A/N: Our time in the Yuy province is drawing to a close, everyone... Enjoy these next few chapters while you can. :D
Chapter 24
Being part of the Duchess Guard was far more stressful than anticipated.
Captain Mikhail – now Vice-Captain Mikhail – had not sugarcoated the assignment once Sherry and her cohort had been inducted; in fact, he and the rest of the old Duchess Guard had gone to great lengths to explain what exactly the job entailed and the expectations, to an almost unsettling degree. Sherry didn't think she'd ever forget the look on Sir Asahi's face as he described the training regimen that Acting Commander Broden had instilled for them.
This was all before the return of the Duke though.
Now, they were working under Captain Simon – who, while being someone she greatly admired and respected, also didn't seem nearly as invested in his assignment as Captain Mikhail had been. This had caused something of a rift within the Duchess Guard: there was the original guard, over which Captain Mikhail had been overseeing; the new guard, made up of Captain Simon's men that had returned from the expedition; and then there was the new cohort, of which Sherry was part of that had only just been inducted into the Duchess Guard.
"Two guards are more than enough," Captain Simon reiterated with almost patronizing calm.
Vice-Captain Mikhail, seated across the table from the man, cocked an eyebrow. "Hmm," was his only response, and the amount of judgment he managed to squeeze into that single syllable was awe-inspiring.
Sherry kept her eyes fastened determinedly on her sword, obsessively polishing it so that she didn't have to bear witness to the tension. Next to her were her fellows, Chiaki and Souta, who were also polishing their swords. Theodore, having long finished with his sword, had now moved on to polishing the doorknob.
"The Duchess is literally inside the estate at all times," Captain Simon continued with exasperation. "Sir Mikhail – for what reason does he need five guards following him around in the Duke's home?"
Sir Mifune, leaned against the far wall, made a quiet scoffing sound. "At all times?" she echoed dubiously.
Vice-Captain Mikhail looked equally annoyed. "The Duke's home?" he repeated sourly. "It is the home of the Duchess as well, and he is entitled to his safety."
Sir Takeo, sat nearby, snorted. "The Duchess certainly is entitled," he agreed with mocking derision.
Sherry knew that was quite possibly the worst thing he could have said at the moment, and this fact was further cemented when Sir Berion chucked a dagger at him. The blade pierced through the wall next to Sir Takeo's head with a ringing threat, one that had Sir Takeo jumping to his feet and unsheathing his sword.
"Takeo, Berion - not again!" Captain Simon snapped out, head swiveling to pin the two men with a virulent glare.
Sir Takeo pointed to the dagger in outrage. "He keeps throwing things at me!"
"And yet your fool head is still attached to your neck," Sir Berion said with palpable hostility.
Captain Simon ignored them, turning back to give Vice-Captain Mikhail another exasperated frown. Sherry could admit that she felt a little bad for Captain Simon; he was well-liked among the soldiers and his skills had even garnered him the respect of the Duke, a feat rarer than expected. When he'd left for the barbarian territories with the majority of their force, the Duchess Guard was a chore assigned to only two soldiers for a week's rotation; now upon his return, it was a full-stacked guard with a training regimen that he'd thought was Commander Broden's idea of a joke.
Sherry, who still couldn't quite shake the ghost feeling of porcupine quills stabbed into her skin, wished it had been a joke.
Vice-Captain Mikhail was no slack either; much like Captain Simon, he was well-liked and respected, and in one-to-one combat, would definitely give Captain Simon a run for his money. He wasn't overly-ambitious or prideful either; so whether he lead the guards or answered to someone else, he had never been trouble before.
Now that the Duchess's safety was in question, though, Vice-Captain Mikhail's obvious discontent with Captain Simon's rule was causing tension within the ranks. If Sherry was being honest, it almost felt like they were caught in a lover's spat.
"Per the Duke's order, the Duchess will have guards posted by whichever room His Grace occupies. Two guards will be with him at all times and we will rotate every six hours," Captain Simon continued doggedly, trying to sound reasonable. Sherry almost wanted to tell him not to bother because both Reason and Logic had deserted the Yuy estate the moment the Duchess had invented whiskey. "Commander Barton has already found poison testers for all of the Duchess's meals, so unless you expect us to cling to his windowsill or the rafters, the Duchess is as safe as can be."
