Lionel's Point Of View

The first thing on the order of things I had to do was to find out where Lily's bodyguard has gone, and thankfully it didn't take me long to find him. As expected he was looking around desperately for Lily and had already run himself ragged. He had probably woken up after Lily left the infirmary and had no idea where to go when he didn't find her at the persecution site or in the keep where she should have been.

There were two reasons I was looking for Asher, one being because of a nagging suspicion that Lily was going to be curling and screaming with nightmares, and the second to have him protect her from potential assassins. I don't know how heavily Lily is going to sleep, and the maid is unarmed. Since Asher had traveled together with Lily, I made the assumption that Asher knew how to wake her up without getting hurt and how to deal, if only temporarily, with Lily's nightmares. As I informed him of Lily's return to the keep his expression fell in relief. He barely remembered to excuse himself before heading back to the keep with hastened steps.

I assumed that most of the Celeste knights would have their loyalty given to Eric or Adam, but Asher seemed to have nothing on his mind but Lily's safety. Considering that he started following her around back at the academy and swearing his loyalty to her there, I think he's the perfect person to send to her side. Yesterday he was not in a shape where he should have charged into the enemy by my side, but the instant he noticed that Lily was there, there was no hesitance. He'd begged me to join, though I'd ordered him to the infirmary. I ended up giving in as I didn't see a way I could get Lily back for sure. I'm certain he can be trusted with her safety.

—-*—-

The second part of what I had to do concerned discussing the enemy alliance and their accusations towards our royal family with my father. Needless to say, he did not believe the accusations even for a moment. However, I know that the reason he did not believe them is different from Lily or I. He cannot see any way the accusations could be right. He has not noticed anything odd about how House Listere keeps losing their light blessed children, how we get much more than we should, how the north fighting affects the balance of Ristaze, or how suspicious it is that Alstair has lost four younger siblings at the age of exactly five over the years, which none but he and I outside the royal family knew about... neither does he find it suspicious that Alstair's only living siblings Emilia and Maja are currently hidden away deep in the royal castle.

I did mention the existence of a female sibling indirectly when I told her about House Listere, but I do not think she noticed it. Honestly it was a test at first to see if Lily or the enemy would know of her... but either way, right now Lily's family would be in serious trouble if she acted on it. Being House Tepet we have a bit of leeway and goodwill from the royal family to deal with. Emilia will turn five in a few days, and from that point onward it will be a race against time to get her out of the hands of the royal family. Maja is still only three. In case we fail the defense here, the royal castle will burn. It's practically defenseless against an invading army. If the princess of Crinia speaks the truth, then they will stop at the king and Alstair. As long as Emilia and Maja survives, and they are raised well, then the worst case scenario is prevented.

For the same reason I discuss reordering our troops in the lands behind us. There is a thing the princess of Crinia has not considered. Their mission would be fulfilled as long as we do not have enough forces to perform said purge. I'm certain that Headal knows this. Though they attack us every year, they never go for assassination. They do have a certain amount of honor, otherwise we likely wouldn't be able to keep ours. For this reason I argued with my father that we should move the southern troops north. The north-most areas are only farming lands and are undefended by the environment. The southern area is not only protected by the Plymfell Swamplands, but it also borders to the land side of House Salender's territory. House Salender has made the sea-side environment beyond hostile, and their land is mostly grasslands. However, with a force big enough you do not need an ambush against house Salender. Overwhelming them is the best tactic you can use. If they cannot keep you at a distance, they're doomed.

If they want to hunt House Salender down that bad, I'll give them the opportunity. I'll give Reynold and Curtis a warning about checking out for poisons carefully for a while. It didn't take much to make my father agree. There is so much more value in protecting the northern areas, and since Crinia decided to come from our side it is only fair that they're lead right back to House Salender's territory. It'll probably keep Gilbert and his parents busy for a while.

As a final part of work for the day we prepared a speech to inform the knights and soldiers of the enemy alliance in a gentler way that seeing the enemy banners appear on the battlefield without any warning. Some of the soldiers had probably already recognized the copper like skin of Princess Catarina and were spreading rumors. Our current job was to make sure that this didn't spread panic.

Honestly, facing only Headal is... nigh impossible. We do not have anywhere near enough troops to make a work schedule long enough to let people rest, and I have no doubt that Headal strike forces will move through the mountains while the main army distracts us here. The sheer difference in numbers puts us at an enormous disadvantage. Still, we need to hold them off and make sure they do not get to set foot on our land or hurt the citizens. Even if Alstair and the king are corrupt beyond measure, we still have our loyalty to the country itself and to the people under our protection. No enemy shall trample that, not even a coalition of all the countries that surround us.

—-*—-

Asher's Point Of View

The Tepet heir, Lionel Tepet, decided to give his life for my lady yesterday. While it certainly seemed to some as though it was merely based on logic, the Tep- Lionel Tepet is a bit more emotional than that. I'm certain that there was a bit more to it than that, for when Lily-sama passed out he had clutched her close. Also, it seems as though he knows milady's secret as well, and that the two of them are close enough to argue casually over pointless things.

When milady came up to me and asked if the cat ear headband was really cute, it was pretty clear that someone else had called it cute. If said person had been a girl or someone of a social rank below her, then she likely would not have cared, and the only other one with guts enough to say something like that to her is the same person that said she was light when she wanted to be called heavy: Lionel Tepet. In other words, Lionel Tepet had been calling her cute, and milady was shocked over this to the point she asked me for reference. It may not have been what was asked by her directly, but when a girl stands in front of you with hints of a blush still on her cheeks and an uncertain body-language and asks something like that, then nothing else could've happened. Though, Lady Lily does not want to be seen as cute, it seems like it did affect her a bit.

