The sky became cloudy, it started to rain and there was a lot of thunder. the rumble of the thunder became more intense and it scared Eleanor who closed the window and squeezed tightly her hands on her arms and slightly trembled. Francis noticed and thinking that she was freezing, he handed her his coat. She didn't want to show him her fear of the thunder, so she took his coat in order to make him believe it was out of coldness that she was trembling.
They keep on moving forward even in that rain and Eleanor thought that while they were safe in the carriage, the knights outside must have it hard. Being out in the rain and having to support the cold. And while she was thinking about the knight's situation, she suddently saw an image of the carriage being destroyed by a tree struck by the lightning of a thunder. That vision was quick, so she didn't understand what was happening, and holded her head with her hands because of the headaches. In the vision, she saw them passing in front of a big rock. After that the accident that hurt many knights occured, 'even this guy was hurt while protecting me in the carriage, even if he is so full of himself and annoying I don't want that to happen to him.' She thought with a worried expression on her face. She wasn't sure that what she saw in the vision would happen, but when they were near a the big rock from the window, without thinking she screamed,
"Stop! stop the carriage now! please!!!"
Francis who keep an eye on Eleanor after he gave her the coat, immediately made them stop the carriage. He saw that she was holding her head and thought that she may be feeling unwell. He reached her and said,
"what's wrong? are you okay?are you feelin..!!!"Before he could finish what he was saying, they were startled by the big thunder that struck a tree, a few meter away from them.
The tree fell on the road followed by the loud noise from a thunder, and fortunately no one was hurt, only the horses were agitated because of the thunder that scared them. The knights all feel relieved that they stopped moving, if it weren't for their master's order they would have been in trouble.
Francis, startled by the lightning immediately went to protect her with his body. After checking that everything was okay, he sat near her and asked the knight with the scar about the situation.
"what happened? are there any casualties?"
"No, thanks to your order to stop the carriage, we are all safe. If it weren't for your order to stop, there would have surely been a lot of injuried knights in this instant.Even the carriage could have been stricken by the tree."
"I see,...okay secure the road quickly, we can not stay longer on the rain."
"Yes your majesty." Replied the knight, then he turned around and went to command the others to clean up the road.
Francis was still sitting beside Eleanor, and with his hand he grab her shin to make her look his way and then he asked her,
"Why did you stop the carriage?"
While gazing at his eyes and feeling shy of his shameless act, she replied with an awkward smile
"I just feel nauseated, tha-that's why! haha!"
"You didn't know about the thunder?"
"No! obviously I didn't know, but even if it was a coincidence...I am happy that no one got hurt."
'Was it really a coincidence?! but the timing and all...it couldn't be. It was like she screamed while knowing about what was about to happen.' He thougth and keep his eyes on her, narrowing at the same time their distance. She blushed and averted her eyes, at her reaction he got aware of what he did and returned to his sit embarassed.
"I am sorry...about just now, I was just thinking about something." He said while clearing his throat.
"Oh! it is okay and thank you for trying to protect me your majesty."
He frowned his forehead at the word 'majesty' he hear from her and said,
"Why don't you just call me like you did in the forest."
"How could I...you are the emperor."
"That didn't bother you though in the forest".
"That was because!....I didn't know who you were."
'Ha! she is getting annoyed, cute!' He thought while hiding his amused expression.
"Well, now I allow you to call me like that." He said with a smile in his face.
"What about you, you keep calling me woman or you... that's rude you know."
"You are right. Eleanor, I will call you that so call me as you did before."
After hearing him say her name, she slightly went red and thought, ' he didn't forget my name, I wonder why but it make me happy for some reason.' Then she replied quietly, "Okay, I will do that sir Francis."
Francis tilted his head and thought 'why was I bothered by her calling me 'your majesty'? It was never a problem when others called me like that. But when she did it, it annoyed me because it was like she was trying to put a wall between us.' He was weirdly happy to hear her say his name with that sweet voice of her.
They finally arrived to the palace and Francis let the knights take a break for the rest of the day. After the work they did in their way back, they deserved that much. They went in and Eleanor was stunned by the palace in front of her eyes. After she got out of the carriage she keep on looking right and left, admiring the magnificent architecture of the imperial palace.
Francis chuckled and said, "You will have all the time you want to visit the palace, so for now can we go in and rest? I don't know for you but I am really tired."
"Oh! sorry, yes of course let's go." She said with an embarrassed face.
He instructed the head maid of the palace to take care of Eleanor and after telling her to rest, he went away with his knight.
Eleanor was guided to a spacious and beautifully decorated chamber, the wall was painted in light blue with detailed patterns printed on it. She liked her bedroom very much, it was like she was in a dream, she rushed toward the balcony and enjoyed the view while the maid assigned to her, prepared a bath.
After she refreshed herself, Eleanor had her dinner in her chamber, since Francis had a lot of work to finish, he couldn't have dinner with her, and that made her feel gloomy. Even if she was well treated by the maids, Francis was the only human she knew so she feel secure when he was beside her. That made her feel contradicted, knowing how much his attitude annoyed her.
'It was a really tough day, but since I have meet him, my days were filled with unexpected and weird things.' She thought as she lay down on the bed and quietly feel asleep.
