Keiji awakens on the morning of the prisoner exchange in Charlotte's bed with a hangover.
Exchange
Your body aches and your ears ring. Worse still, your head pounds. Then there's the nape of your neck; it's oddly sore. Blankets wrap too, you feel that much. Wherever you are though, you've not the will to open your eyes. You know it's going to hurt.
Someone cuddles up with you; you're tangled up in them. Their breaths are slow and steady.
At least your head is nestled somewhere soft and comforting. Somewhere pillowy, even.
"Dammit all, my head," Charlotte whines. A throbbing pain grips your skull in the aftermath of her complaint.
"Speak again and I'll have to kill you," you threaten idly, your voice strained by sleep.
"Whatever you say, Samurai," the girl dismisses. The arm around your back tightening, she hugs the side of your face nearer it's soft resting place. "It's your damn fault for drinking too much."
Recollection striking, you shudder. Hazy flashes of chanting soldiers and empty wine bottles shoot through your messy thoughts.
"How many cups was it?" you ask weakly; speaking only worsens your suffering.
"I dunno," answers Charlotte, a touch irked. "I stopped counting at six."
You're clammy, droplets of sweat crawling down your forehead. "Feels like sixty," you mumble.
"I'll bet. You had more than me for sure."
"It happens more than I'd like to admit," you confess with a hint of shame. As ever, you've been an idiot with the alcohol.
"Yeah, well, you could at least thank me for bringing you back here."
"We're in your room?" You don't recall returning there.
"Last I checked, idiot. Why not open your eyes?"
"I'd rather not. I may die."
"Weakling."
"Say what you will. You don't sound too spirited, either."
"Whatever. I figured you'd at least show a little kindness for helping you."
Worse yet this blurry picture gets.
You groan with self-loathing. "Gods, you carried me didn't you...?"
"More like walked," Charlotte clarifies. "But you weren't going anywhere on your own."
"How bad was I...?" Anxiousness builds in your already churning stomach over the notion of making a fool of yourself.
"Not so far gone we didn't kiss some more." Charlotte hums with satisfaction. "You got aggressive too, really aggressive. Was nice."
Heartbeat kicking, you open an eye. Your ears chime as punishment, and it takes a few moments for your vision to fall into focus. Charlotte's right bosom greets you when it does. Your cheek presses against the other. The girl's toned chest rises and falls with every slow breath.
You're embraced rather intimately with the lassie, your legs knotted and one of your hands resting upon her thigh. You would die from embarrassment if not for your body feeling as though it's giving out on its own.
"Looking a little red there, Keiji," Charlotte snickers.
Peeling your face from the blonde's womanly mounds only worsens your headache. Opening your other eye, you glance upward. Charlotte's face is very close. Her cheeks are flush from alcohol and her hair is untidy. As ever, she bares a sinister smirk, though it lacks its usual hostile edge.
"Were they comfy enough for you, hmm?" you're asked with a teasing giggle.
A dozen thoughts race through your panicked mind.
And yet, you've not the will to speak.
"Enjoying the view?" Charlotte wonders further, unthreading her arm from around your middle. Shifting her hand, she rests it atop the one you have touched against her thigh. Slowly and sensually, she moves your palm to her backside and presses it against her undergarment's lacy black fabric. A pleased rasp escapes her.
It's at this moment your mind races in overdrive. Having awakened with your once bitter foe beneath piles of blankets like this is beyond concerning. Her exceptionally large breasts hanging out as they are doesn't fill you with the largest amount of confidence, either.
Inching nearer and touching her nose to yours, Charlotte chuckles wickedly. "You don't remember much of last night, do you?" she asks with allure.
Your heart thumps within your chest, a sharpness to it. You'll ask your worst question and get it out of the way. "...Did you and I-"
"Have sex?" Charlotte interjects tactlessly, a look of purest evil about her. "Nope. I don't let men hammer me unless they're sober enough to remember it. But you certainly weren't shy with everything else." The girl snorts. "You didn't take your hands off me for over an hour."
Your relief is bittersweet at best. "Wonderful... And just how far did we go...?" you follow somewhat nervously.
Charlotte winks. "Take a look around, you'll figure it out."
You untangle yourself from Charlotte with great displeasure and carefully sit up against the wall. It takes several awfully long moments for your head to stop pounding. Once it does, you first check over your wrists. They're red and sore, as though they were forcibly restrained for a time. Worse still is the left side nape of your neck. You touch your fingers to it and wince as a dull twinge greets you. Teeth marks imprint your skin.