Sherry wondered if Captain Simon and the new guards could climb walls in full suits of armor. Given the way they had dismissed the revised training regimen, she doubted it – but it seemed like a bad idea to point out that Vice-Captain Mikhail and the rest of the old guards could. They were competitive enough already without adding that to the mix.
They were lucky enough today that some of Vice-Captain Mikhail's men were not present; Sir Sayaka was paired with one of Simon's men for guard duty and Sir Lyle was off, likely spending time with some of the orphans who were working in the estate in the Duchess's pathway program. Sherry knew that the usually-jovial knight liked to check and make sure the kids were doing okay in their work, and that he had been especially worried about the boy working in the estate kitchen after the Duchess had been poisoned.
In some ways, Sherry could understand the original Duchess Guard's frustration with Captain Simon's group; between the misadventures the Duchess had been on, to the orphanage pathway program he'd developed, to the technological innovations he promoted – it was clear to Sherry that the Duchess had changed significantly from the man he'd been before the Duke left.
Sherry had been only another common soldier before Duke Yuy left on the expedition, so after the Duchess had survived the incident of the greenhouse fire (and developed amnesia! Which she only learned about after she'd been inducted into the Duchess guard), she'd heard about the Duchess's changes and feats after they'd already passed.
Vice-Captain Mikhail and the others, however, had gotten a front-row seat. They'd been so impressed by the Duchess that it almost seemed like they'd sworn their loyalty to him rather than to Duke Yuy, although Sherry knew better than to say so out loud. They still respected the Duke, of course – but only the Duchess seemed to have their fanatical devotion.
But Sherry could understand that. She'd spoken a bit with Honoka's page, a young girl named Lianna who had come from Sir Lyle's orphanage; her boyfriend was another orphan who worked in the estate kitchen and was involved in the Bluefield Orphanage incident. Both only had glowing things to say about the Duchess, who had apparently saved the boy and some other young kids from a grisly fate.
So when the Duke came back and put Captain Simon in charge of the Duchess Guard, this had obviously ruffled feathers. Captain Simon knew the Duchess as he'd been a year ago; Vice-Captain Mikhail knew the Duchess as he was today.
Honestly, the fighting seemed inevitable.
"Safe as can be," Vice-Captain Mikhail echoed with deadly calm. "If you consider being poisoned a decent amount of safety, I can see where the confusion may lie."
"Mikhail, you-!"
Sherry edged closer to Sir Mifune, who had been watching the entire scene in fascination, as the Captain and Vice-Captain got embroiled in another argument. Out of all of the guards present, Sir Mifune had to be one of the quietest; she never really got into any debates with the new guards but was still just as terrifying as the other original guards. She also seemed oddly preoccupied with things that Sherry had never heard about outside of fairytales, but after stumbling upon Sir Mifune feverishly piecing together one of the Duchess's altars to the Harvester, Sherry decided to stop questioning her.
"How long do you think they're going to fight?" Sherry couldn't help but ask.
Sir Mifune hummed in thought. "If we factor in Mikhail's paranoia when it comes to the Duchess and Captain Simon's stubborn ignorance… and combine that with the frankly disturbing level of unresolved sexual tension between them…" she frowned in thought. "Maybe another three hours?"
Sherry swallowed down a despondent groan. She hadn't even known it could be worse, but now that Sir Mifune had pointed it out – Captain Simon did look more than a little hurt by Vice-Captain Mikhail's defiance, moreso than what would be expected. And now I can't un-see it, she thought bleakly.
"—the Duchess is a homebody—"
"—we wish His Grace the Duchess was a homebody—"
Sir Mifune's translation: "I want your body."
"—NO ONE IS FIGHTING A BEAR—"
"—IF YOU'RE SO SCARED YOU CAN CRAWL BACK TO YOUR—"
Sir Mifune's translation: "Hold me in your sexy, well-muscled arms."
"This is so much worse," Sherry mumbled.
Sir Asahi, stood nearby, patted her on the head. "You've seen nothing yet," he said, eyes far away as his mind turned to some (likely traumatizing) memory. "But only a wall could understand that."
