CHAPTER XIX.
Chris was upset with himself, like the rest of his group, he could only run once Gilbert Rapha Redgrave appeared.
The hostile gazes of the Duke's men was very noticeable after the Redgrave Heir commanded them to leave.
He would not forget this humiliation anytime soon, that is for sure!
However right now, they have other things to keep them all occupied.
"Pregnant, pregnant you hear me!" Marie was like a raging fire right now, and her anger was directed solely at Jilk.
What he did was despicable and unbecoming of the Heir of a noble House such the Marmoria.
He was staying out of the way for now, unlike Greg who was standing firmly behind Maire in a show of support and Julius who was standing behind Jilk, Brad seemed to still be weighing his options on the matter.
"Again Marie, I didn't send anyone after them!" Jilk is a great liar, he's always been, He knows he sent at least one attack force after Angelica, but no more than one, from what he knows Lord Marmoria discovered how expensive the mercenaries were and forbid him from trying again.
"I have read the newspaper Jilk, at least six pirate's crews attacked them, do you take me for a fool?!"
"Marie, please, Jilk had nothing to do with those attacks, the Duke is getting into many people's way, Angelica is just the easiest target to use against him" Julius said trying to help.
"It could be true, I have heard that there are certain groups willing to put a bounty on some of the weaker Lords of the kingdom" Brad said, he has heard about them too, but their existence is unlikely, who would go so far as to deal with pirate scum for something so trivial?
"That's just a tale to scare children!" Greg disregarded the argument.
Sighing Chris decided to take Jilk's side in this, not only he would enjoy putting Greg down, but he would also get to keep jilk, someone who is willing to stain his hands so his could remain clean.
0x0x0
Olivia was upset, she was never there whenever her family needed her.
She heard from some of the Duke's knights about the confrontation between Angie and the royal entourage.
It was better than the last time one of those people managed to find Angie, this time she was surrounded by allies and family, but she still felt that she should have been there!
But her pregnancy had robbed her of all her energy, she was always sleepy, and when she slept it wasn't as restful as it used to be… Lady Luce had told her that it was normal during the first few weeks to be like that.
But Angie wasn't like that!
She could hear familiar steps getting closer to the tent she shared with Lord Leon and Angie, she was sure it was them!
Their tones were upset but not distraught.
When they entered she greeted them, asked them if they were all right, and about baby Gil? She was worried even if all went well.
"Those morons are looking for trouble" Lord Leon who had baby Gil in his arms said with worry, "It would be better if Lord Vince restringed the access to our camp"
It was hard to not be able to control the territory as they always do, being guests of the Marquis left them vulnerable to the harassment of the royal family. If this was their territory the Prince wouldn't be able just waltz around like he was doing here.
"We can't do that here" Angie said with irritation "This is Framptom's territory, even my father is just another guest here" she took baby Gil from Leon and started breastfeeding him, "Even my brother was out of line when he made the Prince leave"
"It's frustrating!" Said Lord Leon sitting in her bed with her and gently rubbing his hand over her belly, she blushed at the attention, but she was pleased that her lover was showing the same attitude he had with Angie, he would love all his children.
She hugged him and said "I want to be back home" softly, she knew they couldn't just pack up and leave, that would show unacceptable weakness to the rest of the kingdom, and that was something she had learned was inacceptable.
The Marmoria House has already tried to erase them with what they believed was excessive force.
They aren't weak, there is no reason to appear weak, so they'll stay.
"That would be nice" Leon told her while shaking his head, they would stay until the last day of the Tourney unless something happened that made them leave.
"Do you think our people are doing their jobs?" Angie asked curiously, it was obviously an attempt to forget the incident.
She had learned that previously Angie never had contact with commoners, she was the first commoner she ever interacted with, and as such she had many preconceptions about how they behaved and even worse… she was raised to think of commoners as mere numbers.
It hurt her at first, but Angie herself was open to change, after everything the nobility had done to her she wanted to give commoners a chance, their lover was raised as a quasi commoner himself too, Leon had no qualms about donning simple clothing and working the fields himself if needed, in fact, he seemed to enjoy it.
That was a shock for her as well, she never had ever pictured a noble working the fields as a peasant, but Leon looked so natural with a farmer tool on his hand that it was hard to reconcile it with the image of the invincible knight that trained everyday with a rifle and a sword to be able to protect the territory and his family.
No book she had read so far described such a paradoxical behavior.
Angie didn't fit the mold books and her own first hand experience have given her about noble ladies.
She was neither a cruel despondent brat nor a porcelain doll that would break if you treated her roughly.
Both were so much more than she ever imagined a noble could be.
