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…
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