You recall Charlotte pushing you down to the bed and subduing you by the wrists in a flash of remembrance. Panting with desire, she leaned in and began trailing kisses down your neck. Partway down however, she bit you. Very hard.
Your chest stings against the open air, snapping you from the memory. You move your hand from your neck and look downward. Deep and messy scratches score your torso. The first of four is over your left pectoral. The remaining three criss-cross nearer your stomach.
Lastly and perhaps most worryingly, is your lack of undergarments.
You sweep your surrounding shortly with your eyes and discover the missing item discarded in messy clothes pile by the door. Your shirt and trousers are there too; mixed in with Charlotte's bustier and socks. Where your swordsman's coat is you've no clue.
Another flash of memory claims you.
Kneeled between your legs and dressed down to her undergarments, Charlotte presses her lips to your manhood's throbbing length.
"You ever let a Nohrian girl make you feel good, Keiji?" she purrs.
A hand stuffed within her underwear, the lassie pleases herself roughly while awaiting your response.
Tingles shooting over your skin's surface, you let out a lustful groan.
"...Not as of yet," you answer thinly, biting the corner of your lip. "But I'm eager to find out."
"I'll bet you are," Charlotte utters, her features awash with lustful bliss as she attends her most special of places. She then prods your manly weapon, giggling playfully as it twitches. "Alright then... You lay back and let me handle this, got it?"
"Do as you will," you concede, relaxing into the mattress and resting your head against the pillows.
Cupping your length, Charlotte leans nearer and presses her lips to your tip. Her gaze is full to bursting with power and affection both.
"Who knows?" she says spiritedly. "If I'm feeling generous with you I might even swallow."
The Nohrian opens wide and takes you into her mouth.
Charlotte's slightly disheartened sigh returns you to the moment at hand.
"It'll be a shame to see you go," she confesses at a whisper, again holding onto your arm. "And an even bigger one to have to fight you again."
Somewhere beneath the guilt toward what you did last night, a part of you feels the same.
You shut your eyes in hopes the lessened stimulation will ease your headache. It does, but only slightly. "My comrades are on their way here for the ransom, I take it?" you ask.
"They are," Charlotte answers, her voice a touch rainy and withdrawn. "They've already pushed into the Ice Tribe Village and forced out our garrison; that's what I overheard at the mess hall, anyway."
"Meaning they'll have set up camp in the village itself," you surmise, the situation not lost to you despite a hangover.
"More than likely, which means all there is to do now is wait."
A hopeful flutter awakens within your stomach. Soon you'll see Corrin again.
Before that though, you'd do anything to get rid of this damn headache.
"Any chance of another vulnerary?" you mutter, massaging your temples with your free hand.
Charlotte scoffs. "You already took my last one. And it's not like they're hangover cures, moron."
"If only they were." You chuckle bitterly.
A long silence falls between the two of you. You overhear soldiers chatting as they walk the halls outside.
"That was quite the party last night, weren't it?" one of them asks.
"You're telling me!" another answers with a hearty laugh. "And that Hoshidan fella Charlotte had with her weren't too bad either. Well, for a Hoshidan."
"No, he weren't. Gods, Elena was all over him after you went to bed!"
"Really?!"
"Yeah, Charlotte had to peel her off of him."
A sigh from the second soldier. "You know, I sometimes wish we didn't have to fight the Hoshidans like we do."
"You aren't the only one."
Hearing such sentiments from an enemy (while surprising) lifts your spirits a little bit.
Despite how you came to be here, you're quietly content with the outcome. You and Charlotte snuggled side by side like this is also quietly pleasing, now the initial shock has worn off.
"Hey, Keiji," Charlotte speaks up beside you.
You open an eye and glance over. "Yes?"
"I don't hate you or nothing; I just want you to know that. Before you leave, I mean."
"A feeling we share, I'll admit," you agree warmly, resting your head against hers. "And not just you, but some of the others here too."
"Glad to hear it," Charlotte says warmly. "And you can thank Lady Camilla for that. She does things a little differently to the other royals."
"I noticed." Though you're still reluctant to trust her, your opinion of her is better than when you first arrived. "She seems... kinder."
"You won't hear me disagree, not after all she's done for me and my parents."
Silence falls between the two of you.
Heavy with sleep once more, you drift off.