It was morning, you could see the first rays of the sun through the window, and hear the singing of little birds. the bed feel really good to Eleanor who wasn't used to this kind of luxurious life, it was smooth like cloud so she wanted to stay in bed longer.But her sweet moment was interrupted by the step of the maids that rushed in to prepare her for breakfast. They took out of the wardrobe a light pink dress with laces around the chest and the waist, it was a simple yet beautiful dress. One of the maid carefully combed her hair and was making a braid, the other maids excitedly decorated her hair with little flowers accessory. As they were busy making Eleanor pretty, they chatted with her and covered her with praise about her beauty and the unique color and softness of her hair.Their eyes was sparking with joy and excitement, so Eleanor was embarassed and befriended them easily. Since she wasn't a noble, she didn't see the need to keep distance with p
In the office, Francis was immersed in his work, organizing all the documents related to the empire's affaire and all kind of requests. Between every documents he signed, he thought about Eleanor's reaction and a smile appeared on his face. He keep thinking that she was an odd one, because for him womans were sophisticated and elegant, in short 'artificial'. It was like they always played a role and were acting every word they were spewing to him. He didn't mind it since he only spent time with them to play around but it irritated him when they were clinging to him. Compared to them Eleanor was different, she was honest and maybe too honest some times. She doesn't know how to hide her feeling. It was a first but he found it adorable that he could read her like a book.Someone knock the office door and after getting Francis's permission to enter, a man appeared. He was radically tall not as much as Francis though, and he had scarlet red hair and clea
Eleanor was peacefully strowling in the imperial garden, while trying to figure out her thoughts. 'If I recall all the events that happened, I can say that I am quite lucky to still breath. And on top of that, I am well treated by them even though I am not their acquaintance, but I can not let my guard down after all he is a royalty.' Eleanor keep thinking while looking at the beautiful flowers for a moment, then while walking and being absent minded she suddenly tripped on something and fell."Ouch!...What the hell was that....ah!" She paintefully uttered after opening her eyes from the fall, and saw herself lying on top of an unknown man.He looked calm, and had a look of someone that was just awakened. His hair was dark and fell on his forehead, and he had intense dark blue eyes. He was handsome but had a kind of a familiar aura around him that keep people at a distance. After staring at her for a while he said,"Do y
"Francis, you are misunderstanding the situation here. I am the one at fault not Lea,....I went too far with the joke, I just wanted to tease you a little, but did you really need to yell at her like that?!" Shouted Alphonse toward Francis who was finishing his fifth glass of wine."This doesn't concern you, and what I told her was the truth, it had nothing to do with your situation in the garden....I don't care about what happened between you.""Are you kidding me?! we all saw that you released your anger on her, because of what I said. Don't try to fool me, I know you better than anyone." Alphonse said, after loosening the tight tie around his neck."So what?! even if you pushed me to my angry state, it doesn't change the fact that I thought every last words I told her.""But why? Lea is a good girl though, and you know that, I saw on your face that you don't hate her.""STOP CALLING H
He pondered for a while in front of her door, then after gathering his thought, he knocked on the door."Yes, come in.""Ah...Sorry to have come unexpectedly....."After entering her room, he was stunned and interrupted what he was about to say. Eleanor was standing absent minded in the terrace with her elbows on the balcony ledge, her hair fluttering in the air and eyes closed.'No wonder his majesty said that she fell from the sky, she look like an angel.' He thought, as his eyes didn't leave her figure in the balcony.The one who answered the door was her maid so he told the maid,"Tell the lady that I would like to have a talk with her, it is about the investigation. I will be waiting in the garden terrace.""Yes Sir, I will tell the miss." Miel replied while bowing her head.Then, Sebastian left
Meanwhile, Francis was coming out of a meeting with the most prominent nobles that were in charge of a lot of territory around the empire. After the formal meeting where he listened to their reports and gave many instructions, he went toward his office because of the mountains of work that were waiting for him. He thougth about how Sebastian was doing his investigation and asked Val who is the man with the scar and the commander of the knights,"Did you see Sebastian?""No, but the last time I saw him, he said that he was going to meet the lady.""I see,...what about that stupid count Silvio, after the attemps he plotted against me, did he show himself in Oasius?""Yes, Sir Alphonse send us another report about this matter. We are still following him to find out about his other accomplices.""He still think that I disappeared?""Yes, that seem to be the case but he still didn't go to any nobles's house.""Heh! The bastard's cauti
"Now, can you tell me why this happened?!" Francis threw those cold words at Sebastian while clenching his fist with his back facing Sebastian and Val as he looked outside the Window in his office."I...I was having a conversation with lady Eleanor about where she lived up to now. And I confirmed that she did not lie by using the magical stone, but I am sorry I didn't think that it would affect her in this way.""And who told you to use that on her for the investigation?" He shouted while controling the anger rising within him."I thought that, it would certify us about her innocence..that's why I used it.....I am sorry if I stepped over my boundaries.""Yes you did go over your limits Sebastian! I never doubted her innocence, but I let you do as you wanted so that you would believe her and it seem like I made the wrong choice.""...But your majesty the location of her hometown is still unclear and.
"...!!!!"Francis slowly approached Eleanor and gently touched her lips, he looked at her in the eyes and she went blanc with her eyes wide open from the unbelievable action of Francis. Then with a sly smirk on his face, he continued and kissed her again, but this time the kiss was long and he did it passionately. His hand left her shin and caressed her cheek.At his hand's touch on her cheek, Eleanor regained consciousness and separated from him abruptly."Waaa...You!...What was that?!""Have you never saw a kiss? I mean have you never been kissed?" He said with a smile on his face as if he was ridiculing her lack of experience."No, I never saw it....well...I mean..." She replied honestly and then after getting aware of her confused state of mind she got angry and continued,"Wait that's not the question!....I asked, why did you do that?!"