Ariadne and Edmund were in the hallway. Alon stayed in the command room sorting things that he would present to the other captains and his company platoon leaders. The moon’s light was coming through the windows as they walked. She was in silence but on the other hand, Edmund didn’t like it one bit so on the first opportunity he got his mouth opened.

‘Everything in the military of the duchy was based on my annotations, duchess? Really cool, hum?’ Edmund smiled as he continued to walk.

‘Humm... yeah... is cool, but right now i think majority is an upgraded version of your annotations.’ She gave him a quick look and a smirk.

‘Well, that was the point, but don’t you find weird that they evolved so quickly?’ He scratched the back of his head.

‘Alon is an experienced warrior, he adjusted everything using try and error based on the soldiers experiences; he is not too hard peasant.’ With the corner of her eye, she glanced again at him.

‘That is amazing on its own, but what about my students, i did teach them but i do think they are evolving way too quickly, i know that is not something above what i could do but they are improving my designs.’ He crossed his arms and looked at the duchess puzzled.

‘I too think that everything is moving quickly but i was putting that on your teaching; now i can see that i’ve put too much faith on your teaching skills.’ She gave a timid laugh.

‘Wait a minute.’ Edmund sighed. ‘Never mind, but faith could be the answer to this growth on the duchy; i can’t be sure but if affects the healing magic, why not in this way too?’ He tapped his chin with his index finger a couple of times.

‘You have a point, peasant; all of this is elgofed in mystery, but let’s focus on things that can give us an edge for now.’ She opened the door at the end of the hallway.

The two entered the hall where the front door is. Ariadne, instead of going to the room, chose to walk to a couch on the right side with a table right in front of it. Edmund didn’t have much to do so he followed her, thinking she wanted to talk more. It wasn’t too late so there were a couple of maids passing by and the moment Ariadne sat on the couch, she followed Edmund. The two approached and bowed to her.

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‘Your highness, do you want something?’ One of the maids spoke.

‘Tea and some cookies; bring it to the peasant to see if it isn’t too much to ask.’ She gave the two a tender smile.

‘N-No, we will be glad to bring it to you and to Edmund; your presence fill us with happiness, right?’ The maid looked at the other.

‘Yes!!! We will do anything for you.’ She gave a wide smile to the duchess.

The two maids started to walk fast out of the hall and as soon as they closed the door and the two were alone, Edmund took a deep breath and shook his head for a moment.

‘See, this is dangerous; they were looking at you like you were their mother, no, something even greater than that.’ Edmund laxed on the couch.

‘To me, what is dangerous is you sitting next to me like i’m your lover.’ She looked at him with the corner of her eye.

‘Is just you and me here, your highness, and i’m kind of far away from you, Putting the fact that you literally can hoard me to kill myself, i think you are safe from my claws.’ Edmund laughed for a moment.

Ariadne closed her eyes and smirked as she sat in a more comfortable position. It wasn’t a bad situation for her as she remembered that reason she wanted him inside her office when she was there; his presence gave her a sense of calmness, like everything was going to be fine, unless when he wasn’t talking, that is, but even that was at least interesting, and she tried her best not to show it to him.

‘I wonder how long it will take until they start to wage war on your name, conquering land and all; that will be interesting.’ He looked up to the ceiling.

‘They will wage war when i say so, like is happening now, but i do understand what you are implaing here, peasant; i’m not a fool.’ She looked at him.

‘Ho, you are getting me wrong; i’m saying among themselves... like, someone will say your teachings is something while others will say another.’ He turned his head and looked deep into her eyes

‘That can’t happen; i’m their leader after all.’ She crossed her arms and looked at the patterns sculptured on the side of the table.

‘With the people inside of the duchy, no, but if you expand to Lavan or maybe Velvent, it will happen. You should think of basic laws everyone should follow if they are to be followers of the goddess Ariadne, but not now, of course.’ Edmond looked at the door the two maids had entered before.

The door opened, and the two maids got out, holding the tea, the cookies, and the tea cups to serve the duchess and her slave. They put everything in the table in front of the duchess, who was happy to see the two working with such care; only Edmund didn’t feel the feelings they had for one another, one happy to serve and the other happy to be served but in a totally different level, a unique experience the two maids never felt before as normally only Alya was in charge of serving Ariadne.

‘You two can go; if you don’t have anything else to do, have a good night.’ Ariadne waved at the two while smiling.

‘Thank you, your highness.’ The two turned around and quickly entered one of the rooms while holding hands.

By the day Edmund found himself feeling like an outsider because of those moments some of the people of the duchy had towards Ariadne, it was special, and because of that, he was afraid someday he would be judged by everyone for not being like them. The backstory they made up for him helped alleviate some of it but still, it made him wonder about the future.