All in all, the two of them seem to get along.

—-*—-

When I got to Lady Lily's room a maid stood patiently outside spacing out. I'm surprised that they still have a maid as her, which looks like a minor noble, but if she is brave enough then one cannot complain. Still, the maid stood outside. Now, I have multiple options for guarding my lady in this situation. First of all, I can stand outside. This won't let me keep an eye on any on her though, and Lionel was looking rather paranoid when he gave me directions to the room.

Secondly, I could step inside and close the door behind me. If Lily had been a man, this would have been the optimal solution. However, she is a woman. A man in the same room as a sleeping woman is not acceptable, and it will not be found so if the Tepet heir returns.

Thus, I open the door a bit and stand in the middle of the door, peering in at Lily who unexpectedly doesn't seem to care at all. She's sleeping heavily, and only lets out a soft tired groan once in a while. Vitis does come by at one point looking pale and ragged. He doesn't speak as much as he just walks up to me and peeks into the room briefly to check up on our Lady. He puts a hand on my shoulder and looks into my eyes with a saying expression.

"Peony will not be a problem anymore. Felix and Mike dealt with him after the mock execution and sent him on his way away from the castle."

He doesn't describe any further, just squeezes my shoulder and glances to Lily again before leaving. Lily mumbles something quietly and rolls over on her side for a while, but other than that sleeps through it.

I was prepared to lose people the moment we were sent to the Tepet army. Honestly, with how many enemies we were up against when we descended the glazier I expected most of us to die. Even more so when Lily's weapon broke against an enemy shield and most of the blade flew into the crowd. She too was shocked beyond words and had actually tossed the rest of the weapon into the enemy crowd in anger before beginning her chant. In fact, with how we were targeted yesterday, we have been blessed with how few ended up dying, and a lot of it comes down to Vitis being a good commander as well and Lily's fast reaction when she realized it was a trap.

What makes this incident as horrible as it is, is the fact that it was a life that would have been saved if Peony had been anyone else in the company. Even those that were shaking in terror when we were about to charge would likely have done better since Rudder was supposedly quite calm until Peony betrayed him. There's no doubt that everyone wishes Rudder had been the one to return instead of Peony, but it is not something we can change. We cannot start over and take a better route where we toss Peony out before we even got to the battlefield. That is not how reality works. However, I'll make sure to fulfill Rudder's wishes the best I can, and I'm sure that I'm not the only one that feels this.

—-*—-

Around evening Lionel Tepet returned. He was no longer in armor, so I guess he was done with work for the day. The skin under his eyes seemed baggy, but his eyes focused directly at the open door and then at me. Let there be no doubt, he was heading directly for the room and just now he just judged me. Knowing nobility, the way he instantly went back to facing the door I know he finds it acceptable. Checking Lily's condition just outweighs giving me attention.

I straighten up as he gets close and open the door further, which makes him stop up and face me. He doesn't look annoyed or hostile, just a bit surprised.

"How is Augustus?" He asks calmly. Again, surprisingly turning his attention towards me. He does glance into the room, but he's clearly expecting an answer.

"Celeste-sama has yet to wake up properly even once. It has been a calm sleep, Lord Lionel," I report formally. The look of relief on his face condemn him as just as guilty for worrying as the rest of us, and that he for sure knows about her nightmares and her actual gender.

Everything considered, I think Lord Lionel would make a good partner for Lady Lily. He lets her do what she demands and wants, and is there to not only save her when things go wrong, but he can also get through the defenses to her heart. If not for Lionel, then Lily probably wouldn't have opened up to us during the march. He doesn't go easy on her, and honestly I am relieved that a person as Lord Lionel has appeared for her. Even if I stand by her side there are things that I cannot do as a knight, and one of them is to push boundaries she does not want me to. I can only stand by her side and push a little bit at a time.

Still, as part 'punishment' for calling our lady cute, I decide to attempt to 'bully' him carefully.

"Tepet-sama, I would caution you against getting near Celeste-sama during sleep. Celeste-sama is quite uncomfortable with being woken up. Though, I heard Celeste-sama likes poetry. Perhaps you could attempt performing poetry to wake Celeste-sama up gently."

I somehow get this out with a straight face... though, Lord Lionel does not manage to keep a straight face. His eyes narrow in immediate realization that my words might be right... and then that I might be trying to make him look foolish in front of Lily. Of course, since there is technically nothing wrong with my comment he cannot accuse me of anything and thus just give me this stare of 'I know what you are doing and you should stop'.

"I will take my chances with waking her up normally," he responds calmly and walks past me without any other words. If nothing else my words serve as a warning that he's getting a bit too close to her. After all, she is still engaged to the crown prince, no matter how little the world of politics entertain her, and if it is clear enough to me as a knight that they are getting too close, then it is clear enough for anyone else that observe... which is hopefully no one... I can't help but to glance to the maid. She hasn't done anything out of the ordinary, but I'd rather be a bit suspicious than fail to notice someone.

The maid smiles to me as I finally give her proper attention and then take a few steps closer till she stands at my side. Her hands still neatly folded in front of her as we both sneakily watch Lionel try to wake Lily up, starting out by speaking to her and place a hand on her head to take her temperature again since she apparently has a fever.

There's nothing suspicious at this point... except for the words the maid lean in to whisper against my ear while we watch.

"The two of them make a good match, yes?"