"Birds of a feather flock together"

"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? Because that in itself is a miracle, even us witches didn't know how to undo the curse..."

"Yes, of course I will tell you about that later. Although, it may look like a miracle in other's eyes but it was out of pure luck if you ask me."

"No! believe me, there is no luck in every single things that happened to you and I will tell you the reason."

Lise looked at Eleanor's eye with a serious yet nervous expression, she seemed to have great difficulty in expressing her thoughts. To Eleanor it looked like what Lise was hiding weighed on her mind a lot and she didn't want to get her in that state of mind. But nevertless, she needed answers and the woman in front of her probably knew a lot more than anyone else did. After pondering for a while, Lise cleared her voice and said,

"It may be difficult to believe but there's a secret known only by a few trusted witches. And...to protect that secret we had to hide not only from human but also from evil witches."

"Human and evil witches alike? why? what do they want? and....what is that secret?"

"That secret....concern you Eleanor,...you see..." As she was about to continu telling her story the sound of high heels interrupted them. Someone, supposedly a woman came toward their cell, and the identity of that person made Eleanor frown her forehead because she knew that the woman visiting them will give her headaches. It was Valeria, and her disgusted expression made it clear that she wasn't here for good reason.

'It seem like this one isn't pleased by the fact that my head is still on my shoulder or that my body isn't burning up yet..' Eleanor thought, while waiting for the vicious woman to spit on them her venomous talk.

Valeria looked at them with her face showing all the disdain she felt toward them and after a mean smirk left her mouth she said,

"What do we have here, seem like you too quickly became friend...Hehe! But that's no wonder since they say that birds of a feather flock together."

The two girl in the cell decided to ignore her provocation which irritated Valeria even more. She made an irritated face and continued,

"You think that you can keep been disrespectful toward me? do you think that you are still a "guest" favored in this palace...humph! You stupid bitch will soon meet your end, I wonder if you will still have this calm expression at that time."

'Humm, It doesn't look like this woman will leave anytime soon. So, it is best to confront her so that she will go away. We don't have the time for her childish play.' A sigh left Eleanor's lips as she thought that and then she got up from her seat and went near Valeria. With the cell bars between them, Eleanor looked straight at her eyes and replied,

"I was wondering why you always had this much hostilities toward me, but look like it is because of jealousy.....humm, such an ugly feeling."

Eleanor's assumption seem to be right on the mark seeing as Valeria's expression became dark from anger. With her eyes glaring at Eleanor she replied while stuttering,

"Whaa~ what did you say?!

"Well, it seem so obvious, I mean your feelings... but unfortunately for you it look like Francis doesn't care about it at all."

"Shut up! you hideous witch...You think that you will keep smiling much longer? I wonder what expression you will show when you will be burning alive. I am sure that deep inside you must be scared to dead. Hehe!"

"Well, about that you keep saying when I will be beheaded or when I will be burned...But as you can see I am still alive and your dear emperor still didn't gave his order about this matter. So, what do you think? maybe he is delaying it because he doesn't want to kill me." Eleanor replied to her with a bright smile on her face so that it will anger the woman facing her even more.

And as she expected Valeria flared up in anger and tried to grab Eleanor's hair through the bars cell, but Eleanor moved faster and dodged her sudden hysterical attack.

"woah!....calm down miss, this is so unladylike coming from a noble, haha! Never thought that I would see such a good show in this isolated basement. True is I was feeling bored. Please continue your little fight it is sooo fun!" Lise was clapping her hands from behind while looking at the scene and smiling misheviously. She knew that Eleanor intended to shame the angry woman and chase her out of the basement so that they could talk in peace.

Valeria tightened her grip on her dress and while looking at them with the same disgusted expression she said,

"Keep acting like that and I will make sure that you will meet your end sooner than you would expect. Also, I am pretty sure that no one will miss you." Before turning her back to leave, she stopped and continued,

"Ah,....I nearly forgot, you will soon be served dinner. Heh! It may be your last so be sure to enjoy it."

As soon as she finished her talk she left the cell. while leaving, Eleanor looked at her back absentmindedly, lost in her thoughts.

'Francis....I wonder what he is thinking right now. Maybe I should have tried explaining..sigh! what am I even saying, it was useless, he didn't want to listen and he didn't even care...As long as I am a witch, he will never look my way and will forever despise me.' She shut her eyes with a pained expression and then while looking at Lise with unwavering eyes she said,

"Seem like we don't have much time, we will have to continue our talk after we manage to escape the palace. Lise can I trust you?"

"Of course you can trust me! But why are you rushing? What is going on?"

"That woman, I don't think that she is up to something good so just trust me and follow my lead."

"Okay, I understand what you mean, she didn't look normal to me two...She looks scarier that evil witch.."

"Pfffhahah! that's indeed true! heh!"

They burst into laughter together for a while and the guard outside thought that they were quiet brazen and brave to laugh in their situation. The suspicion Eleanor had toward Valeria wasn't purely out of instinct. While she was absent minded early, she saw a vision of what that woman was planning to do to their dinner and even more. Hence, she decided that since no one would help or believe her, the best option would be to leave sooner.