"..."
The man didn't utter a word and looked at her puzzled. His golden eyes keep on scruting her from head to toes thus making Eleanor restless.... Still she keep on talking to him to be sure that he was okay,
"I found you in front of this cabin door unconcious, seem like you were poisoned and wounded by sword on the right side of your belly...but rest assured I took care of you. In a few day your wound will heal and I cleared the poison from your body."
"Ha! poison hein, no wonder I thought that my body feel heavy", said the man with his clear voice, as she thought his voice was as manly as he was and cold too, like the glare of his golden eyes that was piercing trought her.
"By the way, who are you?" asked the guest while staring at her suspiciously.
"My name is Eleanor because of some unfortunate situation, I lost my way like you in this forest. And you sir, may I ask who you are?" She replied while smiling although he was glaring at her.
"...I don't see why I should answer that to a stranger." He answered while glaring at her.
A smirk left her mouth and after a moment she answered him with a voice that expressed her annoyance.
"For your information, I was the one who saved you from dead... also seeing the situation, I could have left you to die in this forest and let all kind of beast eat you alive. I am trying to be polite here, is that how you should thanks your savior?"
He frowned his eyesbrow, sighed while combing his deshelved hair with his hand in a frustrated manner and finally replied,
"I am Francis Keins Klaus...and for the trouble I will reward you handsomely. By the way, I didn't get in this forest without knowing of it story like some idiot... I juste had to hide and the forest was the best option."
"What? idiot?! smirk, let me remind you something dear, this forest is no better than the killer that were after you. Since you knew it sooo well you should have been smart enough to think about a way to escape from this place now, right?!"
He didn't answer to her provocation and instead, looked at her with an expression that looked like he was thinking about something. No more words left his mouth, he only keep on staring with his beautiful golden eyes and was admiring her rebelious behavior and appearance. Eleanor was clearly feeling bothered by his constant gaze, so to avoid it she continued to read her witch book, while doing her best to not look his way. While flipping the pages, she concentrated on the page that was explaining the differents spells for various circumstance...
Francis keep on looking at her with intriguing expression, he was thinking that it was weird that this woman didn't seem to be afraid of his intimidating gaze. And of course, it is quiet weird for him to encounter a person like her since people often avoided looking straight at his eyes. Well, she didn't seem like your average person either with her long lustrous silky bright blonde hair that was close to white sometimes and her eyes supported by her long eyelash that keep glancing at him, was clear as a beautiful blue sky. She is a rare beauty but still he keep his distance, he thought to himself that he should be careful with people like those, whose behavior was out of ordinary for him. Because if he survived in this world up to this day, it is while knowing that trusting in other was a foolish thing that will bring a man to his dead quicker. He was sure of one thing, for him people will always have some ulterior motive, even if this woman didn't seem to know who he was for now, she will still regard him with greed at some point. That's why he always keep that cold and heartless expression since his young age.
While reading Eleanor discovered something and at first it seemed weird for her to be able to understand this witch langage but she knew that in this moment it could come in handy. In the book she found a spell that is used to help one find his way, after been sure of that Eleanor suddenly rose from her sit and ran out. Francis surprised of her sudden behavior tried to talk to her, but she was already out and he couldn't move as he wanted for the time been.
Eleanor stood out of the cabin and began reading the spell, she was not a witch but for some reason she feel like reading it. And as expected as soon as she finished reading aloud the spell, she saw a trail of a light golden thread that was leading to a direction. She wasn't sure about of it but she thought and deeply hoped that this would lead her to the way out of this infamous forest. After getting aware of what this could mean for them who were stuck in this forest, excitement got the better of her and she shouted,
"No wayy!! then I can really do this kind things." Her expression showing how amazed and excited she was. But the cold and deep voice of the man who was supposed to be resting in the cabin made her turn around from surprise.
"What kind of things?!", said the man standing at the door of the cabin, his right hand on his wound and his eyes expressing his coldness and lack of trust in her.
"Oh you can already move? I don't recommend it though you need to rest...But, this is for the best, we have to quickly get out of this forest", she said while ignoring his question and gaze and returned in the cabin to take her bag.
"And how do you intend on doing that? this forest is not a normal one as you said previously and I don't really trust what you are saying." He replied looking at her go past him.
"I don't know how you people are thinking but in my case I don't want to die in this forest so it is up to you to stay here or not...you see, you are not the only one who is suspicious of the other. I don't have the habit of trusting people I just meet either. Also, I don't really have the time to idly stay in this forest so, are you coming or not?" she looked at him with an expressionless face but deep inside she was feeling nervious because of the new discovery and she didn't want other to know about it.
".....okay, but let me warn you if you do anything that is suspicious I will not show any mercy even if you are a woman." He said with a piercing glare.