"Of course they are!" Olivia said with excitement "Papa can be really scary when he wants you to do something" as a child she couldn't even imagine not doing as he said!
"Yes you are right, they must be finishing that new barn and working hard in the fields" Angie said smiling.
"And when they are done they'll drink the last drop of spirits on the island!" Leon said with cheer.
"There is no such a drink in our territory!" Angie protested, at the obvious joke with a smile on her face…
"My Fiery Angie…" Leon said with an impish look on his face "You see, booze finds a way!" it was as if Lord Leon believed he said the wisest thing ever.
She couldn't help herself and giggled, it was silly but so much like her Lord to say something like that, even here.
"HMPH!" Angie just huffed in irritation, even if she never bought any liquor for their House their people still have their own money that they could spend in whatever they wanted, and they knew it… and Olivia herself has seen some things that had more than a passing resemblance to the distilleries she knew from her old town…
"Booze finds a way" she said giggling again thinking how some of the most adventurous people may be already trying to make their own liquor.
Lord Leon turned towards her and kissed her gently on her lips, it was nothing special, they have done much more, but she was elated to receive his attention anyway.
Angie put baby Gil on his temporary crib, judging the lack of cries he was probably asleep already. Angie joined them in the bed and took the other side of Lord Leon.
Angie grabbed her hand in what she had learned was a gesture to show her she wanted her in their lives, then she kissed Lord Leon, Angie was probably feeling vulnerable, and their lord was kind and strong, he has protected them ever since the day when they collected her from her old town.
His was a calming reassuring presence, and in moments like this, they both liked to be closer to him.
Olivia waited until they had to take a breath to capture Lord Leon's lips herself.
The three of them started to seek each other, this was no longer just some reassuring gesture, this was rapidly becoming something she had so far only experienced in her room alone with her Lord… but she didn't minded Angie's touch alongside Leon's, her own wandering hands often found softer skin that didn't belong to the man they shared.
"THATS GROSS!" someone yelled inside their tent, the three of them looked at the entrance to find a girl their age with blonde hair braided into loops at the sides of her head and five demihuman servants staring at them with unadulterated disgust.
Lord Leon immediately stood up, Angie hurried to get baby Gil who was awakened by the scream, she accompanied her to get away from these obviously hostile people.
"Who are you and what are you doing in our tent!" Lord Leon questioned the intruders as he took a step closer to them ready to throw them out with force if need be!
The five demihuman servants all looked at him as if he was something disgusting they stepped on and was now glued to the sole of their shoes and stepped up protectively in front of the girl.
"I'm the daughter of Count Offrey, I'm Lady Stepanie Fou Offrey!" she said with pride and a palpable sense of superiority.
"Get out!" Lord Leon stood face to face with one of this Stephanie's servants, meanwhile she retrieved and concealed a small gun from the nightstand. She was not the best at handling a gun among the three but she was good enough to kill a couple of the servants before they got too close to them.
"Why should I?!" Once again the Offrey girl defied Lord Leon, it was clear she thought she could do anything she pleased.
"Because, this is our tent You dumb bitch!" This time it was Angie who spoke loud and clear with every intention of being heard.
"How dare you!" Stepanie's face was becoming puce with anger, she then lifted her hand and signaled with her finger in Angie's direction and told her servants "Show her her place!"
One of the demihumans, a catboy, took a step in their direction, she put her finger on the trigger of her weapon, ready to kill the thing if it didn't stop.
It wasn't necessary.
When he passed next to Lord Leon, her lover kicked the side of his knee, the force of the kick bending the joint making him fall on it, then chopped him on his throat while it was still falling, the impact collapsed its thorat instantly much to the horror of the four servants remaining.
From what Olivia remembered, the boys at the academy were always wary of the demihuman servants, but she has learned a lot in the last two years thanks to Miss Joan and Angie.
These servants, while stronger than a human, are not trained in combat, they are just used to pleasing their masters and have easy lives.
However, unlike the boys they look down on, they have no actual combat experience.
Lord Leon was not the same as the academy students, he was a true adventurer, against him, the servants used to docile boys were in a precarious situation…
And then, she had a gun, sure, she wasn't the best with it, but she had already moved to flank them and avoid shooting at her lover.
A bigger servant with dog ears launched himself at Leon, hands forward ready to maim Leon, and a furious expression on his face, but with a swift leg motion the baron kicked the demi human genitals, again their enemy fell on his knees and again, the same technique impacted with the throat, this was the second servant to fall to Leon.
The three surviving personal servants looked at each other, they all had fear etched in their faces.
They had grown accustomed to walking up to their intended victims and just bash their heads without resistance. This was the real world, their privileged position does not exist here, they can't abuse human males with impunity outside the academy.
