Chapter One Hundred and Eighteen
The guards stumbled slightly on their next steps, as did the servants nearby. They furrowed their brows when they realized nothing was out of place, and I was simply reading a book with one hand while Anne nodded wisely at my words. Why, perhaps it must have been the fruit of their imagination-nothing was out of place, nothing was wrong, and when Isabella returned, she found Anne and I still there, pleasantly chatting away the day.
"Ah! It is done," Isabella said with a huff and a prideful look on her face, a hand gingerly patting the center of her chest, "This wonderful wife of yours, my dear Henry, solved everything neatly. Expect to receive a lot of letters from Little Josette from now on, and please do answer them with haste. I am sure that tonight you'll receive one-" she grinned as she proceeded to plop down on my lap, dropping her head against my chest and then starting to move two fingers on my right arm as if they were tiny legs, crawling their way up to my shoulder. "Does this beautiful wife not deserve some praise, uh? You saw with Raven's vision, did you not? So-so..." she cheekily looked up at me, "I want my prize."
"Ugh, get a room you two," Anne mock-gagged, mimicking putting two fingers in her mouth.
"A lady does certain things only when the sun goes down," Isabella said with a huff, before planting a quick kiss on my lips, "So-well?" she looked hopefully up at me, expecting an answer.
"Isabella," I said with a genuine smile, "what is it that you wish that I have not yet given you?"
"Oh my Henry! What I want is-well, I'll tell you later," Isabella grinned, snuggling closer still. Anne took that as the cue to leave the room, and most of the guards and attendants followed swiftly. "Right now, I fully intend on taking all of my husband's lovely embraces for myself," she said quite primly, "And then we are going to walk by the shores of the lake, it is such a romantic thing-" she exhaled with a happy giggle, "Ah, my Henry..."
All in all, it was a pleasant week of peace and relaxation.
The return to the Duchy of Brittany saw me welcomed by a murder.
A murder of crows.
"Nevermore!" "Quoth!" "The!" "Raven!" four eager crows chirped and sang as they fluttered down from the Zelkova tree planted in the courtyard, "Henry!" "I!" "Love!" "You!" four more chirped. It was honestly endearing. I was surrounded by tiny adorable fluffy crows.
"T-They're beautiful," I sniffled in joy as I hugged as many as I could, their chirps of delight soothing my heart even as Isabella could not help but twitch her right eyebrow in disbelief at the scene. "They're so, so beautiful," I whimpered as their glittering eyes looked up at me with their cute little beaks. Raven cawed, and as one they flew away and back on the tree. I sniffled, "They grew up so much-"
"Is he...is he all right?" Anne asked, Isabella actually taking the time to be considerate enough to answer with an awkward smile on her face.
"My...Henry has a peculiar attraction to birds," Isabella said as neutrally as she could. She furrowed her brows next, "Dear, why is there a large wooden building on your tree?"
I smiled, "Why! Because I've built it."
"You...built it," Isabella said, before shaking her head, "It's-like...your man caves?"
"Man caves?" Anne asked, "What-what are you talking of?"
Isabella sighed loudly, putting a hand to her temples. "My Henry has a habit of digging holes, using his magic to create underground structures no noble would ever explore, and then hiding the entrance while progressively improving their interiors. I swear, if his love for his...bird was not so clear, I'd think he would be half earthworm." She then began to walk towards the villa, the servants unloading her stuff. "Come now dear, you can say hello to the new birds another time," and with that, she began to drag me away from the nest where cute little fluffy balls of feather and joy were chirping.
"My little cuties, wait for me," I said with a sad voice as I waved at them, even as Isabella dragged me a bit faster through the courtyard.
The reason we were both here was that I had to view the situation with the barracks built in my Duchy, as well as see if there were any grievances of sort due to the placement of the Gendarmeries. The not so fun but obvious fact was that since Gendarmeries were being put in place, then not only was there no longer a need for a militia, but those nobles who did have some form of standing guards would, sometimes, decide to just let them drop and leave the Gendarmes to take care of it.