You awaken with groggy moan. You blink once. Twice. Three times. Your vision falls into focus.
Dawn light pierces the gaps in the window shutters and cuts into the bedroom. Charlotte crouches over a basin of water beside the box upon which the candles sit. Completely bare of clothes, she washes herself down with a soapy washcloth. A few feet from her is another basin of water. A dry cloth and another chunk of soap sit beside it.
"Morning," you call out to her.
"Hey," the blonde answers back, standing and washing her chest. "I'd get up and get ready if I were you," she recommends. "We've received word: The Hoshidans are sending a small force over this way. Lady Corrin's going to meet with us in the frozen fields outside the village at noon."
"Alright." You push off from the wall. Next you slowly carefully get to your feet. "Is this one for me?" you ask, pointing a thumb at the second basin.
"It certainly is," answers Charlotte, wetting and soaping up her hair. "As soon as you get cleaned up I'm to take you to the meeting location, so hurry up."
You get yourself cleaned up and focus on getting dressed. Your hangover having eased makes doing so far easier. Once you're clothed you scour the room for your missing coat. Try as you might, you can't remember a damn thing as to where you left it.
"Charlotte," you petition the lass, whom is busy slipping on a fresh pair of undergarments. "A moment, if you would."
She glances over, her underwear hugging her shapely backside nicely. "Hmm? What is it?"
"My coat; have you the slightest clue where I left it?"
"'Sure I do." The girl nods. "You threw it off in the mess hall, right before you brawled with one of Elena's friends."
Deeper still you're dragged down recollection's shameful road.
You exhale exhaustedly. "Of course I did..."
"Don't look so gloomy," Charlotte encourages as she puts on her shorts. "It was a good fight, and you both shared a drink afterwards."
"Maybe so. But I acted like a ruffian all the same."
Charlotte rolls her eyes, grabbing her bustier from the bed thereafter. "You Hoshidan and your morals; you're so uptight."
"Perhaps to you Nohrians. But us samurai are expected to conduct ourselves with honor wherever we go," you explain.
"Sounds a little hypocritical if you ask me, and unfair," Charlotte remarks bluntly. Turning to the mannequin, she pick up her coat and puts it on. "I'll bet all those expectations and sacrifices make for a pretty joyless life at times. Especially if you put duty first and your country doesn't give a crap about you."
A dull pain grips your chest at her assumption.
Hana flashes through your thoughts. Battered and bruised, Hans pins to the bloodied ground
Doing your duty came at the cost of your betrothal, and poor Hana's innocence. Worse, Lord Ryoma disallowed Sakura from marching to Okashi from Fort Jinya in person. And while Kagero was present at the burning village, she watched the dreadful ordeal play out without lifting a finger to help.
"I've struck a nerve, haven't I?" Charlotte assumes, snapping you from misery's depths.
You nod slowly, your chest pulling tighter. "Yes. And more than you realize."
"Figured, given the miserable look you have there." Eyes glinting with concern, the lassie walks over and draws you into a hug. "You know what I'm seeing the longer we're together, Keiji?"
You squeeze Charlotte, honestly relishing her comfort. "Humor me."
"Someone with plenty to give who's wasted on folks who don't deserve him."
"Careful," you warn. You've a feeling you know where this is going. "I'll not be swayed by you, so you needn't waste your energy."
"I'm not trying to; I'm just telling things how I see 'em. You see, the maid told Camilla and me all about you when she still worked for us."
A cautious twinge awakens in the back of your mind. "And what did she say?"
"That you're obsessed with getting stronger; with making a difference and leaving your mark."
Try as you like, you won't deny the truth. "Miss Flora isn't mistaken. Though many Hoshidans would brand me as selfish for admitting as much."
"I'll bet they would. It's different here in Nohr though, and especially in service to Lady Camilla. She's an ambitous woman; she sees the bigger picture." Drawing away from you, Charlotte smiles darkly. "What if I told you her ideas go beyond this war between our two sides?"
You fold your arms defensively, a wall against her persuasion. "I'd tell you that no matter her intentions, I won't see Corrin come to harm."
Charlotte's expression hardens into one of irritation. "Then you really are a thick-skulled idiot." She turns her back to you and grabs the door keys from her fur coat's pocket. "But whatever. Keep blindly following Hoshido's ideals and see where it gets you. Knowing what I do about you now, it won't end well."
