Chapter Forty-One: A Nighttime Chat

Chapter Forty-One: A Nighttime Chat

Lani was bored. Father had instructed her to stay out of the way while he had important guests, but that was hours ago. What was she supposed to do? Sit in her room and poke holes in her pillow with her horns? Annoyingly, that was precisely what she had been doing! After thoroughly destroying one pillow, Lani sat up in bed and proceeded to tilt her head back, leaving two small dents in the wooden frame behind her.

“I... Am... Bored...” Lani muttered, punctuating each word by nodding backwards and further damaging the wooden bedframe. On the bright side, her horns had grown enough to do this! A year ago, she’d had to bend her neck all the way back!

“Lani, my dear,” said the old maid sitting across the room. “How much of the house are you intending to destroy with your horns?” The old maid spoke in that you're-being-childish-and-we-both-know-it tone that annoyed Lani so much.

“All of it!” Lani declared, bashing her horns against the wood once again. “Maybe then Father wouldn’t lock me up with nothing to do!” It was so frustrating! Lani wanted to socialise with her human friend but apparently Amelia had to attend a bunch of meetings! Couldn’t they do it another time!?

“You’re not locked up, dear,” said the maid, raising a finger. “Why not walk around the gardens?”

“Don’t want to.”

“Shall we have some tea in the conservatory?”

“Boring.”

“We could bake those cookies again? You know, the ones with the popping sugar?”

“Uhhh...” Lani rolled her eyes and then rolled her body off the bed, letting herself fall into a crumbled heap.

“Oh my, the lady of the house seems to have died!” Lani heard the maid intone cheerfully. “To think, after surviving such struggles! What a shame... just as Highlord Corvus and his guest are leaving! Speaker Thornheart is going to be so-”

“What!?” Lani leapt up and ran to the window. There, she saw Highlord Corvus with his scary-looking horns shaking hands with Father. A carriage was waiting for them and inside Lani could see the plain-looking demon that had come with the Highlord. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner, old woman!” Lani complained. “I’m free!” Lani darted to the door and threw it open, bouncing down the hallway and leaving the old maid behind.

“Hehe!” Lani giggled to herself but quickly stopped when she remembered her job to teach Amelia what it meant to be a proper lady! She forced herself to slow down, corrected her posture and kept her head high. “Mmm... now where are you...” Amelia told her she would find Lani after her meetings, but Lani couldn’t wait that long!

After not finding Amelia in the entryway or the kitchens, a servant informed her that Amelia was probably still in Father’s study along with Serena. After chastising the servant for not telling her sooner, Lani walked as fast as her dignified posture would allow and soon found herself outside the room in question.

Serena might tell her off for walking in, but Serena had already had more than enough of Amelia’s time! It was her turn now!

Lani threw open the study door. “Hello! Amelia- huh?” Lani’s words were cut short as she saw Amelia being thrown away from Serena; the human fell to the floor and tumbled before stopping.

Amelia was red-faced and breathing heavily. Her hair was ruffled and to make things even worse, her shirt was ripped and some of the buttons had come undone! “What-” Lani looked at Amelia, then at Serena to find her sister was also red-faced and looking at Lani in surprise!

“Lani, I didn’t hear you...” Serena muttered. She seemed angry, but strangely, when she met Lani's gaze, she turned her head away with a guilty expression.

What in the Seven Hells was going on!?

“Hang on a minute...” Lani muttered, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes. She observed the two women and mentally recounted the facts. Her guilty-looking sister. Amelia being pushed to the ground. Amelia, with ripped clothing and also an expression of guilt and shame...

It could only mean one thing!

“Y-you!” Lani pointed an accusatory finger at Serena, stepping between the demon and the human. “You’re bulling Amelia, aren’t you!? You’re beating her up! How... How horrible!” She felt tears form as her anger rose. How could Serena do something so cruel? “Amelia’s not part of your crew!” Lani declared, trying to sound as forceful as possible. “You’re not allowed to hurt her! I’m going to tell Father!”

“No!” Both her sister and Amelia cried out suddenly.

“Lani, look...” Serena mumbled.

“Lani! I’m fine!” Amelia popped up with a smile, patting her hair and adjusting her shirt. “Your sister wasn’t punishing me! I promise! She was just, uh, showing me some of her Shimokan martial techniques! She’s been teaching me!” Amelia said, nodding enthusiastically.

Too suspicious!

“I-I’ve heard about this! The victim makes excuses for the perpetrator! Is that what’s happening!?” Lani glared at the pair! She would get to the bottom of why Serena was bullying her friend!

“Lord Christ in the Seven Hells...” Serena muttered, making the sign of the demon cross. “I’m going to go insane...”

“Lani!” Amelia exclaimed. “I promise that everything’s fine. We train like this all the time! Serena says it’s important to practice martial arts in all kinds of places, to get used to fighting at unexpected times!”

Lani wanted to roll her eyes, but the sincerity in Amelia’s gaze made her pause. Maybe it was just a bit of martial arts training. Amelia had told her she was being taught before...

“Do you promise?” Lani asked suspiciously. “Do you pinky-promise?”

“I pinky-promise that I’m not getting bullied!” Amelia held out her pinky. “You just walked in at a... uh... inopportune time.”