And with their environmental advantage gone, they are risking their lives to carry on with their master's commands.
The three survivors now understood that.
"What are you doing!?" the Offrey girl screamed at the top of her lungs, this was not what she expected, probably she has never seen a man fight back. "Do you know what will happen to you?!"
"What will happen to me? You should be worrying about yourself!" Olivia knew that tone of voice, as much as she liked their territory, not everyone was a good person there, the sixty-ish people that followed them to start the settlement were people trusted by both her parents and Lord Leon's.
But they are no longer the only inhabitants on their floating island, there were people that arrived every other day after word spread around about the new House Bartfort branch, and some rotten apples had come with them.
After a while, people were attacked at night, beaten and with their valuables stolen, it was ugly, she had to heal a couple of stab wounds too.
But eventually they found out who was behind the attacks. Lord Leon was not kind to thieves. And now he was behaving the same as back then.
"To me?! I'm the Daughter of the Offrey Family you barbarian, can't you get that through your head?!" The girl turned her head around until she found Angie who was holding baby Gil protectively in her arms "Why don't you explain how things work to your dog!?"
"What is there to explain?!" Angie asked rhetorically.
"Daughters of noble Houses are coins to exchange, we have a value the more powerful our House the higher our value, however," Angie said matter of factly controlling her voice to not disturb Gil too much "have you noticed no one wants to touch a filthy coin like you?" Angie was giving the intruder a cynical smile.
Just then a group of Framptomp's knights entered the tent, they looked around, taking in the scene trying to make heads and tails of the situation. There were two demihumans on the ground, clearly dead, their family and the Offrey girl and her servants.
"What is happening here!?" one of them asked the Offrey Girl, who, unlike them, was using an elegant dress that clearly distinguished her as nobility.
"I was attacked by this ruffian and his whores!" Stephanie took advantage of the question to accuse them and gain an advantage.
"Detain them!" the same knight who asked the question ordered his companions.
"This is our tent, she trespassed and used her servants to attack us" Angie spoke before the knights could get closer to them.
The Head knight's face soured, probably annoyed that his easy way out was being taken away "And who are you?!" he asked, probably wondering if he could just ignore their arguments and drag them and do whatever they did to criminals if they weren't nobles.
"I'm Baron Leon Fou Bartfort" Lord Leon said at once, she could see how serious his face was, this was troublesome.
"And I am the daughter of Count Offrey!" The intruder tried to push the knights.
"And I am the daughter of Duke Redgrave!" The knights were looking between them trying to decide what to do.
"She was disowned!" Stephanie argued, trying to get the knights to side with her.
Angie glared at the girl, that was technically true, but she still had a good relationship with her father. "Whatever you say doesn't matter, right now, this baby is the Heir apparent of the Redgrave Duchy!" Angelica said with pride while showing baby Gil to the knights, they wouldn't dare to act after hearing that.
"Besides, how long until your House gets fed up with you and kicks you out? You haven't been able to secure another engagement after Brad. Have you?"
Olivia noticed that the girl thought her name alone was enough to get away with basically invading their space and attacking them was getting angrier and angrier.
Well, she learned a few things from her family. Like what things truly mattered in this world politically speaking.
One. The wealth of a family is the most basic thing when considering the power they can wield. It is essential to most things but it is not as much of a game changer as she thought before she entered the academy. It was still important of course, but money alone won't give you much influence without a nobility title, it becomes important after a family attains a nobility title.
Two. One's accomplishments as an adventurer can trump the influence of a wealthy merchant in the political sphere in the kingdom of Holtfort. A successful merchant family can spend generations trying to become nobility, but an adventurer can accomplish that in a single generation, Lord Leon is obviously the first example to come to mind.
Three. Territory, a House's territory can be the difference between a successful Baron and a struggling Viscount, the territory a Noble House possess it's of great importance when talking about generating money, and yes, with how overwhelming the crown taxes are a House's capacity to produce wealth becomes of great importance.
Four. Political contacts, this is where the Daughters of the House become of importance, they are in fact envoys from one House to another, in the past many warlords rose in the kingdom, they targeted their neighbors looking for their resources or even destroyed their home islands for their floating stones. The probability of being targeted decreases to almost zero if the Houses have a blood tie, like lets say… Baby Gilbert being the grandchild of Duke Redgrave ensures Leon won't raise his hand against the Duke.
Five. Military power, If a House possesses enough military power, they could openly defy a Higher ranking House. Or even the Crown…
In this case, Angie's papa influence would trump the Offrey House, besides, Oliva was sure the Bartforts could destroy the arrogant gril's House without any assistance.
A/N: Thank you for your input last chapter, I'll be deciding wich name I use in the following week.