There were many issues that had to be dealt with now that Marquis Hunington and Commander Enriche had been arrested. A new commander had to be chosen among the Peacekeepers. Of course, they had to choose someone who would uphold the laws and not let themself be seduced by money. Fortunately, the task of selecting a commander fell onto the Clarissa, the overseer of Dorumhold, and not Elincia.
Well, it was fortunate for Elincia.
The matter of selecting a commander to lead the Peacekeepers in Dorumhold was not Clarissa's only problem, nor was it even the biggest problem.
Since Marquis Hunington had been arrested, Clarissa now had to take on the work that would normally be left to him. This had increased her workload several fold. Most of her days were now spent reading reports, signing documents, dealing with brown nosing bureaucrats, weeding out the rats within those bureaucrats, and helping the captured men, women, and children that Elincia and Caspian had rescued return to their homes. The amount of work she had was enough to give anyone a headache.
Elincia had a front row seat to this.
"Here." Elincia placed several sets of documents onto the desk. "These are the last set of documents that need to be looked over. After this, you're done."
"You mean I'm done for today," Clarissa corrected.
"Yes."
"Great." The woman released a strained groan that made Elincia give her a compassionate smile. Heedless of the look she was receiving, Clarissa continued to complain. "I'm beginning to hate that man even more now. Aside from kidnapping me and using me as his plaything, he completely neglected a good portion of his work as the noble in charge of governing in favor of expanding his slave trading operation. The amount of paperwork he has piled up. Some of this stuff dates back to over five years ago!"
Several days had passed since the incident regarding Marquis Hunington had been resolved, but because of how much paperwork that marquis had left her, Clarissa hadn't been able to leave this office. Elincia noticed the signs of stress on her new friend's face.
"By the way..." Clarissa began.
"Yes?"
"What is she doing here?"
Clarissa pointed at Chloe, who was lounging on the couch within the extravagant office like an indolent cat. The woman wasn't wearing her boots. Her stocking clad feet were propped up on the couch as she lay on her back and studied her newly painted nails. After Clarissa pointed her out, Chloe tilted her head and gave them both a smile.
"Since my ship was hijacked by Elincia and her knight and my people have been displaced, I don't have anything to do. I figured I would stick around for awhile. To be honest, I am a little interested in watching what you do from now on."
"Me?" Elincia asked.
"Yes. You."
"Don't lounge around in my office if you aren't going to do anything to help out!" Clarissa snapped.
She and Chloe had been butting heads frequently. Elincia caught them arguing a lot. Sometimes the argument wasn't even about something important, like this one time when they had been arguing about whether boysenberries made a good addition to tea.
When Chloe didn't respond to her provocation, Clarissa sighed and glanced at Elincia. "Anyway, where is your knight? Down in the training hall?"
"Yes." Elincia smiled and nodded. "I'll be joining him soon."
"I assumed as much." Clarissa nodded several times. "But before that, I need to tell you that tomorrow, I'll be making a public announcement regarding the matter with Marquis Hunington. It's going to be at the amphitheater. I want you and Caspian to join me when I make it."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Elincia asked as her ears wiggled nervously. "I don't mean to degrade myself, but, well, if people see me, it is likely to cause a panic."
"Don't worry about that." Clarissa waved her words off. "Just make sure you and your knight wake up bright and early tomorrow morning."
"Okay."
There was still a bit of work to do, but Elincia's job was more or less finished, so she headed down to the training hall.
The marquis had spared no expense when it came to his safety. It showed in his training hall, which he had built for the mercenaries under his employ. Large and filled to the brim with racks of weapons, the training hall consisted of several different sections. There was the sparring mat where people could practice melee fighting, the archery/shooting range for archers/musketeers, and then there was the magical shooting range.
Caspian was practicing his forms when Elincia arrived, causing her to stop and admire him for a moment. He was wearing the new clothing they had bought back in Axium. She couldn't help but think he looked dashing as he worked up a sweat. If she wasn't there for her own reasons, Elincia would have gladly watched him for hours.
After admiring Caspian for a moment, Elincia wandered over to the shooting range, grabbed the bow that was hers along with a quiver of arrows, and marched to the firing line. After securing the quiver onto her back, she pulled one of the arrows out. She nocked it back, took aim at one of the stationary targets that stood about 100 meters out, breathed in deeply, and released the arrow.
Her arrow struck target in the bull's eye.
"I did it," Elincia whispered. "Yes."
Nocking back another arrow, Elincia continued to practice. She lost herself to the flow of time.
Her aim had been constantly improving. After the incident with the marquis had been resolved, she had come to this training hall and practiced every single day. She didn't couldn't hit the bull's eye every time with 100% accuracy, but she had become good enough that she could hit it eight out of ten times. Once she could hit it ten out of ten times, she would extend her firing range another 100 meters.
As Elincia reached back, a frown crossed her face when she couldn't find any arrows. She turned her head to look into her quiver, but she couldn't see anything. Frowning, she was just about to remove the quiver when Caspian appeared before her with a new quiver of arrows.
"Are you gonna keep practicing?" he asked, holding out the quiver.
Elincia considered the quiver in Caspian's hand, and then looked over at the target, which had become perforated with numerous arrows. She must have been practicing for several hours by now. Her hand was actually starting to cramp, which she only now realized.
I must have been zoning out.
"You were completely focused on firing arrows."
Caspian smiled as he retracted the quiver and instead held out his hand. Speaking out loud, he said, "Since it looks like you're done practicing, why don't we take a bath?"
