Title: Returning the Favor

Summary: "Congratulations, brat. For some unfathomable reason, Redgrave's daughter has need for muscle and decided to buy you."

Cordelia's POV

I stared at the dirty boy from the Bartfort territory. He was supposed to be Angie's future bodyguard? I could not see it. The boy was small and malnourished. Part of me felt as though the Bartfort matriarch cheated us... was what I would have thought, but she claimed the boy didn't deserve the honor of serving.

Zola was an utter wretch of a woman. The Forest of Ladies were all parasitic wretches. Brainless and talentless crows subsisting on their husband's wallet and the death of child soldiers. Tactics for those undeserving of nobility and incapable of maintaining a functioning territory. How and why Angie would have interacted with her was beyond me initially.

Looking at the despondent family, I could only think it was out of empathy. I remembered the utter disdain Zola spoke about the boy, and with how poor the family looked... it did not paint a pretty picture.

This must have been some misguided sense of charity. A few young nobles went through that phase. Admittedly, Angie's attempt was much more well thought out than was typical. Save an individual rather than futilely try to save the lower class as a whole.

I wanted to approve her decision, but I feared for her future. Aside from the negative rumors that may sprout from Angie essentially buying a male human slave, I also worried about how she would endure the world. Leon's case was not unique. Hopefully this would be a one off.

After making my observations, I curtsied and said, "Hello, Leon. My name is Cordelia. I'm here to escort you to my lord's lands. Have you packed your things?"

When he nodded but walked forward with only a knapsack, I bit my lip. Looking at the parents, I saw both parents looking on sadly. What a pitiful sight. If only the father had more of a spine.

This was clearly the best for Leon. Hopefully he wasn't too damaged from his upbringing.

Angelica's POV

I stared at the nervous boy in front of me. This was the boy who would have grown up to be my husband? He was surprisingly cute.

I wasn't particularly sure what to expect to be honest. I suppose it made sense that Leon looked as he did since he did not have to experience becoming a child soldier and subsequently forced to fight as part of the first wave against the Principality for having the audacity to not die.

I grimaced as I recalled his occasional night terrors from when he remembered being left to die in a burning wreck of an armor.

It was a shame that his time in war had scarred him so badly. His limp, scars, and general health issues had ruined him. At least his former wife had been tried for treason and died of disease before she could get her grubby hands on his compensation.

I also felt guilt creep up on me. I remembered treating him so poorly. It was nothing overt as whatever his matriarch had done, but my utter revulsion to his presence had been unnecessarily cruel. He had been nothing but accommodating.

To the very end, he never cursed me or hated me. It was only after he died did I realize how much he had worked to maintain my comfortable lifestyle. Farming was not a particularly lucrative affair, and with his physical impairments, he had sacrificed much to allow me to live a semblance of noble life. I had been a horrible woman to the very end.

Looking at the undamaged boy, I vowed to give him a better life than the one he would have had. Getting him away from Zola was a step in the right direction. She was certainly a major part in breaking him if his current looks of fear were of any indication.

Julius's POV

"Julius, Angelica is spending her afternoon with her boytoy again," Jilk said with disdain.

My fiancée had been spending all her free time with the baronet she picked up. I bit my lip in frustration.

I had initially found the respite relaxing. Angelica had relented enough so that I might enjoy my hobby without risk of her discovering and ratting me out. Yet... After a few weeks, I felt bitter.

It was silly. I got the free time I so desired, and I couldn't enjoy it. Just thinking of Angelica cavorting with that boy rankled my senses. It infuriated me how she would allow the boy to enjoy his freedoms but chastise me for the trying to do the same.

But what did I expect? I was her duty, and he was the one her heart sought. It wasn't fair.

I was her fiancé and the crown prince. I knew how much she had desired for our engagement. Yet she chose an elevated commoner over me. She'd rather spend her time with someone other than me.

It was just further proof that she only desired me for my title. I would be wed to a woman who never loved me, and who could never love me.

Chris's POV

I stood over the boy. He laid beaten on the ground after our spar. So much for being Angelica's bodyguard. He hardly put up a fight during our spar.

As I watched Julius's fiancée fret over the boy, I grimaced. My attempts to show how worthless Bartfort was had backfired. She (and likely every other witness) probably saw it nothing more than the inevitable outcome.

I was a Sword Saint candidate. There was no doubt what the outcome would have been. My one-sided beating only served to highlight that point. No one would think less of Bartfort.

All it did was earn him Angelica's sympathy.

At least there was the personal gratification of beating down the person who was causing my friend such distress. As I looked down on the boy, I saw him impotently glaring at me as he struggled to prop himself up to challenge me again.

I clicked my tongue. Now I couldn't even relish in beating him down if the obstinate idiot could not perceive his inferiority. His unwillingness to stand down just pissed me off.

Very well. I'll simply need to hit him until the message sunk in.

Vince's POV

"He's surprisingly adept at armor dueling," I said as I watched my daughter's chosen knight dance around the arena. I had nearly lost any hope for the boy. He was painfully average in all aspects.

He finally developed something that could justify his continued employment.

Uncharacteristically, she downplayed her knight's capabilities as nothing more than basic.

Taking a surreptitious look at Angie, I saw she was biting her bottom lip. No doubt she was worried that the boy would be saddled with more dangerous work due to his surprising talent. There were virtually no nonviolent prospects for armor pilots.

She was far too fond of the boy. Fortunately, most found her actions as those of a bleeding heart rather than anything scandalous. Her age and acts to condemn The Forest of Ladies had served to paint the whole situation as an ongoing rescue project.

The whole situation still riled up the prince. The only consolation was that Julius finally appeared to be invested in their engagement. How ironic that the potential for getting cucked was what finally motivated the boy.

... Was that really satisfactory though? Knowing Julius's father, Julius was very likely a spiteful child.

... Hah. Damned either way. Perhaps it would be best to make a contingency. The question was how much of Angie's reputation could I salvage.

Not much to be honest. Even if the prince and she were to part gracefully, Angie would still be the unwanted daughter. Other high nobles would not want to risk potentially poor relations with the royal family by getting engaged with her. That only left the lower nobles... That would be far too shameful.

That really only left notable social climbers. None of whom would want to take on the risk Angie would present. The only social climbers who would be open to the idea would have to be ones who have no choice out of some debt to us.

...

Goddamn it.

Hah, why couldn't Julius have developed feelings for her naturally? Before Angie had turned her gaze elsewhere.

AN:

1) Another abandoned plot I found in my files. I have a lot of those.

2) Basically if game canon Angelica returned.

3) Originally was going to be a lot longer with parts from the rest of the founding heirs, Mylene, etc., but this has been sitting in my documents manager foe a year now, and I've forgotten what I was going to write.

Review Response:

Ominous442: Who said anything about Angelica and Leon winning?

Sperance: That is pretty heavily implied when I put the bit about Angelica being dissatisfied and her plotting nearly back to back. The whole Temple vs Royal thing was just to give the AI convincing logical reasons as to why killing off one of the women birthing Old Humans is a good thing.

Vash111: Leon doesn't have Luxion in Villainous Villainess. He just acquires Cleare in the ruins at year ~3. At this point, Leon isn't even afraid of Angelica anymore. He's been broken.