While William and Takam talked about serious matters inside his Palace, three girls and two boys were also having a serious discussion inside the Great Chieftain's conference room.
"What is your relationship with Sir William?" Princess Sidonie asked Ian.
Ian placed his teacup on top of the table before looking at the veiled princess who was seated opposite him.
"Will and I are close friends," Ian replied.
"Only close friends?"
"Yes."
"Then how come he stayed in your room last night, instead of sleeping in his own room?" Princess Sidonie asked.
Actually, the one in control of Princess Sidonie's body right now was Morgana. She asked Sidonie to switch with her so she could interrogate the good looking boy who seemed to be very intimate with her Darling.
Princess Sidonie wasn't as bold as her other half, so she agreed to her request. Deep inside, she also wanted to know the truth behind William's and Ian's close relationship.
"I don't see anything wrong with Will sleeping in my room," Ian replied with a smug expression on his face. "Also, why do you care about his private business? What is your relationship with him?"
Morgana leaned back in her chair, "The two of us are allies. It is important for me to know more about the person whom I have allied myself with. Right now, I hold an entire Ant Army under my command. This is equivalent to having the military might of a Kingdom. I have more than enough qualifications to know if Sir William is someone I should support wholeheartedly."
William had explained to Ian, in detail the night before, how he and Princess Sidonie met. The Half-Elf didn't hide anything from her, even the part where the Princess offered to make William the King of the Hellan Kingdom.
This made Ian very wary of the Princess, who was rumored to be the most beautiful girl in the Southern Continent. As someone who just recently became William's lover, she understood that the Half-Elf had the uncanny ability to attract beauties left and right.
Ian wanted to tell the Princess that William didn't need her support, but he knew that this was not the right thing to do. Right now, they had no manpower to fight for their side. Having an army that numbered in the millions was a boon to their fight against The Organization that had taken over the Hellan Kingdom, as well as the army of Elven prodigies, and the Kraetor Army.
Brianna and Priscilla sat on the side and just listened to the banter between Ian and Morgana. Priscilla had a serious expression on her face, while Brianna looked like an Auntie that was looking for juicy gossip.
Prince Ernest, who was seated beside Brianna, felt that he was out of place. Something in him was telling him that he shouldn't be there. However, he had no other place to go aside from accompanying Brianna as she did her daily duties for the Northern Tribes.
The Young Prince was quite impressed with how his fiance handled the important matters of her Tribe and Clan during the absence of the adults.
"Sir Ian, I know that you are part of Sir William's personal Knight Squad," Morgana said after drinking her tea. "But, is your excessive clinginess necessary? If you continue this attitude, rumors will fly about Sir William's… preferences."
Ian did his best not to roll his eyes at the Princess' barbed statement. He was very tempted to transform right in front of her and make the Princess understand that there was nothing wrong with William's preferences.
Still, he held himself back and just nodded his head.
"I'll make sure to listen to your advice, Princess," Ian replied.
Morgana nodded. "As long as you understand, Sir Ian. I only have Sir William's best interest at heart."
Ian pretended not to hear Morgana's words because the images of what they did last night, inside William's Spiritual world, appeared in his mind.
Ian's face immediately reddened.
William had made her experience things she didn't know she could feel before. In fact, she had just woken up a few hours ago due to the spiritual exhaustion that came as a result of their time together.
The corner of Morgana's lips twitched when she saw Ian's blushing face. She instantly realized that the boy's face didn't redden in anger because of her words. Ian was thinking about other things, and Morgana had a nagging feeling that they were about the things that William and Ian did last night.
Her imagination went wild as she thought of forbidden things that could only be done between two...
(A/N: Forgive me for switching pronouns when it comes to Ian. I'm sure all of you understand the hardship. As much as possible, I don't want you guys to feel uncomfortable, but it's hard to "show" these scenes without going out of your comfort zone.)
Brianna and Prince Ernest were clueless about what was happening with Ian. Both of them were still too young to understand the complicated talks about relationships between people.
