"Oh look, she's at it again." Vaike said with a small smirk as he nudged Stahl's arm with his shoulder subtly.
Stahl looked up from his lunch in the direction that Vaike was looking and nodded then replied, "Ah…oh man, poor girl. Well, she has persistence, that's for sure."
"I kinda wish she'd learn when to give up though; maybe then she'd notice there are a lot of other eligible guys around here." Vaike said as he flexed his shoulder and chest muscles proudly.
Stahl laughed a little and commented, "Maybe one day Vaike, maybe one day."
Robin was sitting with them and overheard their conversation, feeling curious as to what they were talking about. He looked at them with a questioning gaze then followed the path of their eyes. The young tactician didn't see anything out of the ordinary though, merely Chrom and more of the Shepherds having their lunch as per usual. What Robin's eyes didn't detect was Cordelia's feeble attempts at garnering Chrom's attention. Perhaps it was because Robin had naïve innocence when it came to women and romance, or maybe it was simply that he was new to the Shepherds, but regardless he was one of the only members of the Shepherds who didn't know about Coredlia's infatuation with Chrom.
The red haired prodigy had made sure to sit with Chrom that day but explained it away by saying she wanted to sit with her good friend, Sumia, who also happened to be holding a torch for their prince. Unfortunately for Cordelia, Sumia had Chrom's full attention at the moment, mostly by filling his mouth with lots of pie. Cordelia considered Sumia to be one of her dearest friends and she knew that Sumia was in love with their prince as well, which put Cordelia in an awkward predicament. Part of her cheered Sumia on while another part considered her a rival which left Coredlia with an empty and rather guilty feeling in her chest.
Cordelia was starting to wonder if she'd ever be able to catch the eye of her beloved prince. It was such an odd feeling for Cordelia to actually fail at something. Ever since she was a little girl Cordelia had possessed a natural ability to succeed if not excel at practically everything she ever attempted, so why was she having so much trouble when it came to romance?
After lunch Cordelia walked in to her tent and picked up a small vanity mirror that was lying on her cot. She picked it up and examined herself in it curiously. Was she not attractive enough? Was she just not Chrom's type? Cordelia wasn't sure, and there was no way she could ask Chrom directly what she thought of him. She'd die of embarrassment if that happened. Cordelia quickly shook these thoughts off; she knew that she would get nowhere if she fell in to self pity. She'd stay determined and refuse to give up on her romantic pursuits. Cordelia did realize one thing though; she had to rethink her strategies. She needed to be smart and tactful in her approach. But for the time being Cordelia felt she'd be better off clearing her mind, perhaps work on something different. That was when Cordelia's eyes noticed the prototype javelin she had crafted about a week before. Cordelia smiled as she picked it up and looked it over with care.
Cordelia exited her tent with the javelin in one hand and a whetstone in the other. She shivered as she felt a frigid wind blow through the camp. They were travelling through the mountains and the cold winter winds were already blowing through now that late autumn had arrived. Cordelia made her way to a camp fire that sat in the middle of the camp to get warmed up and was pleasantly surprised to find Robin sitting there on a nearby log with a book in his hands. She smiled and happily sat right next to the young tactician on the log. Cordelia hadn't known Robin for long but the two of them had quickly become great friends. In fact, aside from Sumia, Robin was Cordelia's closest friend. "Hello Robin, how have you been today?" Cordelia asked with a warm and affectionate smile.
Robin looked up from his book when Cordelia sat next to him and smiled right back at her, brushing some of his dark hair out of his eyes before he replied, "Hi Cordelia, I'm doing well. How are you?"
"I'm..good. Quite good." Cordelia said, she had hesitated at first on account of her troubles with Chrom but she didn't want burden Robin with such things, nor did she want to worry him.
"I see you're hard at work on your javelin again. But I thought you were finished with it." Robin said, trying to make conversation with his dear friend. Robin really liked Cordelia; she had such a warm and sincere personality.
"I thought I was as well, but I've already been thinking of ways I might be able to improve the design." Cordelia explained as she carefully ran the whetstone along the point of the javelin, the tip had become slightly dull since she first crafted it. "Of course, I'd be more than happy for any suggestions you could give. Knowing you, it could only help."
"Heh, well I don't know about that. You know far more about spears and javelins than I do. You also have more experience with them. If anything I'm sure you could teach me." Robin said.
"Hehe, perhaps so. I can teach you sometime, if you'd like." Cordelia offered.
"Thank you, but I think for the moment I'd prefer to just get a better feel for my sword before trying to expand in to other weapons." Robin explained.