Lani grasped the outstretched pinky with her own. “Fine! But we’re going to spend the rest of the day together, right!?” Amelia nodded and reaffirmed the promise. “Hrmph!” Lani declared triumphantly. She stuck her tongue out at her big sister and led Amelia out of the office. First, she would find Amelia a new shirt and then tell Amelia all the recent gossip Lani remembered from the Academy!

Serena smiled. Whatever had she done to deserve such a caring and loyal girlfriend?

“Thank you, Amelia. I guess I've been viewing the situation as a soldier while you've been viewing it as, well, you. Still, there's one more thing I don't understand. After such efforts to protect Polina, why did you obey Chesterfield’s request?” It surprised Serena that Amelia, who almost challenged an Overlord directly over Polina, would relent to some high-up Intelligence Officer from Centralis.

“Well...” Amelia shivered slightly. “Firstly, Chesterfield was difficult for me to read. It was as if something was blocking my intuition. What did he feel like to you? A mage, or a warrior?”

“...Neither,” Serena answered, thinking back to the plain-looking demon from which she sensed no talent with aether.

“Exactly, yet there was this subtle intensity when he asked me to stop my ward. I’m not sure, but at that moment, I could sense danger from him. There’s more to him than meets the eye. I stopped it because I felt it would be a mistake to resist, and I decided to trust you when you told me Polina wouldn’t be harmed. I suppose I always trusted you... I was just being a bit stubborn regarding the whole situation. Besides...” Amelia smiled softly. “I didn’t want to cause any harm to the arcwhales.”

“Ha!” Serena laughed. “Idiot.”

“But... did you notice?” Amelia sat up with an inquisitive look in her eyes. “Chesterfield didn’t feel like a mage or a warrior, yet he knew when I had stopped the ward. It’s suspicious. I wanted to look closer but didn’t want to Speak to increase my perception. Maybe next time we meet, I’ll be in a position I can look closer!”

“We should be careful... I hope we never see him again,” Serena muttered.

“Mmm...” Amelia mumbled after a moment of silence. “There’s something I wanted to say.”

“Oh?”

“It’s a little awkward, but I sometimes forget how much of a big deal it is for you to... You know...” Amelia gestured wildly, “...fight for Cascadia. Be a Cascadian Lord and be part of this thing that is bigger than just you. I don’t really have the same level of attachment to the whole Empire thing, and I’m not sure I ever will, so...” Amelia took a breath. “I just wanted to promise you I’ll never make you choose between your duty and me, okay? We can exist side-by-side! Ah...” Amelia buried her face in her hands.

“That’s... thoughtful of you,” Serena answered with a smile, enjoying Amelia’s shyness.

“And, and...” Amelia muttered. “I also promise that for me, I’m always going to put you first because...” She looked down and poked her index fingers together. “I really like you,” Amelia said in a small voice.

“Idiot,” Serena ruffled her girlfriend's hair as her cheeks warmed. Amelia was so cute sometimes. She had already confessed her love to Serena, yet she was getting all awkward about this! “Look after yourself as well. I would say try not to get into trouble in the future, but that’s a given with you, isn’t it?”

“Hey!” Amelia puffed out her cheeks and Serena couldn’t resist pulling on them.

“Are you excited about teaching magic?” Serena asked once she had her fill of Amelia’s soft cheeks. “I imagine they’ll want you to use your monstrous aether reserves to demonstrate magic for the class. You’ll be in front of several dozen mages. Will you be okay?”

“Y-yeah!” Amelia nodded. “I’ll just imagine I’m you! Strutting about with your head held high and looking down on everyone- mmph!” Amelia’s answer was cut off as Serena once again explored how much Amelia’s cheeks would stretch.

“There’s a new type of training I want to introduce you to,” Serena explained. “We’ll do it when we sail to Asamaywa. It’s something all talented soldiers go through, and while you’re not a soldier, you need to get used to the sounds of battle.”

“...Sounds of battle?” Amelia mumbled through stretched cheeks.

“Warfare is loud. Most civilians don’t understand how loud it is. Even if shellfire cannot harm you, you still need to get used to it and learn how to override your instincts to hide. This training will help you with that.”

“...I see. Can you stop playing with my cheeks?”

Serena pulled her arms back, but Amelia reached forward and grabbed her hands. Her girlfriend looked at her with a twinkle in her eye. “We’re leaving tomorrow, right?”

“Right.”

“Then tonight might be the last night for a while that we can...” Amelia tilted her head towards the bedroom. “You know...”

Serena rolled her eyes but couldn’t help smiling. “You’re so shameless sometimes.”

“Do you have a coin?”

“What?”

Amelia repeated the sudden request and Serena dug out a half-denarii. “Here,” she said, passing it to Amelia who flicked it in the air. She caught it and covered it in her palm.

“Heads or tails?” Amelia asked.

“For what?” Serena narrowed her eyes.

“Just answer!”

“.. Heads. What’s this for?”

Amelia looked up with a cheeky grin. “It’s for whoever’s tongue goes first, obviously!”

Serena’s eyes widened, but before she could chastise Amelia for being so crass, her girlfriend opened her palm and revealed the coin. The answer sent them both giggling into the bedroom, where their last night in Shimashina was bereft of sleep and instead full of many soft moans.