Yasashī Shinjitsu to SeiryakuKekkon Vol IIChapter 30

W

hen she woke up, it was dawn andLeandroth was still sleeping beside her.

She watched his deep steadybreathing, and studying his face. He looked younger sleeping so peacefully. Inthe light of the morning, his golden hair glittered, it was very dazzling.

Beautiful, she thought.

She felt warm in his arms. But shewould surely wake him if she moved. So she tried not to move and watched hisinnocent sleeping face.

He gave a small sigh as he turnedon his back and continued sleeping with his arms spread wide.

Matilda giggled at his pose. He waslike a child.

She was happy; Matilda thought asshe sat up and pulled the covers over him.

‘Leann, wake up.’ She calledsoftly; he sighed but did not stir. She wondered how she should kiss his wideopen mouth.

She leaned over and sucked on hislower lip.

‘Good morning,’ she called, but hejust moaned and changed positions again. It was rather cute; this time, shelicked his upper lip,

‘Wake up Leann.’ She said as shewondered if she should stop troubling him and let him sleep.

‘Hmm, that’s a nice view to wake upto.’ He muttered sleepily, but his bright gaze was at her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. She giggledand snuggled into the crook of his arm to hide,

‘Hey, I was enjoying the view.’ Hesaid. It was rather funny and he made her giggle.

Her took her by the arms and pulledher up so his head was at her chest, ‘Leann, ah!’ she cried as his mouthclamped on her breast. There was laughter in his eyes as he began to caress theother breast. His other arm wrapped around her body, kneaded her b.u.t.t hisfingers sinking satisfactorily into the soft springy skin.

‘So aggressive early in themorning, ah-are you ahn…angry?

‘No way!’ he replied brightly. Shewas relieved. He pulled her on top of him; she could feel his heated thicknessunderneath her.

‘Mattie, put it inside.’ He askedbetween sucking on her nipples.

‘I will try,’

She was already wet, and her petalswere already ready to accept him. Slowly, she sank down his length. They bothsighed in pleasure.

Though it was embarra.s.sing to benaked in the morning, she wanted him more. Her whole body was burning withdesire. She began to rock her hips,

‘Nn…ah,’ she moaned. His expressionshowed that he was enjoying himself,

‘I’m so happy I’m dizzy.’ He saidwith breathless laughter.

She sat up and braced her arms onhis abdomen, and began to rock her hips a little harder.

‘Oh I feel good. Does it feel goodfor you, Mattie?’

‘It feels good but…I wantmore…stimulation,’ she replied

‘Stimulation?’ he replied with asly smile.

He sat up and cuddled her to him,and then he started to thrust into her deeper and faster, and she got thestimulation she wanted.

(Zuben: it’s the final chapter andshe decided to stop her nonsense.)

◇

After their lunch, they had a breakin Leandroth’s private drawing room.

A man came to visit. It wasLeandroth’s younger brother, Bartholomew Vincez Barenshiaga. A general calledthe Sleeping Black Eagle. The pride of the Empire.

He was taller and broader thanLeandroth. Though Matilda was taller than most women, and Leandroth was tallerthan her by almost a head, Bartholomew towered head and shoulders over her. Ifa woman of average height stood by him, she would look child-like.

He bowed over her hand and kissedthe back, ‘Nice to meet you, Princess,’ he said.

‘Nice to meet you too, General.’

‘This guy’s nickname is “SleepingBlack Eagle” because cause he looks half asleep all the time.’

‘Ah…’

But if the Sleeping Eagle shouldwake up, it usually meant war. That was what she heard. Right now, he reallylooked like he was half asleep.

They took their seats.

‘How is Grandfather?’ Leandrothasked.

‘He’s ensconced at my house,practicing his swordsmanship happily.’

‘Is his ankle sprain better?’Matilda asked

‘I’m more worried about himincurring 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 thesun. Like two big overly friendly dogs.

There were two handsome men beforeher, but rather than be nervous, she was quite relaxed.

‘Dear Sister-in-law, my brotherlooks happy and relaxed. Thank you.’ For a moment, there was a serious light inBartholomew’s eyes.

‘I will take care of him. Leave itto me,’ she replied with a smile. She was glad Leandroth’s family was worriedabout his welfare.

‘I am going to be heading northeastwith a company soon, please wait patiently for news.’

Matilda nodded, while wondering,northeast?

‘There is a possibility a few Lordswill 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 Montbatreinstigated this.’

