Chapter 25

Frederick decided it was time to stop sitting around. He needed to go care for Lissa and Chrom, especially in this hour of dire need, no matter how many frogs Lissa would throw at him. There was also the problem of having to break down Chrom's door, which he had barricaded from the inside, but that would come up when the time came. After all, if he need it, he carried his trusty lance, strapped to his back. As the man made his way up the stairs, he met Sumia, who was heading down. She smiled at the great knight.

"He'll be fine." She told him, obviously referring to Chrom. "He'll be down in time for dinner."

Frederick was relieved to hear this. "Splendid work, Milady!" He exclaimed. "Now then, I must go check on Milady Lissa. I bid thee farewell!" He called to her as he rushed up the stairs.

"Freddy, I already checked on them, she's with Nathan!" Sumia responded, but Frederick was too far away now to hear her. "Well, I tried…" She muttered to herself before continuing down the stairs.

Frederick slowly pushed open the door to Lissa's room, ducking reflexively to avoid any possible showers of frogs.

However, there was no response, simply the sound of loud snorts from Lissa. the man looked to the bed and saw the princess, fast asleep and snoring loudly, curled up in Nathan's arms. Nathan was asleep as well, with a small smile of content upon his face.

The great knight quietly tiptoed across the room towards the two and gently nudged Nathan, doing his best to wake the tactician but keep the princess asleep.

Feeling Frederick's jabs to wake him, Nathan slowly opened his eyes, then groaned looking up at Frederick, who quickly put a finger over his lips. Nathan raised his eyebrows at the man, before looking down at a contently sleeping Lissa, whose head was resting on his chest. It took him a second to clue in on what had happened, before his eyes widened and he quickly turned to Frederick.

"It's not what it looks like, I swear!" Nathan quietly hissed between his teeth. The great knight simply smiled at the man.

"Sir Nathan, there is no need to try and hide these things from me, for I am all for the relationship between you and Lissa!" The great knight quietly replied, gently patting the man on the shoulder in reassurance. He then frowned. "Although, taking sexual advantage of milady at a troubling time for her such as this is quite lecherous, but I have been told by Chrom and Lissa 'not to interfere'."

Nathan groaned loudly. "Gods, Frederick, I'm not taking 'sexual advantage' of Lissa, I came up here to comfort her, and we were on her bed, then she fell asleep on me, and I dozed off too! I swear to Naga, I didn't do anything like that!"

Frederick's stern gaze softened. "I believe you, and I apologize for coming to such a rash conclusion," the man conceded.

Nathan nodded. "That's alright, this does look suspicious after all," he whispered.

Frederick then turned to leave. He turned back to the tactician as he opened the door, calling back, "You are a good man, Nathan. Lissa is in good hands with you as her lover."

Nathan turned red as Frederick exited the room and closed the door behind him. He then turned to the princess, who was smiling now, her head still on his chest.

"There is no way you slept through that," Nathan teased, as he lightly tickled Lissa's neck, causing her to drop the guise and twitch out of hands' reach, giggling.

"Yeah, it'd be kinda hard, Freddy isn't a very good whisperer." The princess confessed.

Nathan's expression then changed, as he blushed. "Well, after what Frederick just said, I think he's forced my hand. We should talk about that conversation from a while back."

Lissa then blushed as well, as the two sat up on the bed. "…Yeah? What about it, Natie?" She taunted playfully.

The tactician rubbed the back of his head. "This feels like horrible timing, given the current state of things…" He mused, before shaking his head. "Nah, screw it. I've been putting this off for way too long."

The tactician stared into Lissa's eyes. "What I meant to say on that night, before I chickened out, was…I love you. More than anyone else. And I need to know if you feel the same way about me."

Lissa giggled as her red face burned even hotter. "I think we both know the answer to that. I'm crazy about you!" She told the man, who grinned from ear to ear.

Nathan pulled Lissa into a tight embrace. "Phew!" He replied. "If you had said you don't, I think that'd mean I can't tell the feelings of women at all!"

Lissa giggled at the man. "Well, I think I did a pretty good job of making the fact that I liked you pretty obvious…" She mused. Nathan grinned and nodded his head.

After they pulled apart, Nathan helped Lissa up. "However, I think this is hardly the time to tell anyone about this." He sternly told her.

Lissa nodded in agreement. "Let's keep this between us, for now…"

The princess squealed in excitement. "But I have to admit, this is pretty cool!" She declared, wrapping her arms around Nathan from behind. "I can hug you whenever I want, now!" She happily proclaimed.

Nathan laughed. "Well, just when we're alone right now, but soon enough." He replied, looking back at the princess, who nuzzled her face against his back.

Lissa let go of him, and the two walked out of the room.

"Gods, this is going to be hard to hide from Chrom and the others…" Nathan mused.