Second Time's a Charm (MxM)✔

Chapter 41 - Gossip

Sonnet Capital: 3 Years later

People bustled around the busy streets, with the hot sun beating down and only a few clouds marring the blue skies above.

Smoke billowed from the chimneys of the local establishments, and a flock of birds departed from somewhere in the distance. The Temple, which had been damaged in a mysterious incident years earlier, stood fully restored with even more beautiful statues filling the nearby garden paths.

The smell of baked goods wafted in the air as a gaggle of women exchanged gossip in the square while shielding themselves from the harsh sun with flowered parasols.

"I just don't know what I'd do if it came to that." Lady Blueborn stated as she played with her summer dress nervously. "I've only just gotten married and he's already been sent off to fight in the war. If he dies, what will I do?"

"Don't worry sweetheart." Lady Adler, a plump woman in a powder blue dress patted Blueborn's shoulder. "The Emperor's army is great and many. He probably won't even get a chance to see an enemy before the front lines take them down."

"I heard the war hasn't been going well at all." Lady Beatrice spoke up, wearing a dark grey petticoat and black vest. She was the downer of the group. Never knowing when to read a room and always the first to say the wrong thing. This earned her a slap on the shoulder from Lady Adler, who nodded towards Blueborn as the poor woman's face crumpled with concern.

Beatrice took a moment to realize why that was a bad thing. "Oh! But I'm sure your husband will be fine!"

This didn't do much to assure Blueborn, who instead tilted her head curiously. "What have you heard of the war?"

"Just what my brothers have all told me," Beatrice replied, not seeing the harm in elaborating. She came from a very expansive family, with seven brothers in total and two younger sisters. If there was news to be heard, Beatrice would have it. "The Chalot Kingdom has so far won a great majority of the battles, despite what the papers have said. The Empire's forces keep dropping like flies. That's why they changed the draft requirements. They need more men!"

"Children don't belong on the battlefield!" Adler scoffed, having lost both her children to the draft earlier that year.

"What else have your brothers said?" Blueborn asked, drawn in by concern for her newly dispatched husband. "Is it that dangerous to join the Empire's forces?"

Again, Beatrice overlooked an opportunity to comfort her friend with pretty lies and proceeded with what she felt was an honest recollection. "Well, it's not that their army is great. According to my brothers, their forces are usually very small whenever they engage in battle. Yet somehow the Chalot Kingdom knows everything the Empire has planned. No matter what new weapons or strategies they try to pull, their queen is three steps ahead of them! And they all say it's due to a supposed Sonnet informant!"

"Oh please! Your brothers are just trying to scare you." Adler patted Blueborn's back comfortingly. "Lots of things have simply happened these last three years. Remember when that temple was reduced to rubble? Or when a dragon was seen flying over the borders?"

"Or when all those nobles were suddenly murdered?"

"That's right. Oh, Didn't Duke Duclair also get murdered?"

"By his son no less!"

"And those odd propaganda fliers."

"But what about the robbery of the mages in the moors?"

"Insanity. Who would dare get on a mage's bad side? Didn't they agree to fight for the Empire in exchange for help to track down the thief?"

"Supposedly it was the same arsonist who destroyed Chestershire last year."