The lady fighter's assertion renders you speechless. You bow your head.
Somewhere deep inside you, a rebellious ember swells. It's been inside you since Okashi; the day you and Hana suffered. It tells you for the briefest of moments that Charlotte is right. Moreover, that Hans isn't solely to blame for the pain you endured. Ryoma and Kagero are, too.
Standing ahead of you, Charlotte turns key turns in the lock and pulls the door open. Its hinges squeak. "Let's go, you stubborn ass." commands the lassie, an irritated undertone to her voice.
You raise your head. "As you wish." Then you walk out into the hall. Charlotte locks the door afterward.
Charlotte escorts out you onto the frozen planes bordering the Ice Tribe Village. She was kind enough to let you recover your coat from the mess hall before coming out here, so you aren't as cold as you would've been otherwise. A small blessing.
You hug your arms around your middle for added warmth and then turn around.
To the back of you and Charlotte is a fair-sized Nohrian force of several hundred men. Camilla sits at the formation's center atop her mighty leathery-skinned wyvern. The one-eyed beast howls obediently as she slaps its side, ascending several feet higher and flying over to you.
Another slap sees the war beast drop lower so Camilla can hop down without issue.
Slipping back her purple locks, the princess saunters over to you. Selena (who escorts Flora) and a band of armour-clad knights quickly flank her.
"Keiji!" Flora calls out to you with great relief. The two of you reunite with a cuddle and share in one-another's comfort. "I'm glad you're alright."
"As am I to you. You aren't hurt are you, Flora?
"I'm fine, I promise," the maid assures you. "Selena treated me kindly while in her company."
"As did Charlotte toward me," you say kindly.
"I'm glad, really I am," Flora sniffles and buries her face against your chest. Emotion overtaking her, she shudders. "...I feared they'd hurt you far more than me."
You pat the maid's head and gently run your fingers through her hair. An attempt at easing her fears. "I'm quite alright as you can see." You exhale deeply, an anxious twinge gripping your stomach. "Now all we can do is wait."
"Do you really think Her Ladyship will come for us?" Flora asks anxiously.
You're visualize Corrin in your mind. A mighty dragoness, she roars with power and pride.
"I wouldn't doubt her for a second." That is why you're uneasy. "She's true an honest to a fault." Perhaps too true and too honest. It wouldn't surprise you if she agreed to Camilla's terms.
"B-But we can't let Mistress Corrin endanger herself for us," Flora protests at a whisper, clinging to you for dear life.
"I couldn't agree with you more. Unfortunately though We're severely lacking in options."
You glance over to the Nohrian host. Ten knights have formed a loose protective ring around Camilla, all while Selena and Charlotte stand to her left and right respectively. Even if you were armed (which you aren't) you wouldn't manage bringing down more than a couple of guards before being cut down.
You likewise wouldn't have it in you to fight Charlotte again. Spending yesterday in her company saw to that.
"Then what should we do, Keiji?" Flora asks pleadingly, her eyes trembling.
You sigh, honestly and totally defeated. "On this occasion there's nothing we can do."
Nothing except wait for Corrin to arrive.
After a time the Hoshidans march over the nearby hilltop and into view. Although a fair distance away, you make out Corrin at the front of their number. By the looks of things, she has at least a couple of hundred soldiers in her company. Kagero walks beside her and sports a rather striking Wolfskin coat.
"This is it," you utter under your breath.
Moment by moment Corrin's fighting force comes nearer. Your heartbeat quickens with every passing second.
Boots crunch through the snow behind. You glance back to find Charlotte closing in on Flora and yourself.
"Move it, you two," she orders sternly. Her eyes soften slightly when falling onto you for a second. A pang of misguided affection grips you too.
A feeling you'd best ignore.
You look ahead to Corrin's forces as you and Flora are ushered several paces forwards by the axe-toting blonde at your backs.
The Hoshidans up ahead hold their position when given a hand signal by Kagero.
"That's far enough," Charlotte tells you.
You and Flora pause in something of a no man's land; twenty or thirty paces either side of you awaits either freedom or prolonged captivity.
Corrin looks over yourself and Flora with quieted fear. "Keiji, Flora... are you alright?" she calls over, her voice heavy with unease.
Unable to look your princess in the eye, you bow your head. "Forgive me, milady Corrin," you say with a shameful undertone. "If I hadn't been captured then we wouldn't be in this position."