"I understand." Cordelia said with a nod but then paused for a moment, quickly thinking to herself. Robin was a very trusted friend, and he was also very close to Chrom. Cordelia hesitated before nervously asking, "Excuse me, Robin, could I ask you something?"
"Of course. Go ahead." Robin said with a small nod.
"But first…promise me that you won't talk to anyone about this. It's just between the two of us." Cordelia requested.
"Sure, that's fine. My lips are sealed." Robin said, now quite curious as to what was on Cordelia's mind.
Cordelia quickly looked around to make sure that no one else was within earshot before she leaned in and quietly asked, "Umm, does Chrom ever talk about me?"
"Talk about you? Like how?" Robin asked, tilting his head to the side a little.
"Just..anything. Does he ever mention me in passing?" Cordelia asked, feeling her cheeks becoming redder by the second.
"No, not you particularly. I mean, he talks about everyone when we're conducting battle strategies." Robin answered.
"Oh…I see.." Cordelia said, hanging her head down in disappointment. She bit her lip a little then asked, "Robin, do you think I'm pretty?"
This question especially had Robin taken aback. Cordelia was by far one of the most beautiful girls he had ever met. All the guys in the Shepherds thought so as well, so Robin couldn't understand why she would ask such a thing. Robin smiled and nodded his head as he answered, "Of course Cordelia. You're beautiful."
"Then why doesn't he ever notice me?" Cordelia asked as she leaned the javelin against her shoulder and looked in to the warm fire.
"You mean Chrom? Why do you want him to notice you?" Robin asked then paused. His eyes widened in realization and he quickly blurted out, "Cordelia! Do you like Chrom?"
"Shhh!" Cordelia hushed him, quickly putting a hand over his mouth but then nodded with a blush and replied, "Yes, but no matter what I do I can't seem to get Chrom to notice me."
"Oh I see, well if you want I could talk to Chrom for you." Robin offered, trying simply to be a good friend even though that was the last thing Cordelia would want.
"No, you can't! Although…." Cordelia thought aloud but then hesitated.
"Although what, Cordelia?" Robin asked.
"Well, it's just that you're..so good at coming up with tactics and strategies so do you think maybe you could help me come up with a strategy to help me catch Chrom's eye?" Cordelia asked.
"Hmm, I guess I could try. I mean, I can at least try to find out what Chrom's type is and then go from there." Robin offered even though his knowledge of romance was limited.
"Thank you, Robin. I feel so silly asking for your help with something like this. I guess I've spent so much time training throughout the years that I forgot to learn certain things like this." Cordelia said sheepishly.
"It's alright; I'm not actually an expert either. Although, I'm not sure if anyone can be an expert when it comes to romance and relationships, but I just thought of an idea. Sumia has a lot of romance books, so maybe we could use those for reference to get some ideas for how you could attract Chrom."
"Oh! That's a terrific idea, Robin. But we have to make sure to borrow the books at different times of the day so that it doesn't seem suspicious." Cordelia mentioned.
"No problem. I'm already borrowing a book from Sumia that I recently finished. I can use that as a good excuse to ask for another one. I'll also talk to Chrom but make it as subtle as possible." Robin said.
Cordelia smiled brightly and said, "Alright, that sounds wonderful. Together we're going to make Chrom fall in love with me."
Later on that day Robin walked in to Sumia's tent and greeted her as he handed her back the adventure novel she had lent to him. "So would you like to check out any other books from the Sumia library?" Sumia asked curiously.
"Actually I was, do you mind if I take a look through your collection?" Robin asked.
"Of course, go ahead and help yourself." Sumia said as she stepped out. Robin walked over to the trunk where Sumia had kept her books and began to curious rummage through them, looking for anything with a romantic sounding title. Eventually he found one titled 'The amnesiac and the dark mage'.
For the rest of the day, whenever Robin had a bit of free time he would pull out the small novel and start to thumb through the pages, quietly reading to himself. Of course, he wasn't reading as one would usually read a romance novel. He was reading it as a means of research in to the ways people could fall in love with one another. It didn't seem like that complex of a thing. Two people of the opposite sex would spend time together and then start to form a bond. It seemed so simple in theory.
