Chapter 29

"How much exactly did she drink?" Joel questioned as he and Lawrence sat alone on guest room floor where Schehera slept. Despite Muu's protest, neither of them were willing to leave their liege's sides and so the captain eventually gave in and set up makeshift cots in her room for them.

"What's his deal?" Lawrence had asked.

"Puppy love," Joel assured him. "Nothing substantial."

"I can't remember, I'm not exactly completely sober myself," Lawrence replied as he pulled out a small flask from his pocket and took a long sip. "About her body weight, and then some?" Joel whistled. "It was quite impressive to watch really."

"I take it that my brother told you we were in Reim, but how did you know to come here?" asked Joel.

"I sensed your pretty pink aura," Lawrence replied, Joel rolled his eyes. "I'm joking, we met someone at the pub, a courtesan whom her grace seems to know, and who seems quite fond of her grace. Pretty thing," there was a slight flush to his cheeks. "She told me to bring her here."

"My goodness Lawlie Connie, I do believe your blushing," Joel remarked.

"Shut up," Lawrence snapped as he threw his flask at Joel. "And don't call me that, you're not-" he hesitated to finish his sentence. "You're not Chris."

Joel sighed and took a small sip. "How is she? She and Ward, they were close-"

"They were lovers, we're all adults here, well the two of us are," said Lawrence as he quickly glanced at Schehera who was still sound asleep. "Pregnant, is how Chris is."

"What?"

"Yep."

"And it's-"

"Ward's," Lawrence nodded. "A boy as well, from the message he left behind."

There was a long silence. Joel sighed again and took another, this time much long, sip from the flask in his hand. "What now?"

"We wait for her grace," said Lawrence. "And we set off for Ming-yue, Prince Koumei let me use his personal flying carpet to get here. Since Kou and Reim aren't exactly on the best of terms, we thought it best to not bring such a large magical item and it's accompanying platoon of Kou soldiers and magicians into the capital. Will you be coming with us?"

"Of course!" Joel replied. "How could you even ask that?"

"I'm not sure I know you as well as I thought I did Yussel, or Joel, as you prefer to be called now. The man I knew would never had abandoned his country, his friends, but you did."

"My country abandoned me first," said Joel. "When you bent the knee to the Kou empire, you turned your back on me!"

"Do you really still think that? After all these years? After all this time with her?" asked Lawrence. "Do you really still think that!?"

Joel glanced at his sleeping liege, who would have thought he would ever see such a thing. "No," he admitted. "I don't."

"She's not what you expected, is she?" Lawrence questioned as he smiled fondly Schehera.

"No," Joel admitted again. It was evident, the love and affection that his old friend had for the princess. It was so pure and genuine, something he'd never seen from him before.

Lawrence always seemed to be the more friendlier and outgoing of the pair, however in reality he used that as armour to mask and hide himself from others. Despite his innately kind gestures and gentle smile, something about him terrified people. It was that same calm that he always exude that made people unease, there was always a sense that something was bubbling underneath the surface. Unlike Joel who wore his heart on his sleeve, Lawrence hid everything behind a smile. Joel could count on one hand the number of times he had seen that mask of his slip. The man didn't get angry, he got even. Joel was glad that his old friend had found someone who he could dedicate his life to, he had found some form of peace in this chaotic world.

The duchess giggled in her sleep. As she tossed and turned Lawrence heard her quietly say to herself. "Silly Ward." Two small words that broke his heart, he reached over and gently tucked the hair that had fallen over her face behind her ear. She was smiling, something that she would no doubt not do once she awoke.

"What are you thinking?" Joel demanded.

"What?"

"I recognise that look," said Joel. "You were thinking something you shouldn't, what was it?"

Lawrence chuckled. "Nothing much," he replied. "Just how much I'd love to lock her grace in a small room and keep her all to myself." There was a pause.

"How the hell can you say such that loud with such a straight face?" Joel demanded as he reached for the nearest thing around him and threw it at the man.

"You were thinking it too," Lawrence said with a smile as he dodged the cushion.

"No! I wasn't!"

XXX

Joel fell asleep leaning against the wall in the corner of the room. News of his brother's death hurt him more than he was letting on, however ever the soldier he refused to let it show.

Lawrence however couldn't fall asleep, he was both mentally and physically drained but he couldn't rest. Every time he closed his eyes he saw Charon, with his silver hair and delicate features. Despite sharing a bed for many years he never once loved him, nor was he exactly faithful to the man either. Two facts Charon was painfully aware of. He never pushed for more, even though Lawrence knew he wanted it. He had treated the castellan poorly, even though the man had showered him with nothing but unconditional love and understanding. It was something he would regret for the rest of his life. He deserved better, Charon deserved better than him.

It was Lawrence's doing that Charon never informed her grace of their relationship, not to remain professional in her presence or out of embarrassment, but because the only person Lawrence ever truly loved was the Duchess of Ming-yue herself. The man was bewitched from the moment he first laid eyes on her, he fell in love when he watched her outmanoeuvre the Emperor of Kou himself and made the empire fall to its knees before her. She won a war against the crown prince that he didn't know how to fight, not one of soldiers and bloodied battle but of cunning wit and courtly etiquette. If she wanted she could, no, she would be queen of all. To be so close to such power, yet to not be corrupted by it, to not seek it, to not be tempted to use it. It baffled him.

Right now, Lawrence could do nothing but watch over her grace as she cried and laughed in her sleep, just like he'd done on and off for the last decade of his life. Unlike Joel who spent most of his time away from the palace with the prince, Lawrence served alongside Ward guarding both the King and the young princess. He had spend his life on the sidelines, always close enough to observe, but distant enough to simply be an outsider looking in. The princess always had at least two guards with her at all times. Ward was always by her side to keep her safe, however Lawrence was never far away.

Joel never understood her allure, at least not until now. Time and time again he would tell his friend and his brother to leave her and join him and the prince but they always refused. 'What was so special about her?' Joel would ask 'What about her made her so unique?' The answer was nothing. Nothing made her unique, nothing made her different in anyway from anyone else. Even though she was born a princess, right now she was just a girl, dressed in plain cotton robes, sleeping in a cozy bed, with tears in her eyes from loved ones lost...she was just like everyone else. Not one thing made her special, yes she was a beauty, but there were plenty of those in the world. She was intelligent but yet again, not unique. She was just Schehera, simply just herself. Always true, usually honest, that was why they loved her so.

In all his years by her side Lawrence had never really had a chance to simply look at her, to stare, only glances that were stolen from the corner of his eyes. Just in those instances when she entered his peripheral vision, however his focus was always on keeping her safe. She truly was beautiful. A face that would sail a thousand ships. In this case, it wasn't ships, but an army, one that she bought down on her own people, her own country, her own father. How could such beauty be capable of such violence, such destruction?

XXX

Soowon felt something warm trickle down his back, it was only after he'd reached behind to touch it that he realised it was blood, his blood. He'd been stabbed yet due to the shock he still didn't feel any pain, not even when he fell to the kitchen floor.

"Like I said," he heard a familiar voice whisper behind him. "You're too kind for this world." Soowon turned his head to see Christina standing over him, a bloodied knife in her hand.

"Why?" he asked. "Why did you betray us?" The red haired women smiled as she knelt down beside him.

"Sweetheart, I was never on your side to begin with," she told him before knocking him unconscious with the hilt of her blade.