "You—" The word came out choked and broken, and then... nothing. She had no idea how to comfort him. Her hands twitched at her sides, useless. Her mouth opened, but no more w