Robin didn't notice that he was slowly becoming more and more interested in the romance book the more he read of it. He'd be walking about the camp, going from place to place with it open in his hand as he read. This didn't turn out too well for Robin though for he ended up running right in to Frederick and dropping the book down on to the ground. Frederick picked it up off the ground and casually glanced over what had been holding the tactician's interest in such away. Once Frederick understood what kind of book it was he looked at Robin strangely without saying a word before letting out a low sigh and handing over the book. Robin now felt quite embarrassed and quickly stuffed the book in to his jacket, and that was the last time anyone saw him reading it out in the open again. Embarrassment aside, Robin was starting to think up a few ideas in that head of his.
Later on that night Cordelia popped in to Sumia's tent to say goodnight but then started talking about books. "Well you see, I've been having trouble sleeping that past few nights so I was wondering if I could borrow one of your books." Cordelia requested.
"Oh sure, what kind of book were you looking for? Maybe I could give you some suggestions." Sumia offered as she began to remove her armor and set it to the side to prepare for bed.
"Well, I was wondering if you had anything…romantic." Cordelia asked, a small shade of pink appearing on her cheeks.
"Romantic? I think there are a few really good ones in here." Sumia said as she walked over to the trunk where she stored her books and opened it up. Cordelia walked over to her friend and looked in as well.
"Oh, what about this one?" Cordelia asked as she pulled out a book titled 'A Thief for an Heiress'. "It sounds interesting."
"Oh….so you were wanting a book like that." Sumia said in surprise but then smiled a little and added, "If that's the one you want then go ahead….have fun, Cordelia."
"Alright, well thank you Sumia. Good night." Cordelia said. She was wondering why Sumia had said 'have fun' the way she had.
Meanwhile in Chrom's tent, Robin was looking over a map of the deserts in Plegia. "So you see, there have been a lot of reports of bandits attacking people going through this area." Chrom said.
"And this is right in the route we have to go, correct? If so then we need to prepare ourselves for an ambush." Robin mentioned and began to slowly move about the pieces that represented their forces. "Our cavalry we'll be at a disadvantage in the sand so we can't send them out to scout ahead. Therefore I think we should keep them and the rest of our armored forces on the periphery as a means to absorb any blows by the bandits, and keep the rest of our forces in close for protection. Then we can send out our mages and archers to counter any attack, regardless of the enemy's positions."
"I see, but why not send out our Pegasus Knights to scout for us?" Chrom asked.
"Well you said they were using ambush tactics. That makes me think there could be a significant amount of archers in their group. We'd be sending Sumia and Cordelia in to a potential death trap." Robin explained. "fact, I think it would be best if we kept her in close to you so that she can protect you as well as relay what she sees from the skies. I'm sure you wouldn't want anything to happen to Cordelia."
"No of course not. She's a great solider and I know you two are close, Robin. Of course, I wouldn't want anything to happen to any of our own." Chrom replied.
"Well then, I think that's everything for tonight. I'm going to retire for the night and you should do the same Chrom." Robin said then paused and added, "So Chrom if you don't my asking, what would you say your type is when it comes to women. You know, man to man."
Chrom chuckled a little and said, "That's a rather strange and sudden thing for you to ask, but I think I know what this is about."
"Y-you do?" Robin said in surprise.
"Yes, and I think she's a very fine young woman." Chrom said with a smile on his face.
"Really? I was under the impression you didn't pay her much mind." Robin said in surprise.
"Well this really has nothing to do with me, now does it? Anyways I think you and Cordelia will make a wonderful couple. When we get back to Ylisse, you two should take a day to spend some time together, just the two of you." Chrom said then yawned a little. "I think I'll take your advice and turn in for the night. Good night Robin."
Robin was about to say something but held his tongue, merely letting out a small, "Good night Chrom. Sleep well." Robin exited Chrom's tent and made his way towards his own. That hadn't gone at all like he had planned. Chrom had been completely off and didn't even answer Robin's question. Robin couldn't believe that Chrom actually thought he had feelings for Cordelia. It was true, the two of them had become good friends but that was all they were. It wasn't as if Robin was appalled by the idea. After all Cordelia was smart, talented, beautiful, and had one of the warmest and most caring personalities of all the Shepherds. Any guy would be crazy not to be attracted by Cordelia.
Meanwhile Cordelia had curled up in to her cot after putting away her armor and was slowly opening up the book that she had borrowed for Sumia. It started pretty normally at first and Cordelia was looking forward to a sweet and emotional love story, however what she found was that the book was far more…erotic than she expected. Now she understood what Sumia had meant when she said 'have fun'. The longer Cordelia read along, the redder her cheeks became from sheer embarrassment. Cordelia told herself that she would read up to an ending point and then put the book away for the night. She didn't know how much of this embarrassment she could handle. It turned out that the ending point came with the end of the book.