V2C30

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When she woke up, it was dawn and

Leandroth was still sleeping beside her.

She watched his deep steady

breathing, and studying his face. He looked younger sleeping so peacefully. In

the light of the morning, his golden hair glittered, it was very dazzling.

Beautiful, she thought.

She felt warm in his arms. But she

would surely wake him if she moved. So she tried not to move and watched his

innocent sleeping face.

He gave a small sigh as he turned

on his back and continued sleeping with his arms spread wide.

Matilda giggled at his pose. He was

like a child.

She was happy; Matilda thought as

she sat up and pulled the covers over him.

‘Leann, wake up.’ She called

softly; he sighed but did not stir. She wondered how she should kiss his wide

open mouth.

She leaned over and sucked on his

lower lip.

‘Good morning,’ she called, but he

just moaned and changed positions again. It was rather cute; this time, she

licked his upper lip,

‘Wake up Leann.’ She said as she

wondered if she should stop troubling him and let him sleep.

‘Hmm, that’s a nice view to wake up

to.’ He muttered sleepily, but his bright gaze was at her breasts. She giggled

and snuggled into the crook of his arm to hide,

‘Hey, I was enjoying the view.’ He

said. It was rather funny and he made her giggle.

Her took her by the arms and pulled

her up so his head was at her chest, ‘Leann, ah!’ she cried as his mouth

clamped on her breast. There was laughter in his eyes as he began to caress the

other breast. His other arm wrapped around her body, kneaded her butt his

fingers sinking satisfactorily into the soft springy skin.

‘So aggressive early in the

morning, ah-are you ahn…angry?

‘No way!’ he replied brightly. She

was relieved. He pulled her on top of him; she could feel his heated thickness

underneath her.

‘Mattie, put it inside.’ He asked

between sucking on her nipples.

‘I will try,’

She was already wet, and her petals

were already ready to accept him. Slowly, she sank down his length. They both

sighed in pleasure.

Though it was embarrassing to be

naked in the morning, she wanted him more. Her whole body was burning with

desire. She began to rock her hips,

‘Nn…ah,’ she moaned. His expression

showed that he was enjoying himself,

‘I’m so happy I’m dizzy.’ He said

with breathless laughter.

She sat up and braced her arms on

his abdomen, and began to rock her hips a little harder.

‘Oh I feel good. Does it feel good

for you, Mattie?’

‘It feels good but…I want

more…stimulation,’ she replied

‘Stimulation?’ he replied with a

sly smile.

He sat up and cuddled her to him,

and then he started to thrust into her deeper and faster, and she got the

stimulation she wanted.

(Zuben: it’s the final chapter and

she decided to stop her nonsense.)

◇

After their lunch, they had a break

in Leandroth’s private drawing room.

A man came to visit. It was

Leandroth’s younger brother, Bartholomew Vincez Barenshiaga. A general called

the Sleeping Black Eagle. The pride of the Empire.

He was taller and broader than

Leandroth. Though Matilda was taller than most women, and Leandroth was taller

than her by almost a head, Bartholomew towered head and shoulders over her. If

a woman of average height stood by him, she would look child-like.

He bowed over her hand and kissed

the back, ‘Nice to meet you, Princess,’ he said.

‘Nice to meet you too, General.’

‘This guy’s nickname is “Sleeping

Black Eagle” because cause he looks half asleep all the time.’

‘Ah…’

But if the Sleeping Eagle should

wake up, it usually meant war. That was what she heard. Right now, he really

looked like he was half asleep.

They took their seats.

‘How is Grandfather?’ Leandroth

asked.

‘He’s ensconced at my house,

practicing his swordsmanship happily.’

‘Is his ankle sprain better?’

Matilda asked

‘I’m more worried about him

incurring back pain than his ankle sprain.’

The two men’s chatter was amicable,

eating sweets and drinking tea. They looked like two big dogs relaxing in the

sun. Like two big overly friendly dogs.

There were two handsome men before

her, but rather than be nervous, she was quite relaxed.

‘Dear Sister-in-law, my brother

looks happy and relaxed. Thank you.’ For a moment, there was a serious light in

Bartholomew’s eyes.

‘I will take care of him. Leave it

to me,’ she replied with a smile. She was glad Leandroth’s family was worried

about his welfare.

‘I am going to be heading northeast

with a company soon, please wait patiently for news.’

Matilda nodded, while wondering,

northeast?

‘There is a possibility a few Lords

will resist, I will clean up well. There is a high chance this is a conspiracy,

especially since your wedding day is near. I am sure the King of Montbatre

instigated this.’

