YasashīShinjitsu to Seiryaku Kekkon Vol IChapter 17

Hebathed the sleeping Matilda, and put her in her nightgown.

H

etouched everything but since she was exhausted and did not feel like gettingup, she would not mind. She’s told him not to touch her when she wasn"tconscious but if he told her and apologised, maybe she would not mind. Hewondered if he was being over-confident.

Helaid her in the freshly remade bed.

Whenhe 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 hecould not form any attachments to his sword because one usually ends up handingit to a va.s.sal as a promise.

Therewas a decorative pin; in the form of a pair of clumsily made apples hanging offa red thread from the hilt. He usually kept it safe, but he’d been trying toshow it to her since she arrived.

 I bet she will not notice, he thought.

Ithad been a mid-winter campaign, they had camped in a place of powdered snow,when he met the Princess.

‘Evena warrior can’t be a warrior forever.’ She’d said to him.

‘InRingoen Green and other farming villages in remote places, they are alwayslooking for manpower. And you might even get a wife.’

‘Idon’t think I can be cut out for something like that. Being a mercenary iseasy, you don’t have to think too much.’

‘Butit must be hard in winter. It’s more fun to be with friends and family, thewarmth of skin-ship in the cold winter,’

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

‘Showthis apple pin to the Royal Gatekeeper of Icecoreta. And I will remember you,even if I am married!’

Shehad laughed so innocently.

-Even now he still remembered.

Afourteen year old girl who was trembling as she laughed really hard. In herfather’s stead, she came to battlefield as a ceremonial Admiral.

Butshe 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.

TheIcecoreta Mountain Border War was a long battle. Barenshiaga could not sendregulars, so they sent their mercenaries. At the time, Leandroth was in the mercenarycompany, he was fifteen. At the time, he had not been so tall and his hair hadnot turned golden brown, it had been red.

Untilhe was crowned king at the age of twenty, he was forced to partic.i.p.ate as amercenary in the Icecoreta border war which broke out several times. Every timeshe partic.i.p.ated as a general, though she didn"t come to the battles, sheserved as an inspiration to them all. She didn"t hold herself higher than thesoldiers, and the soldiers regarded her as a friend.

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

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

Hesmiled as he watched her sleep. He had been happy when he got reports from thechief maid looking after her; she hadn’t changed.

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

‘Ifyou love Icecoreta, even in remote areas, I will not let you feel lonely,because when you return home, your neighbours would be noisy.’

‘Therewon’t be a lot of harvest or great reward, at least you won’t die lonely’ shecontinued, ‘Although it is cold here, there will always be someone to sharetheir warmth.’ (Zuben: OMG! What is with j.a.pan and these extreme characters?There either extremely naïve or extremely cynical. No moderation. Noin-betweens.)

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

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

Thestory of the strange princess of Icecoreta was famous in Barenshiaga mercenarycompanies.

Heplaced the sword near the bed.

Matildawas fast asleep, he caressed her head. She liked being hugged and her hairbeing stroked.

---Exaggerated expressions of affection.

Atfirst, he thought maybe he was doing too much. He could do it naturally if hetried. But it was not an effort with her.

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

Thatpendant had been here; in between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

Intruth, visiting her that first night was to replace the contents of the poisonwith a fake. There had been an Icecoreta Princess in the past; the Princessbrought the medicine along with her. And she chose to die because of aperceived insult.

Sowhen he’d heard the report of the maid he had a.s.signed to her, he panicked. Hequickly 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 touchher, who could? But, he had gotten overly eager.

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

Buthe 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.

Buthe wanted to win her over slowly.

He’dthought that he wanted to make her a little jealous. But the schedule becamemessed up, because he had been over eager, but all in all, changing the poisonwas the right answer.

However,he did regret his actions. He did not mean to cause her heartache, because shedid not understand gender subtleties, or the tacit understanding between menand women. 

(Zuben: We won’t think about it toomuch)

Donot speak in a roundabout way, but directly.

Shedid not have preconceptions about what was good or bad…

Eventhere was some candlelight, she does not seem to notice, it made him rather happyto see her body clearly without hindrance.

Formost people, the lighting may not be bright enough, but he had really goodnight vision, something that had been trained since childhood.

Shewas straight forward to the core; she would even answer obscene questionshonestly. She dutifully does what is required of her. Even without asking, shewould imitate what he does. (Zuben: Wait what…?)

Becauseshe is the Imperial Princess, she can be touched by no other man except him(Zuben: And…?) Unless, Barenshiaga lose the war and something happens to him.

Wouldit be okay to lose?

Hewould face down his enemies with a smile.

Hewanted to have and maintain a peaceful empire.

‘Youreally are the saviour of the Barenshiaga people,’ he whispered in sleepingMatilda’s ear.

Hisyounger brother had declared; if Leandroth ran away from his duties as Emperor,he would also run off. Troublesome.

Hehad planned to abdicate if Matilda had not agreed to marry him. He could notinvade a neighbouring country as an Emperor just because he was heart-broken,so it was better to escape, and then do it.

Hehad the power to hold onto whatever he wanted.

Hedid not need to be ruler of a country.

Hewould kidnap her and tie her to him forever.

Butbeing, tied to a kidnapper or being tied to an Emperor, which would make herhappy?

Hechuckled evilly.

Theanswer was clear.

AsEmpress, she can meet her beloved father, exchange letters etc, therefore, theemperor is the answer. It was decided.

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

Sometimesoon, he would tell her about his time as a mercenary and how they met allthose years ago; otherwise, it would be a bit worrying that he was so in lovewith her when they had only officially met a few weeks ago.

Shehad fluffy walnut brown hair. Her eyes were blue like flax flowers. Her skinwas pure white. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were full, pert and round like apples. She had asmall waist and lovely wide hips; she would give birth well.

Regardingher face objectively, not many people were as beautiful as she was, but her ownevaluation of her beauty is quite low.

Itwas probably because many ladies around her were blessed with blonde hair andblue eyes, with silver hair and black eyes and so on…

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

Hetook 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 differencesbetween subjectivity and objectivity.

Sheusually wore light make-up.

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

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

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

Onlywith her, he would not take the king. But eventually he would defeat the king’spiece and grab her heart totally; he was not going to declare defeat.

He’dfinally go out the word ‘Like.’

Nextis, ‘I love you.’

Heclosed his eyes. The struggle did not make him unhappy. It was better to getcloser slowly.

Shewas being watched by a weird man.
Howpitiful.

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

Fornow, there was tomorrow.

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

Zuben:

Leandroth is a man obsessed, is all Igot from this. Hope it makes more sense to y’all than it does to me. From nowwe are back on the Yasashii train. Still have some library books to getthrough, so it will take a while longer than usual between drops.

Stay frosty, people x.