V1C17

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He

bathed the sleeping Matilda, and put her in her nightgown. He

touched everything but since she was exhausted and did not feel like getting

up, she would not mind. She’s told him not to touch her when she wasn't

conscious but if he told her and apologised, maybe she would not mind. He

wondered if he was being over-confident.

He

laid her in the freshly remade bed.

When

he came in, he had in his hand a sword that he had had his maid servants keep.

He doubted she even noticed it. The sword is not his favourite; as a royal he

could not form any attachments to his sword because one usually ends up handing

it to a vassal as a promise.

There

was a decorative pin; in the form of a pair of clumsily made apples hanging off

a red thread from the hilt. He usually kept it safe, but he’d been trying to

show it to her since she arrived.

I bet she will not notice, he thought.

It

had been a mid-winter campaign, they had camped in a place covered with powdered snow,

when he met the Princess.

‘Even

a soldier can't be a soldier forever.’ She’d said to him.

‘In

Ringoen Green and other farming villages in remote places, they are always

looking for manpower. And you might even get a wife.’

‘I

don’t think I can be cut out for something like that. Being a mercenary is

easy, you don’t have to think too much.’

‘But

it must be hard in winter. It’s more fun to be with friends and family, the

warmth of skin-ship in the cold winter,’

‘But

there is peace of mind and only oneself to worry about ...’

‘Show

this apple pin to the Royal Gatekeeper of Icecoreta. And I will remember you,

even if I am married!’

She

had laughed so innocently.

-

Even now he still remembered.

A

fourteen year old girl who was trembling as she laughed really hard. In her

father’s stead, she came to battlefield as a ceremonial Admiral.

But

she did not rest on her laurels, she helped with distributing the rations,

coming into contact with her country’s soldiers and the Barenshiaga mercenaries;

treating them all with kindness.

The

Icecoreta Mountain Border War was a long battle. Barenshiaga could not send

regulars, so they sent their mercenaries. At the time, Leandroth was in the mercenary

company, he was fifteen. At the time, he had not been so tall and his hair had

not turned golden brown, it had been red.

Until

he was crowned king at the age of twenty, he was forced to participate as a

mercenary in the Icecoreta border war which broke out several times. Every time

she participated as a general, though she didn't come to the battles, she

served as an inspiration to them all. She didn't hold herself higher than the

soldiers, and the soldiers regarded her as a friend.

When

she talked to the soldiers, she was worried about their retirement.

She

premised on retirement at old age without hurting anybody’s feelings...

He

smiled as he watched her sleep. He had been happy when he got reports from the

chief maid looking after her; she hadn’t changed.

With

her hands wrapped in woollen mittens, she grasped the hands of a mercenary,

‘If

you love Icecoreta, even in remote areas, I will not let you feel lonely,

because when you return home, your neighbours would be noisy.’

‘There

won’t be a lot of harvest or great reward, at least you won’t die lonely’ she

continued, ‘Although it is cold here, there will always be someone to share

their warmth.’ (Zuben: OMG! What is with Japan and these extreme characters?

There either extremely naïve or extremely cynical. No moderation. No

in-betweens.)

Because

he was going to get married, he had been discharged from the mercenary company.

If

he told everyone that she had not changed, they’d all laugh.

The

story of the strange princess of Icecoreta was famous in Barenshiaga mercenary

companies.

He

placed the sword near the bed.

Matilda

was fast asleep, he caressed her head. She liked being hugged and her hair

being stroked - exaggerated expressions of affection.

At

first, he thought maybe he was doing too much. He could do it naturally if he

tried. But it was not an effort with her.

He

gently held her breast in his hand. It was a perfect fit.

That

pendant had been here; in between her breasts.

In

truth, visiting her that first night was to replace the contents of the poison

with a fake. There had been an Icecoreta Princess in the past; the Princess

brought the medicine along with her. And she chose to die because of a

perceived insult.

So

when he’d heard the report of the maid he had assigned to her, he panicked. He

quickly made a liquid of similar colour and went to replace it.

