Ashes and Kingdoms

A small lamp on the pillow is softening a weak flame.

Fernena was still staring at the flames floating in the dark, held in her husband's arms. Keeping the lights on all night was a waste of oil, and most importantly, I knew there was a fire hazard, but I really didn't feel like turning it off.

(It's okay, it's such a small lamp, the amount of oil is also known. Besides, I keep it in the middle of a wide table so it doesn't flip over -)

Give yourself an excuse and meditate on your eyes. A pearlescent light appeared behind the lid.

Has she slept yet?

A slight warmth arose in the back of my chest when I gave my child a thought far away. It feels calm and stable. Fernena breathes in relief. If there's nothing strange about Nella, Senato will be safe. I heard you headed to the Emperor's Villa in Siros, but a little like a boy of those years, would you even run around and play?

As I turned my mind on this, I was completely blinded.

I don't know. I leak a sigh. And Rufus, who should have been asleep next door, shifted his body direction and gently stroked her hair.

Can't you sleep?

"Yeah.... you too?

"I've thought about it a lot," he said, shaking his head small. "Corner, it's been a while since I've slept at home. It just comes to my mind all the extras."

When you are on alert in the realm with a legion soldier, you hardly think about us. How can we position soldiers to efficiently fire bonfires? Securing fuel and cereals. The priority of the facility to be repaired is.

Thinking is like a mountain, and whether you deal with it or not, it springs from next to next. But they are things that can actually hit and clean up. Even if there are no boundaries, the response is obtained that it is being processed anyway.

When I'm in this hall, I can't help myself, I can only guess what's going on again, it's hard to be bothered by such a problem.

"Oh, my God."

Rufus sprinkled his wife's rich blonde hair and nodded softly on her lips. In my bedroom, I can love Fernena as just one woman. Put any of this on the shelf for a while.

Fernena felt the same way, leaning against her husband. As it were, the two of them were silently feeling each other's body temperature for a while. At one time full of gentle relief, Rufus, who remembered the old days, smiled small and bitter.

"When we were just married, I was totally up. With you, I never thought I'd be able to stay calm."

"Oh, really?" Fernena is also laughed at. "Though you seemed quite calm to me. Whatever happened, it didn't move, and I thought it was the Legion Commander."

"I was just so nervous all over the place that I couldn't even shake it."

"I guess."

Heh, and Fernena holds her mouth. He remembered a less honorable event for Rufus. Rufus looked up at the ceiling dissolving in the dark with the face that he had come.

The silence, calmed thanks to heartwarming memories, soon sank heavy again, however. They looked at each other from either side and gently stroked their shoulders and arms to comfort each other.

"... could that child be a fine emperor"

"I thought I could be. Before I left the hall, I was as solid as someone else in the past, and kids those days are something that grows up. Don't worry about it."

"Right. She doesn't stay weak, does she?"

It was an empty conversation, knowing that we had nothing to say to each other.

- Will that child survive? Can we be caught up in the plot of the emperor and grandfather, and be instrumental without refusal, to win out in the royal capital, which has no one on our side?

(And we...?

If you don't think about it, reason draws the reins. But Fernena's heart couldn't help but slip down into the dark.

(I wonder how long I'll have to be ruled by that guy)

If Senato Jr. hadn't shown up, she would have been made the Emperor's wife by an arrangement made on her own where she knew nothing. When I heard the story from Rufus, I passed through anger and despaired. I was reminded that my father was no longer a father.

Nor did I disappoint my husband, who could not withdraw from arrogant and selfish arrangements. But at least he told the truth about his powerlessness and the consequences. When I saw my husband apologizing as desperately as she did, unprecedented emotions arose in Fernena's chest.

(I don't want to lose. I can't forgive you for making Rufus feel this miserable)

Deep down in my heart, my fighting spirit dulls. But cutting the front and fighting is impossible, at least for now. Fernena is a woman, and more than she has a father and a husband, the powers recognised by law are equal to nothing. And my husband cannot resist a man who is both uncle and master. I didn't know what I would do if I defied you. All the legions formally pledge allegiance to the emperor, but in reality there is a 'Lord' for each of their lands. Elecia in the east, Big Senato in the west.

"At least now, we have to make allies"

Since Rufus snapped like he was talking to himself, Fernena was surprised to see if her thoughts had been conveyed. Rufus gave her a naughty, self-inflicted bitterness when she opened her eyes.

"Will you not be disappointed in your impudent husband? No, I can't help being disappointed, but the... elsewhere."

"Already, fool"

He laughed without asking everyone, and Fernena followed him close by. Ah, the pain, and Rufus flashes his face. Fernena shrugged and laughed and opened her head on her husband's shoulder.

"Right. I stained myself in that kid's absence. The two of us alone are limited in what we can do. It's not the time to be stuck in a door or a house, is it? I want to make sure His Majesty the Emperor is on his side first, even for that child. of Lord Nachte, not on our side and on that child's side."

"Right.... I'm worried about you."

"What do you mean?

"It seems that the council today is not very cooperative with the emperor. That's why Senato seems to read that it can be used."

"That sounds like something I'm going to do," Fernena glanced at her face and snapped her nose. "The council may no longer be willing to put that child on the throne, and even if it is, it will only consider making it convenient for us. I wonder if His Majesty has any allies."

"General Glaus seems to be my biggest friend, but the general is on the eastern side right now. I hear some councillors have emperors... And then there's the dragon marquis in the north."

"That boy?

It was something Fernena said reluctantly, and Rufus swept away. She turned a little red and excused herself when she looked at the dragon marquis, who would not have it.

"Because you'll still be twenty or there. He's just a kid. Don't laugh so much anymore!

"Yeah, well, that's about it. But I think you can trust that boy."

"Sure, that sounded like an honest vibe. I don't deny that, but he's going all the way west, and then he's going north, right? I don't care if I say I'm on your side..."

"Oh, it's not like I'm a leading figure on the national side. But it would be nice to have allies in the distance if we were to go into exile."

"... right"

Fernena reluctantly agreed, and took a breath. It's a different world for her, like north of the mountains. I would be rude to that young dragon marquis to say that the uncivilized land is far from home, but honestly, if we were to escape to such a land, I think it would be over.

(At least if I can make that guy feel any softer)

Feeling like someone else already, Fernena thought of her father these days.

Instead of staring at the royal capital and grinding his fangs like a starving beast, if he looked to his land as Lord Nakte and found a future there.

(Again, at least to my brother-in-law, you'd be able to say it's family)

To do this, there is one thing missing.

"Fernena?"

Calling her softly, silently, to see if Rufus had become worried. As Fernena raised her face, her calm grey eyes were asking if she was okay. It has always been the same, gentle and affectionate.

"Hey, Rufus."

Fernena chewed up once again the joy of which he was her own husband, and whispered herself to its wide breasts.

"I'm still good enough, don't you think I could have another child?

"The other one?

Rufus rounded his eyes, and then answered in a resounding manner.

"Five more people will be fine."