"Stop it," Flora cuts in at a whisper, grabbing your hand and squeezing it. "The blame is mine to bare."
Bitter wind howls over the snowy earth and the air is thick with unease. You imagine both armies are sizing one another up.
You raise your head. Then you glance to the troops behind.
Nohr. The Dusk Kingdom. A place of outright brutality and cruelty. At least that's what you believed until having spent time among her people. While you can't speak for nobility, the common folk seem nice enough. A part of you also laments the notion of fighting with Charlotte again; it truly does.
A roar from Camilla's wyvern snaps you back to the moment at hand. The winged mount blusters past you and comes to a screaming halt ahead of Corrin.
"My, my, what a dour expression you carry, Corrin," the Nohrian royal addresses her sister, donning her all too unnerving disjointed smile. "And to think, it took all of this effort just to have you speak with me." She brings a hand from the wyvern's reins to her bosom. "How you've broken my heart, young lady."
Corrin frowns angrily, her gaze pointed and steely. "You can stop playing the wounded elder sibling act, Camilla," she says forcefully, pointing an accusing finger. "First Garon uses me to kill my mother, and now you hold my friends hostage. Are there no depths to which you Nohrians will sink?"
Camilla appears genuinely pained by her sister's words. "This is no act, I assure you." At a snap of the fingers, her wyvern descends. Jumping down from her mount, the princess flips her fringe from her eyes and walks over to Flora and yourself. A handful of soldiers hurry on over and stand protectively at her back. "I miss you, my darling Corrin, and I mean you no ill will," Camilla says sincerely. "All I want is for you to return home, so that we can be a family again."
For but an instant there's conflict in Corrin's eyes. "...If you really cared then you wouldn't have let Father use me like he did."
"Darling, please, if I'd known what he intended then I would have done all in my power to stop it." Tears welling in her eyes, Camilla takes a few steps nearer her sibling. Her guards follow her cautiously, remaining several paces behind. "Please return home with me," the princess pleads. "If you do then I swear to you I shall never let what happened to you that day happen again. I'll protect you with every fibre of my being."
"But you've not the means to make such a promise," Corrin states, her voice cracking with feeling. "Father's power is absolute; his word is law."
"How little you know, my dear..." Tears rolling down her cheeks, Camilla extends a hand. "Trust in me, as you used to when you we were little. Together we'll make Father stop this foolish war, and then everything can return to the way to once was. Hoshido and Nohr will know peace, and then you'll be free to spend as much time as you like with all of the people you love."
Corrin takes a step nearer, smiling weakly at the proposition. "...I'd like that, truly I would."
"Then join me, and together we can make such a world reality," Camilla pledges with surety.
Another step nearer by Corrin. "...What are your terms, Camilla?"
"All I want is for you to return with me to Nohr. In return I shall release Miss Flora and Keiji-"
"Milady Corrin!" Kagero shouts, cutting off the princess. "Come to your senses! Camilla comes to you with your retainers as hostages!"
"I know, Kagero," Corrin exhales, looking to the snowy ground. "But all the same, I'll not see them come to harm." The dragoness raises her head and locks gazes with her elder sibling. Her expression is one of utmost seriousness. "Sister, do you swear to let Flora and Keiji go free if I come with you?"
"You have my word, dearest Corrin," Camilla pledges with a hand on her heart.
"And you likewise swear your intentions are just?"
"I do, my dear. All will be explained once you come with me."
"Back to Windmire, I take it?"
"No, not there." Camilla shakes her head. "We shall return to the Northern Fortress together, where you spent your childhood."
Corrin contemplates. Seconds bleed away while your heart hammers in your chest.
Second. After second. After second.
"Very well," the dragoness agrees, walking over to her sister. "I'll go with you. Two lives for two; it's a fair trade."
You can't let your mistress put herself at risk for you. And so, you'll make a stand.
Even if it burns your future to ashes
"No milady, you can't do this!" you declare in a shout. Bursting into a run, you barge between the two royals and throw out your arms to seperate them. You then look to Kagero hurriedly. "Now, Kagero! Take her before it's too late!"
"Very well," Kagero nods. Wasting no time, the lady ninja vanishes in a blur and appears beside Corrin in a swirl of red petals. She grabs the princess by her wrist. "Forgive me milady, but it is our duty as retainers to protect you, even at the expense of our personal wellbeing," she explains coldly, factually.
"B-But this isn't right!" Corrin protests from within Kagero's protective embrace. "Kagero, you can't let him do this! Please!"
