Jaspar had been healing for weeks before they were permitted to return to Rosenberg. Celebrations had been held off for the same amount of time that Prince Erich was healing for, which was about a week longer than what Jaspar had been healing for. The king insisted that it was to ensure that most of the soldiers would be able to be included, but Maude knew it was because King Johan had not wanted to leave his son’s side.
Over the weeks that passed, the news that Aulbert had defeated the empire had spread across the continent like wildfire, and Aulbert’s citizens had come pouring back into the country. The streets looked full again, though not as full as they had when Maude had first come to Aulbert. There was no doubt that many of Aulbert’s citizens had lost their lives and that the country had a lot of healing to do.
But first, a celebration of the victory, Maude thought, digging her heels into Celerity’s side to slow her down. Walking in a parade on top of a horse who could run for days on end at her max speed was a challenge in and of itself. I still don’t understand why Melissa insisted I use her horse for this, Maude thought. This could easily turn into a disaster of a parade if I let this horse get out of control.
Maude waved at the citizens and children to her left. Then, she waved at the citizens and children to her right. Their cheers were nearly deafening. They were the cheers of a group of people who had only ever hoped to be celebrating their win, not expecting to.
And there will probably be people who will never come back, Maude thought sadly. Even though they should be here to celebrate with everyone else.
Though she knew that she was now strong enough to fight if she absolutely had to, she also knew that she was going to do anything she could in her power to prevent a war from happening Aulbert ever again…at least, within her lifetime.
Maude continued waving and smiling, even seeing some kids waving at her, then attacking one another with wooden swords. She couldn’t help but get a chuckle out of it. Aulbert would need more warriors in the future. Just in case.
Though, Maude thought, if the empire collapses, it will be less of an issue than if they don’t. An emperor had yet to be declared in the empire due to massive uprisings that were taking place across the territories. Though Maude had only heard snippets of the reasons why, it had been everything; from how cruel the emperor was to his citizens, to former slaves rebelling against their master’s and even some people who were rebelling because the emperor had lied to them so much about the war. The primary demand that Maude had heard about was that the vast majority of the rebellions wanted a different ruling family that had nothing to do with emperor Giles. Her suspicion on the battlefield had also been confirmed, rather than the emperor and her father coming to the battlefield because they were looking to quickly end the war, it was because they, too, had been desperate to end and win the war. Similarly to Aulbert, many of the empire’s resources had been devastated as well.
Maude saw war veterans gathered together in a small section of the parade’s crowd, children swirling around them. The veterans were still healing, but one was missing an arm, another had a cane, and one was wearing an eyepatch. All of the participants of the war had a variety of ailments that they would all be dealing with for the rest of their lives.
All because one selfish, irresponsible man was in power, Maude thought. And no doubt, there are people who are suffering in the empire as well.
She thought of her step-mother, who was now completely alone, her son and her husband both deceased. Silas’ parents, who would never have their son in their arms again because he had chosen to fight for Aulbert. And even Sara Savoy, who may have lost her lover.
Nothing will ever be the same as how things were before the war, Maude thought.
It was both a good thing and a bad thing.
In another corner of the audience of the parade, Maude saw a group of farmers. Many of the crops of Aulbert had to be abandoned at one point or another during the war. Though there were mass uprisings going on in the empire, a diplomatic liaison was ensuring that a small portion of the empire’s grain was getting delivered to Aulbert. Just as with everything else, it would likely take years to rebuild the damages to the farms from the war. The king had requested that the people of Aulbert attempt to grow some of their own food, at least for the next couple of years or so, to help the farmers build back up the food supply. Maude and Jaspar had spent a whole morning planning an enormous garden for the manor, in hopes of feeding most of the staff in the manor as well as having some extra for the denizens of Aulbert. They had worked with the gardener to tear out a whole section of the garden to plan everything as well.
The winter ahead will be the roughest, Maude thought. Though it probably would have been worse if the war had dragged on longer, ending it during the fall hadn’t been exactly ideal either.
The parade was roughly three quarters of the way to the castle, when Maude saw a little girl sitting on top of her father’s shoulders. The little girl seemed to get more excited as Maude got closer, and she couldn’t help but wonder if the little girl was excited to see her.
“There she is, Daddy!” she heard the girl cry out.
Maude’s smile widened into a grin as she met the little girl’s eyes and waved at her using both hands.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“Hello!” Maude cried out to her.
“Here!” the girl shouted, reaching as far as she could up to Maude with what appeared to be a flower crown.
Maude reached and was able to snag it from the girl. She put it on top of her head, and smiled at the girl even wider. The girl squealed with delight.
“Thank you!” Maude exclaimed. A portion of the crowd clapped for her, their faces smiling up at her on top of Celerity.
She had been too distracted by her thoughts before, but now she could clearly hear members of the crowd talking about her. She caught snippets of the conversation but got the gist of it. No longer was she the empire’s only sword saint; now she was Maude Holloway, Aulbert’s sword saint who had won the war for their country.
I should have done better by these people, Maude couldn’t help but think. These people deserved me fighting for their country as soon as I had been able to. But, nonetheless, they are alive and well because of the combined efforts of myself, Prince Erich and Jaspar. None of us would have been able to beat the emperor alone. But the three of us together, Erich and Jaspar before I got there, and Jaspar and myself, were able to pull it off.