Eleanor thought while looking at his face 'This man I wonder who he is for him to be so wary of even the person who saved his life' and replied,
"sigh! yes! yes! your highness now let's go please."
After half an hour of walking they got out of the forest safely and they could finally feel relieved but that was before another problem occured.
"Hein?! what did you just say? you recently discovered that you were a witch? how is that possible?" Lise had a surprised expression while saying that and looked at Eleanor with her eyes wide from curiosity."Ah well, I cannot tell you all my story but the main point is that, I was in the cursed forest when I meet the emperor and found a book that belonged to a witch. There was many spells and all kinds of things inside. But I could understand what was written in the book and when I tried to read aloud a spell, it immediately worked. Thanks to that, we were able to escape the forest safely.""The cursed forest.....So, that's were you found out about you been a witch?! is that it?" Lise looked absent minded while saying those words as if her mind was elsewhere."Yes, why do you ask?"When Eleanor asked that question, Lise snapped out of her thoughts and answered,"Well, that is because of my reason for being her...Also, can you tell me the spell you used to get out of the forest? Becau
If someone asked if there was a way to escape the imperial palace's heavily guarded jail, then the answer will obviously be negative. Each cell in the basement of the imperial palace was designed to be unbreakable and without a way out. In addition to that, they made sure that it was guarded by a lot of knights night and day when there was a criminal locked up. It wasn't common to see someone locked inside the prison of the imperal palace, because the empire already had a big jail used to imprison all kind of criminals. Only the most evil one or those who attempted to assassinate the imperial family were locked in the imperial jail until the execution day. And of course, without fail, all the people residing in the imperial palace knew that every person that stepped their foots on the imperial jail would undeniably die by the next few days. That's why the palace was noisy from all the workers gossiping about the fact that the young woman named Eleanor, who was treated like a princess
Escorted by Val and Sebastian, Eleanor didn't feel like a criminal because despite knowing her identity they treated her Kindly, contrary to how they treated the witch locked in the basement. As soon as they left Francis's office, she saw Miel worried sick with a face full of tears.With a faint smile, Eleanor thought that she was truly kind to still worry about her even though she heard the fact that she was a witch.'She must have overheard the conversation but still she is worrying about me and crying for my sake. You are the first human that I thought of as a friend.' She looked at her and took her hand before saying,"Miel, you don't need to worry, I am okay.....everything will be fine. You know, after I came here I always felt out of place and I worried that I wouldn't be able to get used to this place....But thank to you Miel and Elise and Anne, though short I liked my stay here. For that I want to thank you since
At that moment Eleanor felt a great loss, something inside her broke. It wasn't like she felt all that because of the witch's sad fate but because of the fact that she saw herself in her place. She imagined how they would look at her,....how he would look at her if he knew her identity.The simple thought of seeing him reject her or condemn her, hurt her more than she could fantom. But despite her fear, she believed that something must be done in order to save an innocent life. She looked at him for what seemed like an eternity and thougth,'Do you have to go this far?....must it end up like this? I don't want to make thing hard for you, I get what you must have went through. That's why I wouldn't mind it if you cursed at me for the things I am gonna do. It is okay, I am willing to be the bad guy here...maybe one day you will understand what I meant while doing this.'Thinking that the meeting ended Sebastian and Val were
Eleanor couldn't read in Francis's mind, he was indecipherable and his expression didn't show his inner thought. So, she was worried that behind those cold eyes, an inreversible decision may be pronounced and change the course of fate. She prayed deep inside that he would resolve the matter without killing anyone.'Please Francis! don't take that path, it will only end up hurting others and you too...' she tried to forward him those thoughts while looking at him with a sad expression. She couldn't understand his hatred toward witches and wondered why he felt that way toward them.Then suddenly, she saw an image of a young boy who looked like Francis standing at the same place she stood, looking at a man sitting on Francis's office. As she looked at the young boy that was nearly 12 year old, she reconized the familiar golden eyes and dark blue hair. He was looking firmly at the man behind the office desk, standing straigh like a soldier.
He looked at her sharply as he asked her that question. She didn't react to it because she knew that Francis and his closest friends were all smart enough to figure out the tiniest change in her expression. Hence, with a calm tone she answered,"Back then, my grand mother told me all kinds of stories..." Before she could finish, Valeria burst in laughter and said mockingly,"Pfff!Haha! Are you saying that you were telling us child's stories, right now?!This is ridicilous, you are wasting our times""Well, I don't really care about your time miss, but if you could refrain from interrupting me, that would be helpful." At her reply, Alphonse and Sebastian were having a hard time hidding their laughter, it infuriated Valeria who felt mocked."Whaa?!.." Before she could retort Eleanor continued,"She once got a gift by a wandering traveler, it was a book about the witches. I love reading a lot so my gran