My [hand].
He often stared at my hand. Even when we were inside the carriage to return. Incidentally, Orgueil said that he had some errands to do, so he remained. Now, there were only me and Leon-sama inside. I was told to sit on his lap because Orgueil was no longer there, although the place where we could sit on was very spacious. It was such a waste, but what could be done? It was my role.
Then, I tried to recall everything from start to finish.
From when we arrived, until when we entered the castle as my hand was being led by Duke Odile.
There were some similarities between Leon-sama’s castle and Duke Odile’s, for example the hall, gallery, and the assembly hall. Even so, the atmosphere was different. As I was being guided through the castle’s interior, we entered a small audience room. There, I had a meeting with several close aides.
I felt that the way he had always grabbed my hand tightly all the time was questionable, but I considered it part of the host’s hospitality. I thought that it was so weird how the hand that he grasped was taken to the area Duke Odile’s mouth or his tip of nose at every presentable opportunity. And whenever he put it near his mouth, he slightly had his lips touching my hand. How ludicrous. But Leon-sama and Orgueil didn’t stop that, how weird. They completely ignored my pleading-for-help-look.
He let go of my hand during the audience, but during our way to the training field, I was given a surprise attack by how he grabbed my hand tightly again. What a terrifying escort. Then, what awaited me who had fought after two interesting matches was—as Orgueil and Leon-sama had guessed—Duke Odile held both of my hands reverently over his forehead before planting a kiss on them. It was weird, right, definitely? If this was what he meant by treating me as a commodore, then it was really a problem. No matter what he treated me as, this kind of treatment was the problem. And were Duke Odile’s military officers fine, for getting super excited over it? Wouldn’t the right reaction be that of a concern?
Next was lunch. During our move, he took my hand again, or rather, he immediately linked hands with me as if he had demons chasing after him. He was grabbing it tightly. Duke Odile’s hand was big like a baseball’s glove, so it was a bit painful being grabbed so tightly, but Orgueil remained expressionless and Leon-sama was talking with Duke Odile’s close aide as if he was doing it on purpose. With such a helpless situation, we arrived at the dining hall. I sat between Leon-sama and Duke Odile, and they offered me too much food, so I couldn’t really remember what I had eaten.
After that, there was a war council—it was the first one I attended after not attending one for so long. I was a bit nervous for a moment.
–As I leaned on Leon-sama, more memories flooded in.
The carriage proceeded in a more relaxed manner than when we went here. It was comfortable to have it swaying for a little bit.
Moreover, Leon-sama’s muscularly firm legs felt warm, and as long as I threw away my shyness, it felt really good sitting on his lap. Long time ago, my pet cat jumped and put itself in the gap between my knees. Now I understood how pleasant it might have felt. –
The steering committee in the war council was liutenant general Noldgrain who was tasked with keeping an eye at the castle. Given that I was a first-time participant in this war council, Orgueil told me important matters to the war council such as the circumstances of this time’s dispatch of troops, the soldier’s explanation as they requested reinforcement from the garrison, and the council resumed as we reviewed them several times. There was no problem around here.
Then there was also the talk about how Duke Odile would be the one issuing commands, the leading party would be Major General Ulman, someone from Duke Rumsfeld’s people who was sent to be the major general* (Unlike that man, this person was around 40-5os as he exuded a good aura. Today, that man didn’t come to this place), and the person from Duke Evangelista’s people would be me, Commodore Tuura. Such kind of practical talk continued as the topic shifted to how many soldiers and who would be taken. Furthermore, we also talked about the battle formation, and I slightly made a suggestion about the number of people to go for the frontal attack.
(*T/N: Can anyone help me with this? The RAW said ソロウ少将. I don’t get the ソロウ part)
I suggested to have around 100 detached forces of soldiers with horse-riding as their forte to be dispatched for that purpose.
According to Leon-sama and Orgueil, the necessary arrangements should be perfect, and during the war council, it was supposed to not exceed a formal announcement and something similar to consent after the statement. However, for some reason, Duke Odile commented.
‘Is it possible to win without the use of a detached force? Something where victory can be seen even without exposing Princess to danger.’
I thought that every participant in the war council would think that I wasn’t a mere weak princess in this case (after all, the war council happened after my sweeping victory in the swords match), but ignoring the details, Orgueil who was always the calmest person, answered immediately. He said that there was no place [without danger] in a battlefield. Furthermore, in order to abolish the stalemate and announce Gladius’ authority, victory alone wasn’t enough. It was necessary to have a dramatic and complete victory. Therefore, there should be another explosive thing added in addition to a frontal attack in order to have a dramatic complete victory and to honor the name of Duke Odile, and so on.
It was impressive for Leon-sama to remain silent and expressionless all the time even if he might be having an inner conflict and had his stomach tied because I would be departing to the battlefield as a military officer. Although this was different from just laying the groundwork. It was as if to say that Duke Odile’s irregular remark from earlier was nothing much to be worried of.
As a result, Duke Odile didn’t have anything else to say in response to Orgueil’s remark. This was the only disturbance that came up in the generally favorable war council.
The talk about having a detached force was accepted right there, and they wanted to have the mix of military officers, general soldiers, mercenary soldiers who were excellent in riding horses to immediately apply. However, since it was a detached force with limited number of people, they emphasized how we wanted to have reliable soldiers and that they wanted to have some assistance in personnel selection. After stating the demands, the war council proceeded smoothly with everyone agreeing to the content.
It was also noted that the concrete movements the detached force would take would be conveyed during the march after the departure. This was important. For me, in order for the detached force to launch a decisive surprise attack, we couldn’t announce the outline of it in the war council where we didn’t have any idea whether or not there were spies here, how many and where they were. At the same time, this was done in the unlikely event that the surprise attack fails. At that time, there is no need for Duke Odile who’s leading the troops to bear responsibility for it. It’s because it’s possible to cut off the losses due to the detached force’s failure at that time if it happens. Wanting there to be mixed members among the detached force is done to consider about how I should take responsibility in case of emergency. Though the commander is Duke Evangelista’s subordinate, Commodore Tuura, with how the soldiers’ origins are diverse and mixed, the public opinion would be that it couldn’t be helped and might even be a bit unreasonable to put such a high hopes on them.
(T/N: Not too sure about the last sentence/part because the context is too unclear. If you happen to figure it out a better translation of this, please comment: 別動隊を混成にしたいのは、万一の際の責任の取り方まで考えた上でのこと。率いるのはエヴァンジェリスタ公配下のトゥーラ准将、であっても、兵士達の出自がてんでんばらばらだと、寄せ集めだったのだろう、仕方がない、で多少無理があっても世論は納得する。)
I don’t want to head towards a failure, though!
Anyway, the war council was very interesting.
–I thought that today was such a good and meaningful day despite my being nervous quite often. And as expected, when I calmed down and my mind turned idle, I came to be concerned about Duke Odile’s eccentric behavior towards my own [hand]. And about how Leon-sama didn’t stop that.
As I touched Leon-sama’s necktie that was close to me, I tried to initiate the conversation.
“Hey, Leon-sama.”
Leon-sama had been sniffing the scent behind my ear all the time since we entered the carriage, still with one of his hand circling my waist. Just like an animal. I was already used to this behavior of his by this time.
“What’s the matter?” Leon-sama answered with a small voice that was so close to my ear.
“Does Duke Odile like my hand?”
I accidentally asked him in a rather blunt way.
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