As Raelynn and Laurier entered the castle, they met two of the ministers from the Lord's court, who were walking towards the court hall. These were the type of men who held contempt and looked down upon women, even if they were more brilliant than them and this was what exactly made them feel annoyed. To them, women were only meant to dress up and be presentable in social gatherings, and once they were inside the four walls, they were only allowed to cook and take care of the children. Heavy and strenuous works like being a Commander or a minister in the Lord's court were all meant for men.
Thus, Raelynn being a part of their environment irked them whenever she was around or even if she was mentioned in any of the topics of conversation. To them, she was a taboo whom they wanted to avoid at all costs. So, as soon as they saw Raelynn sauntering proudly with Laurier beside her, they scoffed at her arrogantly before walking away with their chins held high.
Raelynn was not the one to care about what people talked about her, no. She knew who she was and that was all that mattered. She could notice the disdain their eyes held for her whenever she saw them and this was enough to make her laugh secretly. She did not care what they felt about her as she was not here to impress anyone, not even the Lord.
Moreover, she could perceive why they were behaving that way. It was because she was better than those egoistic men in many aspects. If she had not been a Commander, she would have excelled as a minister in the court given her brilliant brain. But fortunate enough for them, she had chosen to become a soldier much to the men's relief. Otherwise, she would have slayed them with her words just the way she did to her enemies with her sword on the battlefield.
Laurier too could not help but chuckle seeing the two men's scornful gaze. He was all too familiar with it as he had seen it a lot of time whenever he was with Raelynn. And this made him admire her all the more as she did not even bat an eyelid at their behavior, treating them as roaches. Raelynn gave him one meaningful glance before they followed the two ministers to the courtroom. If they were not wrong, this was a combined meeting of the army commanders and the intellects who worked for the Lord, and neither Raelynn nor Laurier had to guess what the topic of conversation would be.
They entered inside casually and took their seats with the other commanders and knight commanders. Just like the other men, they too just glanced at Raelynn before turning their gaze away from her. They were not that keen on speaking to her, unlike the way they behaved with other male commanders. Raelynn did not mind it either. To her, it was a waste of time speaking to those brainless idiots who would only repeat the same thing over and over like a rooster. She preferred to stay silent and conserve her energy rather than arguing with them and ending up with a migraine.
Laurier too stayed silent, but occasionally, he would give a reply or two when other men approached him. Though he did not like the fact that Raelynn was being completely ignored by them, he could do nothing too. He could not go around cleaning all the brains that were filled with nothing but dirty water. His thoughts completely matched with his friend's on this. So, he let them be.
The courtroom had been filled completely, with all the men and Raelynn occupying their assigned seats. Barely a minute had passed since the last person occupied his seat, the Lord, Eldrick Kharal entered with pomp and splendor, with two of his guards following closely behind. Everybody rose up as a symbol of respect and waited until he had taken his seat before they occupied their seats once again.
Eldrick Kharal was a man in his early thirties, yet he looked young with all the training he was doing daily to keep himself healthy. Also, there was a maturity in his eyes which made people look up to him with ease even if he seemed inexperienced and young.
He was one of the kindest and most loved rulers of the kingdom and this was one of the reasons for the people to respect him more. Though he was kind, he could also be fierce when the situation called for and his fighting skills were among the best in the kingdom. The Lord of Kingdom Volar swept a glance around the courtroom making eye contact with everyone present in front of him before it halted on Raelynn who was sitting at the end of the room, behind the men. His expressionless face broke and he cast a smile at her, taking everybody else in the room by a storm, including Laurier.
Raelynn too returned his smile with grace before both of them went back to being expressionless. They knew how shocked the people around them were, but they gave a blind eye to it. The Lord did not have to explain to anyone and in turn, Raelynn too could stay at peace.
Seeing that everybody was looking at him curiously, the Lord only smirked before he nodded his head. The guard who was beside him started speaking immediately. "We are gathered here to discuss our next course of outcome given that our enemy Kingdom of Hollis has sent our Lord a threat letter. Although they have not yet declared war on us openly, this is nothing but provoking us and we have to give them a befitting reply lest they should forget their places once again."
"Gentlemen and lady," The Lord started once the guard was finished with whatever he was supposed to say. To the men, it looked like the Lord was belittling Raeylnn by addressing her after them. However, that was not the truth. The Lord was emphasizing the fact that she was the only lady here and from the tone he had used, it was clear that he preferred her over all the other men. But nobody other than Laurier could sense it and once again he was shocked. Laurier could sense the favoring tone the Lord held for Raelynn, but he was not sure about it.
"I would like to know what your opinions are regarding this matter. How should we solve this issue? Do we ask for a truce or declare war on them?" His questions immediately caused an uproar in the courtroom and people started to murmur among themselves trying to come up with a unified solution.
While the Lord waited for one of them to step up and speak, his eyes fell on Raelynn whose gaze looked bored. It felt like she did not belong to this place with the way she was staring at the walls blankly. To others, it seemed as though she did not know how to tackle the situation and was thinking hard to come up with a solution. But only the Lord knew that this was not the case. He was sure that she would have already come up with the best plan to completely eliminate the threat, their enemy. She was just waiting to see how others would attend to it. She wanted to know how well the egoistic men's plans would be.
'This would be interesting.' Eldrick thought to himself imagining how Raelynn would rip off all the men's, excluding him, heads once the discussion started.
