"Aurea is so scary when she’s in the zone."
"What did she do this ti?"
Ingela and Yaci are happily chatting as we take our first breakfast in the liberated city of Beaudorf. They are holding hands and very close to each other, which is once again throwing my heart into disarray.
"She ordered us to take the Marquess’ wife to the throne room, with baby in hands. And then manipulated him into thinking that she would kill the two of them."
"Oh? And what did he do then?"
I cough ’discreetly’ to catch their attention.
"I’m not saying anything bad about you, Aurea. I’m just telling her what happened."
"You could at least do it when I’m not here to hear you. It’s embarrassing."
"Oh, but now I’m curious, what did you do, Aurea?"
"Not much, actually. I just showed her the deep truth of what her husband thought about her."
"And made that woman pass the verdict sentencing him to death herself."
"He had it coming. We would’ve killed him anyway. And she did the right thing. I just empowered her to overthrow her own abuser, ending a loop of regret and self-loathing."
I don’t think I did anything wrong. I might have gone a bit overboard, but the nature of what I did was what needed to be done.
I’m tired. I want this war to end so I can simply sit down and enjoy life a little bit.
An officer enters the hall and calls my na. A way of the world to remind that all this hasn’t ended yet.
"Yes?"
"The remaining Blessed armies are marching towards Beaudorf. From what one of our agents overheard, they seem to be intent on besieging the city."
"Nothing out of what we expected. How long until they arrive?"
"Five days."
"Good. That’s enough ti for us to prepare."
The hidden army has never fought a defensive siege battle yet, and they are quite different from the guerrilla tactics we’ve been using until now.
And, with this castle, now we have three different bases to coordinate. The main army’s camp outside the capital, the hidden army’s arena, and here, where we were planning to maintain a visible presence to lift morale.
I give so orders, and the officers scatter to their positions, except for Yaci and Ingela, who are still at the breakfast table with . The other girls are in other positions in the city or back at our office.
The way these two are looking at is screaming ’we want to say sothing important to you, but we’re afraid’ vibes.
I sigh and ask them.
"Is the thing you want to talk about sothing that concerns the campaign, or is it of a more personal nature?"
"It’s a personal thing."
"Then let’s go to my quarters so we have privacy."
I stand up and open a portal to the arena’s office, where my quarters are. After all, even though I’m to spend the waking hours in this castle, it’s safer for to sleep in the arena, where assassins wouldn’t be able to reach that easily.
:::
"Then, speak up."
The two look at each other and nod, then Yaci speaks.
"Ehm... It isn’t sothing that we would normally tell other people, but you and I have feelings and a promise. So I think that it would be fairer to tell you what’s happening."
"I see. So, you’re dating, after all."
It has been obvious for so ti to anyone with eyes to see.
"Yes... but that doesn’t an that I don’t have feelings for you, or..."
"I know, Yaci. But I’m still not of age, right? I an, this body is not of age."
"Yes, there’s that. And I’ve been waiting for a long ti now..."
"It’s been almost seven years. And you found yourself a very, very, very nice person to be with you. I an, Ingela is a dream wife for most people."
Ingela has been silent this whole ti, staring at the floor with great interest. But this last comnt has made her blush from head to toe.
"Yes... she is, indeed."
Even though we studied in the sa class, Ingela is actually two years older than . She just joined school at a later age because of being a commoner and because this world doesn’t have compulsory schooling, like ours.
That’s why Yaci didn’t find a problem with starting dating her before I was of age myself.
And that leaves one question open for .
"Are you intending to an that the promise still holds?"
"I an... My feelings are still the sa."
That’s all I needed to listen.
I hold her face with both my hands and give her a kiss. I don’t care about anything else at this mont.
"Aurea!!"
After we part the kiss, Yaci protests, completely flustered, while Ingela is looking with renewed interest at the floorboards.
I decide to check on my silent friend.
"Ingela... is it okay with you? How do you feel about it?"
For the first ti since entering the room, she raises her eyes to et mine.
"I... I might be a bit jealous right now. But it’s okay. I knew from the start that she loves you and that this was going to happen soday. I just thought that I was better prepared for it."
"It’s normal to be jealous. I have been a lot as well lately. But I think that talking things straight between us will ease everything."
"Yeah..."
She smiles and then extends her hand to , which I happily take. But then Yaci intervenes.
"Just to make things clear, Aurea. This was just a kiss, we are not dating yet. I’m adamant on that."
"I know. I’m sorry for stealing the kiss like that."
"It’s okay. It’s not like I didn’t want it, either. But lines need to be traced. Even with your ntal age."
"There it is again, what’s this about her ntal age and her body?"
We both look at Ingela. We miiight have spilled the beans. Oops.
"You didn’t tell her, Yaci?"
"Of course not! It’s your secret, and I’ll carry it to the tomb if needed."
Yaci, I love you so much.
But then soone knocks insistently on the door.
"Your Majesty? Are you inside?"
"Okay, ti for personal matters is over. Yaci, I give you permission to tell Ingela, and only her, about that thing later. Now, let’s get back to work."
:::
Lovelace is waiting for at the main hall of Beaudorf’s castle. The one that was a throne room for the late Marquess.
"Hi Lovelace. What is the news?"
"Good morning, Aurea. Yaci and Ingela too. Well, we have news from the foreign front."
"Ughhn"
Just by hearing the words ’foreign front,’ my head is starting to ache.
"The Pontifex has been going from kingdom to kingdom rallying people for a holy crusade against us."
Fuck. My worst fears are coming to light, aren’t they?
"And the kingdoms?"
"Castro and Calem aren’t so keen in diverting forces from the war against the dragonkin, but it seems that soone there has a personal grudge against you..."
"Princess Urraca..."
"Exactly. She will be personally leading the crusade forces."
"A princess of Castro will be leading the forces? That seems like a very high profile for that campaign."
"Yes. The Church will be providing her with all the elite paladins and a hefty chunk of the normal ones. Essendia and Histria are also providing big contingents of soldiers."
"That doesn’t look good. How long until they co?"
"They are still assembling, so it might take a few months."
"No sign of the goddess awakening yet?"
"Not a single one."
"Okay, then it’s our mont, Lovelace. Now that they’ve already called a crusade against us, we have no reason to delay the raid on the Church’s temples."
Reviews
All reviews (0)