Chapter 2

The day after the incident with the boy, Eléonore found herself drinking again in the same bar and talking to the same boy, he had apologized for his behavior the other night an putted the blame on the liquor they had been drinking, usually that wouldn't enough of an apology for her, but… he looked quite sincere and even offered to pay for the drinks that night, since the conversation the other day had been nice before 'that' happened, she accepted his offer and started to talk with him.

After that they began meeting on the bar every day, they weren't planned meetings or anything, they just met without any form of compromise to talk about stuff and have a few drinks; she had found a few things about him, first his name was Alphonse, although he liked to be called Al, second he refused to reveal his status to her, always changing the subject when the topic came in, she had figured out that he was a noble since he carried a wand, but judging by his clothes he wasn't a very outstanding one, third he was indeed a germanian as she suspected, was only in Tristain for a short while and would return to his homeland eventually.

She had noticed that sometimes during their conversation he would drop hints about wanting to become more 'intimate' with her, usually that would earn anyone a punishment horrible enough to never want to try again, yet in her current state Eléonore found the idea of a young boy making passes at her rather… thrilling, even if he was only after what was below her skirt and she had no intention of answering his plea the way he wanted, it actually felt nice to have the attention of a member of the opposite sex for a change.

Truth be told she enjoyed her time with the boy far more than it was appropriate or what she was willing to admit, yet she was completely oblivious of it, always looking for excuses in her mind to justify the fact that she was flirting with a young boy in a bar and enjoyed his almost sad attempts to get into her bed.

Little did Eléonore know that their meetings were improving her mood tremendously and that something like that wouldn't go unnoticed by the people that were the closest to her… Right now in the house of Des Ornières, where Saito and Louise now lived after leaving the magic academy, the two of them were having a little conversation as they were preparing to sleep.

"Louise…"

"What is it Saito?"

"I think your sister is sick"

"Yes Saito Chii neesama is sick, but you knew that already"

"Not her, I mean Eléonore, the other day I found her on the street and she said hi to me"

"… well I guess now that you're going to be a part of the family, Eléonore neesama was just trying to be nice"

"I don't know about that, she even called me by my name and didn't said anything degrading about my status or anything, also the expression on her face was something that almost didn't look like a frown"

"Well… that's…"

"Come on Louise, you know it's weird, Eléonore isn't someone that just tries to be nice all of the sudden or that calls a commoner by his name out of the blue and I bet you never seen her not frowning "

Well to be honest Saito was indeed correct, Eléonore's frown was actually quite famous, when she was little, servants of the Vallière house would all try their best to make her smile, yet not even one of them could make her not frown, it was like her face was glued like that, only when she had a sadistic smile on her face (which meant somebody else was in horrible pain) did her expression changed.

"Ok you have a point…"

"Yeah, do you think… that maybe she found herself a lover?"

"Eléonore neesama… No way!"

"I know, I found it hard to believe too, but there's definitely something that making her 'not frown' and that's the only reason I can think of… wanna find out?"

While Louise knew that getting into her sister affairs may very well bring horrible punishment upon them, she decided to act against her better judgment and accept Saito's proposal, sure curiosity killed the cat… but at least the cat died happy

"Ok, let's do it"

"Perfect, tomorrow we'll follow her after she goes out of her work to find out"

"Ok"

After that the two love birds joined in the bed to enjoy themselves, sure they had agreed to wait until marriage before actually 'doing it' (by Saito's request surprisingly) but that didn't mean they couldn't play around with each other.

The next day the couple followed Eléonore around without her noticing, after leaving her work she started to walk rather eagerly towards a place Louise and Saito knew quite well…

"The Charming Faeries Inn… ok just what in the world could Eléonore neesama be looking for in a place like this" Louise just couldn't believe where her sister just went into

"I just hope she doesn't work here" Seriously the thought of Eléonore dressed in one of the uniforms they used at this place was enough to make Saito ill.

After sharing a moment of doubt the couple looked at each other, gave themselves a little nod and went in, once inside they quickly sneaked into the back of the place in order to tell Scarron about their mission.

After explaining the situation, Scarron had immediately known about which person they were talking about (not many women visited his establishment after all) and quietly guided them to a place where they could spy on her, once there, they couldn't be more surprised to find Eléonore and a boy considerably younger than her in what seemed to be a date…

"To be honest Elle chan, your glasses suit you like a glove, they give you this whole mature aura that's pretty attractive"

"See that's exactly why I wear them, I always thought they looked good on me… but they are mainly just for show since my eyesight is not that bad and lately I'm starting to think they make me look… old"

"Let me see…" After saying those words the boy moved closer towards her, removed her glasses, took a good look at her face, put them back on and moved back to his original place.

"You look the same with or without them... great"

'Elle chan'?!, somebody actually called her sister like that and wasn't dead and buried in the following seconds… and what about him touching her face without warning… or consequences, she couldn't do that if she wanted to and she was her little sister.

"I don't know Al… maybe I just want to change something about myself"

"Why? You are perfect the way you are, I wouldn't change anything about you at all"

Eléonore blushed slightly and said a little "Shut up" before moving on with their conversation, a gesture that reminded Saito of whenever he tried to give Louise a compliment.

As the night progressed both Saito and Louise continued spying on them and the more they listened the more they convinced themselves of what they thought was impossible, Eléonore de la Vallière the untouchable ice queen… was actually falling for someone.