Murmurs erupted in the court hall and everybody was involved in discussion except for Raelynn and Laurier. They were more or less interested in finding out the others' opinions rather than forming their own theory. It was best to listen to others first, weigh the pros and cons of their suggestions and then prepare a complete strategetic plan.Raelynn was getting so bored staying in the room without doing anything that she had to stifle a yawn many times. She was silently wishing for someone to start the conversation. She wondered how long she could sit still without doing anything and stare at the idiotic people around her. Raelynn turned to her right only to meet Laurier's eyes who was already looking at her and she smiled at him faintly, only to receive a boring shake of the head in return. She nodded at him conveying that she was feeling the same. But what could they do? They could not leave the session halfway as they were in the Lord's court and it would be disresp
"We need to declare a war as early as possible," Raelynn suggested without any change in her expression. She fixed her eyes on Lord Eldrick, not caring about the looks the other people around her giving. As soon as she spoke the words, loud whispers erupted in the hall and everybody started to chide the only woman in the room. She even heard one of the ministers nearby scold her quite harshly."Women," He scoffed. "They have no idea how to deal with the situation and they think themselves to be great. This is the reason why women should not be allowed to enter the battlefield or the courtroom. They will just ruin us." The man said to another man sitting beside him and received a nod in return. They then started to laugh as though they had just shared a good joke among themselves.Laurier who heard the man's words crystal clear could not sit still and he stood up to deal with the disgusting man. However, Raelynn stopped him. She shook her head at him and assured him sil
After warning even man present in the courtroom, Raelynn went back to her seat. However, she continued standing. She was yet to put forth her points towards the Lord. "My Lord, it is best that we declare war on them soon. Our enemy kingdom is using underhand tactics to get to us and I am sure everybody here to knows about it too. So, why should we waste time in sending a treaty of peace to them when we are sure that they will not accept it?"Minister Rowen could not sit still anymore after hearing this. "Young Lady, we are concerned about the lives of our soldiers as well as our people. We could try our attempt at the truce. If things do not go well, we can wage a war against them." Everybody accepted his words this time and they nodded at him."If everybody agrees to this solution, then I have no problems with it. But let me warn you beforehand that I will not take responsibility if things go wrong in the future. Also, I have something else to inform the Lord." Raelyn
Raelynn hugged Eldrick and the man too reciprocated it with equal vigor and affection. How long had it been since the siblings met each other?"I missed you, Brother," Raelynn whispered as she pushed herself closer towards her brother. She always felt secure in his arms. After their parents' death, it had been Eldrick who had taken care of Raelynn. She had been only seven years when her father was killed by an assassin while her brother was thirteen. Their mother could not tolerate the heartbreak of losing her beloved husband and she fell into depression.Barely a year had passed since their father's death, their mother too left them. Since then, it had only been the two of them and they took care of each other dearly."I missed you too, Raelynn." The Lord replied back with a smile on his face. After his sister decided to join the army, he had been left alone in the palace and he missed her more than anything. He did not have any interest in anything and y
After conversing with her brother, Raelynn reluctantly took her leave from him. It was not every day that she got the opportunity to speak to him and now that she had found a chance, it had ended sooner than the siblings had expected. Eldrick too was not ready to see his sister depart. But he knew that she had her responsibilities and he could not stop her, even if he wanted.Lord Eldrick's chambers were in the far interiors of the palace and other than his trusted servants, nobody else was allowed to enter this part of the palace. So, Raelynn did not have to worry about getting caught wandering in the private quarters of the Lord. Everybody she came across knew who she was as well as her relationship with their Lord. So, they bowed to her and greeted her respectfully.However, the knights guarding the other locations did not know about it and as soon as Raelynn appeared from inside, they gave her one scrutinizing look before they averted their gazes. Raelynn too did n
"The man is planning something malicious. Send someone trustworthy to keep an eye on him." Raelynn ordered, her gaze cold and indifferent. Laurier could even sense her unhappiness from where he was and he looked at her wondering if she had found something."Did you get that vibe too?""Totally. He does not seem like a good man. There is something running in his mind and he approached us with some other intentions which I am unable to comprehend." Raeylnn answered, making sure to keep her voice as low as possible. The palace was not a secure place, especially when there were many who wanted to take over Eldrick's throne. So, she had to be careful about what she spoke even if it was something that meant no harm to anybody."He seems to be over-friendly at our first meeting and that is something not sitting well with me," Laurier added, his lips quirking up with a smile. 'As expected, Raelynn was not that easy to fool.'Raelynn's thoughts evaporated when she
"In that case, what if I say that I like you?" Raelynn shot her question, her eyes fixed on Laurier. She observed the changes in his expressions from confusion to shock and finally, it settled on surprise. He looked utterly flabbergasted and his jaws dropped seeing Raelynn's expecting gaze. Nobody said a word for a long time.While Laurier did not know what to say, Raelynn was waiting for him to speak something. Minutes passed and Raelynn could not take the silence any longer. "Say something." Her voice broke Laurier's stupor and he blinked twice to see if he was hallucinating. He wondered if it was just a dream, a beautiful dream that would end right after his sleep broke. Raelynn could sense his dilemma and giggled. "It's not a dream. I am real, we are real."Only then did Laurier speak, "How? Whe-When? Really?" His tone changed from shock to joy in a few seconds and Raelynn too could hear it."Yes. Laurier, I like you." Seeing Laurier's positive reactions, Ra
The new couple returned to their battalion after spending some more time with each other. Laurier could not believe that he had got the love of his life and that she too felt the same way towards him. Everything felt surreal to him. Moreover, what was highly shocking was that the Lord knew about them and he was happy for them. What more did he need?The knights at the arena saw their Commander and the Knight Commander return. They could feel something to be different about them with the way they were smiling and exchanging glances. But they could not point out what. Raelynn immediately went to her study as she had to prepare a strategy in case a war broke out between the two kingdoms. While Laurier stayed back to convey the information they had discussed during the meeting. The two people had decided to keep their relationship a secret for now until the issue was resolved, although Eldrick already knew about it.Meanwhile, at the palace.After all the commanders