"A-a bath?" Elincia's cheeks flushed bright red as an image of her and Caspian taking a bath together entered her mind. She pictured herself leaning against him inside of the tub. She imagined Caspian's hands as they slowly caressed her breasts and stomach, as he kissed her neck before his fingers slowly made their way down to caress her genitals...
"I-I wasn't thinking of anything like that!" Caspian shouted. He was blushing too. "I just meant we should get clean!"
"O-oh." Elincia didn't know whether she should have felt embarrassed or disappointed that Caspian had seen her erotic fantasy but didn't want to partake. "R-right. Getting clean. Yes."
"But... I mean, if you want to do that... I wouldn't mind," Caspian admitted as he scratched his cheek with an index finger.
"Ah. Ah. Then... um... I'll be in your care."
Caspian and Elincia glanced at each other, and then they both looked away.
Despite their mutual embarrassment, Caspian and Elincia did take a bath together. After cleaning off their bodies, they lounged in the tub for about half an hour. Nothing actually happened in the tub, however, as they were both far too self-conscious to do anything. After they got out of the tub, the two wrapped a towel around their waist and made their way into their bedroom.
The marquis mansion had numerous rooms. All of them were furnished with the best furniture money could buy, and each one came with its own individual bath. Elincia's and Caspian's room was far too big in their opinion. It was even larger than the rooms they slept it at Lady Sylvia's mansion.
While they were a little uncomfortable with how big the room was, neither of them said anything as they sat together on the bed, not looking at one another. They hadn't changed into their clothes. Caspian and Elincia were stilled wrapped in a towel. Elincia's went around her torso and covered her chest, while Caspian's covered his waist.
"Caspian, I... um..."
"Ele." Caspian reached out and placed a hand over Elincia's. "Do you want to, um... what I mean is..."
"Y-yes. I do."
Elincia didn't understand why the idea of telling Caspian she wanted to have sex always embarrassed her so much. Lady Erica had no trouble talking about when she wanted to have sex, and Elincia wanted to have that kind of confidence. She wanted to be able to tell Caspian what she wanted. But... but it was just so embarrassing! Even now her face felt like a boiling lobster.
There was no doubt in her mind that Caspian sensed this. Perhaps that was why he took the initiative.
He turned to face her, reaching out with his hands and cupping her cheeks, turning her head so she was facing him. His cheeks were burning red, but there was a determined gleam in his eyes. Slowly, he brought his face closer to hers, and Elincia, brimming with anticipation and anxiety, tilted her head up and closed her eyes.
The first contact was indescribably soft. She would have called the sensation of their lips touching ephemeral. However, after that first gentle kiss, Caspian pressed his lips against hers with more passion. Elincia could not stop the mewl from escaping her mouth as his tongue slipped inside of hers and stirred up saliva.
Elincia fell back onto the bed, and Caspian came with her as he kept kissing her. He slowly peeled away her towel, revealing her small breasts, flat stomach, and trimmed patch of silvery blond hair between her legs. Lying on his side, Caspian cupped her breasts in his hand and slowly kneaded them with his hands. This caused her to squirm.
While Elincia had touched herself plenty of times in the past, she never could have imagined how much better it would feel when Caspian touched her. As he continued caressing her body, he slowly moved his hand across her stomach. Her muscles twitched. Then his hand reached between her legs and cupped her warmth. Elincia released a cry when he began stimulating her.
Unable to withstand the intense sensation washing through her, Elincia grabbed Caspian by the back of his head and pulled him down, hampering his lips with a voracious kiss. Caspian returned the kiss as best he could. Their minds and hearts melded together as they continued to kiss, and Elincia soon felt an incredible buildup of energy inside of her. It started at her feet, which had clenched up, and then moved up her legs toward her crotch.
She wanted to tell Caspian that she felt something coming. However, he probably already knew. Through their bond, she could tell he felt something, which explained why he suddenly increased his actions, stimulating her with a little more pressure. That last bit of pressure tipped Elincia over the edge and made her clamp her thighs around Caspian's hand.
A wave of heat spread out from her body, so intense Elincia almost thought her vision had whited out. When she came to, her breathing had become deep and heavy, and her face felt flushed.
"Caspian..." Elincia groaned as she tried to speak. "Inside... I want it... inside..."
"R-right."
Caspian removed his towel and moved between her legs. She could feel his embarrassment through the bond, which also made her embarrassed, but she was excited at the same time. The anticipation, the buildup between the moment they were about to connect to the moment they connected was something she cherished.
However, just before Caspian could push himself inside of her, the door to their bedroom opened and Clarissa walked in.
"Hey, Elincia," Clarissa began, "I was wondering if you would... would... erm..."
Clarissa stopped talking as she saw the two of them. She glanced at the naked Elincia, who was lying on her back, and then at the equally naked Caspian as he sat between her thighs. The two of them had also frozen in shock. Had they forgotten to lock the door? They could have sworn they hadn't!
"Er..." Clarissa coughed into her hand. "I'll just, um, leave you two alone for now. Yeah. What I have to say isn't that important. Carry on."
As the woman shut the door, Caspian suddenly snapped. "Don't just run in here and then leave like nothing happened! Damn it!"
While Elincia didn't say anything, she did cover her face with her hands. She thought she'd been embarrassed before, but having someone walk in on them when they were about to make love was more embarrassing than anything she'd ever had to deal with. Beyond that, Elincia realized that Clarissa's interruption had totally killed the mood.
This was just... so not fair!
***
Poor Caspian and Elincia. Clarissa has joined the long list of cockblockers.
Please let me know how I'm doing!
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