Lionel Tepet's Point Of View

The 'peace offering' went through the passage and the keep like a storm. Not physically, but the order in the lines dissolved into discussion and disbelief... but had it only been heard by the knights and the soldiers, then we would have been able to control it. Going by the words of our own air magicians, the news would have reached any nearby villages as well. Everything was dissolving into a mild panic.

There was no way we were going to outlast something like that. The peasants know this too... but not just that. When the enemy armies march through the land, all food that the peasants have will be taken forcefully. Those who resist will get killed, and they will fear for the well being of their wives and daughters. Those who don't flee immediately will likely turn against the king to prevent the horrors of rape and starvation for themselves and their families.

It was a well phrased 'negotiation'. No direct threats to the civilians, but still informing them that they will be dragged into this. Business that was usually only meant for nobles would hit them as we cannot fulfill our duty...

Even if every noble house remains loyal... if they have to fight our neighboring countries, then there will not be enough men to defend the capital.

The peasants not from the capital or House Salender's territory would be the first to act... especially those from House Celeste's fief.

I need to discuss this with Lily. We will need to make a counter statement immediately. I had been busy preparing a rescue plan for the young Princess Emilia when Headal's demand came out, so I haven't checked up on Lily since yesterday either.

Thankfully, finding Lily doesn't take long. She was doing her best treating people with a calm and collected expression as if what happened just now didn't matter to her at all.

"L-... Augustus."

I end up getting her cover name out rather awkwardly. I nearly used her name instead. Old habits must die hard.

"We need to talk about Headal's declaration."

She looks up from the guy whose injury she was cleaning up with this calm look.

"Why? Their statement changes nothing. I will not abandon the lord to which my family swore loyalty. I'm prepared for the onslaught coming at us," she said without a shadow of doubt or hesitation.

"It is not a matter for us to consider. It is a matter for his Highness to consider. If he says you will, you've no choice."

I say this, knowing that Alstair and his father care too much about their facade to the people, to just say 'No' to the demand. Certainly they'll try to come up with some way to make things work in their favor, but they'd never bring such unnecessary pain to the people, since the people is their source of power... be it the nobles of the commoners.

Lily just looks back to the soldier she's helping. The soldier just stares down at the ground as if he's pretending not to be here.

"Princess Catarina is not a woman who would keep such promises. People like her appear largely indifferent to promises and would rather have a dishonest victory. Fighting among ourselves will merely weaken us. We will face them head on."

I note that the soldier gives a quiet subconscious nod at her words. I'm still amazed with how Lily manages to make people toss themselves into situations where they should definitely die... and in such short time as well. It's as though, that when it comes to war her calm collected personality and authoritarian tone makes you believe her way is the best. Her actual competence in determining the right way only sets this in stone.

I pull my eyes from the soldier and then back to Lily.

"We've been given rest and you've helped us recover. You need to return to Castle Celeste and confirm this with Lord Celeste. You are a hero in your family's lands, and if not from your words, then the peasants may decide to act on their own."

She looks a bit bitter at my words, but since she doesn't retort I decide to continue.

"Those news will spread west like a wildfire. To keep it under control we will need to contact every noble with military units that haven't been contacted already. I will send a horse to the northern lands, and you will go west. Knowing the commoners' adoration of you, the west will remain loyal if you tell them to."

She grits her teeth again and looks up at me with a scowl.

"We can not afford to leave here," she insists stubbornly. However, her objection is said out less sternly than I expected. She quickly pulls her gaze away and then frowns again as if she thought of something unpleasant.

"We will last until you can return. You are needed elsewhere, L- Augustus."

I stop myself from doing the name wrong again. Still, Lily just gives that half hidden scowl of hers. She's a bit off. I've always seen Lily more as the kind of person to trust when you make a declaration of prowess as long as it isn't bragging.

She shouldn't be sick anymore either, but just just in case I put a hand on her forehead. It's normal. She overcame her fever quite quickly, but I suppose it makes sense since it was based on magic.

Lily stops treating the soldier and looks up at me quietly. It's not the annoyed look I was expecting. Before I can ask questions her expression vanishes...

"We should move to the keep. We are disturbing the injured."

There's hardly anyone here still injured, but Lily convinces me easily with these words. Something like using an excuse like this which is true, though not the only thing, is exactly how Lily usually does things.

—-*—-

Once we are alone in a room in the keep she starts staring at me with this little look of hesitance.

"What is it?"

She feels off... the air around her seems softer than usual. As though a base tone of anger has been replaced with confusion.

"... the ancestors of my family in my former life had the ability to visit other realms. The realm of judgement, the realm of heaven, the realm of animals, dreams and... things like that. Those who take up the full time art of being a priest or priestess were able to project their soul to another realm for a short time at first, and later their bodies and more permanently."

What? Wait... heaven? People in her family could visit heaven?

"I, as a combat priestess, was not taught these things, and though I could in the future I likely wouldn't, as it was so far from the path I was taking..."

She takes a small breath while I'm still trying to keep up with her words. Combat priestess? For religion? I thought she didn't use religion... I'm about to ask questions, but she quickly stops me.

"Just... listen till the end first... last night I wished to use this ability when someon-.... when an ancestor of mine in my previous life took over this body and did it for me."

So... she was possessed, and the ghost used magic for her? But why would it do that?

"And I ended up talking with the person that killed me..."

My mind goes blank for a moment. She look uncomfortable and hesitant as she watches me. The only thought popping into my mind at that moment is 'She trusts me and is telling me a secret'. The cautious and distrusting girl in front of me is telling me something that she'd get in trouble for. Talking with the dead is close to dark magic. People performing dark magic in Ristaze get executed...

"Once the conversation ended I realized that I'd forgotten an important question... I'd asked him why he killed me, but never why he cheated first."

I'm a bit dumbstruck at those words. Cheated? Cheated is usually followed by the specific game or subject he cheated at, or it is a part of the context. When she said 'cheating' there was probably only one way to understand that... as in the man had been sleeping or kissing someone outside their marriage or engagement.

She looks down with furrowed eyebrows.

"I apologize for bringing this up with you."

She drew back a bit. Uncertain and still looking uncomfortable. It was a more vivid reaction than I was used to from her.

"No. I would likely have tried to get it out of you."

If it was interfering with her judgement then I'd no choice but to bring it up.

"I don't know how death works where you were from, Lily. However, at least here the spirits of the dead only focus on the things that are important to them. He may simply have forgotten because she didn't mean anything."

It's the closest I can come with as an answer from what she has given me. I course, I use men here as a standard measure. I know nothing of the situation they were in back then, so he may easily have had other reasons.

"Was he the type to fall easily for temptation?"

She looks at me quietly, as if she's processing my words as I speak them.

"No, he did not. However, it is different with manipulation..." she goes quiet for a while and then her eyes widen to little globes as she covers her mouth.

Manipulation? I'd say that a stranger woman's seduction is manipulation, but Lily seems to think of them as different.

Let's sum up. Her killer started seeing a woman and spent a lot of time with her just before the murder. He's strong to temptation but not manipulation. That together with Lily's expression means that she suspects that woman of convincing the man to kill her?