truth and lie

"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 HER LEA!! suddenly shouted Francis with his eyes turning red, and continued,

"You don't know her, even I don't know her so Alphonse mark my word and keep your distance from her.." He uttered with his fist clenching in anger.

"...Let me just remind you of one thing, rejecting people wouldn't make you feel any better either Francis, I am worried about you. Just try and resolve this situation with her, before you regret it some day. Because I know how much it pain you inside, when you regret doing thing you didn't mean toward others, and it eat you up even more when it is toward those you care for." He said, after getting up from his sit and leaning near Francis's ear, so that only he could hear it.

Then Alphonse exited the dining room and went back to his house, before going, he told to a maid to deliever a letter to Eleanor.

Francis was sitting on his bed and thought about the talk he had with his brother. 'why did I get so angry, I was always used to Alphonse's way of joking but when it was about her...I'

"Sigh! I need some fresh air"

He got up and went to the balcony in his room to get some air, while looking at the night sky and feeling the fresh and agreable wind on his skin he slowly calmed down. While feeling the wind, he thought about Eleanor's words 'I went to get some fresh air' and closed his eyes after remembering the sad expression on her face when he yelled at her...

"It annoys me to admit it, but he was right, I did go too far..."

Eleanor could not sleep at all that night and was punching the sheet in anger and frustration.

"This annoying, stupid, idiot..infuriating and mean emperor, and I am even more stupid. Why am I getting sad and surprised about this, I should know better than anyone how those of the royal family always acted.....But at some point, I thought that he was different."

She muttered with frustration, and looked at the letter that a maid put on the nightstand while saying it was from sir Alphonse. She took the letter and read it ' Dear Lea, I am terribly sorry for what happened at dinner, I made Francis angry and that unfortunate situation occurred. I will come back to see you, until then take care of yourself.' She finished to read the letter, and felt Alphonse's kindness, 'he didn't want me to felt troubled, and apologized even though he wasn't at fault' She thought, and closed the letter before putting it back on the nightstand. Then, tired from her rough day, she closed her eyes to sleep.

In the morning, Francis ate his breakfast alone after the butler told him that Eleanor did not want to eat. He instructed the butler to take her breakfast upstairs to her room and quietly finished his food.

Since she couldn't sleep much, she didn't have much of an appetite and left most of the food untouched. Then, the doctor came and they decided to have their talk over a nice cup of tea in the balcony.

After drinking his tea Cain introduced himself and enthusiastically began talking about the poison.

"Miss Eleanor, can you tell me since when you began your study in medical field?"

"Since I was very young,....where I came from, those with the talent to heal other are rare, so when they spotted one, they trained him from his childhood age." Said Eleanor with a bitter look, after remembering unpleasant memory.

"That's the first time I hear this, and where is that place you came from? because it is unusual to see this kind of education...."

"Yeah, you are right, it is uncommon that's why you wouldn't want to know where that place is sir Cain." Said Eleanor as she smiled uncomfortably.

He guessed her unwillingness to talk about that subject, and didn't ask further.

"I understand, then about the poison can you tell me how you knew the cure to dispel it?"

"Every poison have their symptoms and this one paralyze a man before killing him, but before that happen the tip of a man's toes and fingers become white, that's how I figured which poison it was."

"Ohhh! I see, and can you tell me the ingredient of the cure you used for this poison." Said Francis while taking note.

"Yes of course, it is simply the mix of two medicinal herb, I will write it for you and also I took with me some of them from where I came, I will hand some of it to you."

"Thank you very much, that would be really helpful but where did you get them?"

"In Elhei....Ah, I mean where I came from we farm different medical herb for many use."

'.....I almost told him about Elheim, I should be careful and finish this conversation.' She thought, while trying to stay calm.

"humm....I see, thanks for answering all of my questions miss Eleanor. Why don't you come and look around at my office and garden, I grow many medical herbs."

"I will do that, thanks for the invitation, and I will also write about others poison's cure I know about, and hand it to you, the next time I visit your office."

"Ah, that will be wonderful, then I will look forward to seeing you again, miss Eleanor."

Cain kissed the back of Eleanor's hand and returned to his office. She stayed stunned by the kiss on the hand she received from the doctor, and thought about how this carefree doctor with green eyes and brown hair that fell on his shoulder, was attentive to her since he didn't ask her any question that bothered her. She drank her tea in the balcony and her eyes was looking at a far distance, absent minded. 'Elias, I wonder how he is doing, I didn't even tell him farewell when I left like that and his voice still echoes in my head.' She thought with a teary eyes.

Francis was reading a book in his office while drinking tea, he tried to forget all his thoughts about Eleanor that tormented him. After a knock on the door, Sebastian came in and said as he cleared his voice,

"Francis, I did the investigation and it is really weird but we couldn't find anything about her."

Francis put down his cup and said,

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we looked everywhere and we asked about her identity, and even tracked down her trail, but before the forest it is like she didn't live anywhere in the empire. It is like she fell from the sky."

"Stop spewing nonsense Sebastian, what about in the other side of the cursed forest?"

"We couldn't go inside the forest to check that, but we have heard that, on the other side there is only mountains, nothing more."

"This is weird, how can a person appears out of nowhere." Said Francis, with a troubled expression.

"There is only one way to figure that out your majesty, we must interrogate her." Said Sebastian with a firm tone, showing his suspicions about her.

"Do it, but don't make her uncomfortable and stay respectful toward her."

"Of course, after all she saved your life, that's the least I could do." He said, then bowed and left the room.

'How is it possible to not find any information on a person....It is like she came from an unknown place or, did she really fell from the sky?' He thought as he closed his book and drank his tea.

Sebastian was standing in from of Eleanor's room and he had a purple magical stone in his hand. He looked at the stone and thought, 'he told me to interrogate her, so it wouldn't cause any problems, if I take this in case she doesn't want to talk.'