Liam and I turned twenty three together, then twenty four, fighting battles after battles.
We were an excellent team. No one bothered asking who I was married to, but for this quest... they were overly adamant.
"Duke Reynolds, aren't you proud of your husband?" A soldier dared to ask.
"Of course. I wear their ring on me for protection at all times," I confirmed.
The soldier drowned a bit, "then how is it that no one knows who they are?"
Liam laughed as he sat down besides me, "there's something called privacy. Not everyone wants the entire world to know of them. Especially since he's a very important figure."
"I know, but-"
"Besides, we just don't like attention," Liam informed, smiling a bit.
I nearly burst out laughing at the subtleness of it. Apparently the others heard, and had to do a double take.
"What?"
Liam decided to be more bold, "well, we aren't comfortable with people analyzing our every step, so we prefer to stat to ourselves."
"You're into men?"
"Only Issiah."
I smiled a bit to myself, wrapping an arm around him supportively. He appreciated the small gesture.
The soldiers seemed bewildered at that. "I didn't realize you liked Duke Reynolds."
"I was content on never telling him since he liked the prince at the time, but time passed, and he confessed to me. Smooth sailing since."
"The emperor was very supportive of the whole engagement. The prince was even my best man," I added. "I quite enjoy having him as my husband."
Liam laughed, "forever a sap! I adore that though."
The soldiers could see the looks we threw out each other more clearly now, and they probably realized they'd seen the look a million times before when it came to us.
"Well, if you're happy, guess that's all that really counts," the soldier said awkwardly.
Liam smirked a bit, "you do realize we sleep in separate beds during battles, right? We aren't doing anything nefarious with you lot around."
The tension in most of the shoulder dropped, relaxing pretty seamlessly. Though, a few soldiers still didn't seem all that keen on us being married.
"Isn't it unprofessional to ha-"
"You can think it's unprofessional if you want, but at the end of the day, it doesn't matter, as long as I can bring as many of you back home to your loved ones as possible. Same goes for him. I may be his loved one, but so it my family. So is his cousin. All of us are fighting to keep what we care about safe."
Hopefully that got the whole idea across.
I just wanted to be with Liam. And I wanted to keep him safe. He wanted me safe. Seeing as were both stubborn fools who live our empire, we did tend to face danger quite often.
"Come on, they're kinda cute. Don't get your knickers in a twist," another soldier defended.
"Cute?"
"Well, the way they look at each other has always been with a deep respect and live for each other, even if it wasn't romantic. So yeah," the same soldier defended. "Cute. It's cute when people express their love for their loved ones."
I smiled at the soldier, "that's a way of looking at it. We are really obvious about it."
"His family and my cousin picked up in it pretty quickly. We were holding hands and didn't even realize it."
The same soldier continued to smile at that, "my sister was the same. She and her wife are quite adorable."
"Your sister? Well tell her congrats on my part."
He nodded and soldier mummered about.
I stood up, stretching, "I'm going out for a quick patrol, be back."
Liam nodded, letting me ruffle his hair as I headed off. The area we were staked in was close to the border. We were actually in the endgame of the game. Of the after game I guess. We were a lot quicker than the game. If the protagonist dies well, she gets married when the boys are all 30 and she's 27.
So yeah, things are a bit quicker in this version, especially since Tim never went rogue. He's just a normal prince who is allied to the empire.
It's strange just how much I changed the story. Some of it on purpose, most by complete accident. My father and the emperor would've died if I let the story occur naturally.
I'm glad it didn't.
The path was quiet and very overwhelmingly calm. Almost unsettling. Though, calm was so normal now. In the story, calm was what you strives for after the battle reaches its climax. The after endings for the story were horrifying no matter which way you sliced it.
Characters either died or became bad people. Isaiah's was the most normal, and since I was gay, it did't affect me at all.
I was just thankful some of the paths had been rerouted or thrown off course entirely. I made my way back to camp, pretty relaxed with very little to truly worry about.
As seems to be my usual, I overheard the soldiers talking to Liam, who was nursing a flask of whiskey.
"So, what made you realize he was the one?" A soldier asked kindly.
Liam hummed softly at that, a pleasant noise that drifted to my ears. "Well, I don't know for sure. I've loved him since the day we met and he had the balls to put me in my place when I was a pretentious prick. I realized he was mine when he proposed. He was so happy, and seemed to be so genuine. He was mine from that point on."
"How'd you feel when he liked the crown prince?"
"I had hope. I wanted him happy no matter what. But he liked men, and that gave me a sliver of hope I could find someone if he could. The prince rejected him and I was still content to be his friend. But all and all, I was never hurt he liked the prince, just hopeful."
"You're a good man. The Duke is lucky to have you."
Liam let out a good natured laugh, "I'm a Duke now too, you realize?"
The soldier stiffened as Liam burst into more laughter.
"I'm still a general, so you can call me that. And I think we're lucky to have each other. Isaiah makes me happy, and I'd like to believe I make him happy."
He did. He made me happier than I could have ever dreamed.
"Of course you make me happy," I said warmly as I walked over, pressing a kiss to his head.
"You have a nasty habit of listening in to others, don't you?" He joked.
"An accident I promise you."
The same soldier seemed to look at us fondly, then stiffened as he remembered something. "I came here for a reason. The crown prince and his mage are set to arrive soon to assist on the front lines."
Liam sighed a bit, "the prince is an alright man, but lately it's been frustrating to have him near."
"You aren't still on about his supposed crush, are you?"
"Crush?" The soldier asked.
"Liam thinks the prince realized he had feelings for me. I don't agree."
Liam's rolled his eyes, "you're a catch, how could he not like you?"
"You forget he rejected me."
"That was ages ago. And he has no issue with you now."
"It doesn't matter anyway," I assured. "I only have eyes for you."
He seemed pretty satisfied with that, the soldier too seemingly satisfied. "The night is coming, you two should rest up for the next few days of travel."
"Ah, we should."