"Praised be the ruler of the walls!"

As the crowd of zealots chanted the prayer, Ymir was feeling a little annoyed. Her job was to protect Historia and Eren, why did she also have to attend to this silly cult.

But her annoyance was partially caused by something else. In the middle of the room, her superior was passionately preaching to her followers. Everyone was so focused on her and her words. If anyone asked them if they would give their lives for their leader, they would certainly answer in the affirmative.

And one part of Ymir was jealous. Because she knew what it was like to be the centre of attention, in a way she was missing the treatment she would get when she herself was the central character in a cult.

All people present at this gathering were looking at Frieda in admiration. The freckled girl knew that part of it was coming from ignorance, but it still baffled her that they would actually believe in this ideology of peace. The Eldian king had no intention of using her power, so why did they still take everything she said as truth?

Have they been forced to do so, like her? It really didn't seem like that. They were way too loyal to just be doing this out of fear.

"Bothersome" she whispered before realizing that she was speaking out loud.

"That's right."

Upon that, she turned to face the person who seconded her. It was a tall, older man with a weird outlook. He really didn't seem to fit in with everyone else. His poor vocabulary, the experience written all over his face, the crazy look he had in his eyes, it all spoke of an attendee who somehow confused parties.

"You're a newbie" he said, looking her over "a teen. What use are you of for Frieda, huh?"

Ymir turned her face away from this man. He was obviously more intelligent than he seemed to be.

"I clean her shoes" the freckled girl responded, "who are you?"

"I wash her undies" the man responded with a sly grin "very dirty job."

"Are you security or something?" Ymir asked with annoyance in her voice.

"Oh, I bet you think you're smart, huh?" he said with a raised eyebrow "Kenny."

"Ymir."

The two guardsmen looked towards their superior. Currently, she was in the middle of preaching about the importance of the walls.

"So, what made you join this little club?" Kenny asked after a moment of silence.

"Her polite words" Ymir said, still looking at the centre of everyone's attention.

"Hahaha" the man laughed under his nose "me too."

For some reason they've reached an understanding between each other. Ymir knew that this man was way stronger than he looked. Moreso, he seemed to have been around here for longer than everyone else. Above all, he somehow had his own agenda. If he really was the head of security, she wasn't sure what it meant for the future of the walls.

"Hey Ymir, everything okay?"

The freckled girl looked up to see Historia.

"You spaced out" the blonde said.

"I was just thinking about how perfect you look, wearing your shepherdess attire" Ymir responded, brushing off the topic.

"Don't tell me you were actually thinking of Eren" Historia asked with a deadpan.

The freckled girl sighed at that. They had this conversation before, not that long ago.

"For the last time" she started with annoyance "I'm not into boys, okay?"

"You did seem to be into Eren very much."

"It doesn't work like that!"

As the winter came, the snow covered the empty fields. The cold air would be vicious to anyone who was stupid enough to stay outside for long, and it was already getting late.

"The sheep are fine, you know" Ymir spoke after the bickering ended "we should probably head back."

"You just want to see Eren, admit it!"

The freckled girl was quite fed up with the insolent girl. She may be a walking perfection, but the blonde could still be annoying.

"Alright, that's it" Ymir cried out, before grabbing Historia and throwing her over her shoulder "we're going back!"

"Put me down!" The blonde yelled, trying to wiggle out of the older girl's strong grip.

"Shut up!" The freckled girl retorted "one could say that you're getting the royal treatment! Just bear with it, princess!"

"Don't call me that!"

Historia could really be a pain at times. No matter how hard she tried getting close to her, the girl would always be all about Eren.

'Eren this, Eren that…' Ymir thought with a sneer, as she was approaching the door to their shared cottage 'what is so great about him anyway?'

As she opened the door, her mouth nearly dropped to the floor.

"Glad you two could join me for dinner!" Eren exclaimed happily "I made a special broth for the three of us. Mom's recipe! Really delicious!"

His words didn't really matter as the most shocking thing about the boy was the way he was presenting himself. Dressed in an apron, with a headkerchief wrapped around his head, holding a ladle in one of his hands, he looked like the very definition of the word cute.

"Stop ogling Eren…" Historia whispered behind her back.

"I am not…" Ymir retorted in anger.

Honestly, she had never been interested in a man in her entire life. But when it came to Eren Yaeger, she had to admit that he was really dependable and above all cute. She brushed off those thoughts as she plopped Historia down on the floor.

"Come on, girls!" The boy exclaimed "get to it when it's still hot!"

Usually, Eren would be your normal farmer. Tending to the crops, working hard to sow them, raise them and harvest when the time came, was his main role in this place. However, when the harvesting season came to an end and the next year's grain had been sown, the boy found himself with a lot of free time. His choice was really odd among boys, as he decided to help around the house.

During winter, he would clean the rooms, launder clothes and most importantly, cook. His skills at the latter weren't half bad. Ymir just assumed that he must've inherited them from his mother.

As the trio was slurping up Eren's broth, the girl suddenly identified a strange feeling. It was almost like she was at peace. Was this how having a family felt?

The smile appeared on the freckled girl's face.

"You're thinking about Eren again?" She heard Historia ask.

"Yeah" she responded much to the other girl's surprise "I'm thinking about Eren, about you and about how much I like it here…"

Blush spread across the blonde's cheeks. Ymir swore, she could give everything in the world to witness this sight again.

'I guess being forced to protect these two isn't that bad after all…'