Montbatre was the country to theeast of Barenshiaga.

(Zuben: In the final chapter, theEastern Country gets a name!)

‘It’s probably because brotherdidn’t marry his daughter.’ Bartholomew concluded.

‘It’s because he was aiming forBarenshiaga, and tried to use his daughter to a.s.sa.s.sinate me. She has anickname, the Octopus Princess, because she likes feels people up and is veryamorous.’

That wasn’t a nickname that was aninsult, Matilda thought.

‘They are looking for a husband forher,’ Leandroth said pointedly.

‘I decline,’

‘You’re renown all over, you’re adesirable husband.’

‘I have no interest in a wife atthe moment.’

‘So you’ve been refusinginvitations,’

‘Because of the wedding, there willbe many Princesses in the palace and now you’ve arranged the perfect escape.’Leandroth said as he sipped his tea.

Bartholomew looked sheepish, likehe’d been caught.

After that, they talked a littlemore and Bartholomew took his leave.

‘You two are close,’ Matilda saidwith a little giggle. Leandroth ate a crepe filled with candied apples andhoney.

‘It’s because our personalities aredifferent, so we want different things and like different things. Littlebrother gave me the idea for your birthday presents.’

‘Huh?’

‘You said you like cute things andlike to make cute things. So rather than giving you a present that was alreadyfinished, he suggested I give you something you can work on. He also likes cutethings. The woman he chooses would be forever clothed in cuteness.’

(Zuben: we can only hope for hissake, she is the cute type)

The tea brewed but she hardly paidattention. It looked as though, she had been more obvious than she thoughtabout her love of cute things. She was slightly depressed.

But on the bright side, she now hadmore cute loving companions.

‘If he was a girl, she would bewearing cute clothes and toting around parasols. He likes pale pink, but it isnot a colour he can wear as a man. So he wears black.’

‘He could implement lovely backchiffon into his clothing. Black seems to be in fashion right now’

‘In fashion? Well I don’t know muchabout that. It would be nice if people wore more colours. You can add lots ofglitter and sequins to your clothes.’

Glitter and sequins? That did notcreate a favourable impression.

‘How about if you have glitter andsequins on your clothes?’ she asked him.

He grimaced.

◇

A few days before their weddingBartholomew headed northeast to quell the unrest.

‘Will there be war?’ she askedLeandroth as they saw his younger brother off.

‘Maybe. Maybe not.’ he repliednon-committal.

She hoped it didn’t escalate thatfar.

That being said, it was ratherunderhanded to incite unrest because the Emperor of a neighbouring country wasgetting married.

Despite the events, the days pa.s.sedsmoothly. It was becoming routine for the Emperor and his future Empress tosleep together in the Empress’ room without question.

But there was a bit of a grumbledue to security and patrols, so they decided to move to the Emperor’s rooms. Therooms were originally decorated in the former Emperor’s foreboding style muchto the future Empress’ dismay. Matilda decided to renovate the Emperor’s roomsto her own preference, and they gave most of the original furniture away. Andif the former emperor came to visit, he won’t be looking in the rooms anyway.

Matilda wanted to be as frugal aspossible which gave the Grand Chamberlain and the Chief of Staff a headache.

As for Matilda’s dance lessons, sheinvited the female knights and maids to dance with knights and soldiers. Theywere 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, theChief of Staff, who sighed in exasperation.

In the future, when they toldstories of the wedding of Leandroth and Matilda, the children would hear thatLeandroth did not like to dance.

 ◇ 

What is peace?

It was a question that was hard toanswer.

But the two of them pondered uponit in their bed together. And they discussed politics at their dinner table.Discussion enriched their meals, and everything was most exciting when theywere talking.

They introduced the potato toBarenshiaga from Icecoreta. It quickly became a staple food, due to the cropbeing easy to grow.

Between them they discussed manycrops like buckwheat, and plain wheat, and various vegetables. Their desire forfood was strong.

They imported ice from Icecorettato minimise seafood spoiling at the port (Zuben: I am surprised no one hadthought of that earlier but you never know)

Occasionally, their direction maybe wrong and a project may fail. But they realised that there was no peacewithout a full belly.

Agricultural scientists, who wereinterested in improving seeds, would come to the palace and study the rareblooms that were the vegetables that grew in the palace gardens. They hadoccurred incidentally.

This would become a topic ofdiscussion when historians discussed the Women who changed the BarenshiagaEmpire…

⚔Chapter 31