So, where would the guards of the city go to find new employment? Right into my folds.
Whether they understood it or not, the nobles that thought of getting more money out of letting me field their responsibilities were perhaps indeed earning more, but they were also losing the military power that allowed them to control their own fiefs. They had still their magic, but the number of fifty years old nobles needed to pose a threat was-well, it was a high number indeed. To that, their sons or heirs weren't any better. Those I didn't have in my army were, of course, those who did not want to be in it or could not live in it.
When you get all the cream, what remains at the bottom of the barrel is nothing but sour milk.
"There have been some scuffles in St Marlon," I remarked as I finished reading the letter addressed to me, "Some bar brawls with sailors in which my gendarmes ended up getting involved-"
"Getting involved or starting the fight?" Isabella asked from her spot in my office, a comfortable armchair from which she was fanning herself.
"Finishing it," I answered. "The local guards said it was their duty, my gendarmes remarked how it was theirs. In the end, another scuffle broke out between them and the local guards, so now I have to head over there to pacify the-Pontcallec? What is he again, dear?"
"Pontcallec is a Count dear," Isabella said. "He oversees the lands of Saint Marlon-and is a much respected figure in Gallia." She smiled. "I have taken the liberty of arranging a meeting with him already, to which I'd like you to escort me."
I furrowed my brows. "I opened the letter only now however, why do you already have a meeting with him set up?"
"Most of the fleet of Saint Marlon is manned by men loyal to him, Henry. If the plan is to go to war with Albion, then we must ensure he is firmly on our side," Isabella sighed. "He knows that, of course, which is why it is probable he is doing this on purpose to wrestle tax independence from the Crown. You haven't increased taxation since you took office, but...perhaps he fear you will once the war starts. Thinking about it, I decided the best course of action was to directly intervene as the Crown Princess."
"Dear," I said softly, "Would you mind if I took care of this myself?"
Isabella blinked, and then bit her lower lip for a brief second. "I will be present," she said in the end, as if wrestling against her intelligence and sixth sense telling her how it was not a good idea to let me anywhere near something that started with Diplo and finished with macy.
"Of course, I never said you wouldn't have to be there, you were the one who set up the meeting to begin with," I smiled. "Perhaps we could bring Anne along? She could be useful if the Count turned out to be recalcitrant and-"
"How about no?" Isabella said gently. "That commoner can go around the city of Saint Marlon as much as she wants, perhaps under escort, and we can enjoy a nice dinner as guests of the Count. He supposedly has a fine collection of Albion white wine that he still manages to import." She grinned, "A bottle of the finest year would be opened for us without a doubt-"
"How you can love white wine," I shuddered, "Red wine is where true wine stands! Proud, rich, Romalian!"
Isabella bristled and then huffed. "Your taste in wines is barbaric, Henry, but we forgive you."
"Oh? Is that so?" I calmly began to draw near, my hands behind my back as I stopped near her. "Then, if I'm a barbarian what does that make you?"
"A cultured young lady trying to refine her unfortunately barbaric husband into something worthy of high society," Isabella said with a huff, lifting her head to look up at me with a big bright smile. "Is that not what the truth is?"
I tapped her forehead gently once, and then knelt in front of her, grinning broadly. "Truth can have more than one side, my dear Isabella," and with that, I gave her a quick kiss before standing back up. "But since I'm a barbarian, I'll go be with my animals-those tiny baby crows await me!"
"H-Henry!" Isabella yelled, her face crimson red even as I opened the window of my office and easily jumped down, using a quick chant to land on my feet. "Come back right this instant! You can't leave like that! Come back! Now! This is-unfair!" she grumbled, and then giggled even as I made my way to the base of the Zelkova tree.
Yet, amidst the branches, within the wood house I had crafted out from the tree itself with magic, Anne was already playing happily with my fluffy feathered birds.
Oh well.
Hugs are wonderful because they can be shared with others, after all.