Alas,

he could not hold himself back. He undressed her and could not help but touch

her, who could? But, he had gotten overly eager.

He

had thought his heart would stop when he saw her the next day.

But

he had a good poker face, he did not mention his visit or anything he’d done.

Maybe, it would have been best to have shown his affection from the outset,

like a dog that loved his owner.

But

he wanted to win her over slowly.

He’d

thought that he wanted to make her a little jealous. But the schedule became

messed up, because he had been over eager, but all in all, changing the poison

was the right answer.

However,

he did regret his actions. He did not mean to cause her heartache, because she

did not understand gender subtleties, or the tacit understanding between men

and women.

(Zuben: We won’t think about it too

much)

Do

not speak in a roundabout way, but directly.

She

did not have preconceptions about what was good or bad…

Even

there was some candlelight, she does not seem to notice, it made him rather happy

to see her body clearly without hindrance.

For

most people, the lighting may not be bright enough, but he had really good

night vision, something that had been trained since childhood.

She

was straight forward to the core; she would even answer obscene questions

honestly. She dutifully perfomed what was required of her. Even without asking, she

would imitate what he did. (Zuben: Wait what…?)

Because

she was the Imperial Princess, she can be touched by no other man except him

(Zuben: And…?) Unless, Barenshiaga lost the war and something happened to him.

Would

it be okay to lose?

He

would face down his enemies with a smile.

He

wanted to have and maintain a peaceful empire.

‘You

really are the saviour of the Barenshiaga people,’ he whispered in sleeping

Matilda’s ear.

His

younger brother had declared; if Leandroth ran away from his duties as Emperor,

he would also run off. Troublesome.

He

had planned to abdicate if Matilda had not agreed to marry him. He could not

invade a neighbouring country as an Emperor just because he was heart-broken,

so it was better to escape, and then do it.

He

had the power to hold onto whatever he wanted.

He

did not need to be ruler of a country.

He

would kidnap her and tie her to him forever.

But

being tied to a kidnapper or being tied to an Emperor, which would make her

happy?

As

Empress, she can meet her beloved father, exchange letters etc, therefore, the

emperor is the answer. It was decided.

For

her, it is probably the only difference between an emperor and a kidnapper.

Sometime

soon, he would tell her about his time as a mercenary and how they met all

those years ago; otherwise, it would be a bit worrying that he was so in love

with her when they had only officially met a few weeks ago.

She

had fluffy walnut brown hair. Her eyes were blue like flax flowers. Her skin

was pure white. Her breasts were full, pert and round like apples. She had a

small waist and lovely wide hips; she would give birth well.

Regarding

her face objectively, not many people were as beautiful as she was, but her own

evaluation of her beauty is quite low.

It

was probably because many ladies around her were blessed with blonde hair and

blue eyes, with silver hair and black eyes and so on…

To

him, she was rather cute especially with her modest countenance.

He

took his hand off her breast and caressed her cheek, to him, Matilda was perfect,

she was cute and there was no other choice though there are many differences

between subjectivity and objectivity.

She

usually wore light make-up.

Anyone

would look beautiful if they wore expertly applied make-up.

She

was lovely as she was, but she did not have much confidence in herself.

Matilda

said she liked chess; he had liked chess since he was a child.

Only

with her, he would not take the king. But eventually he would defeat the king’s

piece and grab her heart totally; he was not going to declare defeat.

He’d

finally go out the word ‘Like.’

He

closed his eyes. The struggle did not make him unhappy. It was better to get

closer slowly.

She was being watched by a weird man.

How pitiful.

Alas, the feelings that have begun are accelerating; there was no sign of it slowing down.

For

now, there was tomorrow.

Looking

forward to tomorrow, Leandroth took a deep breath and fell asleep.

Leandroth is a man obsessed, is all I

got from this. Hope it makes more sense to y’all than it does to me. From now

we are back on the Yasashii train. Still have some library books to get

through, so it will take a while longer than usual between drops.

17/6: The next two chapters are on the boil.