The agony scrawled across your beloved's face is too much to bare. So you turn your back. "Get her out of here, now," you demand, walking back to Camilla's side. "And I won't blame for hating my choice day, any of you," you finish at a whisper, returning to Camilla and bowing at her feet.
"Keiji, Flora!" Corrin cries out frantically. "...Please stay safe! We'll free you... I promise!"
The air again shifts. You sense Kagero and Corrin depart on the wind.
There follows the clanking of boots and the milling of feet through the snow at your back. The Hoshidans sound as though they're withdrawing.
And towering over you, Camilla chuckles coldly and sadistically. Grabbing your collar, she yanks you upright and presses her forehead to yours. Her eyes bore into your very depths with frightening intensity; they're as though two endless voids of purest terror.
Smiling an unhinged smile, the royal tightens her grip. "Did I not warn you that there would be consequences for interfering, Keiji?" she asks forebodingly.
"Indeed you did," you answer in a terse breath, fighting with every shred of restraint to remain composed against her frightful demeanor.
"And yet you still so foolishly went against me, darling. Why?"
"Because I would gladly offer myself in Corrin's place if it keeps her safe." Eyes trembling with pain and fear, you grip the hand clutching your collar. "Whatever you intended for her upon returning to Nohr... I would ask you use me in her place. I will serve you, if that is what it takes."
Camilla's widen a touch out of surprise. "...Oh really now? You would pledge your very life to me, all without knowing a thing of what I intend to use it for?"
"Yes I would, and I will."
"Even if I were to make you suffer? Which I just might, for your disobedience."
"Without question. And provided you don't harm Flora, either."
The maid whimpers next to you, shaken by your words.
"And that is your single condition?" Camilla asks. Letting go of your collar, she looks to teary-eyed Flora. "Even after she conspired against you at my behest?"
"Correct, I wan't nothing more."
"Hmmm," Camilla contemplates your proposal with a finger against her chin. "I wonder..." She lowers the digit and glances over her shoulder to Charlotte. "Has a certain young lady swayed your opinions of our ways somewhat?" the princess returns her attention to you, her murderous intent melting into something kinder. "Because word has it the two of you caroused mightily with some of my followers last night. Is that true?"
"It is, milady," Charlotte answers, walking over and standing next to you. "And just like I told him, he's wasted on those Hoshidans," she adds, grabbing your hand and holding it tight. "Sounds to me like he's finally woken up and listened," the blonde finishes with a side-eye and a knowing smirk.
"Most interesting..." Camilla hums. "And you would vouch for him, Charlotte?"
"I would, Lady Camilla," the buxom brawler answers with surety, nodding.
"Very well then. Your word has its worth. Keiji, I will consider your request."
You bow gratefully, your anxiousness easing the slightest bit. "My thanks."
"Do not thank me yet, darling. I may yet throw you to the wolves. But until my mind is made up... Charlotte?"
"Yeah, milady?" the blonde stands to attention, releasing your hand. "What do you need of me?"
"I would have you escort Keiji to Grimvale ahead of us, so that he might bear witness to Nohrian life proper. We will follow once the supply carts are packed and can be certain the Hoshidans are not following us. You're quite capable of this task, I assume?"
"Of course I am. But what about her?" Charlotte jabs a rude thumb in Flora's direction.
"Miss Flora will remain with me," Camilla informs her. "And worry not," she continues, looking to you. "She will be quite alright, provided I hear upon our reunion that you have behaved yourself in Charlotte's care. Do we understand one another, Keiji?"
You bow your head. "Perfectly." Then you raise it again and turn Flora. The two of you share a fleeting smile.
"Good, good," the royal praises. "Should you truly intend to serve me, I would have you prove it through actions and not mere words. Now, Charlotte, take Keiji and get on your way. Bleakvale is still a fair walk from here, and you will have to hurry if you intend to arrive there by nightfall."
"But of course, Lady Camilla," Charlotte answers, grabbing your hand. She shoots you a sharpened glance before pulling you along. "C'mon you, let's go."
You follow without objection.
Whatever the outcome, you've made the right decision. The lives of those you love come ahead of your own.
You've also the faintest hint of curiosity, too. Beyond visiting the Ice Tribe Village as a youth, you haven't seen Nohrian life for yourself.
A part of you wonders if it really is as ruthless as Charlotte described.
To be continued...
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