Chapter 15:

After the terrible news had been given, Saito, Louise and Kirche went to the royal castle to see what information they could gather about the incident, Eléonore had insisted in accompany them, but they refused arguing it was better for her to stay in the house and rest, for that reason she was currently awaiting for their return… calmly, ever since she was a child, she was taught to remain always calm in these kind of situations, sure she couldn't deny she was worried… but panic attacks wouldn't do any good.

Several hours went by, and there were only a few minutes before midnight when Saito and Louise returned to the house… Eléonore was quick to notice they had a terrible atmosphere around them.

"We're back oneesama…"

Louise called for her with a weak voice, maybe she didn't wanted to wake her up if she was asleep, but it sounded more like she didn't want to meet her.

"Chibi Louise, Saito kun… welcome back…"

There was an awkward silence where no one dared to say a word, only Saito had the courage to break it.

"Eléonore san… we found out all we could about the rebellion, and… well… "

Saito took a little pause to order his thoughts, he didn't want to make a mistake.

"The rebellion was carried out yesterday morning, a few hours after your departure to be precise, it seems they closed all lines of communication, and that's why we didn't find out about it until today."

"I see… what about the rebels? Do we know anything about them?" Eléonore remained unfazed, much to the couple surprise.

"Well, it seems some general that goes by the name of Bismarck it's their leader, the rest are just soldiers and officers under his command."

"I see… that general… I always thought there was something suspicious about him… how about the timing, why wait till I was gone?" Eléonore was as calm as ever, her regular frown was still in place and showed no signs of unrest.

"Well… we think it could be the Ostland, you see it's a powerful airship and it was under direct command of the royal family, they could have used it to fight back… but since it was here, nothing could be done… the rebels have already contacted the queen and asked her to give it back. "

Wait did that mean that… the incident was her fault… Eléonore façade was beginning to crumble, despite that you couldn't had guess if you saw her.

"I see… that makes sense… how about our response, are we going to just allow them to do what they want?"

Saito took a long breath.

"Well…Right now Tristain isn't on a position to fight, the army is extremely weakened thanks to all the wars lately, so the queen has decided it is best to take a neutral positions on this affair, other nations had taken the same stand about this problem… so apparently yes, we are going to do nothing."

What? ... Were they really just going to stay there and not do anything? … Wait Eléonore calmed herself, it was the same position all nations took during the Albion civil war, so it shouldn't come as a surprise… 'She had to remain calm', she repeated herself that mantra… because it was the only thing preventing her for breaking down completely.

"I see… what about…" Eléonore took a little pause, she had avoided the following question till now… she was afraid of the answer… but she had to know "what about the royal family? What is known about them?"

Saito made a little pause, he didn't want to be the bearer of bad news, but he had to tell her.

"Well…The king was executed this morning… it seems the rest of the family escaped thanks to the help of several servants, and one of the princes that stayed behind to lure the enemy."

Eléonore had a horrible feeling about this, but she kept repeating her mantra, as long as she remained calm, everything would be alright.

"Eléonore san… the prince that stayed behind… was your husband… and they have already announced the date of his execution… "

As soon as she heard this Eléonore shattered, she tried to control it, she really did, but without her realizing a torrent of tears were descending over her face… she tried to wipe them off, but even more came in their place… when she realized that it was impossible to control her emotions any longer she tried to excuse herself, but no words came out, only little sobs that were becoming more loud and frequent, as her frown dissolved, she ran to her room and locked herself in, she began calling for him… she needed him… that was when she realized… she was in love with him, she was unsure before… but it was clear as water now… that idiot… he had promised to be with her until the end… how could he leave her alone like this… her cries became more and more intense until they were as loud as they could, she kept crying despite there were no more tears coming out… soon she just couldn't stand the pain anymore and passed out in her old bed.

Saito and Louise where still in the living room, they had witnessed Eléonore breakdown and remained quiet as long as they heard her cries in the distance… they both looked at each other with sadness on their faces…. It was only when the cries stopped completely that Louise spoke.

"Saito… I have to ask you a favor."

"No need… I already know what we have to do… I even talked to Kirche and she should be making preparations as we speak, if everything goes smoothly we'll leave tomorrow night."

"Are you sure? … Hime sama ordered us to stay put and even said she would keep an eye on us."

"That didn't stop us when it was about Tabitha and it won't stop us now either."

"'Chuckle'… that's the Saito I love…"

Louise gave Saito a kiss on the lips, soon she would give him more than that… tomorrow they were going to Germania to stop a rebellion, so they might as well enjoy themselves today … by the way she had to admit even though her breasts had increased their size a lot recently, Saito still fondled them with the same love, care and intensity as he always did, he was definitely telling the truth about hers being his favorites…

Later, there was only an hour left to noon when Eléonore woke up, her eyes were red for crying too much, her hair was a mess and she looked terrible overall, as she was trying to fix her appearance there was a knock on the door.

"Onesama… it's me, Louise… mind if I come in."

She unlocked the door and said a little "come in", when she entered Louise was shocked by the state of her sister, she had always looked at her as a role model, a strong woman that would remain cool, calm and collected in the face of adversity no matter how terrible… so seeing her like this… so vulnerable and pitiful was almost heartbreaking, she offered to comb her hair and surprisingly she accepted, when she finished, it was time to inform her of their plan.

"Oneesama… tonight Saito, Kirche and me will be going to Germania to help stop the rebellion…"

Eléonore turned around to face her.

"Ok, I'm going with you."

Now that was easy, she thought that it would be necessary to convince her to even allow them to go and not only she was ok with it but wanted to go too?… "But oneesama, we'll be acting against the queen's orders and…"

Louise stooped as Eléonore glared at her with her regular frown back in place, her eyes had recovered their regular color and there were no traces of the pathetic state she was a few minutes ago… it seemed that her strong and dependable sister was back.

"As a Germanian princess I couldn't care any less about what the queen of Tristain has to say… there is just no way I'm going to stay here while some pathetic old man turns me into a widow, I'm going to stop that stupid rebellion and rescue that good for nothing husband of mine… I have to tell him several important things and he needs to be punished for making me worry about him."

Yep… she was back… and god help us… she was pissed.