Her first vision

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.