"I can't believe I thought you were normal, Sir Asahi."
Well, Sir Asahi was arguably the most normal out of all of the original Duchess Guard. He was usually pretty laid-back and easy to talk to, but despite his rather lax behavior, he was still more than able to keep up with the insane training regimen they had been put under before Captain Simon's command. As far as Sherry knew, he was also the only one that had been allowed to guard the Duchess alone; they usually operated in groups of 2 to 5 people, but Sir Asahi had sometimes been assigned alone.
Maybe because he was one of the few the Duke trusted with the Duchess, even long before the greenhouse incident? Most of the soldiers and knights that made up their force were from the Yuy province, though it wasn't too unusual to have those who came from other Sanc provinces or even foreign territories. Sir Asahi was one of the few that hailed from the Maxwell province, so the Duke must have trusted him to care about the Duchess's safety, even when the Duchess had been plainly awful.
It was in hour two of the Captain and Vice-Captain's debate over guard rotations that Commander Barton finally walked in. The Duchess Guard was generally independent, although they took training orders from Acting Commander Broden in the Duke's absence, and upon his return, they now fell under Commander Barton's command once more.
Sherry rather liked Commander Barton; he was on the quieter side, but he was generally very understanding of the soldiers and rumor had it that he had a soft spot for animals, so despite being foreign-born, he was still widely trusted and respected. None of that had lessened while he'd been away on the expedition, but…
But, well, it was no secret that he wasn't fond of the Duchess – and that hadn't lessened while he'd been away either.
"The Duke noticed there's been some in-fighting," Commander Barton stated without preamble, after everyone had jumped to attention. "What is it."
Another not-so-fun quirk of Commander Barton was that his every question was phrased more like a demand. It was still better than getting yelled at by Master Chang, though, so Sherry just counted her blessings.
"Just minor disagreements, Commander," Captain Simon was quick to respond, obviously intent on pretending Commander Barton hadn't just walked in on him screaming at the Vice-Captain about wall-climbing. Sherry was touched – and a little weirded out – by his loyalty and determination not to throw Sir Mikhail under the carriage. "It is of no matter, we've come to an agreement."
Commander Barton rose a skeptical eyebrow. Vice-Captain Mikhail, to his credit, just remained at attention with a completely blank face, giving nothing away.
"…Very well," Commander Barton kindly let it slide, turning to look at Mikhail. His expression never really changed from tacit calm, even when enraged, but Sherry got the feeling that if Commander Barton was capable of expressing more emotion than a placid lake, in this moment it would have been dry condescension. "Mikhail – remember that you are subject to Simon's command now. The safety of the Duchess is in good hands."
Vice-Captain Mikhail inclined his head in understanding, but unlike the flat set of his mouth, his eyes burned. "With all due respect, Commander – I find myself more in agreement with Master Winner than yourself, sir."
Captain Simon let out a choked gasp.
In contrast, Commander Barton just stared at Sir Mikhail for a long moment before turning away without a word and walking out. There was nothing hurried or snappish in his steps, his movements as measured as ever, but somehow Sherry felt terror sweep down her spine anyway.
It was only after they were sure that the Commander was long gone that Captain Simon swiveled to glare at his Vice-Captain. "You're even going to fight with the Commander?!" he snapped.
Vice-Captain Mikhail snorted. "If I dared, I'd be dead," he retorted. "There's nothing wrong with a little healthy disagreement."
"You dragged in Master Winner!"
"Master Winner has been vocal about his opinion on the Duchess and his safety," Vice-Captain Mikhail replied.
Master Winner was, of course, another big fan of the Duchess. Sherry hadn't noticed any discord in his relationship with Commander Barton as a result of this newfound adoration, but then again, it's not like she obsessed over other people's relationships like certain other people in this estate. She had heard more than enough from the Duchess's maid Coralina.
"Here they go again," Sir Mifune murmured in interest.
Sherry put her head down on the table in defeat. Maybe if she was lucky enough, the Commander would decide he was fed up with their antics and kill them all.
A/N: We're not getting Mikhail's POV yet 😂 We just got these 'C' chapters started!
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