"Let's start with your name." I initiated the conversation. "Can you still remember it?"

"I know my name you doofus!" The maiden growled.

"What is it then?" I said cautiously. She might go berserk again and who-knows-what she could do. Back then I dreamed to speak and talk to her for hours. Turns out I got more than what I bargained for.

"It's Jeanne." An unexpectedly sweet voice replied. I was quite shocked and enamoured that a fierce Amazon like her was endowed with such a delicate voice!

"What a lovely name." I joked. "For a sharp witted shrew."

"Don't preach." Jeanne snapped. She spoke more like a battle-hardened warrior than a pampered princess. "You're not a saint either. You're a pervert! You dressed me in this scanty, sultry outfit! Gods! It made me shiver to think that you're secretly lusting for my body!"

"You didn't have any clothes on when I first saw you." I said honestly.

Jeanne's face turned red from embarrassment. "Well then I should thank you for dressing me accordingly."

"Where did you come from?" I diverted the topic. I did not want to make her feel awkward. She might not speak to me later.

"I came from Gaul." She replied calmly. I hope her good temper would last.

"Gaul?" I was in disbelief. "You're the legendary Princess Jeanne of Gaul? I thought you were just a myth."

"I'm real alright." She said curtly. "What makes me so legendary?"

"I have read about you. Every history book here in Rome has your story!" I walked towards a bookshelf and scanned a dozen history books. Their authors ranged from Tacitus to Pliny the Elder. I chose the Historiae by Tacitus and gave it to her. "See for yourself."

"This has to be some kind of joke." In curiosity Jeanne flipped the pages until she found the chapter solely dedicated for her.


Princess Jeanne of Gaul (circa 218-201?)

Not much is known about her. She is a woman shrouded in mystery. She was the youngest daughter of the King of Gaul. She was renowned for her linguistic talents, particularly in Latin. A notable feature about her is her peculiar golden hair and sapphire like eyes.

Jeanne was captured along with her mother and siblings upon the fall of Gaul. However the latter escaped by killing the guards with a piece of broken pottery. She sought sanctuary from her allies, the Britons and had possibly trained in their way of battle. After a year she had reappeared again, sacking the provinces of Rome in an alarming rate. Her uprising was seen as a dangerous threat to Rome's wellbeing.

Thousands of legions were sent to quell her before she could garner more power. To the Emperor's surprise they were able to crush her army with ease. The rebels had lost their morale and fled. A few captives had stated that their leader- the princess had disappeared.

The Emperor sent multiple bounty hunters all over the empire to capture her, dead or alive. None came back successful. Princess Jeanne was never found again. It seems she had simply been erased from existence. She was only seventeen summers old.

Multiple theories had risen to explain her disappearance. Some stated that the Emperor kidnapped her and secretly made her his concubine. She was said to be extremely beautiful. To avoid the growing suspicion of the Empress, the Emperor had pretended to send bounty hunters for her head. Others theorized that she simply grew weary of battle and had lived out her days in an abbey as a nun. A more farfetched story is that she had bathed in the River Pactolus and was instantaneously changed into gold. Curiously her soldiers were stationed in the bank of the said river.

Up to this day no one can know for sure. Her mysterious disappearance and her deeds had become a material for legends.


"Well." Jeanne clasped the book shut. "The last theory was damn right. And now I'm stuck in the wrong timeline because of that stupid river."

"Don't you think it's a work of Fate that we met?"

"Work of Fate?" Jeanne said sarcastically. "For what? Being turned into gold and ending up in the Emperor's showcase?"