Maude looked up ahead at the side of Jaspar’s face, who was also waving and smiling at the audience of the parade.
I am grateful that the war with the empire is coming to a close for Aulbert, Maude thought. Jaspar and I will have an opportunity to live with one another, in love and at peace. I will become a citizen of Aulbert. There is nothing holding him and I back anymore.
Maude’s grin was spread on her face from the joy that the future held as she continued to wave at the happy people all around her. Her heart felt light, as she glanced up towards the castle.
The first step to my future will happen today at the banquet ceremony, she thought.
~
Maude entered the banquet hall of the palace in Aulbert. She couldn’t help but feel her mouth fall agape at the luxury around her. The room was enormous, with beautiful glass windows, and glass hanging ornaments from the ceiling. The sun was shining in the windows, causing the ornaments to cast rainbowed light all over the room. There were enormous tables filled to the brim with food, and long, tables that were intended for the participants of the war to sit at. At the front, in the center of the room sat a raised section with three elaborate chairs and a small table. It was clearly a designated spot for the royal family.
“Wow,” Maude murmured to herself. “This is incredible.”
“Have you never been in here before?” Melissa’s voice asked, as she came up behind Maude and threaded her arm through Maude’s as if Maude was escorting her.
Maude turned and looked at her with a smile. “I haven’t,” she confirmed.
“I suppose there hasn’t been very many banquets since you came,” Melissa said with a nod. “Most of the news this country has gotten since you came has been bad news. One would think that you’re a bad luck charm or something.” Melissa flipped her hair and was wearing a smirk across her face.
“Maybe I’m bad luck, so what?” Maude shot back, a grin on her own face.
“Now, now, ladies,” Jaspar said, coming up on Maude’s other side, and threading his arm through her free one. “Play nice.” His right hand was holding onto his cane to ensure that he would keep his balance.
“We were,” Melissa replied in a honeyed voice that was very much unlike her. “And Duke Rosenberg, what makes you think you have any right to take away Lady Holloway from me at the moment? I am the reason she made it to battle on time, and she lives with you. Do you insist on hogging the lady’s time?”
Maude felt her face reddening at Melissa’s words. She was speaking loudly, and there were people who were staring at the trio.
“So how does this work?” Maude murmured, gesturing toward the food in the room, in hopes that she could get the two off the topic at hand.
“Is the lady so incapable of making decisions that you have to make them for her?” Jaspar shot back. “Don’t you think she should have a say in how she gets to spend her time today, as a cherished hero of Aulbert?”
Maude’s cheeks now felt like they were on fire, and she was trying to act as though she wasn’t paying attention to what Melissa or Jaspar were saying. Based on the tones of their voices, she couldn’t tell if they were angry or joking. She started focusing her energy on determining how to get food by watching some of the other soldiers serve themselves food. There seemed to be just serving utensils on all of the foods, there were plates available, and there didn’t seem to be any assigned seating.
Seems easy enough, Maude thought.
“…what do you think, Maude?” she heard Melissa’s voice ask.
Maude untangled both of her arms from Jaspar and Melissa. Rather than admitting that she’d only heard half of the question, she responded, “I think it’s time to eat.”
She strode away from both of them, sure that both would most likely follow behind her anyway.
Her stomach growled loudly, and the din of the banquet hall began to grow. She had skipped breakfast in hopes of having more to eat at the banquet, so she was positively ravenous, and she did not have time to listen to whatever nonsense Jaspar and Melissa may be arguing or not arguing about.
Maude strode up to one of the enormous serving tables, and grabbed a plate. Jaspar and Melissa had followed her and were bickering about who was a more important person in Maude’s life. Maude just sighed and shook her head, grabbing some applesauce from the table and splatting it onto her plate. She used tongs to pull of some of the turkey meat from the enormous bird and grabbed a spoonful of mashed potatoes. She cleared a small section for some green beans on her plate, and meandered over to one of the emptier tables, sitting down on the far side of the room. The last thing she wanted was to be the center of attention.
On her left side sat Jaspar, and on her right, Melissa. There were a handful of other people hovering nearby, and Maude suspected it was to see if they could sit near her. She sighed, wondering why she’d been looking forward to this, now that she was here.
Her stomach rumbled. She went to take her first bite, and then nearly lost her appetite when the king walked into the room. Behind him was a severely banged up Prince Erich, and the queen. Everyone rose to greet the king, both the king and Prince Erich insisted that people sit down. “We’re here to celebrate you all today!” she thought she heard King Johan say.
Her stomach bubbled again. It was the day that King Johan would be giving out titles for participating in the war, and Maude couldn’t help but wonder if she had done enough to warrant a title, now that the ceremony had arrived. She had asked Jaspar if he knew if she was going to get one, and he admitted that he hadn’t heard a peep.
To be able to be worthy of marrying Jaspar, I need a title worthy of a duke, Maude thought. And not only did I almost not show up to the war, I showed up late to the last battle of the war. She swallowed hard. Sure I helped a lot in that battle. And maybe they might have lost if I didn’t show up. But there’s no guarantee that they would have. And less soldiers would have died if I had participated in more fights, she thought.