Montbatre was the country to the

east of Barenshiaga.

(Zuben: In the final chapter, the

Eastern Country gets a name!)

‘It’s probably because brother

didn’t marry his daughter.’ Bartholomew concluded.

‘It’s because he was aiming for

Barenshiaga, and tried to use his daughter to assassinate me. She has a

nickname, the Octopus Princess, because she likes feels people up and is very

amorous.’

That wasn’t a nickname that was an

insult, Matilda thought.

‘They are looking for a husband for

her,’ Leandroth said pointedly.

‘I decline,’

‘You’re renown all over, you’re a

desirable husband.’

‘I have no interest in a wife at

the moment.’

‘So you’ve been refusing

invitations,’

‘Because of the wedding, there will

be many Princesses in the palace and now you’ve arranged the perfect escape.’

Leandroth said as he sipped his tea.

Bartholomew looked sheepish, like

he’d been caught.

After that, they talked a little

more and Bartholomew took his leave.

‘You two are close,’ Matilda said

with a little giggle. Leandroth ate a crepe filled with candied apples and

honey.

‘It’s because our personalities are

different, so we want different things and like different things. Little

brother gave me the idea for your birthday presents.’

‘Huh?’

‘You said you like cute things and

like to make cute things. So rather than giving you a present that was already

finished, he suggested I give you something you can work on. He also likes cute

things. The woman he chooses would be forever clothed in cuteness.’

(Zuben: we can only hope for his

sake, she is the cute type)

The tea brewed but she hardly paid

attention. It looked as though, she had been more obvious than she thought

about her love of cute things. She was slightly depressed.

But on the bright side, she now had

more cute loving companions.

‘If he was a girl, she would be

wearing cute clothes and toting around parasols. He likes pale pink, but it is

not a colour he can wear as a man. So he wears black.’

‘He could implement lovely back

chiffon into his clothing. Black seems to be in fashion right now’

‘In fashion? Well I don’t know much

about that. It would be nice if people wore more colours. You can add lots of

glitter and sequins to your clothes.’

Glitter and sequins? That did not

create a favourable impression.

‘How about if you have glitter and

sequins on your clothes?’ she asked him.

He grimaced.

◇

A few days before their wedding

Bartholomew headed northeast to quell the unrest.

‘Will there be war?’ she asked

Leandroth as they saw his younger brother off.

‘Maybe. Maybe not.’ he replied

non-committal.

She hoped it didn’t escalate that

far.

That being said, it was rather

underhanded to incite unrest because the Emperor of a neighbouring country was

getting married.

Despite the events, the days passed

smoothly. It was becoming routine for the Emperor and his future Empress to

sleep together in the Empress’ room without question.

But there was a bit of a grumble

due to security and patrols, so they decided to move to the Emperor’s rooms. The

rooms were originally decorated in the former Emperor’s foreboding style much

to the future Empress’ dismay. Matilda decided to renovate the Emperor’s rooms

to her own preference, and they gave most of the original furniture away. And

if the former emperor came to visit, he won’t be looking in the rooms anyway.

Matilda wanted to be as frugal as

possible which gave the Grand Chamberlain and the Chief of Staff a headache.

As for Matilda’s dance lessons, she

invited the female knights and maids to dance with knights and soldiers. They

were very pleased with their progress, but Matilda did not develop an elegance.

She began to get frustrated,

‘Because the Emperor and Empress’

first dance is a tradition, I don’t want to fail,’ she cried to Julia, the

Chief of Staff, who sighed in exasperation.

In the future, when they told

stories of the wedding of Leandroth and Matilda, the children would hear that

Leandroth did not like to dance.

What is peace?

It was a question that was hard to

answer.

But the two of them pondered upon

it in their bed together. And they discussed politics at their dinner table.

Discussion enriched their meals, and everything was most exciting when they

were talking.

They introduced the potato to

Barenshiaga from Icecoreta. It quickly became a staple food, due to the crop

being easy to grow.

Between them they discussed many

crops like buckwheat, and plain wheat, and various vegetables. Their desire for

food was strong.

They imported ice from Icecoretta

to minimise seafood spoiling at the port (Zuben: I am surprised no one had

thought of that earlier but you never know)

Occasionally, their direction may

be wrong and a project may fail. But they realised that there was no peace

without a full belly.

Agricultural scientists, who were

interested in improving seeds, would come to the palace and study the rare

blooms that were the vegetables that grew in the palace gardens. They had

occurred incidentally.

This would become a topic of

discussion when historians discussed the Women who changed the Barenshiaga

Empire…