Priscilla was not faring any better. This side of Ian was completely new to her. Back when they were still at the academy, she often noticed how her Commander and Ian bickered every opportunity they got. William's and Ian's current closeness was something she didn't expect at all!
"Why are you blushing?" Morgana asked in irritation. "I don't believe I said anything that warrants this reaction from you."
Ian gave Morgana a teasing smile and his eyes had a smug expression in them. He had already confirmed that the Princess was quite interested in William. However, he wasn't sure if this was only admiration, respect, or really love.
One thing for sure, William didn't have any interest in the Princess. He only cared about his rightful lovers and the Half-Elf made sure that his feelings were relayed to her when the two of them had their spiritual union.
"I just remembered a very happy memory," Ian replied. His tone was laced with mirth and affection that made Morgana feel more irritable.
She was the Sin of Lust. The matters of the flesh were within her domain. Her sensitive senses had already informed her that William's scent lingered on Ian's body. This could only mean one thing.
'The two of them spent the night together! This b*stard!' Morgana cursed inside her mind.
Princess Sidonie shared Morgana's feelings, so she also understood the source of her other half's irritation.
An awkward silence descended upon the room because the two had stopped talking. The peanut gallery, namely, Prince Ernest, and Priscilla, breathed a sigh of relief.
Brianna, on the other hand, was somehow disappointed because she didn't get to see the fireworks she was envisioning.
After an hour, Morgana returned to the room that was provided to her by Brianna. This was also the room she shared with Priscilla because the latter was her personal guard and maidservant.
However, Morgana explicitly told the black-haired beauty that she wanted to be alone right now. Seeing that the Princess was not in a good mood, Priscilla obediently nodded her head and left Morgana to her own devices.
The Princess removed her veil and stared at the full-size mirror inside her room. An angelic beauty with long, reddish brown hair, and mesmerizing hazel eyes, looked back at her.
She was worthy of her title as the most beautiful girl in the Southern Continent. Wendy, Ashe, Est, and Rebecca were all beautiful girls, but Princess Sidonie's beauty was two to three steps above theirs.
More than anything else, she was very confident in her looks. However, her confidence received a good beating when William didn't show any reaction to her after seeing her face. Although she did see appreciation in the Half-Elf's eyes, it was nothing compared to the gentleness and affection that William had shown to Ian.
'I'm surprised you didn't use your charm on Ian,' the beautiful lady thought as she stared at the image reflected in the mirror with a serious expression. 'If we were in Freesia, you would not allow anyone to talk back to you like that. Why didn't you charm him? Maybe if you make him submit to you...'
Naturally, the one that had spoken was Princess Sidonie. This was one of the ways they used in order to communicate to each other face to face.
'If you were me, would you have charmed Ian?' Morgana asked back. 'Do you dare?'
Princess Sidonie shook her head. She was the brains and Morgana was the brawns. As the smarter one of the two, she knew that if she used her Charm on Ian, the consequences would be terrible.
'I have a feeling that if we do that to Ian, Sir William will hate us for life,' Princess Sidonie replied. 'Also, doing that would make me feel dirty.'
'Right? I feel the same way.' Morgana gritted her teeth. 'Is there something wrong with us? Why should we care about what he thinks? We can just use Ian and Wendy to force him to submit to us. Why should we care about his feelings?'
Princess Sidonie sighed. Meeting William allowed her to feel things she had never felt before. Jealousy, irritation, envy, and a certain possessiveness that made her feel as if she was inferior.
'Because we don't want to be hated by him,' Princess Sidonie answered firmly. 'He's the type that will fight us to the death if we touch his reverse scale.'
'I don't like this feeling, Sidonie. It makes me feel weak.'
'Maybe, this is what it means to love someone.'
'... Loving someone hurts.'
Princess Sidonie closed her eyes because she agreed with Morgana's words. She thought that falling in love with someone would make her feel complete and happy.
She thought that finding someone unaffected by her Charms would allow her to understand what love was.
Princess Sidonie and Morgana hugged each other inside their Spiritual World.
The two most beautiful girls in the Southern Continent were hurting because the Love that they were looking for was very different from the love that they had envisioned in their dreams.